Well, we got so much help and information from this board before going on our trip, we feel obligated to file a report here so that others who may be considering Roatan or CoCo View can make an informed decision.
We hope that this information is helpful. If it is, or if you have other questions not addressed here, please feel free to e-mail us at JGOLDMAN.
WARNING: The views here are our own and represent our own personal expereinces. Also, we have absolutely no affiliation with any of the operations discussed here.
WARNING #2: THIS IS A PRETTY LONG REPORT, but we erred on the side of writing too much rather than too litle.
BACKGROUND:
My wife and I are fairly new to diving (30 logged dives) and this was to be our third major dive trip, having previously travelled to St. Lucia (Anse Chastenet) and Grand Cayman. We were looking to try a more "adventurous" location, where the diving was truly the focus and we wanted something much less comercial than Grand Cayman. After much research here on AOL, talking to other divers and reading books, it came down to Belize or Roatan. Checking prices and availability, we found that Roatan, and CoCo View specifically, seemed to offer the best value for the diving dollar.
ARRANGEMENTS:
We booked the hotel and flights through Island Dreams Travel. They were extremely helpful and had recent personal experience with all the resorts we were interested in. I HIGHLY recommend Island Dreams: they were very professional, knowledgable and thorough.
GETTING THERE:
Travelling from the west coast (Monterey, CA), there are a number of options. American Airlines flies into Honduras as far as Tegucigalpa, where you'd have to switch to a small local carrier, Islena Air, to get to Roatan. The other option is to fly TACA airlines, either from Los Angeles or from Houston. Island Dreams buys blocks of tickets on TACA and sells them for nearly half of a comparable ticket on AA, so we opted for TACA, despite horror stories from divers about this "third world" carrier. Those who had flown TACA recommended we fly out of Houston since that flight goes right to Roatan, minimizing Central American connections and, therefore, opportunities for missed flights or lost luggage. However, after looking into flight schedules, we realized that there were real advantages to going from Los Angeles. The flight routing is much more complicated: L.A. to San Salvador (red-eye with a brief stop in Guatemala, though no change of planes there), then change planes in San Salvador and fly to La Ceba, Honduras and then on to Roatan. But the pay-off for taking this complicated route is an extra day of diving! This routing gets you in to Roatan by 10:00am instead of nearly 4:00pm if you go from Houston to Roatan.
So, because the price was lower and the schedule better, we went against all published advice and flew TACA airlines from L.A. to Guatemala to San Salvador to La Ceba to Roatan. Our expectations were extremely low in terms of comfort, timeliness, service and liklihood of connections working and baggage arriving.
However, to say we were pleasantly surprised by TACA would be an understatement. Absolutely everything about these flights was professional and pleasant. The aircraft were modern, clean 767s with far more legroom in coach than any American airline I've flown in years. The food was actually QUITE good, the service both on board and at the airports was also excellent. The plane did leave LA nearly 1 1/2 hours late for no apparent reason, but we made all connecting flights just fine, the checked bags made it all the way through in perfect shape and the ticketing and transfers were handled better than they often are at LAX or DFW. We can't stress enough - do not believe the rumors you've heard about TACA. Since they subsumed SAHSA airlines, they have modernized and professionalized the operation and I think you'll find it more pleasant than a trip on any long U.S. coach-class flight. The flights were very full - don't plan to stretch out across rows of seats, but as I've said you'll have plenty of room. One more thing - they have the BEST on-board coffee I've ever had and they serve top-shelf cocktails.
ARRIVING IN ROATAN
Roatan has just completed a brand new modern air terminal. Unfortunately, it still hasn't opened for reasons no one on the island knows, since the dedication was over a month ago. By the time you read this it may well be open, but as you'll learn when you travel to Central America, schedules are... "flexible." We arrived in the rickety old terminal that appears to be made out of scrap lumber and cardboard boxes.
One of the first pleasant surprises you'll find upon arriving in Roatan (if you're staying with CoCo View), is that the resort staff meets you BEFORE you clear customs. They pick up your bags, take your passports from you and escort you through a private exit directly to the waiting bus. No immigration or customs procedures at all. While everyone else on the flight waited in long lines, we were already on an air-conditioned bus while the staff retrieved our luggage and whisked it though. I don't know how they do this, but I suspect CoCo View is "taking care" of some local officials to make the problems go away for their guests. Our large gear bag arrived still padlocked - unopened and unquestioned. I don't know if it always happens like this, but we were very impressed.
