CocoView/Roatan 2/12/99

Author: Cheryl Morgavi Mire

The clothes dryer is droning in the background finishing off the final remnants of our dive trip to CocoView in Roatan Honduras (2/12/99-2/19/99). It's always sad to see one of our all-too-rare dive trips come to an end but a pleasure to share the memories with fellow bubble blowers. We don't run a dive shop or claim to be competing for the Lloyd Bridges' award, so this trip report is simply our personal impressions of our week.

This was our second visit to the Bay Islands, which has become a convenient Mardi Gras getaway for us through our local dive shop, Caribbean Dive of New Orleans. Once again we flew TACA and stayed at CocoView. The trip this year was not without incident. Last year TACA offered a nonstop flight on a very comfortable 737 with in-flight movie and meal. This year TACA is apparently under new management and is taking advice from American Airlines about ways to cut corners and increase profit. If they keep taking advice, they will probably lose quite a few loyal patrons - us included!! Until now, I had turned a deaf ear to the complaints posted about TACA because last year's experience had been the equivalent of first class luxury and courtesy. This year was a lesson in how NOT to run an airline.

I should have been suspicious when I was yanked out of the boarding line on the flight from New Orleans. I was told I had to wait for the Airline Supervisor to get approval for my carry-on bag. When I placed the bag in the nearby measurement cage to show the attendant that my carry-on was well within the regulations, he simply repeated his demand that I wait for the Airline Supervisor. Several other passengers were subjected to this screening and had to check bags with vital prescriptions and other personal belongings. Through the intervention of my dive master, I was allowed to take my bag on board. Little did we know, that TACA was fully aware we would end up on a plane which had virtually NO overhead compartments on the last leg of our journey. I call it the last leg of our journey because this trip had legs which practically multiplied into a centipede! The first flight from New Orleans to San Pedro Sula was no surprise, but an added flight to La Ceiba had not been part of the original schedule. In La Ceiba we deplaned and took a prop plane to Roatan. We means "we, the passengers." It, as in "it, the luggage" did not make the final flight. A huge flower arrangement took up most of the space in the cargo area, so only 11 of the 33 bags for our group actually made it to CocoView on Friday evening. That's right, 22 bags, most of which had PRIORITY tags were not sent to CocoView on Friday - or on Saturday - or on Sunday! Once again our dive master saved us by traveling back to Roatan and demanding the delivery of our luggage. Finally late Sunday, the missing bags arrived by jet! In the end TACA was forced to reimburse the group $1900 for luggage which was over 24 hours late.

Obviously, we weren't off to the best of beginnings. The staff at CocoView was extremely gracious, supplying us with free rental gear, shampoo and whatever else they could to make our dive trip as pleasant as possible. CocoView and the other resorts are struggling to change the situation with the airlines which is clearly hurting the resort business. We are confident that other arrangements will be in place by the time we make our next trip to the islands - or we will be forced to find another Mardi Gras escape.

Our primary focus was diving, and we were not to be disappointed in that. The reefs in Roatan are more beautiful than we remembered them from last year. The coral is lush, and we were treated to new experiences with both fish life and creatures. We did most of our diving on the South side and near French Harbour where CocoView is located, but we also took a couple of day trips to dive the West End of the island. Visibility was poor the first couple of days because of an unexpected cold front which sent us to skins, neoprenes, hoods and whatever else we could find to make it seem like "warm" tropical diving. Magically, however, when the luggage arrived on Sunday afternoon, so did the sunshine and the tropical warmth.

I won't bore you with day after day dive reports, but there are some personal highlights. Our favorite dive sites included Gold Chain Reef where I was stunned to come eyeball to eyeball with a Hawksbill Turtle. I was cruising along around 70 feet in open water. I was sure he would turn tail and run for the deep as I had seen many turtles do in the past, but the little fella just came straight to me like he was on a professional shoot, then coasted by continuing on his way. On the same dive, we all took shots of a large Scorpion fish and a Puffer fish, the latter of which was nested in the coral.

Calvin's Crack was a favorite in 1998 and continued to please us this year. We saw a Toad Fish with a face only its mother could love although I really think that fish is so ugly that it becomes cute unintentionally. Once again on this dive, I got lucky. As I was wandering away from my group down the side of a wall, I came across a free swimming green moray eel. He was in full sunlight swimming like he always hung around out in the open like that. I'm 5"2 and he was easily a foot or so longer than I. By the time I managed to retrieve my husband/buddy, he had scooted into a hole in the coral, but while I was gesturing he reemerged and swam out, mouth open and teeth glowing.

I had more unusual luck at Castle Canyon. Once again, I was a bit lower than the group (I have a tendency to head for 70 feet). Off to my right side, away from the wall was a large Eagle Ray. It was obvious he would have no trouble out-swimming me, but when he started taking a left turn around a coral head, I realized I could take a shortcut and run right into him as he made his turn. Once again, great camera shots. My envious spouse was 40 feet overhead but caught the whole scene.

Other favorite sites included Connie's Dream, Caribe Point and Mary's Place. We also went to a new site Manigerhea. We skipped the swim through at Mary's Place which we had done last year. The reef outside is actually more fun. We saw seahorses which were much larger than any we've encountered before. Finally, I had my last lucky moment on my last dive. On the sand at about 50 feet, very near the boat mooring and the seahorse, I spotted a large open-mouthed Grouper perfectly stationary. As I approached, he remained steady and I spotted several cleaner shrimp, both inside and outside the obviously contented Grouper. I managed to reward my dive master signaling him so he could shoot a video. Grouper and friends continued to cooperate.

All in all, this was a great dive experience. My husband and I, who have only logged about 65 dives a piece so far, were able to extend our bottom times so we are now diving for about an hour each time. We had a minor emergency and discovered that our training has prepared us well. On one dive, I had to switch my equipment three times because of bad luck with old o-rings - an uncommon thing at CocoView. Apparently, I entered the water without my air on. At 20 feet, I took a breath and didn't get as much as I expected. My gauge registered a scant 500 psi. At first I thought I had accidentally ended up with an empty tank. I kicked my fins to head for the surface, but I wasn't getting there fast enough to suit me. I ditched my weight belt which zoomed past my surprised dive buddy who was about 10 feet below me. Fanning my fins out to slow my ascent and exhaling, I made a safe return to the surface. My dive buddy and another diver surfaced with me and retrieved my weight belt which an alert dive master snared as it headed down. We turned my air on and resumed the dive of the Prince Albert. I had gotten lax about checking my air because the crew had been so efficient doing it for us. In the end, I am responsible for my air and myself. Those lessons are valuable if they can be learned without serious consequences. I had read several articles about divers who never made it because they failed to ditch their weights, and I always wondered if I would remember to do that or even if I would be able to get the belt off since it tends to sneak up under my BC. Trust me, ditching was VERY natural!! I didn't care if I ever saw that belt again! I was glad my buddy saw the incident and that other divers were around to assist me, but in the end, the diver alone is responsible for herself .

Final comment on TACA. They altered flight times, which meant we had to leave the resort before sunrise at 4:30 only to sit for two hours in the La Ceiba airport. Once again, we were shuttled through three separate planes. We all hope the airline issues will be resolved because Roatan and CocoView are special places for divers. If we don't go back next Mardi Gras, we will return some day soon.