Trip Report Roatan, Honduras

[newdiver3]

I need to take a break from my college work so I am making an attempt at a trip report since most of the time I am thinking more about the trip than chemistry or biology…..

I am a freshman in college and have been certified since October of last year. I absolutely fell in love with this sport. I have been obsessed with the ocean since I was born so it made sense that I finally learned how to dive. My whole family usually goes to Mexico every year and me and my dad made my first real dive trip last August back to Mexico. (I would say this trip to Roatan was the best, except for the fact that I swam between two whale sharks on my trip to Mexico!) So during my spring break this year, me and my dad decided to try another place…Roatan, Honduras <3.

I researched so many places before our trip and then my uncle who basically dove all over the world recommended Anthony’s Key Resort. I looked it up and knew immediately that’s where I wanted to go because of the dolphins. I have wanted to work with dolphins my whole life so I really wanted to go there. And plus I have read about the good diving in Roatan.

So from March 10-17 I was in paradise. As the plane descended on the paved roadway that was the runway I already loved this island. The mountains were beautiful and I loved the brightly colored houses spotting the coastline. No big resorts or hotels. Just my style. And I did not expect this at all which made it that much better. The planes pulled up to the airport like parked cars. The weather was hot and perfect. We waited in line at the airport for awhile but we were on island time so we didn’t mind. The ride to Anthony’s Key was exciting too. I love seeing different countries and cultures so I took in everything. The tree-covered hills to our left and the vast ocean to our right. We got out of the van, walked up the stairs and just looked in awe at this place. The area we stay in at Mexico is getting a little commercialized which is a shame, so to see a place like this was refreshing.

We had our welcome cocktail and filled out our paperwork. As the manager walked around giving us our rooms she comes to us and says you are room #1 one. My first choice was to get a room on the key, but it was a tad more expensive so the hill was fine. Then she thinks for a second and says wait I’m going to put you in room 43 on the key. Me and my dad just looked at eachother and I could tell we both said “Yes!” to ourselves. So off we go to the key. We head over to the water taxi and really can’t believe the area. So beautiful. We get to our room and its one of the farthest ones. I couldn’t believe it. Hammocks on our porch overlooking the ocean with a view of Bailey’s Key to our left.

As soon as we unpacked, we decided to take the kayaks out. I headed straight for Bailey’s Key where the dolphins were. We parked our kayaks on the little beach and walked out on the dock. About 8 dolphins came right over to where I was standing. I was so tempted to jump right in. Some how I controlled myself and just watched them swim around. I knew this was going to be a great vacation…….

I have a habit of rambling so I figured I would break this up. Let me know if it gets to wordy! Hope you enjoy so far!

 

[mynamehere]

keep it comin'.....great post.

headed to Roatan in May. So i want to hear it all.

cheers!

 

[Diver Dennis]

More please... I want to hear about the dolphins.

 

[diver 85]

I know what you mean about AKR, could also ramble(for hours) about it- our middle child worked for Julito & the 'gang' for over a year as a UW videographer in the photoshop.........From that , we have 'alot' of tape from AKR adventures & UW scenes...check out their promo tape, the whale shark encounter was filmed by our son, Matt........You really know how to bring back some good memories for me from that place, thanks........good luck on your diving future, the best is yet to come.......

 

[CDON]

Hey newdiver3, great trip report so far. My wife and I are going to Roatan this Saturday for a week at CCV. I'd love to read the rest of your trip report to know what your favourite dives were and some of the fun above-water things you did on the island.

Glad you had a great trip.

 

[newdiver3]

My chemistry work can wait for now.....

So Sunday was our first big diving dayyyyy! After having a great breakfast over looking the key we headed down to the dive shop. I admit I was very nervous. Where I go in Mexico, I know the guys very well and I was nervous about all new people. The dive shop looked nothing like the one in Mexico. To me, the boats were huge, there was a storage room, a map hanging up of the dive sites, dive boards for the different groups....I liked it so far. Then more paperwork, blah blah. We were assigned to our boat and our divemaster was Wendell. Let me just say now...what a guy. He was so approachable, safe, organized and so many other things. As a new diver, I felt very comfortable with him. We had an 11-yr old on our boat and he handled him great.

Okay back to the story...so then we were assigned our boat and captain, Kenley. Another great guy. So we get all our equipment together and I cannot wait to try out my new computer and regulator. It's an Atom that has an air integrated system in the watch. I got it for Christmas and was so excited to use it. Now, this is my first piece of serious equipment. I read the book a thousand times before and was ready to use it. So I go to try it out and nothing. Nothing! I could not get the watch to read the air. I know I really should have tried it at the LDS before I used it, but it's so hard being 2 1/2 hours from home and rarely being home because of all the work. No one could get it to work. I was so bummed. My computer still worked great but I had to rent a regulator because I would like to know my air pressure underwater haha.

So after getting all that settled, we did our check out dive. Right off the boat from the dock to do a regulator recovery and mask clearing. Whoo I passed! We were ready t o dive!

