Roatan...Was I expecting too much?

[Squashie]

Well with that in mind...maybe I should get a new tag line? And leave my trusty walkman home the next time I visit Roatan...you know just to make sure things haven't improved.

By the way...since his show was available here in the mornings...all I can say is good bye and good riddence! He may have had a face for radio, but that was all he had that was meant for radio.

Squashie

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

What sucks about Roatan is leaving. 21 great dives there last week. Viz from 40' to 180'. With the exception of the two wreck dives, I could have been happy doing 21 dives on any single site we visited. Much of the diving was like flying over a jungle at low altitude. So much to see there and I regret not having the time to properly examine every square inch. Life on top of life on top of life........ AKR was first rate and did nothing but add to the experience.

Next year it's two weeks Dave. Jill and I are talking about April this time, maybe towards the middle of the month. No spring break trip this year.

I had a fantastic time there. Anthony's Key is a fantastic dive resort and it's hard to find anything to complain about. I could dive a lifetime there.

 

[Dave Zimmerly]

45 days till we go back to Fantasy Island.

Dave (aka "Squirt")

 

[Loves2Dive]

I agree with Dave. We stayed at the Bay Islands Beach Resort in March 2001 and had a fantastic time. Compared to Monterey Bay and Carmel, it was heaven. The best part about Roatan in my estimation is the fact that the reefs go to 8'. You can actually do your safety stop looking at something besides you buddy! In the end, the trip is what you make it. Try to keep an open mind.

Cheers.

 

[temperaturewuss]

In my humble opinion, I think you can find amazing things to look at, even if there are not big fish swimming by. Don't get me wrong. I lived and dove in Hawaii for 14 years, and loved seeing the whales, dolphins and sea turtles. However, after exploring the Caribbean for the last couple of years, I find that I like it much better. You can't train the big guys to be around when you are ready to dive, but the reef is always there. The Caribbean reef is like a Hawaiian reef with a sweater on. I love looking into the sponges, from a distance, of course. I love watching the tiny communities go about life. I love watching the little damsel fish trying to chase me away from their coral head. I love having tiny gobies come out of a barrel sponge to clean my hand. For me, it is not as much about what swims by me as much as it is about being a part of the underwater world.

 

[penti]

Roatan ?
I did 19 dives with West End dive ops there last August and had a wicked time. I have to acknowledge it is certainely not in the top 10 destinations in the world but still very nice, and as good as where I had been before (Thailand, peninsular malaysia, red sea).
Corals are not as varied and colourful as in the red sea, but spectacular and various sponges and the abundance of sea fans and gorgonians do compensate for that.

Certainly, it is not the place to see big pelagics but it does have a rich and interesting marine life !
I saw turtles (hawksbill and green) every other dive, spotted eagle rays 6 times, stingrays, dolphins, dolphin fish, tarpons, African pompanoes, a lot of ocean triggers , octopusses, nurse sharks.

+ what I came to call the "usual suspects" in my logbook that I saw on almost every dive : all kinds of Carribean angels and butterflies, trumpetfish, lobsters, spotted drums, trunkfish, cowfish, filefish, porcupine fish, barracudas, moray eels (green, viper, spotted, chain morays), big groupers (potato, tiger, nassau, black, yellowfin etc), schools of yellowtail snappers, mutton snappers, hogfish, rock beauties, hamlets, big schools of blue tangs, black margates, creole wrasses, redlip blennies, sheephead porgies, porkfish, kingfish, black durgons....
Didn't see any sea horse though.

Add to this that water temperature was 29° (diving in a swimsuit most of the time) and that the worst viz. I had was 20m (best was nearly the same as air)... Most of the time we were the only boat on the sites (except on the wrecks), I'd rather go back to Roatan than to Sharm El Sheikh, where you see as many as 60 or 70 divers in a single dive site...

Only things I didn't like :
On some sites fish become too familiar since they've been fed (the green moray on the Aguila wreck is just ridiculous). Thanks AKR :bigun2:

And the "shark dive business". Disgusting.

 

[chuck41]

It sucks.
Diving sucks. I can't recognize anything I'm not seeing. No Whale Sharks.
Damn bugs. Check the CDC website. Be afraid.
Food bad. Rice and beans. Spotty internet connections. The lights flicker.
The Contras and the Gorillas still fighting.
Airline service from SAHSA sucks. (Stay at Home Stay Alive)
Cruise ships have ruined the place.
Only two types of beer. Only the free bottled water is safe.

Bummer. And the only airline ticket I can get this month is to Roatan. Oh
well I guess I will just have to tough it out. Shure hope those Contras
don't get me while I am slurping smoothies at Rudy's and the lights on
the reef don't flicker when I'm stalking turtles, and I don't get scurvy from
all that rice and beans and fish, and I don't get hauled away by the bugs.
I will probably have a terrible time for three long miserable weeks
. . and . . and . .

 

[OE2X]

More reasons not to go:
The traffic is horrible.
Beer is warm.
There isn't a shade tree on the island.

It's still April Fools right?

 

[Diver Dennis]

Sometimes divers are looking as they cruise along but don't see...

 

[Hooked-Again]

What sucks about Roatan is leaving. 21 great dives there last week. Viz from 40' to 180'. With the exception of the two wreck dives, I could have been happy doing 21 dives on any single site we visited. Much of the diving was like flying over a jungle at low altitude. So much to see there and I regret not having the time to properly examine every square inch. Life on top of life on top of life........ AKR was first rate and did nothing but add to the experience.

Thank you for your post. Must say I was getting a little antzy about possibly making the wrong dive vacation pick. Glad to hear AKR treated you well. We will be staying with them in 28 days. Can't wait. YAHO0!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Diving!!!!!