ARRIVING AT COCO VIEW
The resort is a short (20 min) ride from the airport. You arrive at the Fantasy Island dock where a boat takes you across the bay to Co Co View.
Physically, the resort is quite attractive. "Resort" however, may conjure up the wrong image. While everything is clean and nice, nothing is at all luxurious. The main lodge consists of a small office, a small "honor policy" gift shop for food, toiletries, t-shirts, postcards, etc.; and the dining hall which also serves as a "rec room", entertainment center, and bar.
THE ROOMS
There are three types of rooms at CoCo View: the standard rooms (a few of these have airconditioners), the over-water cabanas, and the bungalows. The standard rooms and the cabanas go for the same price and the bungalows were $50 per week higher. The cabanas are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. (This is another strong reason to consider arriving early in the day. Almost everyone in the resort comes for Saturday to Saturday stays, so those few that arrive via El Salvador first thing in the morning are likely to get these rooms)
We thought the cabanas were far more desirable than the rooms and were glad to have gotten one. First, they're built out over the water, on stilts, which means you won't get sand fleas in your room (more on the bugs later). These rooms also get FAR more of a breeze which means you don't need airconditioners and the temperature is always very pleasant. They have a "sitting area" facing the water with chaise lounges - it's all screened in. If, however, you prefer to have a real, open-air balcony or patio, then you may want to opt for the regular rooms which all have one or the other. The bungalows, however, offer the best of both worlds and they looked VERY nice. They are built out over the water, they have an inside sitting area AND an outside balcony with private hammocks. They're also closer to the dining room and the dive center. If you want to save money, the cabanas are nearly as nice.
Our cabana had a Queen and a full bed, two lounge chairs, and a desk. Furnishings were nice but simple. The bathroom was functional, though hardly luxurious, with a fairly decent shower.
THE DIVE OPERATION
Unless you've stayed at CoCo View before, you need to take an "Orientation Dive" with a divemaster before you are "certified" to dive. The reasons for this become clear soon enough. CoCo View is VERY different than the other two dive resorts we've visited. They trust you totally to dive safely on your own. There is unlimited beach diving, 24 hours a day, and boat dives feature a good orientation on the boat and then you're on your own. They'll recommend a dive profile to help you see a lot at that particular site, but you're free to go as deep as you want and stay for as long as you want (or can). You're trusted to regulate your bottom time, surface intervals, etc. all on your own. If you're used to the standard "a.m. two-tank dive with a dive master who shows you around and keeps you at 60 ft. for 40 min." thing, then this is a bit unusual at first and may be unnerving to new divers. You'll quickly appreciate the freedom and trust that this affords you though, and if you prefer to dive with the divemaster, he'll always take you with him. If you're considering a dive computer, I'd recommend it. This was my first time with a computer and it really helped me track my dives, surface intervals, etc.
Another difference at CoCoView is that when you arrive, you're assigned to a dive boat. You'll dive with the same divemaster and the same divers each dive all week. You can't sign up for particular dives, but your group will hit all the major dive areas during the week without repeating any dives. This system seems unusual, but it allows the divemasters to get to know each dive pair and get to understand the abilities of everyone in the group.
The morning dive takes you to some interesting site anywhere from 3 minutes from the resort to, at most, 30 minutes. Once you've done the dive and all have returned to the boat, the boat will head back to the resort, where you always have the opportunity to do a "drop-off" dive. In this case, the boat will drop you off at CoCo View wall or Newman's wall, the two great walls right off the property. You can do the wall and head back to the resort for a beach exit. This is one of the reason's you need the orientation dive. You need to get your bearings among those two walls, the wreck of the Prince Albert, and the plane wreck so that you can find your way back to the resort. It's really quite easy once you're shown around and you soon learn the rules, trust us, as novice divers, it's very easy and the drop-off dives are really great.
The same procedure takes place in the afternoon. A boat dive, then an optional drop-off dive on the way home.
The resort even offers unlimited night diving. Any time you want you can head down to the dive area, gear up, and pick up a key that has your room number on it from a peg board. Head out through the cut in the wall and you'll find a blinking strobe, left by the first diver of the night. Clip your room key to the strobe and you're on your own. Upon returning to the strobe, if you're the last key on clipped to the strobe, this means you're the last divers out there, so you pick up your key and the strobe and take the strobe back to the dock.