Diving: The diving was absolutely amazing. We are used to the reef at Akumal, Mexico and being a new diver I thought that was good. Don't get me wrong I still love Mexico but seeing the difference at Roatan was awesome. My uncle who has been all over the world said Roatan is good but there is better and I know this but for me, for the time being I thought the diving at Roatan was amazing.

There was so much coral formation and bright colors. Every direction you turned there were fish. I never saw so many different species of fish and underwater life. From what I have read on this board, you have to look for the small stuff and I did. There were so many cool critters but you really had to look, and that was fun for me. Wendell pointed out some great stuff. I can't remember everything and I don't know the names very well but we saw turtles, moray eels, spotted moray eels, shrimp, HUGE lobsters and crabs, trumpetfish, parrotfish, god every other kind of fish.

Now I'm not scared of life underwater....put me face to face with a shark, no problem, but there was this one snapper that as Kenly says 'patrols the waters' man was that snapper nasty looking. I swear everytime I descended, no matter what dive sight, he was there. Staring at me wanting to rip off my arm. haha now I know he wouldn't do that but I never saw a fish his size. I think he just likes to tease the divers.

The coral formations were amazing. Most dives were wall dives. Some dropped to 40-50 ft, others depths I will never be able to go. My dad doesn't like to it, but every once in awhile I love just looking out opposite the wall into the blue water just imagining whats out there. ah I love it. The walls were breathtaking. There were tunnels and canals....just so much to see.

My favorite dive site was Spooky Channel. The viz wasnt that great but that wall...you look up and its ledge upon ledge jutting out over the huge coral. There were about 4 or 5 huge snappers that swam under us the whole time. We saw shrimp, an eel, so many different types of coral. And the feeling of it was actually spooky which was a really cool feeling.

On this trip I did my first wreck dives to. We did the Odyssey first which was also my deepest depth at 102 ft. I never thought I would like wrecks but it was awesome. I opted not to go through because I wasnt comfortable to do it since it was my first wreck. I just hung around and looked around the ship. The other wreck we did was the Anguila which was awesome too. I did follow Wendell through this one and it was such a cool feeling to be inside a wreck.

One dive we did started out fine. It was Wendell then me and my dad above me. We just reached the wall, about 5 minutes into the dive, when my dad shoots past me right to Wendell. Something is wrong. From his hand signals it looks like something is wrong with his regulator. Wendell tells him to go up and I of course go as well. I could tell in his face something was wrong but we got through through hand signals that he could breath okay. We headed back in the direction of the boat at 15 ft. I couldnt figure out what was wrong. It was scary. We got to the surface, back on the boat and then I found out......while swimming along, something shot past my dad's face, from cheek to cheek, right above his mouth and under his mask and stung him along his whole face. He said it felt like someone took a knife and cut his face. Now my dad is pretty good with pain but I could tell it really hurt him. Kenly told him it was a jellyfish. There is this type that you cant even see. He gave my dad vinegar to put on it. Little white dots appeared on my dads face from where the jellyfish started and stopped and his face was a little swollen. Geez, neither one of us expected that one. While the rest of the group was still underwater, my dads face got a lot better and the pain was going away. That sure was an experience but I'm glad how me and my dad handled it. We work well together underwater. I dont mean to scare anyone with this story I just wanted to share. This was probably the only bad thing that happened our whole trip.

Now here's a funny story that I cant believe I am going to share. It was more towards the end of the week. After all of our dives I always had to pee SO BAD. I couldnt wait to get back on the dock. My dad kept saying just go in your wet suit but I could never bring myself to do that. So finally during the last few minutes one of the last dives I finally did it! haha me and my dad have a pretty good sense of humor so I couldnt wait to tell him, so I figured why not tell him right now! So somehow I got the message through that I peed in my wetsuit....I could tell he was so proud. He swam over and gave me a pound. We ascended and started cracking up and soon as we could. Then I yell I'm so proud of myself! Not knowing how loud I was, I realized the people back on the boat heard me. One of the woman asked 'oh what did you do?!' hahah I froze! I just stuttered out oh umm Im just proud of all the stuff I could find underwater. My dad said my face was beat red. I should have just said oh I peed in my wetsuit but I was so caught off guard. hahah me and my dad will always laugh about that one........

NEXT UP- DOLPHINS AND SHARKS!!!!!!!!!

 

[inter_alia]

Great posts! Keep 'em coming. I'll be the first to re-state the axiom: there are two kinds of divers, those who pee in their suits and those who lie about it. Just remember not to pee too late in the dive so that you sufficiently "rinse" your suit off before getting back onto the boat.

I, too, dive with my dad (I'm quite a bit older than you, though) and love sharing this hobby with him. Dads rock!

 

[pupdiver]

Great story. Roatan was my first real dive trip with my wife and we had a great time. I can't wait to take my daughter there someday. She is still a month from being born so I may be a bit ahead of myself, though.

 

[UnderwaterBumbleBee]

I should have some popcorn while I'm reading this....I have like 100 and some days til I finally get to go to AKR. It feels like 2 years away.

