anyone taken a taxi to CoCo View in Roatan

[timeoutforcruisin]

We would like to dive at Coco View in Roatan and will be arriving on Carnival Legend at 11AM ship time(9AM Roatan time) and the ship departs at 6PM ship time (4PM Roatan time). Not sure how long to allow for taxi to transport and how difficult it will be to catch a taxi back from Coco View. The resort will allow us to use their facility but does not provide tranport. We have 2 certified divers, 1 snorkler and 1 who wants to do the discovery dive. Since we can do shore diving there and our local dive shop said the shore diving was so good there we would like to try it hoping we can all dive together or at least swim together for at least part of the time. We are not sure if we will be able to go out on a dive boat because their dive boats are scheduled to depart at 8:30 and 2:30 Roatan time and I think that cuts the time too close -- so might just have to shore dive.

 

We considered Anthony's Cay using the ship excursion, but I think we would have to split up and go on different excursions. Would rather go together if possible.

[scubamargie]

We took a taxi to Coco View on our last cruise on the Valor. It takes 1/2 an hour to CoCo View. We did the shore dives because we couldn't make the boat dives. Here's some good and bad about it: 1) the diving is pretty good -- saw 2 Seahorses (see pic) and the wreck of Prince Albert is very fun for photography. 2) the water was murky and viz was poor so you have to be sure you are OK with your navigation skills. We got lost coming back and were quite exhausted by the time we found the chain back to shore, and we've dove this site several times before! 3) the reef is covered with algae, probably because of the uncontrolled development which is allowing all kinds of runoff to ruin it. That said, we have dove here before with better viz so maybe it's a seasonal problem. 4) the "no-see-ums" (sand fleas) are horrible. Be sure to keep bug spray on you at all times -- I mean the instant you get out of the water. We were super careful and still ended up with bites. 5) CoCo View hasn't had good reviews regarding their dive shop lately -- several deaths, so be sure you can take care of yourself and if you get bad tanks replace them immediately. 6) We negotiated with taxi drivers right outside the port (restricted area) and were able to get a decent price ($35 or $40 I think) by just saying "no that's too much" and walking away. The one who finally did lower the price was a great guy and arranged to pick us up at a certain time. He was there no problem when we got back from diving.

 

All in all I'd say you might be better off diving with the ship (which I very rarely do) just because of cost, convenience and quality of the dives. The ship uses Anthony Keys and everyone who went on that excursion said it was terrific. With the cost of the taxi I think shore diving wasn't such a deal afterall and I know the viz is better on the West End reefs. We have considered shore diving Spooky Channel and may do that on our next trip there. It's much closer to the port which would allow a little more safety margin for getting back to the ship in time.

 

[timeoutforcruisin]

Thanks for your reply. Our group will all be getting together Friday to decide which excursions so it will be very helpful. We may decide to zip line in roatan and dive in Grand Cayman due to time constraints.

[growinassets]

When we were in Roatan, the closest diving we found was on West End. The folks (Gary) at West End Divers took great care of us. They sent their driver to the port to meet us and took us right out on their boat (about 12 minutes) to the reef where we did some great reef dives with good viz. They do their surface interval at the dock and then back out for another dive about 15 mins out. We were back on the ship about 3 hours before departure and had plenty of time for the tourist shopping. It was a great experience and priced right.

[timeoutforcruisin]

thanks, we will look into that one as well

[Friscorays]

You might want to check out Bananarama as well. I dove with them recently and was pleased. They also have a beach with good snorkeling from shore.

 

www.bananaramadive.com

[timeoutforcruisin]

Thanks, I appreciate the info