2000 Chapbook

All dive resorts are on the Bay Islands: Roatán, Guanaja, Utila, Cayos Cochinos, and other small cayes.... Honduras is home to the world's most aggressive no-see-ums; they bite, bite, bite. Although Skin-So-Soft works for a few, most people need DEET, and some have serious allergic reactions to the bites. Those who are unprepared often find their vacations ruined.... The diving features great walls, offshore seamounts, and excellent coral and gorgonians, although there are few large fish or lobsters due to overfishing.... Favorite dives include Little Bight, Black Hill, Church Bank and Turtle Bay Wall on Utila; and CocoView Wall, Calvin's Crack, Mary's Place, and Valley of Kings on Roatán; Jim's Silverlode on Guanaja; and the seamounts off Cayos Cochinos. Whale sharks are seen occasionally near Utila.... Cayos Cochinos is excellent for diversity of macro subjects..... The rainy season is October through February, and northers can blow and disrupt the diving.... TACA often overbooks, so reconfirm flights (which may not help) and carry essentials as TACA loses or delays luggage.... Spanish is spoken on the mainland, English in the Bay Islands.... While there's little night life or shopping, classic Central American jungles and Mayan ruins inland make great side trips.... Malaria protection is advised....

Cayos Cochinos

Plantation Beach Resort, April 1999, Dick & Donna Stofer (dstofer@sky.net), Overland Park, KS. Sargassum triggers at 95' at Roatán Banks. Toadfish abundant. Cayos Cochinos is always macro heaven (don't look for big stuff, not much). Baby cowfish at Charlotte's Choice, tasseled nudibranchs and a couple of varieties of Doris's. Arrow blennies, pike blennies and leech headshield slugs, 5' jewfish at the Gardens. Half a dozen quillfin blennies, male and female, dusky jawfish. Shore diving excellent with octopi, eagle rays, toadfish, corallimorph. Food excellent as usual. No see-ums obnoxious as usual. We keep going back! We enjoy your publication. (The Resort: 1-800-628-3723; Fax/Phone: (504) 442-0974; e-mail:pbr@hondurashn.com website www.plantationbeachresort.com)

Guanaja

Bayman Bay Club, June 1999, Gary and Pam Rudy, San Jose, CA. Vis: 50-100 ft. Water: 84 degrees. Mountains are bare from Hurricane Mitch. Diving good on the leeward side, excellent on the windward side. Lots of algae on the leeward side affected visibility. No see-ums plentiful - Skin-So-Soft and 100% DEET applied liberally didn't help. We learned to live with the no-see-ums. Their compressors were washed away with the hurricane so they have to refill the tanks down island, but no inconvenience to us. Fine dive crew took our BC's and tanks into the boat, and then we flopped aboard on our abdomens (no dive ladder). Kept a log of our computer profile. Pleasant hotel and staff. (Ph: 305-370-2120, Fax: 305-370-2276, Fax: 011-504-454179, e-mail: info@baymanbayclub.com, Website: www.baymanbayclub.com)

Roatán

Anthony's Key Resort, March 1999, Jeffrey R. Johnson (jrj72113@aol.com), Maumelle, AR. Vis: 50-80 ft. Water: 78-80 degrees. sunny. Water: calm. Restrictions: depth limits, time. Service excellent friendly and accommodating. Divemaster very professional. My wife and I enjoyed following him - he pointed out things we would have missed. Coral was a little "dim" and we were disappointed that we didn't see more large critters, but we were satisfied. A place for divers, not much else to do. Poor airline service from TACA (take a chance airline). Our luggage did not arrive with us, took a day and a half to get it. A common occurrence, experienced by most AKR guests. Local TACA personnel were unhelpful, but AKR handled things for us. Luggage also did not arrive with us on our trip home. TACA's New Orleans personnel were more helpful, but we lost a day and a half of diving that can't be replaced. (Ph: 800-227-3483 or 305-227-3483, Fax: 305-666-2292)

Anthony's Key Resort, April 1999, Michael David Davis, Bradenton, FL. Vis: 100-120 ft, Water: 80-82 degrees. Resort and dive operation great. Island beautiful, diving fantastic. T.A.C.A. random flight scheduling was a pain. Two bags per person could be checked in, but only one will arrive the same day as you do.