So there are four "official" dives offered per day plus unlimited shore and night shore dives. Many hard core divers were averaging 6 dives per day. We kept ourselves to 3-4 per day and didn't feel we missed anything.
THE DIVING!!
OK, now that you know all the trivialities and the mechanics of the operation, you probably want to know how the diving really is!
In general, we found the diving to be very good. The visibility is not as good as Cayman or even St. Lucia, and if you're into the experience of diving among massive schools of fish swimming all around you then Roatan might not be for you. The fish aren't as abundant as we would have hoped, though there's always a great variety of your basic carribean fish: parrotfish, filefish, angelfish (though far more rare than in Cayman), tangs, squirrelfish, barracuda, grouper, spotted drums, rock beauties, butterflyfish, etc. Pelagics are around and you'll see them now and them. We saw some rays and other members of our dive saw turtles, an octopus, etc. We saw two very large green morays that were very active and even came completely out of their holes and swam along the reef in broad daylight. You'll see plenty of arrow crabs, lobsters, hermit crabs, conch, squid, etc. as well. In general, a nice selection of critters on every dive, though, as I've said, not the hordes of fish we've seen elsewhere.
Roatan, however, definitely had the best variety of reef types and coral types of of anywhere we've been. Great coral formations abound and each dive will show you many many different types of coral. Fantastic fields of elkhorn coral, beautiful brain coral, fan coral, fire coral, even plenty of black coral. There are some of the most dramatic overhangs, crevices, cracks, tunnels and sheer walls that you'll ever see. (MAKE SURE your boat gets to a dive site called "Calvin's Crack" for a real treat! A great swimmable crack that's nearly a tunnel - enter through a tiny hole just barlely big enough for you to fit through at 25 feet, exits at 90 feet as a huge chasm, then fantastic walls to follow back to the mooring site.)
There really is a tremendous variety of dive sites within 20 minutes boat ride from the resort. Each dive is very distinctively different than the others, more so than we remember on Grand Cayman.
The Wreck of the Prince Albert is a 140-foot frieghter intentionally sunk off Newman's wall right in front of the resort. It's in 50 feet of water. It's been opened up for safe penetration and houses a variety of critters. There's a small plane wreck right nearby as well.
Visibility right around the shipwreck can range from 100 feet down to 10 feet, though visibility on the walls themselves is usually pretty good. As reported here on AOL, they're still dredging and doing other construction at Fantasy Island and this is definitely having an effect on visibility at these sites right at the resort. Weather and currents also plays a factor. We had one day where, on a drop off dive, we followed the wall along just fine, about 50 foot visibility, but as we neared the shallow water of the shipwreck and found the sign pointing to the shipwreck, we were suddenly in 5-10 foot visibility. Actually had to use our compass to find the wreck from the sign. (The sign tells you "Shipwreck is 30 degree heading from here"). We nearly smashed into the ship before we saw it.
Usually, though, visibility is pretty good here. Visibility at most of the boat dive sites was 80-120 feet (my guess).
THE DIVE SHOP
We had all of our own equpment, but there's a small but well equipped dive shop on site that has everything you could want and rents decent equipment. There's a photo shop within this dive shop that rents still and video cameras or you can hire John the photographer to come shoot you on one of your dives.
THE FOOD
There really isn't a restaurant... it's more of a big dining area. Meals are served "family style" - bring your plate up to the buffet table for salad and entres. Deserts are brought to the table. There's always a seafood dish and at least one non-seafood dish. Lunch is usually sandwiches, soup, etc. Dinner has a full salad bar, veggie dishes, soup, fish entre and a chicken or meat option. I'd rate the food "fair" to "good". Nothing was fantastic, nothing was terrible. There's not many other options for meals. You can go to Fantasy Island, or take a boat to the dock and then have a cab take you to Coxen's Hole, a very small, somewhat run-down town. We ate all meals at the hotel.
FANTASY ISLAND
Fantasy Island sits right across the small bay from CoCo View. We decided to head over to FI one night to check it out so we grabbed a paddle boat and paddled the short distance across the bay. (More on the paddleboat experience later)
FI is really more of an upscale motel than a deluxe resort. The rooms are cookie-cutter vintage '70s motel rooms. The lobby area gives a good first impression with it's two-story entrance, views to the beach and large stairway up to the restaurant. However, the decor and architecture look like they must have been very modern 20 years ago but now look a bit out of place. The whole place could be quite nice if they did some modernization or "freshening" of the look.
