Shore Diving in Roatan

[JaimieGreen]

We are heading to Roatan in April (first time).

Both of us are underwater photographers and would like to stay somewhere where we can shore dive from the property so that we can spend a decent amount of time underwater.

We really love renting houses vs. staying at resorts as you have so much more privacy and can really relax away from everyone else. We want to rent a house for 10 days and are looking at several which appear to offer shore diving from the house-Blue House, Castaways Cove, Sunrisa del Sol, Casita Cervantes.

Does anyone have any recommendations between these or recommend another house to rent which has good shore diving from the property? Both of us are quite experienced divers (used to be technical divers) so we are used to shore diving on our own. It's hard to tell how the shore diving is from these properties though. Since we are photographers, we tend to spend a lot of time in very small spaces so the reefs don't need to be big just generally in good condition with lots of life...

Also, are there other spots on the island that you can shore dive if you rent a car or use a kayak to get to from the house we rent or from a beach acess point?

Also, is it easy to rent tanks from the dive centers for use to shore dive?

Any thoughts/perspective would be really helpful!

Thanks,
Jaimie

 

[Doc]

The most viable shore dive (of real interest/available currently) is along CoCoView/Newman's wall, accessible from either CCV or Fantasy Island. You can get a house environment by renting a beach house from Playa Miguel (run by CCV), or you can likely rent tanks at Fantasy for use at their shore dive entry (if you want to drive over). Pretty much so flop in the water, you're on the reef or an intact shallow shipwreck~ all as a shoredive. Either is 24/7 and you can play the u/w geography against any weather issues making it doable in almost any weather.

I see that you eschew AI resorts, but a good one to look at would be Reef House Resort. It can get pretty weathered-in, but even if that happens, the inner man-made lagoon is a nice shore dive with fall-in-the-water access. I'm not impressed by their boats, but you ask about shore diving. The resort is pretty quiet and you won't be bothered. Shore dive 24/7.

Right in front of Mary's Place is an AI called Barefoot Key. It is not going to give you the seclusion that you infer, and the actual reef structure is a bit of a swim, but viable for a good air user and a detail oriented photographer. Their boat operations get very positive reviews as being a catered affair... again, not what you asked for.

From your list:

Casita Cervantes is decidedly in the wrong zone for this being in Sandy Bay on the North Side. It would be a lot of driving to do your shore entries. Some folks will tell you how much fun they had diving Spooky Channel, which might still be available as a drive-to shore dive. I have dived it maybe a dozen times and... meh. The shore dive off of Anthony's Key is marginal, but their muck dive in the lagoon or under the pier is top rate. I don't know if they allow outsiders or rent shore dive tanks for use on-prem. They allow shore diving on limited hours. Give them a try.

Castaways Cove (2 distinct properties offered) is located along the South shore at Caribe Point, but the housing is a bit of a hump to the beach/or the reef structure itself. Caribe Point is good diving but is a bit exposed to potential weather on some days. Wild Dolphins are spotted here often. I could have a great time just staying near the shoreline and not breaking below 20fsw, but I have odd habits

Blue House would be viable, but you'll need to enlist the assist of the owner (who posts here) to secure tanks. Also a bit exposed to occasional weather, not the most fascinating reef environment, but a nice property. Hopefully he will see this and give his considered opinion and best advice.

Sonrisa del Sol You're going to need a skiff to get to the reefs out front: You can muck-dive or if the weather allows, you have fairly easy access to French Key, Little French Key, Inside-Outside, and Mr. Bud. The owners seem to have a dive access arranged, but again- no walking out the door and falling in... it is located on the mangrove coastal behind Fantasy Island.

Other than from a dive-op and use on premises, no- it is not "easy" to rent tanks for your own "drive-to shore diving", again- as there really is no other shore diving available on the island. The North side offers interesting reefs, they are deep and shadowed, but they lie very very far offshore. The South side, (where the walls are that I referenced above) has a reef structure that lies much closer, facilitating a shore entry and a reachable wall structure.

Roatan is simply not Bonaire.

 

[RTBDiver]

Blue House would be viable, but you'll need to enlist the assist of the owner (who posts here) to secure tanks. Also a bit exposed to occasional weather, not the most fascinating reef environment, but a nice property. Hopefully he will see this and give his considered opinion and best advice.

.

I do have tanks, lots of them but for my use, Many who stay at my place are somewhat adventurous and that helps, I have a good relationship with a few west end shops that may be happy to set you up but I always suggest a dive or two with them as most shops are not into renting gear as they are in the US or elswhere.
I do not know what may make a sight fascinating but I can say I am happy to use memory cards these days rather than my 40 or so hand pushed 35mm exposures Octopii, Nudibranchs, Eels, and even the dreaded liomfish can all make a fun dive, Then hop on on the step and get greeted with a coconut either virgin or with a litttle kick.
If wanting to dive dive dive you cannot do it from a rentl home, If wanting to dive while staying at a place that feels like home then it can be done

 

[JaimieGreen]

Thank you for the advise! It helps and is much appreciated... We've never been to Roatan before and are really looking forward to the trip. Still not quite sure what we will do but the advise will help...