Anthony's Key Resort, June 1999, Mike Knight (Knight@mo-net.com), Monett, MO. Vis: 80-100 ft, Water: 82-83 degrees. Restrictions: 500 psi in tanks. Good food, accommodations, helpfulness, friendliness. Lots of critters on night dives. Excellent for night diving. No-see-ums voracious. Take DEET. Could be more big fish. TACA airlines lost our luggage coming and going.

Anthony's Key Resort, June 1999, Marianne & Jeff Daniel, Walnut Creek, CA. Vis: 50-100 ft. Water: 80-83 degrees. Restrictions: max 80 dive one, max 50 dive two, max 40/50 min. Comfortable, clean, well-maintained resort. Dive operation well-run. Food American style, good, plentiful. Service good and friendly. No-see-ums abundant, bit through insect repellent. Dives done using drift techniques (though no current), because many sites had no mooring. Good for the reef, but guides went too fast to see small critters, behavior. Our best dives were the moored evenings, when we dived by ourselves.

Anthony's Key Resort, July 1999, Jim N. Parkhill (Scuba7056@aol.com), McAllen, TX. Vis: 60-100 ft. Water: 80-84 degrees. Sunny, dry. Restrictions: 1 hour, stay with group, max 130 ft. Excellent full service photo shop. AKR videos all dolphin dives, day trips to Cayos Cochinos, night dives and 3-4 regular dives, reasonable price. Galindo family has added impressive improvements to AKR since hurricane Mitch. 11 new cabins with A/C. A new dock for 4 new 48 foot custom ProDive boats, for day trips to Cayos Cochinos, Guanaja and Barbareta; Big new ProDive pontoon boat for snorkel excursions. New air-conditioned classroom for courses offered by AKR and the Institute for Marine Sciences new summer marine biology camp for teens and dolphin camp for kids under 14. AKR still offers dolphin dives, dolphin snorkel and the daily dolphin shows. I took 3 kids to the dolphin camp two years ago and would give it rave reviews. This year I took my 13-year-old son and found it perfect for a novice with only 30 dives under his belt. Few dive resorts are better suited for families with kids. Day trip to Cayos Cochinos worth the extra $75. 3 dives, lunch at Plantation Beach Resort in Cochinos, return for the night dive on Roatán. One dive at Lion's Head in Cochinos was worth the price cornucopia of macro life teeming with sailfin blennies, jaw fish, spotted leopard flatworms and other goodies. Divemasters Phil and O.J. delight in finding these critters.

Anthony's Key Resort, July 1999, Roger Mader, Corydon, IN. Vis: 60-90 ft. Water: 84 degrees. No more than 130 ft deep, return with 500psi. Nice resort, friendly people, good service. Need chests with drawers in rooms, had to use other bed as a substitute dresser. Divemaster Ricardo good, located and pointed out lots of small creatures. Saw 2 large spotted eagle rays, several large turtles, swam with dolphins on dolphin dive. Resort failed to get my girl friend's airline boarding pass but managed to convince TACA to let a child in our party sit on her lap for first flight. Very nice, up to 3/4 dives/day (with night dives) and good diving.

Anthony's Key Resort, July 1999, Janie Richardson (alanjane@cwo.com), Byron, CA. Vis: 75-150 ft. Water: 80-83 degrees. Sunny, windy. Water: choppy. Restrictions: recommended depth limits on each dive. Little attention for UWP's but had extensive photo operation. Spectacular dolphin program for kids 8-14. Week of feeding, swimming, snorkeling, training and learning about dolphins. Worst bug situation we have encountered. Sand fleas are relentless and things you use to protect have no effect. TACA: people as many as 2 days late and lots of stories about lost bags full of dive gear.

