Trip Report Trip Review Roatan Honduras June 2019 - Dive Pangea and Infinity Divers

[aviator8]

This is long so I will split to three posts

I had some miles that were about to expire mid year so I started a search of where I could use them. For the longest time I couldn't find any use for them which did not involve high fees, or too many connections and horrible layover times. In January I saw an option to Roatan so I pulled the trigger. At the time it was just to be a beach vacation. I had not dived in 10 years, but as I began a search for places to stay I decided I was going to get back into diving this trip and started down the road of talking myself into owning my own gear. I have also been into photography most of my life so I decided I needed to get some decent gear for underwater shooting and to begin trying to capture more serious images of the underwater world. I talked my wife into diving 10 years ago and she got the basic PADI sucuba diver cert. I have two daughters and my eldest who will be 11 soon wanted to learn to dive, soo my wife said she would be happy to sit out diving and hang with our youngest while my older daughter and I dove. Over the next few months I aquired everything from, BCD,s Deep 6 regs, wetsuits,camera, strobes, video lights, etc. That kinda sets the scene for our trip.

In searching for a place to stay we tend to prefer remote locations. However, we were split between wanting to see the "nice beach" side of the island. I decided to book seven nights in Camp Bay, and three nights in West Bay. While the place we stayed in West Bay was very nice, and everything was convenient to get to, Camp Bay was much more to our liking. Camp Bay is a totally laid back area where there is no rush, no development (yet), and you don't get hoards of loud cruise ship passengers descending upon you throughout the week. It really was an idyllic setting, and my kids who can get bored quickly never got bored the whole week. Now, I will admit it is a trek to get out there. From the airport it takes about an hour. It is about 20 mins to French Harbor where you need to get your supplies at Eldons, as there are not many options for things closer to the rental. Then another 20 mins on paved road until you hit a turn to the right onto a dirt road. This dirt road goes on for another 20 mins or so before you reach Camp Bay. It gets rough in some spots but is no real issue driving. We stayed in a VRBO home called "Casa del Alma" which is right next to Dive Pangea, which is the only dive shop in Camp Bay and is owned by Chrissie and Brian Bowen. Brian manages the VRBO that we stayed in and was there to meet us and get us all setup, and Chrissie had made us some homemade cassava which was really good. I do think I made came out on the wrong foot though as I ate some right away since I was hungry as heck from the trip. I inhaled and sucked it down my windpipe and started to violently cough. It was really good but I am sure I probably offended her! Camp Bay gets more variability in weather conditions, namely wind, than the west side of the island. There was a constant breeze from the east and it was quite stiff at times, up to 30 knots or so. There is a Kite surfing shop there and every day there were Kite Surfers out. Before we went I had heard horror stories of the bugs on Roatan so we arrived with Deet, Picardin at the ready, but in all honesty the bugs were not bad at all. It could have been the breeze, but I get chewed worse in Georgia than I did there. The next day started confined water one and the learning materials for my daughter. Chrissie is the owner and also instructs. She has a few other instructors and DM candidates. Memo was my daughter's instructor and was very patient and thorough. She did all of confined water one, gear checks, assembly, tear down and cleanup and passed the swim and tread water tests that day.

Right up front Chrissie let us know that the forecast was not looking good this week and we may have to shuffle things a bit for the cert as winds were expected to be strong all week and the deeper confined water space they use is a cove over the hill on the other side of the island and the winds were making it too rough to work over there. We opted to try to used a deeper pool down the road in Punta Blanca which Memo had access to the next day but that is where the best laid plans went array. Memo was sick the next day so that option was out, so I decided to start my diving and we would go for the next day for pool work. Winds were blowing but not too bad. I am comfortable in the waves and there is nothing more than a surface current out on the reef so once down, current is no issue. For dive one we decided I should just dive without any camera rig since I had not been diving in 10 years. I also wanted to make sure all my gear was functioning in OW after my pool checks the day before and most important, that I was still comfortable underwater from such a long hiatus. All turned out good. The dive was just myself, Chrissie, and Anthony who is working on his DM cert. The dive was to 60 feet max and lasted 51 mins. The reefs are beautiful and really healthy off Camp Bay. There are 15 dive sites I believe right out in front of Dive Pangea. and they are working on establishing more (more on that later). Dive two was also a 60 ft dive for 51 mins.

