Roatan Suggestions

[Dabaras]

I'm investigating options for diving in Roatan. I'll be there in late April on Carnival. I used Subway Water Sports on a past trip, but the boat was awful and we got choked out on diesel fumes. Anybody have other suggestions?

[Doglover48]

West end divers. We used them last year. We are using them this year. Theto brick you up and drop you off at the the cruise terminal. Super nice. Great dive!

[OCruisers]

Have you considered booking it though Carnival?

[Dabaras]

Have you considered booking it though Carnival?

 

Yes, but that is my last choice. I'm not as concerned as some about ship excursions. I've had some very good dives off ship excursions and very bad ones. But I've had very bad privately booked dives as well. Sometimes the diving is just bad.

 

I might use the ship here just because of how far the walk is to get to the outside vendors. I haul all of our own gear and my 40 pound ikelite setup.

[omeinv]

In Roatan, the ship's vendor doesn't save you any lugging of gear. You meet the rep from AKR (the ship's vendor) at the pier, but then you (carrying your own gear) follow him to their vehicle, which is parked in a lot that is shared by all transportation. At best the ship's tour might save you 50 steps.

 

Harris

Denver, CO

[Dabaras]

For Subway Sports you had to walk out the gate, down the hill and they were parked towards the end of all the vendors. My understanding is that the Carnival excursions pick you up inside the gate, which would save about a 1/4 mile. Is this not correct? This is specifically at Mahogany Bay. Maybe it is different at the two different ports.

Edited February 13, 2015 by Dabaras

[Podie]

For Subway Sports you had to walk out the gate, down the hill and they were parked towards the end of all the vendors. My understanding is that the Carnival excursions pick you up inside the gate, which would save about a 1/4 mile. Is this not correct? This is specifically at Mahogany Bay. Maybe it is different at the two different ports.

 

At Coxen Hole, Subway Sports picked us up right outside the gate. However, you're right about the small boat with the noxious fumes - annoying!

[Laurie S.]

I enjoyed Subway and had no problem with their boat, but we also enjoyed Barefoot Divers and Bananarama.

[Claymore2]

I will be diving with SCUBA Roatan on the 25th of March and post back when I can with a report.

[Dabaras]

Thanks. Their website is minimal, but they have very good tripadvisor scores.

[sross6019]

Bananarama is good. Husband has always enjoyed going with them.

[Middleager]

We used Mayan Divers. They picked us up outside the gate. You have to walk slightly uphill to the gate to get out.

 

It's similar price to booking thru Carnival which goes to Anthony Key Resort. The big difference is after diving, we stayed to enjoy the beach for a while, before heading back. With AKR, right after diving they shuttle you back to the ship.

 

Diving at Roatan was very good. Healthy coral reef and lots of fish. Good viz, and the day we were there, very calm sea.

[scuabacruiser]

Yes, but that is my last choice. I'm not as concerned as some about ship excursions. I've had some very good dives off ship excursions and very bad ones. But I've had very bad privately booked dives as well. Sometimes the diving is just bad.

 

I might use the ship here just because of how far the walk is to get to the outside vendors. I haul all of our own gear and my 40 pound ikelite setup.

Your right, it is a haul. I normally use a collapsible hand truck. We had the same experience with Subway. We have also use AKR the 1st time we dove Roatan, much better but middleager is right. Used Las Rocas on the west end and loved them, small boat, good dives. We are going to try Bananarama in May because it's on the same beach as Las Rocas and it seems, for the non divers in our group, it has a great beach.

[sparkinator]

I enjoyed Subway and had no problem with their boat, but we also enjoyed Barefoot Divers and Bananarama.

 

These are the 3 I've used in Roatan, and they were all great. Subway was the cheapest, due to free pick-up at the pier.

[beachinmom01]

Wouldn't recommend Anthony's key.

 

 

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[wendipotent]

My husband and I used to work as dive masters in west end. I worked at reef gliders and my husband at coconut tree, both are great dive shops. I love diving in Roatan, beautiful dives!

[irocet]

We have dove twice in Roatan, both times with Anthony's Key. We never had an issue with them or their equipment. Our last dive was in Dec 13 and we did the dolphin dive. That dive was one of the best dives we have ever done and I highly recommend it.

[Podie]

The reef Subway took me to looked pretty beat up, and had few fish. The people who dived from the West End definitely had a much better experience than I did. Then again, diving in Belize two hours south of Belize City has really spoiled me because the reefs are so pristine.

[Claymore2]

I just got back from our cruise and dives with Scuba Roatan.

Their prearranged transport was waiting outside the Mahogany Bay terminal gate as promised, it was a bit of a hike carrying all my gear. It was a 25 to 30 minute ride to the dive shop on the west side. The equipment I saw seemed to be fairly new and in good repair. The owner Amanda, it's appears to be family owed, was there to greet us and get us set up with any equipment we might need. This shop accepts CASH ONLY but they made that very clear when the reservation was made so it was not a problem to bring the cash.