Please continue on with the sharks and dolphins, I have wanted to do a dolphin dive forever! I will likely pee in my wetsuit several times during the shark dive, no one has to know...

 

[newdiver3]

PICTURES!!!! http://scranton.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022641&l=a63c2&id=30706041



Here we go againnn

SHARK DIVE!!!
We signed up to do the shark dive on Thursday. I have never dove with sharks and was so excited to do it! (a little nervous but more excited than anything) We left early in the morning. Adventure Waihuka Diving Center took us out. The site was about 3 miles straight out from the airport. We had our briefing...Sergio told us the dive would be about 60 feet, we would kneel on the bottom and wait for the sharks. If we were lucky we would be able to swim around with them and then he would do the feeding. So many feeling were going through me and I jumped into the water. Now we heard that the week before there were no sharks, but as I was descending I saw my first one!!! A beautiful Caribbean reef shark. I felt no ounce of fear, just awe. We got to the bottom and it just seemed as if the sharks kept coming and coming. There was also a HUGE black grouper that hung around too. The sharks were breathtaking. They are such amazing animals. Sergio signaled to us that we could swim with them. For about 20 minutes I was swimming with about 25 caribbean reef sharks!!. They were good sized and there was this one huge one that would come straight for you then turn and you were so close to its body. I looked the sharks up and down and was just so fasinated by them. Then Sergio opened the bucket and seeing the sheer force the sharks have when eating was amazing. I wanted to swim with them forever.

Then as the sharks started disappearing Sergio looked at me and pointed down by my feet. About 5 ft from me was a huge moray eel out of the rocks. I never realized how big those animals are. I was never a fan of eels but I couldnt stop looking at this one and now I love them. They aren't the most attractive animals but their faces and eyes are so unique. I started to pay more attention to the eels than the remaining sharks. It was really cool.

So then unforunately, the dive was over. We got back on the boat and of course everyone was talking about how cool that dive was. It is definately something I'll always remember. A couple of the guys from the Photo Shop at Anthony's came along...Enrick and Nico. Back on the boat Nico told me to open up my hand....he dropped 4 teeth into my hand. He picked them up from the bottom. I wanted to marry him right then and there hhaa...he was also one of my favorites for the week



OKAY NOW ON TO THE DOLPHINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been obsessed with dolphins basically since I have been born so it was awesome to see them everyday. As I became friends with the guys at the dive shop, they found out about my obsession and a couple of the days they took me over to the dolphins at Bailey's Key. One day I went with Aaron who is the divemaster for the dolphin dive. We took the water taxi over and walked along the dock. Then he asked me if I wanted to sit on the platform in the water. OF COURSE! I was so surprised. So as soon as we sat down, about 4 dolphins came over to us. One of them was my favorite, Anthony, the baby. We played and pet them for awhile. I could have stayed there forever. Aaron taught me how to tell them to give me a kiss and how to do a handshake with them. When one dolphin would give me a kiss, the rest would get jealous and all come in and give me kisses. It was so cute. Dolphins LOVE attention so when you pet one, you would have to pet them all, especially the babies.

Then one day I went over to the dolphins with Nico. This time I played fetch with them. Yes fetch with the dolphins. I would grab a piece of seaweed, toss it, and the dolphin would bring it right back to me and want me to throw it again. They really are so intelligent. There could be 20 other pieces floating in the water but they would always pick the exact one I threw.

Okay now the dolphin dive on Wednesday
The first thing we did was go over to Bailey&#8217;s Key to meet the two dolphins we would be diving with, Hector and Richie. We pet them for awhile then they did some tricks for us. Then back on the boat we got the briefing. They told us that the dolphins play by biting on your hands. Haha a couple people got scared of this but the trainer reassured us they don&#8217;t hurt, they only want to play.
Our boat heads out, then another boat takes out the dolphins. Its amazing how the dolphins are trained to follow the boat out to the open ocean.
So after we descended we just had to wait. We were told the dolphins like to adventure out sometimes and eat the garden eels. So we waited and waited. I was getting a little nervous that they wouldn&#8217;t come. Then finally, I see them coming out of the blue. They were ready to play. They swam in between everyone and if your arm was out&#8230;..they got a hold of it. They kept going over the divemaster, Aaron and he was far from me so I didn&#8217;t really get to play with them. Then Aaron moved over to me. I&#8217;m not gonna lie&#8230;.everytime one of the dolphins came close to me I stuck out my arms wanting them to bite me&#8230;and well they did! Suddenly I had both dolphins ganging up on me. For a couple minutes it seemed me and the dolphins were the only ones in the water. Ahh so cool. I&#8217;ve swam with dolphins about 5 times before and it was really a cool experience to dive with them in the open ocean. It was really hard to say bye to those dolphins on the last day&#8230;&#8230;


It was such an awesome vacation, great diving, good food, great service and amazing people. I always make friends wit people when I go to a different country and its always so hard to leave. But I promised them all that I would be back permanently next time hahah

Hope you all enjoyed it! And if theres any questions just let me know!!!!!