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Dive Review of Bay Island Beach Resort in
Honduras/Roatan

Bay Island Beach Resort, Jun, 2004,

by Mark Rosseisen, TX, United States . Report 1241.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 4 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 4 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 3 stars Shore Diving 2 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ N/A
Beginners 4 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments First let me say that I had a great time at the resort. The diving was very good, the rooms were comfortable, and the food was generally good and plentiful. Here is a more detailed review of each area:

Dive shop – The staff was very helpful and was receptive of special requests for dive sites. They changed out our tanks between dives and hauled our gear to and from the dock. I do believe that things could be improved. There were lots of nitrox divers on this trip and after having analyzed our tanks and labeled them with our name the staff just put the tanks on the boat anywhere they fit. We then had to move the tanks around on the boat so that both our tanks were together. The DMs were good at showing us the dive sites, but they did tended to rush through the sites. Since most of us were taking pictures, it was kind of annoying. Nitrox fills were anywhere between 31% and 34% with a wide variation from tank to tank. They were open to special requests for mixes (we requested 36% for our afternoon dives)


I think that my biggest issue was that the facilities were not that good for photographers. That includes the dive shop, dive boats, and even the dive staff. There were no camera tables on any of the boats, inadequate rinse tanks on the boats (they were too small), and the Dive masters tended to rush through the dive sites where it was hard to take pictures and still keep up with the DM. The dive shop did not have a camera rinse tank available after a shore dive, and a camera table would have been real nice at the shop since my room did not have a table big enough to do camera maintenance. I think maybe having a photo pro on the dive staff would be a nice addition and would be able to pay attention to these things.

The Diving - I really enjoyed the diving here. Lots of nice swim throughs, 2 wrecks, and lots of big grouper following us on each dive. The coral seemed in generally good shape, but saw several large areas of dead coral and coral rubble (maybe from Mitch). Most of the dives were drift dives as there was a mild current. The night dive we did was really incredible, probably one of the best yet for me. Saw 2 octopi, squid, several lobsters, some really big basket stars, shrimp everywhere. I think my biggest disappointment was the shore diving. I think the quality of it was grossly misrepresented on all the literature we received from the resort. The wall was quite a ways from shore and the visibility was terrible (in terms of blue water diving). Spooky channel was only spooky because the vis was so bad (about 30 feet). We did see many interesting critters in spooky including a coral head full of morays (like 10-15 of them) and bristle worms. Some good macro subjects, but not much coral.

Dive boats – They had 1 boat that was new, 1 a bit older, 1 even older. The newest boat was certainly the nicer of the group. They did say that they had another coming. They all need fresh water showers. I got wet paint on my wetsuit from one of the benches. No one warned me of the wet paint nor did they seem to really care. As noted above, no camera tables.

Restaurant/bar staff – overall I was really happy with the service, and the food. The only thing I would complain about was the food on the last 2 nights – not good. The breakfasts were great and lunches were good as well. The soups for lunch and dinner were great. There were always alternative choices for meals if you did not want the main selection.

Room- really no complaints here, the beds were comfortable, the A/C cold and the showers hot. The only thing I would suggest adding to the room would be either a table or desk for working on equipment. We drank tap water the whole week with no problems.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 251-500 dives
Where else diving Bonaire, Grenada, Grenadines, Cozumel, Turks and Caicos, Flower Gardens
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas choppy
Water Temp 80-82°F / 27-28°C Wetsuit Thickness 0
Water Visibility 30-100 Ft/ 9-30 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions Be back on board w/ 500 psi.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

Sharks Lots Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles 1 or 2 Whales None
Corals 3 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 4 stars Large Fish 4 stars
Large Pelagics 2 stars

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter 4 stars Boat Facilities 2 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 3 stars Shore Facilities 2 stars
UW Photo Comments Rinse tanks on the boats were small. No dedicated camera tables on boats or dive shop. Took over 3 days to get film developed.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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