I brought out my camera rig on dive two. I have to say underwater photography is very frustrating. I have been shooting off and on for almost 35 years from film days with my own darkroom then the transition to digital. For a short stint I did weddings and events. I am thoroughly knowledgeable about lighting, color spaces, light falloff, and the interplay between shutter, aperture and ISO. Take it underwater, and it felt like I couldn't get it right. I am not bad a buoyancy but shooting underwater requires you to be close to your subject or you don't get enough lighting. I now have to wear glasses and have different strengths for close vs far. Add up the fact that I am now diving with contacts where one eye does close (fairly new to me) and one does far, buoyancy being critical when hovering right on the reef close enough to do macro, and really wide angle too, having to make camera adjustments and strobe/video light adjustments, maintain gas management, and keep up with where my buddy is while working through what I need to do to darken the background or correct an overexposure is tough. It got a little easier each dive as I learned some new thing I did wrong on each dive. You usually find these after the dive, which sucks. It is way to easy to get some setting wrong and screw up a whole batch of images or videos, particularly when you are trying to switch between wide and macro, and stills and video. For example on one dive I was doing video with lights. I went from wide to macro then back and forth again. I did not look to confirm recording when I pushed the record button. So for a series of 4 videos, I recorded lenses changes, then once lined up on my subject turned off the video. That was very frustrating to see I missed garden eels, a blenny in the sand and shrimp in a barrel coral. One thing I figured out is just do one thing unless something really cool warrants a change. By the end I started focusing on stills with my camera using strobes only while I had a red filtered gopro mounted on my rig running whole dive. I would go wide but carry a macro that I could swap. I did not do much macro but need to focus on it more. Camp Bay offers a lot of macro opportunities.

 

[guruboy]

Why didn’t you make three posts on the same thread?

 

[aviator8]

Why didn’t you make three posts on the same thread?

good point let me fix that

 

[aviator8]

I really like the way that Chrissie runs her operation. They have a boat that can easily do 10 divers but she focuses more on small groups and is a boutique shop that takes care of everything. They will handle all your gear each day. If you are renting all her gear was top notch and in great shape. She is very flexible with times. you could do the first dive really anywhere form 7-9:30 or so unless there were conflicts with other divers in which case I am sure she would work out a compromise. They come back between dives unless it is to a more distant place, mid island, or around to Morat wall, etc. All the dives in front of Camp Bay are at most a 5 min ride away. The surface interval is relaxed and you can get a bite to eat and something to drink, swap out batteries and gear you need without having to do it all on a rocking boat with spray flying around while moving between sites. Chrissie and Brian talked to me quite a bit about the efforts they are making on the east end to make the diving better. They have been in business there for almost 5 years now. Roatan has a Marine park preserve but is officially only mapped out over on the west side of the island. There are strict rules on fishing and conservation in that area and the area is patrolled by marine park rangers to enforce the rules. The east end has always been small traditional fishing villages and has been over-fished through the years. Chrissie is working directly with locals to try to change that. They charge a marine park fee per diver of $10 to support efforts to extend the park boundaries. They are using that and other methods to pay for marine park rangers to patrol and enforce park rules on the east end. Right now they only have one ranger and one boat to cover the entire north and south side of the east side of the island. I bought 2 extra bracelets. Its not a lot but I like to see efforts like this so that we have vibrant reefs to dive on. She is also working directly with the communities to set rules that they can agree on and live with, and tries to provide other ways to make a living. Also, as I mentioned above they are scouting and laying new anchor buoys for dive sites. You can pay $750 to dive and name a site if you like to support the conservation efforts. This goes toward funding more marine park conservation. You can do the same on the west side of the island but it is $1500. She certifies locals and works with them to become DM's and instructors so that they can support their families through diving, and have an interest in promoting conservation. I find it really refreshing to see grass roots efforts to make things right rather than blanket government intervention. So if this is something you like too I would highly encourage to you to spend your time out in Camp Bay and support people that are trying hard to change things for the better. While diving in Camp Bay I did not see large amounts of marine life like turtles, and rays, sharks, big schools, etc. That's not to say they aren't there, just a bit less than on the west side. Chrissie and Brian say they are seeing changes, and getting more things coming back since hiring a park ranger.