Anthony's Key Resort/Norwegian Cruise Lines, September 1999, Ken Harbour, Houston, TX. Water: 80-85 degrees, Vis: 80-100 ft. Norwegian Sea out of Houston can do 2 tank dive in Cozumel and 2 in Roatán. All arrangements were excellent. Very good dive operators both dives. In Roatán it was Anthony's Key Resort. Good way to combine a little diving with a cruise.

Bay Island Beach Resort, October 1998, Jean & Bob Kirkpatrick (bojean@logantele.com), Russellville, KY. Vis: 50-100 ft. Water: 84-86 degrees. Time limits to fit in three dives and lunch. Week before Hurricane Mitch. Reefs were beautiful, except for some bleaching; fish abundant, many huge groupers and snappers and "rivers" of Creole wrasses. Dove Mary's Place and two other sites on south side, a great day! "Spooky Channel" in front of resort is a fun dive, can be done from shore tho usually they drop you from boat. Bob did Nitrox certification, which I'd already done, so we dived on Nitrox. Drawback: dive boat is crowded and difficult to get around, even with a few divers. Resort is nice. Great room near beach, with AC and tile shower. Food is very good, view from dining room spectacular. Beach side bar is attractive, sometimes served dinner there. Bay Islands bugs are another drawback. (Ph: 800-476-2826 or 561-624-5774, Fax: 561-624-7751, e-mail: deepted@aol.com, Website: www.bibr.com)

Bay Island Beach Resort, December 1998, Brian and Miki Quimby (qinter@ncinter.net), Erie, PA. Vis: 50-90 ft. Water: 80-83 degrees. Sunny. Usually followed Divemasters basic requirements on time and depth. Left alone if you request. Excellent experienced and trained divers who know the areas. No whale sharks or sharks. We were set-up to swim with dolphins one day, but Bay Island screwed up and we were unable to! Accommodations OK. Each person had own cabin with shower. Food OK. Had a menu at some meals, mostly breakfast and lunches. Diving great. Divemasters knew everyone by second dive and catered to each person.

Bay Island Beach Resort, January 1999, Brooks Baldwin, Walnut Creek, CA. Vis: 60-70 ft. Water: 78-80 degrees. Weather: sunny, cloudy. Water: calm, currents. Restrictions: depth 120 feet. Good staff, willing to be of service, did those little extras. Diving very good, though visibility not as good as usual. Some reef damage from Mitch. Accommodations on lower floor of main house were spartan. One room without a window, but had a ceiling fan. The other room was adequate, but we had a toilet that backed up and leaked onto the floor. Repaired the day we left. Rooms by the water looked much nicer. Boats in poor condition. One was out of commission for the first three days, the other suffered from a loose steering cable; the day before we left it blew a water pump and had to be towed back to the resort. Roatán offers some good diving, but there must be better places to stay!

CocoView Resort, August 1998, Muller and Oseasohn, Winchester, MA. Vis: 30-60 ft. Water: 82-87 degrees. Great facilities, beautiful site, wonderful cabanas built over the water, spacious and comfortable lodge with dining room, bar, game room, pool, ping-pong and parrots, superb dock and dive storage area. Large boats easy on, easy off. Helpful staff. TACA airlines unreliable schedules and baggage handling, poor vis due to development and dredging. (Ph: 800/282-8932 or 352-588-4132, Fax: 352-588-4158)

CocoView Resort, September 1998, Bill Harvey, Chicago, IL. Vis: 60-80 ft. Water: 85-90 degrees, Good operation, fair price, dive the way you want. Nothing to do except dive. Food OK. Accommodations decent to good.

CocoView Resort, October 1998, Sally Lewis, Steamboat, CO. Vis: 50-75 ft. Water: 80-82 degrees. Restrictions: Depth 90 feet. Staff works hard to see that we have a good time. Friendly place. Lots of diving shore, boat and drop-offs. Staff has to be asked to go to different sites. Will repeat some sites if you don't ask.