The whole place is VERY different from CoCo View. The restaurant and bar seem strangely formal for a place like Roatan. Diners in the dining room were "dressed for dinner" - quite a contrast from the come-in-anything, serve-yourself atmosphere at CCV. If you like more fancy waiter-served meals with private tables and booths then you'll like FI. Maybe it just seemed a bit odd to have come from the very informal, friendly, simple CCV dining room into this FI's more traditional, but very dated-looking, dining room.
FI's beach area is the one feature we found VERY attractive. Nice, large beach with scattered palms, a fairly nice pool, chaise lounges everywhere. However, remember, this is Roatan and the sand fleas can make lounging on the sand a bad idea.
One note about taking the paddle boat to FI: Be sure it's a calm day/evening with low winds. We found ourselves stranded when we tried to get back to CCV into a VERY strong headwind. Luckily, there's a regular motorboat shuttle between the two resorts and they seem to know that during high-winds they'll have to tow back a few hapless paddleboat adventurers. We were among the humiliated paddlers.
ENTERTAINMENT
Well, to put it bluntly, there'r aint much of it at CCV. The dining room has a large area that has a pool table, ping-pong, lots of board games and puzzles and in the upstairs dining room there's a TV with VCR and a selection of tapes (mostly scuba tapes, dive documentaries, etc. but also some movies). There are lots of books and magazines as well.
The bar is the center of attention after the afternoon dive and after dinner. They do a pretty good job and the prices are reasonable. There's also a very vocal parrot named Jose who utters dozens of funny and useless phrases all evening long. He'll yell at the bartender to make him some popcorn, tell you he's "fallen and can't get up", cluck, quack, moo, meow, bark, etc.
There's an outdoor Barbecue twice a week with a singer/keyboard player (who's also the resort's electrician) and the local Carib indian kids come dance at one of these events. (One of ours was rained out).
THE SAND FLEAS / "NO-SEE-UMs"
OK, folks, this one is more blown out of proportion than anything else. We were absolutely terrified of the fleas ruining this trip for us. (Maybe you remember us posting many messages here on AOL asking about the fleas). Well, despite horror stories and reading messages like "we'll never go back, it ruined our trip", we can now tell you that this REALLY wasn't a problem. I did not get one single bite during the entire trip, Judy got one bite on her ankle that was much like a mosquito bite. Maybe it was that the wind was blowing the whole time we were there (the locals told us this is the single biggest factor in keeping the fleas away), maybe it's that we had a room over the water, or maybe just that we took some simple precautions, but we didn't even notice the bugs.
We started out the trip generously lathering up with Skin-so-soft at every turn, then spraying Deep-woods OFF on top of that. We'd take Deet cream on the dive boats, to meals, etc. That lasted all of two days, when, frankly, we just got more careless about it... and there was no difference. We'd put on some skin-so-soft in the morning, do our 3-4 dives and eat lunch in between then maybe dab a bit more on or take some spray before evening. Never a bite. Judy is also highly susceptible to bug bites and our cat at home has caused her more flea bites than she got on Roatan.
Again, maybe we were just lucky... take skin-so-soft and some deet, take simple precautions once or twice a day and don't lay on the sand especially if there's no wind. (CCV has nice lounge chairs build onto decks above the sand and one great dock built way out over the water. Use those.) Then forget about the bugs.
(By the way, at the end of our trip we met some divers who were on Guanaja and every one of them was absolutely covered in big red splotches from bug bites. They claimed to have tried to be careful but there was no avoiding the bugs on Guanaja.)
THE WEATHER
Our trip was at the beginning of March, typically just after the rainy season. We did get quite a bit of rain while we were there - maybe half the days there was some period of rain and two days it rained quite a bit. There were often showers in the middle of the night, sometimes VERY strong but brief rainstorms. The locals seemed a bit surprised that it was raining in March still but fortunately we had at least three great sunny days. The weather can be very surprising: one morning it was absolutely POURING when we woke up. We were convinced it would be a disastrous day. But by 10:00am it was bright and sunny, not a cloud in the sky and you'd never have known it had rained so hard.
