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Dive Review of Octopus Dive School/Carnival Valor in
Honduras/Roatan

Octopus Dive School/Carnival Valor, Dec, 2005,

by Hugh Aaron, VA, United States . Report 2235.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 5 stars Food 5 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving 1 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ N/A
Beginners 5 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments My wife, 12 year old son and I were on the Carnival Valor the week between Christmas and New Years, 2005. My wife and I have been diving for about 25 years. My son was certified this past summer. Roatan was my son’s second saltwater dive.

We had made arrangement (via email) before we left home to do a one tank boat dive in Roatan with the Octopus Dive School. Octopus is located on the beach at Foster's in West Bay. We took a cab from the cruise ship pier to Foster's ($20 per person round trip). Although we were only looking for transportation, a “tour guide” apparently goes along on all cab rides. Our tour guide was Harry, a nice young man who had grown up on Roatan.

As it turned out, Harry stayed with us at Foster's the entire day. I wasn’t sure why they did things that way. It may have been to make sure that we did not take another cab back to the pier (since, as is apparently the local custom, cruise ship passengers do no pay for cabs until the cab returns them to the pier). At any rate, we enjoyed the time we spent with Harry and his local knowledge.

The staff at Octopus, Lars and Nuria, were really friendly and helpful. The dive boat picked us up on time at the pier on the beach at Foster's and dropped us off at another pier about five minutes away. In addition to the three of us and the dive master, there were three “resort course” divers. The dive master’s first priority was the novice divers (as it should be), however, we also found him very helpful.

We left from the shore for a guided tour of the reef right off the West Bay beach. Our maximum depth was 39 feet. In addition to numerous fish and the very health reef, we saw a small turtle and a large eagle ray.

At the conclusion of the dive, the Octopus dive boat picked us up and took as back to Foster’s where Harry and the cab driver were waiting. They got us back to the cruise ship in plenty of time.

My family thought Roatan was the best dive of the trip (we also dove Stingray City, Grand Cayman and Costa Maya). Although, they may have been influenced by the fact that weather was nicer in Roatan than in our other ports. We were very pleased with Octopus Dive School and would definitely dive with them again.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 101-250 dives
Where else diving All over the Caribbean, Virginia, North Carolina
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, dry Seas calm
Water Temp 80-82°F / 27-28°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 60-80 Ft/ 18-24 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile ?
Enforced diving restrictions Requested that we stay with the dive master, which was fine with us. We liked have a guide.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

Sharks None Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles 1 or 2 Whales None
Corals 5 stars Tropical Fish 5 stars
Small Critters 5 stars Large Fish 3 stars
Large Pelagics 1 stars

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

Subject Matter N/A Boat Facilities N/A
Overall rating for UWP's N/A Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments [None]
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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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