CocoView Resort, November 1998, Mike Tell, Grapevine, TX. Vis: 50-80 ft. Water: 82-84 degrees. Restrictions: 130+ ft. with advanced approval, back with 500 psi (complete freedom). Unscathed by the hurricane. Nearest thing to a live-aboard. Four boat dives/day and 24 hour access to shore diving: excellent. Two beautiful walls and a great wreck easily accessible from shore. Great for advanced divers and beginners. Plenty of opportunity to do deep wall dives, explore insides of wrecks, swim-throughs, and easy dives for beginners. Took novice diver and she could get 15 dives plus two night dives and became a better diver. Boats and divemasters are the best. Boats are clean, divemasters take you where you want. Rooms rustic, but clean and comfortable with the best views, as they are built on the water. Staff is the finest I have ever encountered. Everything ran like clockwork.

CocoView Resort, November 1998, Becky Kennedy, Athens, TN. Vis: 40-60 ft. Water: 82-85 degrees. Divemaster told us max depth to go against the current and what depth to come back at to find the boat. Group stayed close due to visibility. Only Mitch loss was a sand in front of the clubhouse and their gazebo off the shore. Staff great. Our group is vegetarian and there was plenty to eat even with their reduced supplies. Weather was nice during the day with rain late night and morning. Coral in great shape, but had bleached. Plenty of eels.

CocoView Resort, December 1998, Rob Clarke, St. Albert, AB Canada. Vis: 20-75 ft. Water 78-85 degrees. Had to do a check out dive despite experience. No arrival-day dives. Nitrox $6 extra/tank. Lovely setting; every unit faces calm water; clean basic accommodations, unlimited shore diving. Vis poor; saw only 1 ray, 1 turtle and a moderate amount of fish. Corals healthy. AKR dolphin dive expensive at $75 USD for snorkel or $100 for dive. Food problem Mayo-based salads may be the culprit and 10 out of 11 dive group members sick night and day with the runs; some people eventually ate only white rice or plain crackers; one person was vomiting. No-see-ums were intolerable; sprays, nets and long pants and socks did not deter them; most people had 100-500 itchy annoying bites covering legs, arms and backs. Sounds like whining but combined with a sick stomach it becomes a holiday that even the tough would think twice about! Departure fee is an outrageous $25/person, the highest we've been stung with.

CocoView Resort, January 1999, Jason DeSalvo, Montclair, NJ. Massive coral bleaching virtually gone! Dive operation runs like clockwork, the divemasters are helpful, knowledgeable (especially Jimmy) and let you do your own thing or guide you. Four boat dives/day (2 drop-off dives at Newman's Wall in the morning and CocoView Wall in the afternoon). Boats leave at 9:00 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.; restrictions: limit your bottom time to 65 minutes and no deeper than 130' without notifying your divemaster. Unlimited shore diving. CocoView Wall (a 5-10 minute swim) gets better the farther you swim from the resort. Starts in 10-15 feet, with aluminum 80s we had several dives that were 1:20+! 19 dives in 5 days, average bottom time 50 minutes. Marine life fabulous, saw no sharks or large rays, coral, macro subjects and fish populations first rate. More large schools of fish than Cayman in November! At Mary's Place I saw a coral head 3 feet in diameter with 10 different species of hard coral! CocoView Wall orange cup coral under many ledges, healthy lettuce coral, huge schools of Creole wrasse, spotted drum (on one dive 8 juvenile and 4 adult). Gold chain reef healthy stands of staghorn coral, large schools of surgeonfish, blue tangs and doctorfish. Great macro in shallows. Calvin's crack similar to Mary's place, but in better shape. A huge crack in the reef to swim through. Blennies, chestnut morays, and large channel clinging crabs. Menagerie in my top 5 fishiest Caribbean dives. Large schools of Creole wrasse, large chubs, huge yellowtail snappers, 2-3 foot yellowfin groupers, scrawled filefish feasting on moon jellyfish. 40 Foot Point where the wall comes to a point (ask divemaster for directions), swim out 30-100 feet at 20 feet and huge schools of Horse-eye Jacks swimming in circles. They incorporate you into the school! Vis 60-70 feet, at worst (at low tide in the channel) it was 5-10 feet! Most dives 35-50 feet. By the fifth day of diving, the sites all look the same. Mary's Place highly overrated. The inside of the canyon so silted that it's a dead zone. Reef top healthy and has great variety. Many dives are offshore from the largest settlements on the island. The sewage system consists of outhouses over the water; in some spots downstream from these settlements, the algae growth (particularly Y Branched Algae) has run rampant and is suffocating the reef. True for Newman's Wall, one of the CocoView beach dives. Since Newman's is downcurrent of both CocoView and Fantasy Island, there is massive algae growth on the reef top, killing beautiful gardens of Lettuce Coral. Lack of sewage treatment bizarre for a dive resort that has been considered by Rodale's to be one of the most environmentally friendly dive resorts. To add insult to environmental injury, the resort burns its garbage! On the Friday before we left they were burning plastic jugs and soda bottles with such reckless abandon that my buddy left the resort for the day, and I grabbed an aluminum 50 and hooked up my reg in my room to breathe without being poisoned! We asked to stop the blaze and only after speaking with the owner did they. Food is good, not gourmet. Good variety. Geo's and Tres Flores; former is a seafood restaurant in town and the latter is an awesome Mexican restaurant. Tres Flores is on top of one of Roatán's highest hills, with an awesome panoramic view. Don't miss sunset; taxi meal and drinks for four ran an easy $60 U.S. Land portion $850 PP for week, including meals and diving and over-the-water duplex bungalows, the nicest rooms though no ac. TACA portion of the trip was $450 (book through Roatán Charter). Water 78-80 degrees the entire week. Island growing fast and with the lack of environmental standards, these gorgeous reefs are not long for this world.