 

[diversteve]

This might help a little: Scuba Shore Diving Site Listing for: Honduras, Roatan, Caribbean - note that BIBR has closed so access to Spooky is more limited.

We stayed next door to Seagrape and walked over to look at that entry. Once you're in, you're pretty much committed to the long swim around to Half Moon Bay to get out since the ironshore along there is at least 4-5' tall. You can walk back to Seagrape from Half Moon Bay cabins in a few minutes - there's a private road (for the house we rented) that cuts through there. During the day it's easy to find a little shortcut path between them also. It's mostly rough ironshore along there so you can't walk back along the "beach".

I did see the Aggressor moored there one day - close enough that you could easily swim to it. IDK if they were diving that site or just letting guests go into the West End. We often saw snorkelers at the Half Moon Bay site.

Whoever posted the Sandy Bay info is IMO an optimist. The reef is a long way out from there - we dove several sites nearby from a boat.

You might check with Coconut Tree Divers about renting tanks - IDK if they do. They're on Half Moon Bay in the West End. I've also read somewhere that Sueno Del Mar rents tanks you can take off-property but I haven't verified that. I'm pretty sure Anthony's Key doesn't unless you're a guest there.

 

[JaimieGreen]

Thanks again! It sounds like if we want to shore dive a lot while in Roatan we would either want to stay at a resort (Co Co View or Fantasy Island) or stay at a house and buy a dive package to Co Co View or Fantasy Island to use their shore diving (including the Playa Miguel houses that are linked with Co Co View).

Can you provide perspective on the pros/cons of these options:
-Staying at the resort (either Co Co View or Fantasy Island)...
-Renting the Playa Miguel houses and shore diving with Co Co View
-Renting another house on the island and either driving to either of these resorts or having them pick us up in the morning via boat from a dock by the house?

If we rent another house on the island, doyou know whether Co Co View or Fantasy is willing to transfer us back to our dock area after a night dive "or" is it safe to drive a rental car back at night on the island?

Also, if you stay at Co Co View or Fantasy, how easy is it to get away from the resorts to explore the rest of the island?

Also, one other question. I've seen mixed reviews on the safety of renting cars on roatan. Any perspective here would also be helpful.

Lots of questions Again, any perspective is really helpful!

Regards,
Jaimie

 

[diversteve]

Also, if you stay at Co Co View or Fantasy, how easy is it to get away from the resorts to explore the rest of the island?

Also, one other question. I've seen mixed reviews on the safety of renting cars on roatan. Any perspective here would also be helpful.

Cocoview/FIBR are pretty far SE and mostly by themselves. The nearest small town is probably French Harbour, 10 mins. past that is Coxen Hole but most of the restaurants/nightlife are on the north side in the West End/West Bay area. At least a 1/2 drive+ - maybe closer to 45mins. (I only went that far east once) It at least partially explains why they're AI's. Some friends were at FIBR last winter, they were on Roatan with us also a few years ago. My buddy mentioned how far away the West End was from there - she got a ride there one day from an employee.

We read some of the same reviews and decided not to rent cars - mostly because of the potential liability issues. Cabs are very reasonable and almost everything is negotiable. Also for us, we stayed in the West End and dove with a diveop there so we except for trips to AKR ($6 r/t) and Barefoot Caye ($10/one way) we mostly stayed local. I did have to go to Coxen Hole once but by then I had a "dedicated" cab driver - I'd met him at the taxi stand one day and had his phone #. From the West End to Coxen Hole and the return was $15. Since there were 7 of us, we also had a van driver arranged by my house agent for the ride to/from the airport - that was $10pp.

 

[Doc]

Lots of questions Again, any perspective is really helpful!

Diversteve hit all the main points. I have driven vehicles on Roatan, and for a while held paperwork from the Government that granted me full immunity, and I was still very nervous. The roads absolutely suck, they are unlit, no reflectors and it rains all the time. Wiper blades are the first thing to go in the heat. Do some searches here if you want more stories, but for now, just go with the advice: hire a driver.

You can likely just buy a "dive package" from either resort, allowing you to drive in for the day. Neither will be picking you up in any fashion. It begs the question, though- I thought you wanted shore diving, and now we're talking boats.

From what you first asked, I am going with renting a Playa Miguel house and diving in front of CCV on the shore dive. You can have the house stocked with food or you can go the 10 mins into French Harbour and shop at the very North American grocery store there. You can buy the meal package at CCV, you can ride on their boats, but that is yet another permutation and expansion of your original premise.

It is as easy to get away from one resort as it would be any other. At FI, you walk to the on-prem Cab Stand. At CCV you will need to ride over to the landing on the standby shuttle boat and meet your english speaking driver. SCUBABoard to learn about what else there is to do on Roatan, where it is located, and how to get there. The main tourist attractions are West and the Western edge of the North side- this is day dive-op central, and where they put the cruise shippers.

