Roatan Diving

[beachcomber918]

Hey guys, this is my first post so please be gentle. My family and I are on the Valor for the 4/2/06 sailing and planning on diving in Roatan. My DH and DS #1 have been certified for approx. 5 years and my DS #2 and I were just certified this weekend, 3/12/06. The dive instructor this weekend said that he heard that the reef in Roatan was damaged during the last hurricane season and he felt like we should dive Belize. We were shying away from Belize because of the long boat ride to the reefs. My DS #1 sometimes gets sick on the smaller boats. We were booking through the cruise ship for peace of mind. Which port would you guys recommend? This will be our 3rd cruise in as many years and these boards have always been wonderful in planning our vacations. I just wanted to send out a big thanks to everyone for your time and effort in helping everyone out!!!

[sea-jay]

Dive Roatan - If family members have a problem with motion in small boats, I agree the long ride in Belize is not for you.

 

However, you really shouldn't miss diving in both places. Try Bonine for motion sickness. it works just like Dramamine but will not make you sleepy.

 

Remember, once you get under the water, there is no motion to worry about.

 

Happy bubbles!

[augie]

If you take the ship's excursion in Belize the long boat ride to the reefs will be mitigated a great deal because the ship has to anchor quite a long way offshore and the ship's excursion picks you up right at the ship.

 

In Roatan, the boat ride may not end up far from the shore, but depending on conditions you may end up spending just as much time on the boat getting to the particular dive site you visit. Also, since the dive sites are closer you may find that the boats are smaller.

 

I dove both of these places as well as Costa Maya and Grand Cayman in January (I did a review of all of the diving on this forum) off of the Valor.

 

Have fun!

[infopaul]

I like Roatan, the reefs were fine three/ four months ago when I was there. I did like the shark dive, however check your bouyancy skills and comfort level. This one is for more experienced level divers.

 

Belize is also another great dive location. I would dive both if able. You might want to look into getting Triptone for motion sickness. I was on another B.board and another diver said you can find it at the dive shops. I have a friend checking it out on the physician desk reference (PDR) for it's active ingredient. Bonine has also been suggested to me. Research which one YOU can take because you are diving and for potential side effects. As for Belize, diving Turneffe is an outter reef taking a longer boat ride than just diving the shore reefs and it offers drift diving. The ship excursion on this is probably more convienient. The dive operator may pick you up at the ship since the ship may have to tender into shore. Be aware that ocean surge can also cause motion sickness. This can also happen close to shore...Paul:)

[infopaul]

I like Roatan, the reefs were fine three/ four months ago when I was there. I did like the shark dive, however check your bouyancy skills and comfort level. This one is for more experienced level divers.

 

Belize is also another great dive location. I would dive both if able. You might want to look into getting Triptone for motion sickness. I was on another B.board and another diver said you can find it at the dive shops. I have a friend checking it out on the physician desk reference (PDR) for it's active ingredient. Bonine has also been suggested to me. Research which one YOU can take because you are diving and for potential side effects. As for Belize, diving Turneffe is an outter reef taking a longer boat ride than just diving the shore reefs and it offers drift diving. The ship excursion on this is probably more convienient. The dive operator may pick you up at the ship since the ship may have to tender into shore. Be aware that ocean surge can also cause motion sickness. This can also happen close to shore...Paul:)

[Gonedownlately?]

Yeah, it is a long haul from the ship to the dive sites in Belize, but those sites are not to be missed. The boats that transported us to the sites were not really all that small, at least 40-footers, I'd say. Safe and solid with plenty of shade. Take the motion sickness pill in advance and have a great dive!

 

Haven't been to Roatan since last May, but I'm hearing very encouraging things from friends who have been there recently.

 

Do 'em both.

[mere08]

My husband and I just returned from the Valor on Sunday. We dove in both Roatan and Belize. To give you a little background, my husband is an experienced diver and I have just 12 dives under my belt. In Roatan, we booked an excursion on our own with Subway Watersports. There were four other divers from the ship that joined us, all of whom had about the same experience that I did. There was also a 7th person who was staying on the island that joined us. Patrick was exactly where he said he would be, right at the port at 11am when we docked and it couldn't have been any easier to to meet him. We drove about 15-20 minutes to the dive site. This was great because we got to see a little of the country. We sent out on a small boat with a divemaster and a driver. I still have difficulties with buoyancy and the divemaster was great. He took extra weight, which I needed at the end of the first dive. The boat was fairly small, but the ride was short and the surf was calm. We dove Mary's Place and (can't remember). Mary's Place was very cool, got to swim through caverns. The second site was just as good, with a great deal of fish life.

 

For Belize, we did the cruise excursion, which I would highly recommend. The dive boat picked us up and dropped us off at the ship. There were about 50 total divers on two boats, which were typical, good-sized dive boats. This is definitely not a cattle boat organization. The operation was run by Hugh Parkey' Dive Belize. Our boat had 23 divers on it with 4 divemasters leading 4 groups. We were divided by experience, which totally put me at ease as I did not want to be the one who sucked all the air! The boat ride was short to the dive shop to pick up equipment for those who rented, then about 40 minutes out to the dive sites. I was glad I had taken my motion sickness pills and ginger for the trip. I was fine on the way out, but had a rough time on the way back to the ship. Visibility was great, probably better than Roatan. The reefs and fish were beautiful, also, although I thought there were more fish in Roatan.

 

Overall, I'd say do both. Both were great excursions with great dive operators. If I had to pick one, I'd pick Roatan. First, we got to see a little of the country, which we didn't get with Belize. Also, the boat ride was shorter and the fish life was a little better. Finally, we were back to the ship by about 3:45 and were able to drop off our equipment and head back out to the island for an hour of souvenir shopping.

 

Hope this helps!

[cmdchiefthom]

Subway at the Yacht Club in Roatan is absolutely the best. I've dived with them many times and Patrick is great.