CocoView Resort, March 1999, Jeff(weissj@execpc.com) and Betsy Weiss, Milwaukee, WI. Vis: 50-100 ft. Water: 80 degrees. Sunny, a little windy. Dive Profile: Up to diver max 100. Excellent resort. Enjoyed the food, service and convenient shore diving. Dive operation was good, the walls great. Lots of coral debris and sand deposited on the corals along the wall.

CocoView Resort, March 1999, Larry Cook, Santa Rosa, CA. Vis: 75-150 ft. Water: 76-78 degrees. Comfortable, laid-back atmosphere, efficiently run operation, week of no-hassle unlimited diving. Better for intermediate to advanced divers since no restrictions, but with a computer and common sense it's great for novices to develop skills. Accommodations somewhat Spartan, but clean and well maintained; only negative was low water pressure. Meals on time with fresh fruits and salads and well balanced fare. Dive crew personable and competent. Our divemaster, Osman and boat captain "Gringo" were great. TACA Airlines got us off to a bad start when approx. 50 of the divers arriving on our flight from Houston did not get luggage until the following afternoon. Jets cannot land at night and you are transferred to prop planes in La Ceiba where your luggage commonly doesn't make it with you. CocoView loaned equipment until ours showed.

CocoView Resort, March 1999, Dave Helms, Highland, IN. Vis: 60-80 ft. Water: 80 degrees. Sunny, windy. Water: Choppy, no currents. No diving below 130 feet unless approved by DM. No decompression diving. No gloves. No shore/night diving if DM felt it was unsafe. Boats had camera rinse tanks on board. Also carpeted shelf for cameras. Crew careful with cameras. DM would hand cameras down to divers. dive operation well run. Can easily do 5 dives per day. Resort schedule around diving so no need to rush for meals. Well designed gear storage areas at dock. Could leave our gear out all night. Dive boats well set up and roomy. DMs kept groups together during week. Food great. Service and staff attitude was great. When we got in late from impromptu night dive and missed dinner, Lauray (activities director) got us food. Ivor at the photo shop replaced a faulty o-ring in my camera for no charge. Alex took us on impromptu tour of island Friday afternoon. When TACA lost most of our luggage, dive shop lent us gear so most did not miss any dives. Bad: Big critters scarce at Roatán. One person saw turtle, a few spotted sharks. Had several tanks with leaky valves and bad o-rings during the week. Not dangerous, just annoying. Some wear and tear evident in the rooms: doors tough to open and close. Some showers did not have much hot water. Some did not have much pressure. No-see-ums annoying, but OFF works. TACA Lost 17 bags from my group going down, 8 on return. TACA confiscated most carry-ons and lost them, too.

