Trip Report Trip Report - Dunbar Rock

[Saniflush]

7/7/18 through 7/14/18

LDS trip where we had all of Dunbar Rock rented and about half of their sister property Clark's Caye rented.

Flew into Roatan from Atlanta on 7/7/18, from there caught a commuter flight to the island of Guanaja, where we were picked up by dive boats from Dunabar rock and carried the remaining 15 minute journey to Dunbar Rock. (Those that were staying on Clark's had about a 30 minute ride) Saturday afternoon was the standard get unpacked, welcome reception, property rules. We were instructed to unpack our dive gear and have it outside our doors by 0700 the following morning, where it was picked up and assembled when we got to the boat the following morning.

The general schedule of events was as follows.
0730 - Breakfast
0830 - Get to dive boat for two tank dive
1200-1230 - come back for lunch (the time for this floated a good bit depending on where we dove)
1430 - Back to dive boat for 1 tank in the afternoon
1700 - Arrive back at Dunbar rock for cocktails and clean up
1830 - Supper
1930 - Night diving around the rock if you had not had cocktails beforehand. (I made this dive every night and thought it was some of the best diving I did even though it was in anywhere from 3'-10' of water.

The first dive Sunday morning was what you would expect in that it was a basic check out dive. Captain and DMs making sure that everyone was on point in regards to their skills and equipment. We did have some students finishing up their certs on Clarks but everyone on Dunbar was experienced so there was no holdup for our group in regard to that.

Almost all dives were within a 30 minute boat ride except when we dove on the North side of the Guanaja, in which case getting to and from the sites were about an hour in time each way. I am not going to go through every dive site individually but they were the standard fare that you would expect. Usually one wall a day on the first dive, followed by a reef dive that had a hard bottom of about 60', then a reef of about the same caliber in the afternoon. There was one drift dive and one wreck thrown in there as well.

The crew exchanged all gear between dives which was hard for me to get use to since I am use to and enjoy doing my own but I relented after the first day. (I just went behind them and checked it )

All of the reefs looked great. If you are on the South side you will notice a lack of big fish on the reef which I was told was because "people gotta eat" which makes sense but there is no shortage of smaller fish. Lion fish were present but there is ALWAYS active shooting of them happening so not near as many as I would have expected to see. We ALL got in on the shooting of them. It was my first time shooting fish at all much less using a sling to do it but I found it quite enjoyable (after I missed my first one from getting the tip too close)

Each day when the afternoon diving was done, the crew removed all gear, rinsed it, then hung it to dry for the evening along with boots and fins. If you were going to make the night dive then they rinsed you gear and left it out on the seawall at the beach for you to access after supper.

One other person and myself dove the rock every night while everyone else would get their happy hour started early. Each night after they would see the pictures of what we saw they would vow that they were going to do it the next night but that never happened until the last night to do so (Thursday night) which suited me fine. I liked having it all to myself . The night dives were on your own with no staff.

The facility itself was outstanding. All rooms were made up everyday and they even run a complimentary laundry service three days so you don't need to bring many clothes or get sent home with a bunch of dirty ones. The food was all very good and plenty of it. Mornings you could always have eggs to order along with or in lieu of whatever other type of egg dish they had made. Lunches were a bit lighter with hamburgers or burrito type of food, and then supper was a good bit more heavy with meats, pastas, along with salad for those who chose to eat that unhealthy stuff.

Since we had such a large group that spanned both properties they even made arrangements so that two lunches and two suppers we could all eat together on one property or the other.

I have loads of pictures of the dives that I will probably get up in the next few days but my favorite thing I took was of an octopus buddy one night while diving the rock. Sorry for the heavy movement but he was in about 3' of water so I was fighting waves against my tank.
Dunbar Octopus

All in all I would put this facility and staff at the tops of anything I have ever done. Jennifer, who is the manager of the Dunbar Rock property has worked really hard to have her staff trained to be almost too accommodating and just generally happy. Raynal was captain of our boat and lead DM and also was very friendly and competent! All of the staff felt like friends we were having to leave of Saturday. I would not hesitate to go back at any point in the future!

The ONLY downer I that experienced in the entire operation was there was fair amount of inconsistency in the air fills. You may get a tank that had 3100 but were more like to get one that 2700. I realize that for the most part it really didn't matter because of the depths we were diving but if there is one thing that always seems to resonate in in a diver's mind is whether or not they got a "short fill". In the interest of trying to help them make a better operation I did mention this to them in a constructive way and was assured that they would make that adjustment.

I am sure I am leaving out plenty of stuff so feel free to ask questions of anything I didn't touch on.

