Roatan by Carl

Diving in Honduras
June 25-July 2, 1995
by Carl L. Wilson, II
clwilson@nccoast.net

Resort Name: Fantasy Island Beach Resort
Location: Roatan, Bay Island of Honduras
Dive Operation: In House

Getting There

The only Airline serving Roatan with direct flights from the US is TACA (Take A Chance Airline). TACA flies directly to Roatan from Houston, New Orleans, and Miami. It is also possible to fly to the mainland of Honduras on an American airline, and take a local airline, such as Isena over to Honduras.

TACA maintained their poor reputation by delaying some of our baggage for two days. I met several other guest at the resort who also did not receive their luggage due to TACA's inefficiency. On July 1 the day before we left, TACA sold 180 seats on a 130 seat airplane, this caused some difficulty. TACA has a long way to go before one could call them a User Friendly Airline.

The airport at Roatan is a new modern building---but the air conditioning was broken. I was told it not functioned for about 2 1/2 months but was expected to be fixed in a month or so. The temperature in the airport was about 95F with no air movement as the building was built for air conditioning.

Upon arrival, we were met by one customs/immigration agent who insisted on reading every line in everyone's passport and immigration form. Needless to say it took quite a while to process a 737 load of passengers, who waited all this time in a hot stuffy building.

After exiting customs and immigration, we were met by representatives of the resort, who loaded our baggage and took us to the resort by bus.

The Resort

The Fantasy Island Resort is a beautiful resort. Grounds are raked and swept every morning and the shrubbery was beautifully trimmed. The rooms are large, with two double beds or one bed and a couch that makes into a bed. Each room has an individual air conditioning unit, a ceiling fan, a refrigerator, phone and cable TV. A large closet and a large bathroom are also part of the room.

The FAP meal plan was included in our package. Food was good, with ample quantities. Lobster, prime steak, and fish were included in the menu we were able to choose from. A beer at the resort was $1.00, mixed drink such as a Pina Colida was $4.25. (Prices in USDollars).

Service in the dining room and the Resort was poor the first two days. On the third day under a new manager the improvement in service was amazing. I wish he had assumed his duties the week before we arrived, he seemed to be more guest orientated than the previous manager.

I booked this trip for our club and this was the first resort I have dealt with that scattered everyone all over the resort, rooming the group of 11 in 5 different buildings.

Diving

The dive shop/dive operation is an inhouse arrangement. The Dive shop needs some help. Although the manager, Hank, is friendly and trying, he needs to see how a first class dive operation is run.

The Dive guides want everyone to suit up and walk to the back of the boat with tank, weight belt and gear on, this is not the best method. Donning gear at the rear of the boat was not an option the dive guides were comfortable with. In the beginning they asked us to put all gear including fins on and then walk to the rear of the boat, which is a near impossibility, unless one walks backward.

The boats used are large (42 ft), beamy (10 & 12 ft) and have a hard top for protection from the sun. Seating is on the sides/gunnels of the boat, which could be improved on. Tanks ranged from 2850-3100 lbs.

Diving is mostly on walls and reefs, with several very nice walls. The resort also took a boat to the north shore of the island everyday I was there. The boat would leave early and we would ride a bus over with our gear in a truck following us. The island is narrow, so the ride to the north shore was only about a 10 minute trip. However, I found the wreck of the Prince Albert to be one of my favorite sites, and it is accessible from the gazebo as a shore dive. The dive shop will transport your gear and tanks to the Gazebo for shore diving anytime of the day.

When we arrived the seas had small whitecaps and about 6 ft swells. On the third day of our visit the seas calmed down.

Costs

I booked Fantasy Island Resort due to a promotional price of $1068.00 from Miami, New Orleans, or Houston.

Opinions

Fantasy Island Resort is located on an island (man made?) reachable from Roatan by a short bridge. While the resort is beautiful, it is not a luxury resort. A luxury resort requires a staff that can take care of the guests needs.

The resort suffers from a high turnover rate in their staff, of the waiters in the dinning room, I would calculate that 50% had not worked more than 1-2 weeks.

Language is a big problem at the resort. I realize that Roatan speaks Spanish, however, when a resort advertises for Americans, the staff should be able to answer simple questions in english with a yes or no. As an example, "Where is the restroom?" The staff should be able to point or at least say something in the line of directions. Most of the staff when confronted with english would find another staff person who knew a little english and the second would then translate for the first.

The dive operation is trying however, the diveguides speak very poor english and need to be instructed in how to run a dive operation.

Conclusions

Would I recommend the resort? No. Our group had good time, however no one would return to the resort. The new manager who arrived when I was there was making a big difference, but until the staff is better trained it is not a luxury resort as advertised. I considered the diving to be average.

But then again, I am probably jaded. A terrible week diving is better than my best week at work!!!