Roatan, West End

[LaneL]

Lane, did you see evidence of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD)? Apparently, there have been reports of it on Roatan reefs as far back as 2020. Did your dive operator have any sort of measures in place to help protect against spread of SCTLD? I'm trying to gauge SCTLD's affect on Roatan diving versus other places, such as Bonaire, where it's apparently become a big deal lately.

Honestly during the two days of training I wasn't paying to much except the coursework. While we were at AKR the reef looked to be in good condition. All of our diving was in the marine park, but there was no mention further of any preventative measures. Onsite at AKR was the Roatan Institute of Marine Sciences is on site and they may be able to comment more as to their response to SCTLD.

 

[Corky Leadhogger]

Seagrape is at the end of the same street as Cocolobo, good dive operation.

 

[KatieMac]

Lane, did you see evidence of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD)? Apparently, there have been reports of it on Roatan reefs as far back as 2020. Did your dive operator have any sort of measures in place to help protect against spread of SCTLD? I'm trying to gauge SCTLD's affect on Roatan diving versus other places, such as Bonaire, where it's apparently become a big deal lately.

I was just there. It's pretty bad in the area of west end. I didn't see a single healthy pillar coral. Tags on lots of coral that they are still gathering data on so one person in our group was taking lots of pics.

I can't really compare to other areas though.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I was just there. It's pretty bad in the area of west end. I didn't see a single healthy pillar coral. Tags on lots of coral that they are still gathering data on so one person in our group was taking lots of pics.

I can't really compare to other areas though.

Thanks. We decided on CocoView, but we have no expectations of the effects being any less there than West End.

 

[JoeSanta]

Any shop will get you an AOW card. The two mentioned are fine. By planning “5 dives”, that is not the true path to becoming an advanced diver.

Roatan is your oyster. Use it for all you can. West End visitors usually do 8-10 dives a week, shoot for 12, grab for 15.

“Advanced Diving” (not the card) is being exposed to varying dive conditions, boats, entries, challenges. Roatan is essentially a ‘confined wafter environment’, not much more, by most Agency standards. Flop in, paddle around, fair viz, get out, repeat. The compass training? Kind of a waste of a good dive, otherwise. An instructor has to try really hard to contrive situational challenges to provide AOW type elements/modules. Roatan diving is easy in every respect.

A good idea? UNDERWATER NATURALIST after you do Peak Performance Buoyancy. That’s what Roatan is really for.

Experience is what you really want, not the plastic card. Roatan can give you some of that. Dive more.

Doc, you seem to know all about Roatan. I'm stuck.
My cruise ship dive trip is sold out. I'm docking at 8 am in Roatan in March (Royal Caribbean). Most trips go out at 830 or 9. What are my options? I don't know Roatan at all. I'm researching the boats and shops but there are a LOT of them. I've emailed some and am waiting for responses. What's a good dive boat/operator that will pick me up and take me to a couple of good spots(walls)? Thanks, Joe

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

Doc, you seem to know all about Roatan. I'm stuck.
My cruise ship dive trip is sold out. I'm docking at 8 am in Roatan in March (Royal Caribbean). Most trips go out at 830 or 9. What are my options? I don't know Roatan at all. I'm researching the boats and shops but there are a LOT of them. I've emailed some and am waiting for responses. What's a good dive boat/operator that will pick me up and take me to a couple of good spots(walls)? Thanks, Joe

Does anyone know if AKR do any boat trips off of their cruise ship tourist trap-facility at Maya Key?

I really dislike being forced to do Maya Key on my AKR trips. But if you don't you lose 2/3 of a day of diving. I suppose I could do the morning drop and get to the west end and do late morning and an afternoon?

 

[Doc]

I really dislike being forced to do Maya Key on my AKR

That I did not understand before. I know that when AKR takes boats over to Dive on the southside, mostly Mary’s place stuff like that they do stop at maya key which is wholly owned by AKR and I know they try to suck money out of your pocket, but I didn’t know that you lose dives over that. Thought it was SI. Is that what you’re saying?

I'm researching the boats and shops but there are a LOT of them.

I have never made dives from cruise ships. This is a question you might want to direct more towards the cruise ship diving forum here on SB.

I already do know the answer that you’re going to find -you would do well to grab a cab from the cruise ship port and get over to the west end and pick one of the Dive shops -you can walk in and grab one there’s dozens of over there, it’s a pretty much so standard generic cruise ship tour experience they’re gonna take you where they’re gonna take you- you’re cruise ship diver (even with every cert card unless you’re name is Cousteau) they don’t trust you -just the way it is….. meaning -that asking us for specific Dive site recommendations is not valuable. They’re going to take you wherever they’re going to take you and that’s the end of it.

Consider that a proper advanced booking might include surveying you for your needs, including the size of a BC and how much weight you will need. either that or it’s gonna take a few minutes on the front end to get you suited up if you’re renting.

That a cruise ship would tell you something like a ground excursion is booked up and they have no other fallback options for other Dive charters? absolutely baffles me …them turning down way to take a 30% cut out of a dive charter operators pocket just for booking a trip? that’s not something they’re prone to do. Are you coming during high season? If so, yes, you might do well to pre-book on your own after doing some quick research … I’m referring to Easter Samana Santa. Christmas,N/Y might be tight. Other than that? Should be pretty high availability.

You can look around here on Scuba board for recommendations of West End, Dive shops, but glowing gushing recommendations come from a very few prior visits to local dive shops, and the users certainly know that they had the bestest dive guides ever. Highly recommended! They’re really all about the same. Swing a dead cat down in the West End and you’ll hit a dozen Dive shops that cater to cruise ship Divers -it’s their bread and butter. They’ll all treat you about the same and that’s good. They’re a good bunch of options and they bring people back alive, healthy, happy after having a nice Dive…and will get you back to your boat on time. It’s what they do.

Can not miss.

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

That I did not understand before. I know that when AKR takes boats over to Dive on the southside, mostly Mary’s place stuff like that they do stop at maya key which is wholly owned by AKR and I know they try to suck money out of your pocket, but I didn’t know that you lose dives over that. Thought it was SI. Is that what you’re saying?

You don't lose dives if you go. They take all the boats over. You get the second morning dive off of the western tip of the island - Like Mandy's Eel Garden. The afternoon dive, again off the west tip, on the way back. MK is the furthest east I've seen them go on the south side. Lot and lots touristy boat traffic off the western tip. I think the most interesting thing I saw on those was the submarine. The little eels were cool though.

But if I were to go back to AKR, I think I would totally skip the Maya Key excursion. Done it twice. That was two times too many. So if I stayed on the AKR plantation, I would lose two dives. Unless I went and did solo "shore dives".

 

[Lorenzoid]

But if I were to go back to AKR, I think I would totally skip the Maya Key excursion. Done it twice. That was two times too many. So if I stayed on the AKR plantation, I would lose two dives. Unless I went and did solo "shore dives".

The Maya Key thing is one reason why I'm not planning to return to AKR. AKR was fine, and that's all. It's a resort that indeed focuses on diving, but it's not what I want in a dive resort.