 

[drrich2]

Enjoyed your detailed, practical review of a unique regional destination I've read about, but don't see a lot of trip reports about. It's not that far, being Caribbean, yet is one of those 'not everybody's been there/done that' destinations. A distinctive all-inclusive, from what I recall.

A few follow up questions, from the perspective of people considering this vs. the plethora of other options, might help prospective divers sizing up 'the Rock':

1.) From prior reading I was under the impression the onsite 'shore dive' was shallow & not much reef, probably not all that worthwhile, but you really enjoyed it as a repeated night dive. Was it the animal life?

2.) Had you wished to do the onsite shore diving alone, think that would've been a problem?

3.) You mention good reef quality, not much big stuff to the south (& long boat rides to the north); is there anything about the diving here that'd make Dunbar Rock a compelling option vs. some other peoples with a good rep. for reef (e.g.: Roatan) or reef + animal life (e.g.: the Caymans)?

4.) It sounds like an odd hybrid of a land-based resort & a live-aboard yacht; the only thing I know vaguely like that is Bonaire, but there people move around the island shore diving. At Dunbar Rock, I'd imagine they spend most of their time at the 'Rock,' and with fewer dives/day than Bonaire, Cocoview Resort or a live-aboard trip would likely feature. Did people get bored afternoons after the last dive, or did they stay pretty well entertained?

5.) I assume customers mostly eat onsite; how good is the food? It's a big deal with live-aboards (since you're stuck with it all week); so how does a week eating at Dunbar Rock compare?

6.) How many dives for the week, and how many of those were the long trips to the north?

7.) The option to try lion fish hunting would appeal to some; that's a feature not all dive destinations offer. Complimentary laundry is also a plus, and vs. some land-based options, you needn't rent a vehicle, so might help total trip cost.

8.) You said you wouldn't hesitate to go back, but compared to whatever other Caribbean/Florida regional destinations you may've hit, if you were planning your own dive trip, is there any reason you'd pick Dunbar Rock over, oh, Cocoview Resort (Roatan), Bonaire, Cozumel (various), a live-aboard, etc...?

Richard.

 

[KathyV]

Thanks for the great trip report! Since the shore dive is so shallow at 3 to 10 feet, is there any reason to do it as a scuba dive or could you just snorkel? I am mostly thinking of non-divers that like to snorkel and are traveling with divers, would it work for them?

 

[Saniflush]

@drrich2 and @KathyV I'll try to answer the questions but I am not as well scuba traveled (yet) as a lot of others on here.

The onsite shore diving has some reef elements to it but it is really not a reef as I think most people think of one. There are lots of coral heads with sea fans. The animal life was the main draw for me although I would not discount the life that was around the coral heads that are there. I just love diving at night. Add to that the fact that most people have already started getting their happy hour on there were much fewer people to deal with and I could take my own sweet time.

I would not have hesitated at all to do any of those dives alone. There is no current to speak of.

I would say that I am not qualified to compare and contrast this site versus a Roatan or Caymens since I have not dived either as of yet. I would say that since it is more off the beaten path there are less people there. The only dive operations that I saw anywhere on Guanaja were those of Dunbar Rock and Clarks Caye.

None of the people in our group seemed to get bored at any point. They have full amenities. Pool, pool table, board games, bar, a small raked beach with lounge chairs, massages, etc. If you are one of the people who like to take the afternoon and roam around town for the day then you may miss that but with the schedule that is kept nobody in our group did.

We ate completely onsite except for the couple of times that we went over to Clarks Caye to eat with the rest of our group and one day they took all of us to a beach on the North side of the island after our two morning dives for a picnic. Even for the picnic the house staff hauled chairs and tables there which was no small feat. I only have the Aqua Cat liveaboard to compare the meals to but I certainly would put all the food on par with that and in a few instances above it.

There were 17 planned dives for the week. I did 5 more at night around the Rock. Of the 17 we did 6 on the North side of the island. Those were always morning two tank dives rather than 1 tank afternoon ones.

Once again in regard to picking this destination compared to others I am not sure I can speak intelligently on it, however I would say this. It is a full service dive destination. By that I mean anyone who really likes the 5 star treatment ie. not hauling your own gear, changing tanks, rinsing gear, etc then this will be right up their alley. I like both so I can take that or leave it. Mrs Flush was a fan lol.

You certainly could snorkel the shore diving and I started to once but didn't for two reasons.
1) Surprising myself I have really begun to enjoy taking pictures and like to be right down on my subject as best I can.
2) Even at night there is still some amount of boat traffic so I decided that if I had to I would rather be at 5' with all the air I wanted rather than being a 5' with a lung full. It was never an actual issue I still opperate on the premise that I would rather have it and not need it then the opposite.