I planned on doing at least 10 dives while in Camp Bay but was unable to. The next day I did the first morning dive. my daughters instructor was still sick so we decided do OW1 for my daughter on the second dive. We did geared up and did buddy checks. She did a back rolled and all was fine. She was having a mask problem so Chrissie swapped masks with her which fixed that. Her mask was fine in the pool so I am not sure why it kept leaking once in OW. We made three attempts to go down but she indicted a problem and asked to go up on each. The first abort was mask, and the next two where her head. She said her forehead hurt and she was getting a headache so we called it. After back from the dives my ears felt full and I could not move air in a valsalva. After the previous dive my daughter admitted that she was scared and that was part of her asking to stop the dive. I told her that was fine and finally got from her that what scared her was how blue everything was and how deep it looked. I told her we can fix the deep part (it was 40 ft) but the blue is just how it is. I talked to Chrissie about it and we felt like it might be good if she just did a shallow dive with no pressure to do skills. Basically a discover scuba kind of dive. I called off diving the next day for myself. Katherine said she felt fine the next day. I decided I would stay back partly because my ears and partly because I think there was some feeling of needing get dads approval and I felt like that was becoming a distraction. So they went out and did a 29 ft dive for 28 mins and she said it was fun and had no issues. So now I'm thinking we are all back on course to restart the cert and diving tomorrow if my ears clear. Unfortunately that was not to happen. She started feeling stopped up that evening. The next day we were both completely stopped up and coughing. The same thing the following day. She did the book work and passed the first 4 chapters, but that's were her diving stopped. She remained stopped up and/or coughing the rest of the trip. I had to call off diving the third day in a row and was getting pretty bummed at this point. At this point the local groundskeeper Johnny got us all some coconuts and opened them up and said add some lemon and it will help. We went next door to Camp Bay Lodge and got a lime instead and squeezed the juice in and drank them all. The next morning my cough had subsided and I could clear my ears so I was back to diving. This was our last day in Camp Bay so it would be dive and drive away. I got to do the best two dives I have ever done. Dive one was to the Pinnacles which is really spectacular. 75 ft bottom with pinnacle corals heads rising up 40-60 feet high. They create all these canyons to swim through. I got to see a nice moray eel on full display stretched all the way out under a ledge. there was some nice macro stuff with tiny shrimps and just really really nice scenery. That dive lasted 51 mins as well. The next dive is my longest to date. Depth was 40 ft max and I was down 90 mins. It was Dolphins Den which is off Punta Blanca and is about a 20 mins boat ride to get there. There are coral caverns that have swim through and overhead skylights. It creates some awesome lighting effects. There is a boatload of macro stuff outside the cavern. I was able to see another moray, and a frogfish, nice schools of sardines, anemone shrimp.

After we got back I got some t-shirts and settled up what I owed. Chrissie reminded me not to forget my fins, which I promptly did. I drove all the way to West Bay, about 1.5 hours away, unpacked and realized I had no fins. I mentioned it in conversation to the hosts I was staying with and they jumped right in and posted it in three forums on the island. I also emailed Chrissie to check and she said I did leave them. Chrissie arranged to have them moved down island to the marine park office in West End and Lindsey stopped by and grabbed them on her way home from work. Lindsey had also found a person running a tour to Camp Bay that was willing to grab them. I cant say enough about how nice and helpful everyone I ran into was here on Roatan.

 

[aviator8]

Including the Camp Bay dive map for reference.



