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New Divers Roatan. Looking for suggestions.


snownow
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My Daughter (13) and I are about to start our open water cert next week. Her birthday wish was to dive on our upcoming summer cruise. Roatan is our first stop and looks like an amazing place to dive. So does anyone have any suggestions about dive companies or locations for our first western Caribbean dive? or has anyone used Sundivers or Coconut Tree divers in half moon bay? Thanks in advance for any tips.

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The cruise lines in Roatan all use Anthony's Key Resort. That's the only way to dive with them, as otherwise they only have their own resort guests diving with them. They have nice equipment, and the diving is very nice. However, the last time I dove with them they devolved into the typical "cattle boat" operator. The had us in one group of 14 divers. If your a newer diver, you'd likely find that very uncomfortable. Considering you'd pay a premium to book through the ship, there's no way I'd recommend them after my most recent experience.

 

The last time I was in Roatan, in May, 2016; we dove with Subway Watersports (www.subwaywatersports.com). I was very impressed with their advance communication. Their driver met us exactly as the e-mail said he would at the port. Their facility is very nice, and less hectic than Anthony's Key. I have my own gear, but two people travelling with us used the rental gear, and it was quite good. As is true on most of Roatan, the dive sites are very close to shore, so the boat ride was quick, and you can do your surface interval back at the shop. they have a nice restaurant on site. We had our group of 4, plus two other divers, accompanied by 2 dive masters. The boat was large enough to be quite comfortable. We had plenty of time to enjoy our dives, clean our gear, and got back to the ship with hours to spare. So I'd recommend them highly.

 

Harris

Denver, CO

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Thank you, i will take a look. How was the resort, we have 2 non divers in our group as well.

 

Beautiful! A good restaurant right there at the shop, with a great covered deck overlooking the bay. I see by the web site they offer snorkeling, and various other water activities, as well as other activities. If they run those like they did the diving, everyone in your group should be able to find something.

 

 

Harris

Denver, CO

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I have dove with Coconut Tree. I did like them, but felt a little rushed to get into the water by their dive master.

 

Last time I went to Roatan, I dove with Quality Time Divers. TOP NOTCH! You choose your group and the dives are determined based upon your desires (and water conditions, of course). The dive master even takes video of your excursion with him. They even provide an outdoor shower and towels to clean up after the dive, if you choose. This is the ONLY place I will dive with now. *Plus, the boat captain has family that owns a restaurant within walking distance. The coconut shrimp was great for our surface interval.*

 

No matter what, take your time don't rush to get in the water. Also, don't be afraid to tell the DM that this is some of your first dives. I'm sure (if they are good DMs) that they will help you anyway possible to feel comfortable in the water. Plus, they usually give some good tips too.

Edited by lil93bit
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  • 1 month later...

We got back from Carnival Freedom on Saturday, had a BLAST. Best ship, best crew....and we got to dive!

It has been 2 years since we had been diving due to several minor surgeries, so we were both dying to get back underwater. We picked this itinerary because we knew Roatan was the first stop, and easy diving. It did not disappoint.

 

My video:

 

Unfortunately, my GoPro is older (I have had it 5 yrs, is the Hero2) so it started giving me errors on the second dive...we had a HUGE eagle ray come swim right by us, maybe 20' away and I didn't get any footage. Boo. But otherwise the dives were great. And I plan the get a new video rig....

 

The dive op is Anthony's Key Resort, on the north side of Roatan. We have done two week-long landbased trips to Roatan staying on the southside of the island and diving with a different resort. It was nice to see the other side, as we had heard they were different. AKR was fantastic...bus ride was 20 minutes from Mahogany Bay to AKR, they have great boats, great crew, and dive sites just 5 minutes from the dock. We did the surface interval back at the dock, too. Zip out to reef, dive, zip back to dock and change tanks, zip out to reef, then back to dock. Bus ride back to port around 1pm. Great excursion, good for beginners too since the diving was so easy with zero current and great vis.

 

I will have a full trip report up later.

 

robin

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thanks, it was so nice to be back in the water. I have footage for Cozumel also and hope to get that video done in next few days.

 

 

Good, I have been to Cozumel many times, but never dove there. I'll look forward to your video.

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No idea why, but super stoked it was. Great Video. We are finishing our open water this Sunday and will be there in a month. Thanks for the Video.... however it got here.

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Why was my video thread merged with someone else's thread? That makes no sense.

 

 

Robin,

 

Several months ago Cruise Critic got tough on the Scuba/Snorkeling board about posting reviews that are not in response to a specific question. Someone's (I think BillOH, but not certain) lost a very nice write-up of several dives; which were summarily deleted entirely. I suspect they put yours in this thread to make it related to a question. It's nicer than deleting it altogether I suppose.

 

I understand Cruise Critic's position, since they don't want tour operators and the like posting their own info; but our little corner seems a strange place to be hard and fast with the rule. However, it is after all their playground.

 

Harris

Denver, CO

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Robin,

 

Several months ago Cruise Critic got tough on the Scuba/Snorkeling board about posting reviews that are not in response to a specific question. Someone's (I think BillOH, but not certain) lost a very nice write-up of several dives; which were summarily deleted entirely. I suspect they put yours in this thread to make it related to a question. It's nicer than deleting it altogether I suppose.

 

I understand Cruise Critic's position, since they don't want tour operators and the like posting their own info; but our little corner seems a strange place to be hard and fast with the rule. However, it is after all their playground.

 

Harris

Denver, CO

 

Yeah, I figured that. I lost a whole post about my dives in Grand Cayman 2 yrs ago when they deleted it. I still don't agree with their position. The posts about dive ops is to HELP other people decide about diving a certain location and dive with a certain dive op or not. I just find it odd they don't even send you a notification that they deleted or moved your post.

I will have the dive video links in my Trip Report posted on the Carnival Forum anyhow...just thought divers in particular might want to just hear about the diving. Sad.

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Robin, I agree. The reviews of dive ops here are clearly written in that spirit, and written by "real" users of Cruise Critic.

 

I suppose they've given us the answer with this example. If' you scroll back far enough you can probably find a query about anyplace. Then post the review onto that thread. :)

 

Harris

Denver, CO

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

So i ended up going with Coconut tree divers in west end, mostly based on another review sites rating, plus the fact they included picking us up in the port. 100% glad we went with them. The owners were very nice, Dive masters really spent time making sure we were all good and ready for the dive. There was no rush, no pressure and they were very professional. We did two dives, first one ended up drifting pretty far and had around 20 min float waiting for the boat to pick up us and the other group. (there were two groups of 4 with a dive master with each group). The second dive was very near the shop, and at a shallower depth. I must say warm water diving has me sold on this sport. Roatan is Amazing, clear water, Huge eagle rays, Turtles, and a very nice reef.

GOPR1054-S.jpg

 

Link to short Turtle crossing.

 

https://photos.smugmug.com/People-Places-and-Events/NCL-Escape-review-photos-2017/i-GGSJtNM/0/4cf30c02/640/GOPR1115-640.mp4

Edited by snownow
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  • 1 month later...

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