Enough time to scuba in Roatan?

[utdivegrl]

We are sailing with the Carnival Legend in March and will be in Roatan from 8 am - 3 pm. We don't really want to take the ships scuba excursion, but I am worried about the time factor - I don't want to get left behind and I don't want to worry about what time it is and getting back to the ship the whole time we are diving. We are thinking of diving with Las Rocas Resort but will we have enough time to get in two dives?

[tooexcitedtogo]

When in March are you going?

[utdivegrl]

When in March are you going?

 

March 15

[2Ports]

on who you dive with.

 

Last year we dove w/ Dockside @ CoCoView (great place) but barley made it back to the ship in time due to long cab ride. Scariest cab ride since 20+ years ago in Jamaica - Mobay to Negril!

 

There are probably closer ops, or ops that include transportation; see if you can find out who CCL uses. CCV highly reccomended, though!

[jamga02]

Hello! We are cruising on the Legend in April, doing the same stop in Roatan (8 to 3). Please let me know how things go, if you recommend the dive shop you choose, etc. if you don't mind!!!

I really don't want to do the cruise ship's dives either. I wish we were booked at the same time, we cannot find anyone booked on our cruise that dives.:) My wife and I plan on diving each of the ports (Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize and Roatan) and were hoping to find several other couples that dive.

 

I went to Carnival's website, and the way they word the shore ex. makes it sound like you are doing 2 shore dives from Anthony's Key????

[xSandman3`]

I recommend the shark dive in Roatan. It's a blast, and the video will convince your friends that you are completely nuts. Be aware, it's fairly deep (70'), and air was an issue with most people in my group when we did it.

[santacruzer53]

Dove there 2x off cruises, loved it so much I went back for 2 weeks. I had no problem getting back to the ship on time. Morning dives don't go out till about 9 - 9:30. I've dove with Native Sons in the West End on Half Moon Bay .. great experience, taxi ride over the hill about 15 - 20 minutes. The next trip I dove with Bananarama Dive shop West Bay another fabulous experience. Enjoyed them so much, I came back and dove with them for 2 weeks.. 10 dives $200.00. If you feel time is getting tight, make sure the taxi takes you over the hill verses around the the coast.

 

Enjoy !! actually you can' help but love it

[pygar]

Last year the wife and I went in April on the Carnival Valor. We dove with Anthony's Key as a scheduled excursion and it was great. They do a before dive bouyancy check right at the dock. The divemaster is right with you the whole time. Now we are AOW and DM. Still, I have no objection or take any offense at another DM showing me around his domain.

You do a dive and then you go back to dock for a break and drinks. Then it's back out for a second dive. They had us back in time to do a little shopping and make the boat no prob.

[runner26.2]

Just back from the Feb 1 cruise on Pearl. We did a two tank dive with coconut tree divers. took a cab from the port to the dive shop and then two dives and were sitting in a bar having lunch by 1:30 so there is time.

 

I can't say enough great things about coconut tree. With 6 divers they had a divemaster + to instructors in training so it was extremely safe & fun.

[utdivegrl]

Thank you for all your suggestions. We have decided to do the ship's excursion. I didn't take into consideration the ship's time vs local time. Because of daylight savings time it puts us two hours ahead of Roatan (if I've done my research right) which means we are actually in port from 6am to 1pm local time. I couldn't find a shop that could get us back in time. We are still very excited for our dive and hope it is not too much of a cattle boat.

[Synchronicity]

I'm also on the Legend 3/15, and have opted for the Anthony's Key dives through CCL. I've heard it's a great operation, and will be nice not to have the time worry. Are you part of the Parrothead Cruise? A lot of people I know opted to dive through Shoretrips but I've heard such great things about AK I went on and booked.:)

[utdivegrl]

I'm also on the Legend 3/15, and have opted for the Anthony's Key dives through CCL. I've heard it's a great operation, and will be nice not to have the time worry. Are you part of the Parrothead Cruise? A lot of people I know opted to dive through Shoretrips but I've heard such great things about AK I went on and booked.:)

 

My group is not part of the Parrotheads. We are on a celebratory cruise for my parents anniversary. There are fourteen total in our group however only three of us are signed up for the AK excursion.

[diverearl]

My group is not part of the Parrotheads. We are on a celebratory cruise for my parents anniversary. There are fourteen total in our group however only three of us are signed up for the AK excursion.

 

We have done several dives from cruise ships at Roatan and never had a problem getting back to the ship in time. The dives at AK is a really good cruise ship excursion, I think you will enjoy it. They do get a little carried away with the buoyancy check part of the day but the rest of the dive is really good.

 

We also used Bananarama dive shop and had a good time, I would use them again in a minute. Our favorite dive on Roatan was with John Paul, but I think he is now in hiding (not kidding) so we can't get in touch with him anymore. As crazy as he and the day was it was great.

 

As a note, most of the time in any port when we use shops other than the cruise ship we have our own group of divers (4 - 8) and rent the whole boat. This is usually THE key to things going smoothly diving on our own.

[scuabacruiser]

Hello! We are cruising on the Legend in April, doing the same stop in Roatan (8 to 3). Please let me know how things go, if you recommend the dive shop you choose, etc. if you don't mind!!!

I really don't want to do the cruise ship's dives either. I wish we were booked at the same time, we cannot find anyone booked on our cruise that dives.:) My wife and I plan on diving each of the ports (Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize and Roatan) and were hoping to find several other couples that dive.

 

I went to Carnival's website, and the way they word the shore ex. makes it sound like you are doing 2 shore dives from Anthony's Key????

Try the role call site for possible dive buddies. No problems with AK, it just took all day with little time for shopping. AK has a nice shop with t shirts and stuff. During the SI, check out the resort, go to the island and look around. Neat place. They do the weight check at the dock because the boat ride is only 5 to 10 mins, don't even take your gear off. By the way, my pic is from our last Roatan dive.

Get wet and have fun!

[themons]

When we went to Anthony Key off of Royal Caribbean, they told us the same thing about the bouyancy check off of the dock.

 

When we arrived, the runoff made the water about as clear as chocolate milk. I thought they were insane to expect anyone to jump in that. They ended up bypassing the bouyancy check and we went directly to the dive site.

 

The boat we were on was a Pro 48. It was the nicest boat that I have been on.

[Hodgepodgefor90]

Just back from the Feb 1 cruise on Pearl. We did a two tank dive with coconut tree divers. took a cab from the port to the dive shop and then two dives and were sitting in a bar having lunch by 1:30 so there is time.

 

I can't say enough great things about coconut tree. With 6 divers they had a divemaster + to instructors in training so it was extremely safe & fun.

 

Spent two weeks on Roatan December 2007 and dived with Coconut Tree dive shop. They were excellent, pay a ot of attention to safety and had good equipment.