CocoView Resort, May 1999, Jerry Boerwinkle, Phoenix, AZ. Vis: 30-70 ft. Water: 81-83 degrees. Great place to relax or dive your brains out. Being a photographer without a regular buddy, I love the freedom of being able to shore dive solo whenever I want with no restrictions. Food good, service great, rooms average for Central America, no-see-ums a minor discomfort. Did more shore than boat dives. Shore diving critters: tobacco fish, doctor fish sand tilefish, pearly and rosy razorfish, eyed and peacock flounders, gray and queen angelfish, 3 different puffer species, 2 porgy species, lots of sand divers, large barracuda, green moray, scorpionfish, and octopus. Snorkeling in 2 feet of water just 40 feet from the clubhouse I photographed a 6-inch blenny and his drab mate that was not pictured in Paul Humann's ID book! Great trip overall. Mostly middle-aged and older divers. When my MX-10 Flooded, the British photo pro and his wife went beyond the call of duty to help. They were wonderful!

CocoView Resort, May 1999, Paul S. Jacobsen, Torrance, CA. Vis: 30-80 ft. Water: 82-84 degrees. Experienced group of 13, they put us all in one boat so we were given freedom. Our boat died after a dive and needed a jump. Most of us swam back not waiting the 2 hours for the "jumper" boat. CCV is a great deal for unlimited diving. Rooms well worn, but clean by the time we returned from morning dives. Boat side storage. Staff helpful, but you still had to carry your equipment around, which is fine by me. I loved CCV.

CocoView Resort, May 1999, Gloria Sullivan, Corona del Mar, CA. Vis: 40-100 ft. Water: 81-84 degrees. Each diver has his/her own gear area, including hangars for drying skins. Divemasters give thorough briefings, ask questions, point out interesting items underwater. Entire dive staff make sure divers get what they came for. When the wind is calm, the no-see-ums are active!

CocoView Resort, June 1999, Scott & Lynn Menard, Houston, TX. Vis: 40-100 ft. Water: 80-82 degrees. Mostly sunny. Some surge (sometimes strong). Diving Nitrox limited to 110', otherwise only limited by weather for shore diving. Resort runs like a well oiled machine. Bill & Evelyn Evans are wonderful and they have done a fine job hiring and managing. Staff helpful and friendly, made our vacation spectacular. Diving wonderful. Enjoyed shore diving; Mary's Place not to be missed. Vis on Prince Albertwreck good in the mornings, murky in the afternoons. Lot of life. We spent 15 minutes one morning watching a Queen Triggerfish getting cleaned. Newman's Wall is beautiful, home to at least 5 seahorses. Lot of grouper, green morays, several barracuda. Slipper lobster on a night dive. Seven nights stayed in the over-the-water bungalows; worth the extra money. No A/C, but breeze through windows and screen doors was sufficient. Two nights in air-conditioned rooms. A/C was nice, but we missed the bungalows and the room was smaller.

CocoView Resort, June 1999, Arthur C. Hulse (ntcc@grove.iup.edu), Kittanning, PA. Vis: 30-150 ft. Water: 82 degrees. Great place. Boats large and well laid out. Stable, even in rough (8-10 foot) seas. Ride never more than 15 minutes. Most dives start 20 to 30 feet and drop to a sand bottom below 130. Great safety stops in the shallows. Prince Albertis a nice wreck with lots of marine growth. Great night dive; school of glassy sweepers in the hold during the day occasionally come out at night. Accommodations rustic but pleasant. Excellent buffet; special order breakfast: eggs, pancakes, waffles, French toast. Staff is great, especially Billy, Jimmy, Ivor, Lynn, Enrique, Capt. Kirk and Sascha.