The DM/Instructors setup and carried all the gear down to and into the boat. We had to wait for the boat to get back from the first dive with another group of cruise divers. After their surface interval at the dive shop our group of 3 divers and the first group of 5 or 6 divers went out to the 1st site of our two dives with Susan as the DM, there is no dock so you enter the boat by a wooden ladder over the side of the boat but if I can manage it at 68 it can't be to bad. It was well briefed and we were told what we may see. The entry into the water is back roll over the side of the boat which is very common on smaller boats.The dive was a nice slow dive with plenty of time to look around and enjoy the reef. It was kept to a max depth of 60 ft. At the end of the dive weight belts/weights are handed up to the boat captain and then BC's and tanks are handed up and then you remove your fins and enter the boat up the wooden ladder

Then to was back to the dive shop for the surface interval and the interesting exit from the boat.

During the SI the shop staff changed all the gear over to new tanks.

Then it was off to the second dive of the day. This dive was well briefed by Chris and was also nice slow dive with no rush to get finished. There were several small creatures that the DM's found that would be missed by most divers.

Then it was back to the shop where the staff hauled up and broke down all the gear.

 

The staff was very friendly and helpful and appeared to enjoy what they were doing. One of the advantages for me was that all the people I talked with spoke very good English with little or no accent which made communication in both directions easier.

 

I found this to be a very nice shop to dive with. There are very service oriented, friendly and want you to have a good experience with them.

[Dabaras]

Thanks for all the suggestions from everyone. My decision got even more complicated by the fact that my wife is now not going diving with me. We're leaving in two weeks, so I may just flip a coin.

[Raxter54]

Wouldn't recommend Anthony's key.

 

 

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Is there a reason you wouldn't recommend AKR? We are looking at the Carnival excursion that is handled by AKR, and it is rated pretty highly (4.7 out of 5 on 49 reviews). Would just like to know what you didn't like so I can make an informed decision.

[beachinmom01]

Raxter. I'm not sure i'd recommend getting off the ship in Roatan again.

 

Our experiences just that... our experience. Doesn't mean it will happen again or has happened to everyone. However I will say when searching the web we did see most complaints about AKR come from cruise ship parties.

 

What happened to my 16-year-old daughter was terrifying. And, not handled appropriately at all.

 

My husband and my daughter were new divers. They had completed their certification in the Bahamas last summer did refresher dives before this trip and then dove with AKR as a NCL excursion.

 

My daughter went down and after five minutes noticed she was almost out of air, then her next breath and there was no air. She surfaced and met the dive master at the surface. he scolded her and treated her as if it were her fault. He messed with the tank on her back and sent her back down. I was shocked to hear that she went back down and wasn't checked for DCS as she was 30 to 40 feet when she ascended quickly.

 

After researching what could've been wrong with the only solution is that the tank was not all the way open and as the pressure got stronger as she got deeper the air cannot replenish before she needed it. this happened because they were in control of the tanks and turning them on as they put them on the divers backs and must not have turned the tank completely on.

 

there was no concern for DCS or any checking her out for that by the dive master. I'm thankful my daughter is okay today.

 

 

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Edited June 1, 2015 by beachinmom01

[Laurie S.]

Was your husband her dive buddy? Why didn't she get air from him? Sounds like she panicked and forgot her training. Surfacing from that depth isn't going to cause DCS, unless she was holding her breath, which she probably wasn't if the valve was closed. She probably was scolded for not going to her dive buddy for air, although I'm curious why the dm was on the surface and not down with the divers, especially new ones. Not good.

 

I've never dived with Anthony's Key, and probably never will. If I were to go back to Roatan, I'd go back to Subway. However, since I've been there six times already, it's not high on my list right now.

[Raxter54]

Raxter. I'm not sure i'd recommend getting off the ship in Roatan again.

 

Our experiences just that... our experience. Doesn't mean it will happen again or has happened to everyone. However I will say when searching the web we did see most complaints about AKR come from cruise ship parties.

 

What happened to my 16-year-old daughter was terrifying. And, not handled appropriately at all.

 

My husband and my daughter were new divers. They had completed their certification in the Bahamas last summer did refresher dives before this trip and then dove with AKR as a NCL excursion.

 

My daughter went down and after five minutes noticed she was almost out of air, then her next breath and there was no air. She surfaced and met the dive master at the surface. he scolded her and treated her as if it were her fault. He messed with the tank on her back and sent her back down. I was shocked to hear that she went back down and wasn't checked for DCS as she was 30 to 40 feet when she ascended quickly.

 

After researching what could've been wrong with the only solution is that the tank was not all the way open and as the pressure got stronger as she got deeper the air cannot replenish before she needed it. this happened because they were in control of the tanks and turning them on as they put them on the divers backs and must not have turned the tank completely on.

 

there was no concern for DCS or any checking her out for that by the dive master. I'm thankful my daughter is okay today.

 

 

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Wow! That sounds like a terrible situation. That would probably scare me away, too.

 

Since we will be taking the beginner dives, I would hope they would pay more attention to us noobies and be ore careful. Maybe I'd better stick with snorkeling :)

[Raxter54]

I've never dived with Anthony's Key, and probably never will. If I were to go back to Roatan, I'd go back to Subway. However, since I've been there six times already, it's not high on my list right now.

 

Despite Beachinmom01's experience, I'm thinking we'd still like to try scuba diving. I'll add Subway to my list to research. Thanks for the input.