Down in West Bay we stayed in a AirBNB in West Bay Village which is a group of homes tucked in the trees between Infinity Bay and Paradise Hotel called West Bay Delight. The place is really nice and they have everything you may need. It is very convenient to access the beach, food, and diving. I went to Bananarama Divers and inquired about doing a 2 tank dive. They were about 300 feet down the beach and they said they have small boats that do 6 divers. I pointed out that both boats had six scheduled for the morning and they said they would squeeze me in. I decided to pass as diving a tight boat with a big camera rig is a recipe for disaster in my book. I also was not keen on hauling all my gear and camera rig down the beach in the morning. I went to Infinity Divers to inquire about what they had. They have cattle boats that do 20 divers but at 3:30 only had 3 divers booked. I figured that would be better as there would be plenty of room for me to get my camera away form everyone's gear. 8:30am the next morning at the dock there are 10 divers and me at the dock. So much for a leisurely dive I thought. They had two DM's on the boat. Everyone was very curious about the camera setup . People on the boat were all very nice and I didn't need to worry about the gear getting messed up. The DM's wanted me to put the rig in the camera dunk tank but I declined. This is where the differences between Dive Pangea and Infinity began stand out. They split us up into two groups. I was odd man out with no buddy so the DM said I am with him. I thought OK that's fine. Then he tells me we are going to 90 to do the swim through at hole in the wall. I had to tell him I am not going to 90. I just don't have any desire to go deep, and I was a bit surprised that they would even suggest it for an OW diver. So he flips me to the other DM. She does the briefing and in we go. I know they do this stuff every day but she was like Speedy Gonzalez, no lingering at all, just constantly moving around the track. She is my buddy and I am trying to take pictures. Most of both dives she was 40-60 feet in front of me. I am comfortable underwater, but what if I do need a buddy?? what is she going to do for me that far away. I just stayed close enough to some of the divers at the back to deal with an issue should something happen. I understood the path she was taking through the reef so rather than even try to catch up I would move up and over a coral heads to meet up on the other side. Both dives were enjoyable but felt rushed and almost like a tour attraction. That's just not the type diving I like. I know many on here voice a dislike of this kind of diving and sometimes just let them go and do your own thing. If I had a buddy I probably would have done just that. If you are a diver that likes to run at your own pace I highly recommend Dive Pangea. There was another SB member on that dive who was buddied up with his newly certified father. We talked gear on the boat, as he had Deep six regs as well and the same DGX mask as me. If he's active on here he can probably attest to the mechanical tour like dive they run. Both dives were to 60 for a little less than 50 mins. They want you back on the boat with 500. Diving with Chrissie, I was never rushed. If I felt like lingering she would linger. Anthony the DM candidate was super laid back and moved through the water slow and with ease pointing out all the tiny things I missed just like Chrissie did. When we completed the planned course we were back under the boat. Usually in 20-30 feet of water. If I had air we could stay down as long as I wanted. I could hang in the shallow reef for long safety stop and use air down to 200-300. I am sure some go lower but 200 is as low as I want to go even though I am only 15 feet deep at that point. Infinity Divers is just not my kind of diving. I would go back to Dive Pangea in a heartbeat, and I really like what they are trying to do. And to top it all off, Chrissie, Brian, Anthony, Elsey (boat captain) and Johnny the groundskeeper are all just really nice people to be around.


Here is a slideshow of our trip with several dive pictures

 

[Trailboss123]

Thanks for the trip report and taking the time to share your experience with us.

 

[aviator8]

I wonder if anyone can help me figure out what is going on with some of the images I took. Attached here is an example of one. I have many that end up with this pattern of dots or halos in the image. The positioning is the same in a series of images. I was shooting with a Inon UWL-100 wet lens. They look a little like what I have seen before where a lenses elements will have some mold growth inside that creates these. I have looked at this lens back and forth and do not see anything that could cause this. It could be flaring but is seems odd that they would follow this same pattern. I have it on images from multiple dives with different lighting. Also flaring I have seen is usually not dispersed like this a single dots spread across the image. They are usually more linear or follow a predictable pattern. Is this just a particularity of this wet lens?

 

[swimbody]

Great write up dude. I fell in love with RTB because of experiences like your first one in Camp Bay. The wife and I stayed at CocoLobo over 10 years ago and had the place to ourselves on August 31. We drove every road on the island and met so many amazing locals. It affected us both so much that we only dove Roatan for 5 years straight, sometimes 2 or 3 times a year. The camera talent will come with experience. I no longer carry any cameras with me as I'm so proud of myself when I can totally underpack and be completely comfortable. The wife and I make it a game on trips as to who can pack the lightest. Thanks again for sharing your trip and your family with us.

 

[aviator8]

Great write up dude. I fell in love with RTB because of experiences like your first one in Camp Bay. The wife and I stayed at CocoLobo over 10 years ago and had the place to ourselves on August 31. We drove every road on the island and met so many amazing locals. It affected us both so much that we only dove Roatan for 5 years straight, sometimes 2 or 3 times a year. The camera talent will come with experience. I no longer carry any cameras with me as I'm so proud of myself when I can totally underpack and be completely comfortable. The wife and I make it a game on trips as to who can pack the lightest. Thanks again for sharing your trip and your family with us.

Thanks. Everyone I ran into was great. Roatan really is a special place. I don’t think I can leave the camera gear behind but I can do a better job of scaling it down.