CocoView Resort, June 1999, Bruce V. Wyrwitzke, Astoria, OR. Vis: 60-80 ft. Water: 84-86 degrees. Fine operation! Set up to let you dive 24 hours a day, more than this body can handle.

CocoView Resort, June 1999, Sharon Bormann, Shingle Springs, CA. Vis: 70-100 ft. Water: 80-84 degrees. Restrictions: 65 minutes, no limit on depth. TACA got us there and back on time with our luggage; however, several members of our group who checked two pieces of baggage were missing one upon return. Our bungalow on the water was great, very comfy and relatively few bugs. Drop off dives were good but pushed limits for no decomp. diving with short surface intervals. Enjoyed the "little stuff." Favorite sites were Mary's Place and The Chimneys. Easy and relaxed diving. With choppy conditions, the midship ladder entry was a good feature.

CocoView Resort, July 1999, Jenny Cline, Satellite Beach, FL. Vis: 60-8O ft. Water: 75-78 degrees. Restrictions: 120 ft, adhere to tables, use own computer. I enjoy the freedom of shore diving. Tanks 24 hours a day; if I wanted to dive solo at night, OK. I became persona non grata following a billing dispute with the separately-owned dive shop. I cleared with the owner on my departure, but after I left they tried to bill me an additional $75 for diving. My travel agency informed CocoView that their failure to bill correctly at the time of departure did not constitute a requirement for a guest to pay subsequently discovered "dive fees." CocoView has since refused to accept my further bookings. Other than the unfortunate incident, diving very enjoyable. The owner was looking for a buyer and hopefully customer relations will improve after the sale. Roatán is declining in water quality due to the influx of mainland Hondurans chasing the tourist dollar. Infrastructure suited to 10,000 now serves 40,000. Flavor of the old Bay Islands is better preserved on Utila, and so is the water quality and prevalence of marine life.

CocoView Resort, September 1999, David C. Johnston, St. Paul, MN. Vis: 60-100 ft. Water: 84-B6 degrees. Restrictions: 100 ft. Resort rustic, relaxed, set up for divers. Staff paid attention to needs of all customers. Great setup for divers who want to dive, dive, dive! Not much to do for non-divers. Whale sharks seen and photographed 2 weeks earlier 5 minutes from resort. Resort has added new walkways. Vis was the best in my 4 years there. Coral has partly recovered from El Niño.

Fantasy Island, September 1998, Don Montgomery & Dinah Brooks, Kansas City, MO. Water: 80-85 degrees, Vis: 50-100 ft. On time performance from both Continental and TACA. The key to success with TACA is to book direct with a reputable local travel agent. Confirm and reconfirm before departure. Exceeded expectations for accommodations, food service and diving. Captain Kirk and divemaster Nelson ensured everyone had safe and enjoyable dives. 4 sharks, 6 turtles, 3 big rays, many eels, more fish than last year. Pod of whales off the east end, no-see-ums, no problem. Bite free all week with regular use of mild repellent. Vis poor after an early morning storm for one day. Thanks for the Chap Book - you guys are great! (Ph: 800-676-2826, Fax: 813-353-0154)

Fantasy Island, January 1999, Carl Anderson, Missoula, MI. Vis: 70-100 ft. Water: 78-80 degrees. If going for just the diving, I'd go to just two dedicated dive resorts such as Coco View, just across the way from Fantasy Island.

Fantasy Island, April 1999, Tom (tmorril@ibm.net), Kansas City, MO. Vis: 100-150 ft. Water: 70-75 degrees. Weather: sunny, windy, dry. Water: calm, choppy, no currents. Restrictions: bottom time, depth limits comments. Many sites outstanding for abundant marine life. Great boat and shop staff accommodated our site wishes. Excellent underwater guides. Hotel staff friendly and met our needs. Accommodations above average for this part of the world. Everything clean and changed each day. Food healthy and fairly good. TACA a pain in the rear....late and lousy service. Our bags on the way down didn't make it. Hit TACA up for $100/person if they are at fault for late arriving bags! We did and got our money!

