I have lurked at this site for a long time, but havent posted anything for a few years. I am going to Roatan in a few days for a vacation whose primary focus will be snorkeling. I will be staying at West Bay Beach, where (according to my research) there is some of the islands best nearshore snorkeling. As I will be staying for 2 weeks and plan to rent a car for a several days, Id appreciate any information available on other nearshore snorkel spots on Roatan that are accessible by vehicle. Half Moon Bay in West End is one other spot mentioned for snorkeling. Are there any others? One post I found says there isnt much other drive-in snorkeling, another says there are even better snorkeling spots than West Bay Beach, but the writer failed to mention where these were. I have also seen references to Spooky Channel (at Bay Islands Beach Resort?) and CocoView as having good nearshore snorkeling. Are these two good for snorkeling, and can non-paying guests use their facilities? If we went to any of these hotels, Im sure we would end up buying some beers and maybe eat lunch after snorkeling, so we would be providing some compensation. Finally, if any of you do recommend any snorkeling spots, are the access roads so rough that a jeep-type vehicle would be better to rent than a car?
Snorkeling from shore in Roatan?
- Thread starter Dave C
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
- Messages
- 10,954
- Reaction score
- 4,130
- # of dives
- None - Not Certified
Dave C:
DO NOT drive your own vehicle on Roatan. The liability is total and all enveloping. Hire a driver.
The best shore snorkel on Roatan is over CCV wall to Newman's Wall in front of Fantasy Island Beach Resort.
If you are going to make a daily habit of shore snorkelling, stay at CoCoView. Every year many dozens stay for two weeks coming from the snorkel tour at "Sea For Yourself". If you are looking for a day excursion, your best bet is to get to FIBR and make your shore entry from there. It's a bit of a further schlepp to get to the good stuff from there (vs CCV), but there's going to be a whole lot "less paperwork". CCV is on its own private cay and generally likes to stay that way.
This doesn't preclude you from making a shore entry at FIBR and then doing a midway stop at CCV... the shallows to CCV Clubhouse are spectacular. (FYI: Money that you carry for drinks is waterproof!)
As far as other comodious shore diving spots on Roatan that are worth getting in the water over, I am aware of no others that compare favorably. West Bay can be a diversion, however.
here's one description: http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/ccv/vpost?id=516958 and another http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/ccv/vpost?id=516963
Here's a map http://www.cocoviewresort.com/map.html
Read http://www.shorediving.com/Earth/Honduras/Roatan/index.htm for this site as well as some others nearer to the west End.
possumdiver
Registered
I don't know about the rest of the island, but I can confirm that there is very good snorkeling on West Bay Beach. We stayed at Foster's in June of '04, and the first afternoon I walked down to the end of the beach and had a fantastic afternoon snorkeling. Facing the water from the beach, walk down to your left (to the SW?), there will be a small cliff of iron shore at the end of the beach. Just follow that out about 50 yards or so, swim around the rocks, and the reef will drop off. Very cool topography. Visibility was great, and there was no current or wave action at that time. If you are comfortable, you can follow the outer edge of the reef out for as long as like. If there is no current, and if it's safe, you may want to try going away from the beach from that area. We dove that area later that week, and it turned out to be one of my favorite dives of the trip. Have a great trip, and check in on Foster Diez for me.
pigletfish
Contributor
We also found good snorkeling off West Bay Beach when we visited Roatan in August 2004. Very clear, cool looking "rockscape", good number of fish, several lobster, and a turtle every time!
We rented a car on Roatan and had no problems. We even got a dent (while parked for snorkeling at West Bay Beach, in fact) and the car rental company charged us almost nothing for it. They were very fair. Maybe we were just lucky, but my husband wasn't concerned, and he's both the driver and the attorney.
The car enabled us to dive with both Native Sons and SubWay, and to have greater independence overall, which is always key for us.
Have a good trip!
We rented a car on Roatan and had no problems. We even got a dent (while parked for snorkeling at West Bay Beach, in fact) and the car rental company charged us almost nothing for it. They were very fair. Maybe we were just lucky, but my husband wasn't concerned, and he's both the driver and the attorney.
The car enabled us to dive with both Native Sons and SubWay, and to have greater independence overall, which is always key for us.
Have a good trip!
Similar threads
