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Dive Review of Villa at Dunbar Rock in
Honduras/Guanaja

Villa at Dunbar Rock: "Fantastic Resort, average Caribbean diving", Sep, 2020,

by Lisa Jabusch and Steve Nieters, TN, US (Sr. Contributor Sr. Contributor 23 reports with 8 Helpful votes). Report 11491.

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 5 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving 3 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 5 stars
Advanced 3 stars
Comments We were the first guests after they reopened after COVID, and were the only 2 guests at the resort all week. The pampering and attention by all the staff was fantastic. I let the agent in FL that I telephoned, choose our room, and the "C" king room is apparently the biggest and best, other than the Presidential Suite. The bedroom space was truly large and there was plenty of storage space. The bathroom was relatively large, with good counter space. Even though they say there are no no-see-ums, the few that were there found me whenever we sat outside by the bar and pool. They weren't bad enough to have me put on bug cream, but I did retreat indoors for dinner on several evenings. The weather was sunny, hot and humid (air temp 88 "feels like 102"), but in the shade with the common light (to stiff) breezes, it was comfortable.

The staff were amazing! So accommodating and friendly. No request was too big or small. The staff wore masks at all times, but we were told we could do what made us comfortable. Whenever we were outside, we didn't wear masks, but did so, whenever inside. Meals were delicious and filling, adjusted to your preferences. At each meal we were told what was on the menu for the next meal, and we could make additions or deletions as we desired. The weekly charge for a 7 day stay includes all meals and snacks, as well as alcohol (beer, wine and well drinks). It was so nice not to be nickel and dimed for cappuccino, soda or cocktails.

Housekeeping cleaned the room daily, providing fresh towels each day (felt really decadent!) They also offer complimentary laundry service on either Monday or Friday. The room A/C worked well. There were occasional momentary outages of power, with almost immediate resumption. There was a small east facing balcony with 2 chairs that were comfortable to sit and read either before sunrise or in the afternoon (the sun was amazingly hot, even 30 minutes after sunrise). The swimming pool was beautifully clear and slightly warm, and not over chlorinated. My husband said the billiards table was quite level.

The diving on the south side of the island, closest to the resort, was sad, with lots of sand and algae on the coral and minimal fish life. However, the night dive here was astounding! There were dozens of basket stars (we've only ever seen 2-3 on an entire dive), many tiger tails, squid fishing in our lights, burrfish in the sea grass, eagle ray soaring overhead, bearded toadfish, octopus in his den, and a drowsy/drunk looking fish laying at an angle on the bottom.
The north side of the island had very healthy reefs and walls, and much more fish life. We were still disappointed in the near lack of "medium" sized fish like angelfish, butterfly fish, tangs, trunkfish, cornetfish and the like. We only had rare eel sightings (green and goldentail morays). Our favorite sites were Black Rock Canyon and an as yet unmoored site that Raynel, our dive guide said was called Blue Leek Channel. These were on the far north and east end of the north side. There were great swim throughs and tunnels, as well as much larger and more numerous fish, including large groupers and a midnight blue parrotfish. No turtles anywhere, and only 1 obnoxious nurse shark that was obviously used to being fed by divers.
Raynel loved to go very slow and show us tiny critters such as neck crabs, cryptic teardrop crabs, clinging crabs under anenomes, and he even found a super small mantis shrimp in an area of sea grass, along with a pair of sailfin blennies (M&F).
It truly is concierge diving. In the morning, your gear have been loaded on the boat, along with your wetsuit that had been hung up overnight to dry, and you just made sure everything was accounted for before pulling away from the dock. At the end of the day (2 morning dives and then an afternoon dive), you walked off the boat carrying your camera and computers, and the crew took care of rinsing and storing your gear.

The resort would have me coming back in a heartbeat but the diving was just not that enticing.
Websites Villa at Dunbar Rock   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 251-500 dives
Where else diving Fiji, French Polynesia, Cozumel, Belize, Hawaii, Cayman Islands, other Caribbean locations, Great Barrier Reef, Solomon Islands, PNG
Closest Airport Guanaja Getting There MIA to Roatan, then small charter flight ($250 pp RT) to Guanaja

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas calm, no currents
Water Temp 85-86°F / 29-30°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 50-75 Ft/ 15-23 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions 60 minutes
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

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

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

Subject Matter 3 stars Boat Facilities 4 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 3 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments There's a fresh water tank on the boat. Your camera is handed to you after entry and handled carefully at all times.
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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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