TRIP TO COPAN
If there's one single piece of advice I'd give anyone going to Roatan it would be this: do not leave without arranging a side trip to Copan, preferably 2 or 3 days. We really almost didn't do this, thinking that by the end of our intensive dive trip that we'd be ready to go back home to our strong showers and comfortable bed. Well, I think we talk more about Copan (both the ruins and the town) than we do about the diving. It was really an incredible place to visit and we only feel that we really got to know Honduras" because of our having taken this trip.
Island Dreams arranged for us to fly back through San Pedro Sula airport from Roatan via Islena airles, and then booked us on a three-day, two-night Copan tour with Mayan Carribean tours. MC met us at San Pedro Sula airport. We were the only ones arriving for them that day so they sent a private car and a great local tour guide to drive us the three hours to Copan. It's a pleasant drive across the mountains with plenty to see along the way.
We were booked into "Hotel Marina Copan" and we weren't expecting much, especially as we saw how rural the area around Copan is. However, the hotel is absolutely beautiful and felt luxurious compared to the simple accomodations at CCV. The rooms were great, had cable-TV, phones and what must be the best showers anywhere in central america. They have a beautiful pool in the central courtyard, a great bar and a very nice full-service restaurant. There are plenty of hotels in Copan but most are very cheap, simple, motel-type places. Trust us, if you're going to Copan, you don't want to stay anywhere except Marina. We couldn't believe it. Judy in particular was very excited to get a chance to lounge by a pool sipping margaritas after doing nothing but diving for seven days. (Also, the weather in the interior of honduras is much better - always sunny, warm and slightly breezy.)
(Oh, one piece of advice - the hotel has older rooms and then a whole wing of newer rooms. Get a newer room, it's much better. If you walk into your room and you're disappointed in the small bathroom, you've got an older room. Ask quickly to move to a newer room if one's available - they're the ones with the huge marble bathrooms and the excellent showers. We gave the bellhop a few lempiras and asked "Tiene un cuarto mas grande, por favor?" and he rushed away and came back with a new key to one of the larger rooms.)
Copan, however, offers so much more than just time to lounge by a pool. The hotel is right at the edge of the central town square where there are always things going on. It's really a very nice little town and it isn't "touristy" at all, though there are some souvenir shops. It's an agricultural town and it, like all of Honduras, is very poor. However, we felt VERY safe and the locals are incredibly friendly and accepting. They seem to be a very proud people and while they lead simple lives that we would call "poor", they seem very content. They do not, as a rule, beg for money as we've seen at other Carribean and Mexican countries, nor do they resent you being there in their town. On Saturday night, we even wandered into a big local dance hall where there were probably 300 locals of all ages enjoying local music and dancing. This was not for the tourists or anything, it was "their" local saturday-night hangout. We were the only "gringos" in the place and yet no one looked at us funny or said anything about our being there and we ended up having a great time. They were friendly and seemed glad to have us there.
In Copan, in contrast to Roatan, very few people speak much English. It will be very helpful to know some spanish in order to get around. This even extends to restaurants and hotel workers, though Marina always has someone at the front desk who speaks some English. Luckily, my broken spanish recalled from high school was more than enough and we did very well.
THE COPAN RUINS
While we have never visited any of the other Mayan ruins in Central America, it's hard to imagine that they can be more impressive than Copan. The descriptions in the guide books do not do it justice - it's really quite an awesome feeling to see this large ancient city up close, to climb among temples, homes, and tombs. The most impressive ruins are at the Main Site, though there are two other noteworthy sites: Las Sepulturas (a residential area with burial grounds) and Los Sapos, a small area where Mayan women came to give birth. We opted to visit Los Sapos via horseback. You'll find that children in the town will offer to arrange this horseback trip for you. It's worth the few bucks that they ask.
The children around Copan are very persistent in trying to sell trinkets and souvenirs. They do not, however, beg for money - it seems to be against their cultural morals to accept money, which is a refreshing change from many other Carribean and Mexican areas we've visited.
If you really want to make some friends, bring along T-shirts with American companies, sports teams or other cultural icons - they seem to be quite prized among locals of all ages.
If you've read this far, you're probably pretty serious about visiting Honduras or Roatan. If you are, and if you have other questions that we haven't addressed here, we'd be happy to exchange e-mails with you if we can help.