If you are serious about diving and want a predictable product, go CCV versus FI. They have a long standing reliability and their shore dive entry is actually easier and closer to the action than FI. It may come back, but FI has had a serious downturn in many arenas, last week only one boat trip was observed being made. It is more of a resort that offers diving right now, but that doesn't mean that you can't dive it like a maniac from shore. The shore entry is about 600 yds away from the dive op itself, they offer spotty delivery service for transport. At CCV, you walk 60 paces from the wet-room and flop in.

Your questions show an understandable but total lack of knowledge of island geography and actual locations. Roatan is simply not one of those island places that lends itself well to moving about from any given property to another. When people find out that they will be on-island at the same time, I smile when they say, "I'll see you there!". Unless they're in the same place, it isn't happening.

This truism extends further in one very peculiar Roatan trait.... You can have your week's dive experience based 1/2 mile away from someone else's and have a totally different story to tell.

beach Houses at CCV are shown to right

 

[JaimieGreen]

Wow-this is impressive! You have a tremendous amount of knowledge on Roatan. Hopefully after we visit the first time, we'll be better acquainted. Most of our past trips in the Carribean have been to Saba and Bonaire...this will be our first time to the Bay Islands. And, unfortunately, it's hard to find a lot of time to do research with two small 3 year olds running around the house

Yes, our desire is for the unlimited shore diving but from what I've seen, you have to buy the full package from Co Co View including the boat dives (it doesn't appear as if I can just buy the shore dives). Thus, we figure that we would take advantage of the 2 boat dives daily but also do 2 shore dives a day on top of this (likely one more during the day and one more at night). Or, we could just skip the boat dives and do all shore dives...as long as we have access to the unlimited shore diving we are good as this enables us to do our own thing if desired without any boat driven limits from a dive time standpoint.

Sounds like we also do not want to rent a car. It looks like our best option is Playa Miguel (with the Co Co View diving access) unless there is another rental house that has arrangements for divers to get to/from Co Co View.

Also, you mentioned Reef House Resort in one of your prior messages. Have you dove their house reef? How is it? Could you do several dives on it (daytime and night time)-is it a pretty good size house reef? Does it pale in comparison to Co Co View's shore diving?

Thanks again!

 

[Doc]

..... we figure that we would take advantage of the 2 boat dives daily but also do 2 shore dives a day on top of this (likely one more during the day and one more at night). Or, we could just skip the boat dives and do all shore dives...you have to buy the full package from Co Co View including the boat dives (it doesn't appear as if I can just buy the shore dives).

Do some more research here on CCV: after morning and afternoon dive boat dives are completed, they plop you in on either reef so you can spend as much time returning (on dive #2 and #4) as you want. Some people decry this as bring- they simply have not progressed past seeing only reef structure. The critters? It actually changes every ten seconds and ten feet

As for their price structure, again, do some research and drag out the calculator. If you stay at Playa Miguel, they offer CCV diving for $400. I am an old doddering cripple and I manage to flop into the water at CCV 27 times in a week. That breaks down to $14 dollars per dive. I do three shore exits/dives a day including the night dive, often doing two night dives.

My wife generally always does just shore dives from CCV (we stay at the main resort) and we often hook up with another couple- the girls go and do 2hr shore dives- 3x a day, all week.

I skip being dropped twice a day on either Newmans wall or CCV wall and prefer instead to be dropped right on top of the wreck, just 300 ft out from the resort. It's so shallow that I spend over an hour (much more than an hour) poking around. I have done maybe 900 dives on this wreck alone. Talk about the same old dive? No, never.

OK, so I have some ADD-like issues I drew this while sitting in Chicago... from memory:

Sounds like we also do not want to rent a car. It looks like our best option is Playa Miguel (with the Co Co View diving access) unless there is another rental house that has arrangements for divers to get to/from Co Co View.

You could rent a house elsewhere and then arrange a daily driver. Not any idea why you would do this, however. A hundred reasons to stay at Playa Miguel, not the least of which is that you don't need to lock the doors on your way out.

Also, you mentioned Reef House Resort in one of your prior messages. Have you dove their house reef? How is it? Could you do several dives on it (daytime and night time)-is it a pretty good size house reef? Does it pale in comparison to Co Co View's shore diving?

RHR has an excellent house reef, also it has an inner man-made lagoon that is perfect for night muck dives. Again, this goes back to understanding of geography. Look at the satellite images of CCV/FI. No matter how rough the waves get- you can make a shore dive. RHR is not similarly protected. If it really gets crappy, CCV and FI run their dive boats over behind French Key and they lead you through a slot in the reef to the Ocean side. When the waves start, RHR can be problematic as a shore dive, and their boats are only a little better.

RHR is a delightfully quiet and idyllic little spot, reminiscent (in a very good way) of Roatan's island life in the 1970's. It is a perfect spot for such a relaxing week, dive a bit, Sun a bit, snooze a bit.

CCV is a liveaboard on land.