5 Great Reasons to go Scuba Diving on Roatan

Roatan is often called the jewel of the Caribbean because of its many amazing features - its lush, hilly landscape, azure waters, the friendly people and diverse and rich culture. With direct international flights from Houston, Miami, Atlanta, Cayman and San Salvador, it’s also never been easier to get to paradise! Roatan’s claim to fame is, of course, its amazing reefs and marine life, so going scuba diving should be on the top of your "to do" list when you visit. Even if you've traveled to other popular dive destinations without going diving, here are 5 great reasons we think you should go scuba diving on Roatan!

These are just a few of the dive sites that cover the West End of Roatan - if we tried to include them all, we'd need a much bigger map!

Reason 1. The dive sites are super close

Since the reef starts only a few hundred feet from land, the entire island is basically one giant dive site. From West End alone, we have over 30 dive sites within a 10 minute boat ride, which means less time on the boat and more time in the water! Most dive centers run single tank trips because of the proximity of the dive sites to the dive centers, so you have the choice of one, two or three dives in the day and can spend your surface intervals comfortably on the beach with a cold lemonade (or beer, but only after diving!) in hand.

Reason 2. So nice, but you don't have to do them twice

The benefit of having so many dive sites in such close proximity means that unless you request to repeat a site, you don't have to. Obviously, if you're doing 50 dives out of West End, then yes, you will end up repeating some sites, but it's very easy to create variety in your diving experience. The West Bay area is filled with sand chutes, coral plateaus and mini-walls, while you get cool canyons and deep walls as you move towards Sandy Bay, so there are loads of cool topographies and points of interest to explore.

Reason 3. Diving a healthy reef in a protected marine park

The Roatan Marine Park was started as a grassroots movement 10 years ago to add additional protection to the marine reserve already set in place by the Honduran government. The last ten years have been a long battle for the Roatan Marine Park, but the fruits of their labor are definitely showing. In the Healthy Reefs 2015 Report Card for the Mesoamerican Reef, Roatan ranked highest in coral health and fish populations. Many other famous dive destinations, like the Great Barrier Reef, were not so lucky.

The continued work that the Roatan Marine Park does in conservation is what helps preserve our beautiful reef for many more years to come, so make sure to support them by purchasing a $3 daily ticket or $10 yearly bracelet.

Reason 4. Calm, clear conditions with mild currents     

A pregnant grouper

Throughout most of the year, we enjoy relatively calm, flat water on the surface, with underwater visibility averaging around 100ft/30m. While currents can vary from day to day, we usually have mild currents that make scuba diving a much more relaxing and enjoyable experience. 

When the weather does get rough on the north side of the island, many dive shops in Roatan have the flexibility to dive on the south side of the island, where you can once again find calm, flat conditions for diving. This type of flexibility is practically unheard of in most popular dive destinations. For us, we have a sister dive center that we partner with so that we can still offer our guests the same quality diving experience from both sides of the island.

Reason 5. Diverse marine life

While our colorful marine life population ties in strongly with Reason 3, we couldn't help but shine a special light on Roatan's underwater inhabitants. Whether you enjoy some of the bigger creatures or enjoy spotting the smaller, more hidden invertebrates we have it all! By having a healthy reef, it in turn brings in a variety of fish, crustaceans, bottom dwellers, shrimps and pelagic fish to these warm Caribbean waters.  

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So there you have it, 5 great reasons to go scuba diving on Roatan! If you're not a certified diver, there are plenty of ways you can still interact with our marine world, whether it be with snorkeling or with the PADI Discover Scuba Diving program. Our life on land ain't too shabby, either, so start planning your trip to Roatan today for the holiday of a lifetime!

5 Important Things to Remember When You're Cruise Shipping to Roatan

You've booked a cruise to the Caribbean and Roatan is one of your ports. Yay! Cruise ships are a great way to see multiple countries and cultures in a short period of time with the convenience of not having to pack up and change accommodation constantly. A lot of people use cruise ships to scope out future travel sites, so that they get a feeling for a place before booking a longer trip there.

Roatan is an awesome port of call, with a variety of activities to keep you busy. Scuba diving is Roatan's claim to fame, but we have zip lining, island tours, Blue Harbor Arboretum, the Iguana Farm - the list goes on.

So what should you keep in mind when you're planning a visit to Roatan by cruise ship? Here are our 5 important things to remember to give you the best experience possible!

Tip 1. Local time vs ship time

Many ships will stick to ship time on their itinerary, which is the time zone that the ship originally departs from. So if your ship departs from Ft. Lauderdale on Eastern time, they'll give you all your itinerary times in Eastern time, not in the local time zone. The itinerary will state that you're docking from 8AM to 4PM, which will actually be 7AM to 3PM in some ports and 6AM to 2PM in others. This will affect your activity schedule at port, so keep this in mind when you're contacting companies. Most places with cruise ship activity will have a designated agent that will announce the true docking times, so when the excursion company you are planning your day through tells you the local docking times, trust them to know what they're talking about.

As an important note as well: Honduras does not do Daylight Savings. I don't believe anywhere in Central America does. So remember, after March 13th, if we were on Central time before, we are on Mountain time now. Confusing? Yes, for all of us!

Tip 2. Times change. All the time.

Your ship could be docking at a certain time up to 12 hours before arrival, and then it may change at the last minute. We've even had ships dock hours late without any notification. Please don't get mad at your excursion company if they can't fit in all the activities you wanted because your docking time changed to not allow it. Most companies will accommodate as best they can, but it's not their fault that the ship changed its docking times. Please be flexible and be kind.

Tip 3. Cruise excursions vs private activities

When you dock somewhere, you get the choice between a cruise ship excursions and planning and booking activities yourself. It's up to you how you'd like to do it. Some people like going cruise endorsed because everything is taken cared of, from transportation to the activity itself, while some people like branching out and finding their own companies to work with because the groups tend to be smaller and priced lower if you're not cruise endorsed. Also, if a company is endorsed by the cruise ship, then if customers are running late, the cruise ship is more likely to wait for them than if they are late from a non-cruise excursion.

Whatever you choose, you'll have a great time! It's just about finding an option that fits you best.

Tip 4. Flexibility is key

The perils of going on a ship and only getting a day at a time in each place is that you will not always have all the time you want. And sometimes, just sometimes, the weather will make it impossible for the ship to dock, or the cruise ship will make the decision to bypass a port altogether. This is for safety reasons, so don't get mad at the cruise ship for doing this. And don't get mad at the excursions for not being able to accommodate.

If your ship doesn't dock, most activities will not offer a refund on the deposit because while it's not your fault that your ship didn't dock, it's not their fault that it didn't, either.

Tip 5. Please read your e-mails

Whether you are booking through the cruise ship or privately, please, please, PLEASE read all communication thoroughly. Companies that consistently work with cruise ship have learned to place certain words into their correspondence, like "local time", and will be very explicit in their instructions to meet transportation or payment methods. It's frustrating for you if you can't find your taxi because you didn't read the directions, and it's really frustrating for the company because they're trying to find you and you're not where you're supposed to be.

It only takes a few minutes to read an e-mail, and that will determine how smoothly your day goes, so it's worth it to take two minutes to read to avoid 20 minutes of frantically trying to find your transport. Better yet, take the e-mail and print it so that you have a physical copy to access.

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So there are our Top Five Tips for traveling on a cruise ship! We hope you have a great week and love every port that you visit.

As always, thank you for visiting us and we hope to see you again soon!