Fantasy Island, May 1999, Ernie Plourde, Wolcott, CT. Vis: 50-75 ft. Water: 80-84 degrees. Good -4 dives a day, 2 morning, 1 P.M., 1 night. No extra charge. (boat dives) restaurant open till 10 P.M. 3 full meals per day. Bad - low water pressure in shower.

Fantasy Island, May 1999, J. Abrams, Mt. Kisco, NY. Water: 79-82 degrees, Vis: 40-100 ft. Captain and divemaster assigned to group for stay. Both excellent and made experience excellent. Nelson was outstanding. They need to raise the quality of the food and service at least one notch! Bug spray essential.

Fantasy Island, Summer 1999, Dr. Peter Harrington & Marilyn Harrington, Kenner, LA. My wife and I are experienced and well-traveled divers. Accommodations excellent, the dive operation exemplary. Wonderful variety of walls, corals, fairly large animals, and macrolife. Age-old nemesis of the Bay Islands, turned our wonderful dive vacation into a disaster. No-see-ums. On the fifth day, my wife's allergic reaction erupted all over her body, and we barely got her home in time. We spent 3 days in the hospital, and she lost two weeks of accumulated sick time and vacation time. Several women on our boat suffered similarly but not to this extent. Two sisters chose to leave rather abruptly than stay and fight the misery. A husband and wife team after three days said they were leaving "as fast as they could get off the island." TACA lost our clothing luggage en route (but delivered our dive equipment), and lost our diving equipment (but delivered our clothing luggage) upon return to New Orleans.

Fantasy Island, July 1999, Gerald Buck (gbuck63423@aol.com), Newalla, OK. Vis: 50-80 ft. Water: 80-82 degrees. Sunny, dry. Water: calm, No decompression dives, no less than 500 in tank, no gloves. Had rinse tank for camera and separate tank for masks. DM good at finding sea life to photograph. Excellent dive operation. Had same crew all week, but you had option of either dive boat each day. Had boat on north shore that went out at least twice a week. Each boat would have dive destinations written on board at dock so you could pick which dive you wanted. Except for north shore, most of the time return to dock between dives. Usually four dives a day. Shore diving great. They kept a skiff and driver at dock to load your stuff and take you to wreck or two reefs. He would return to pick you up when you were done. Dives weak on fish life sometimes and few large pelagics. Macro life fantastic. DM Robert gave detailed description of dive and choice of diving your own plan or following him. Food very good for an all-inclusive, but at times too formal. No-see-ums: Off seems to keep them at bay. TACA: we checked in an hour and a half early and the people behind us were bumped and rerouted to mainland. Check bags at TACA and do not send them straight through. They will ask you what bag you want the most and mark it priority. Good luck with your other bags, although nobody in our group had bags missing.

Fantasy Island, August 1999, Ray Phillips, Richmond, VA. Vis: 50-80 ft, Water: 82-86 degrees. Had we known the food was so bad we would not have gone. Sail boats, wave runners advertised were not available. Good dive sites, easy to get to but on old boats, not in good repair. No dive store/shop amenities.

Inn of Last Resort, October 1998, Jim Virgil (jvirgil@nidlink.com), Coeur d'Alene, ID. Vis: 50-80 ft. Water: 80-82 degrees. Dive restrictions: 130 ft. Coral very bleached. Good dive operation and great accommodations. Diving OK but surge (from coming storm Mitch) was a hindrance. (Ph: 011-504-445-1838 or 1-888-238-8266, Website: www.coral.net/innlast.html)

Inn of Last Resort, December 1998, Blumie Blumberg, Baltimore, MD. Vis: 50-75 ft. Water: 80 degrees. I have 480 dives. Inn of Last Resort was a great treat. Andy and Donna and the crew couldn't have been nicer. Best and most accommodating place I've ever stayed.

Inn of Last Resort, March 1999, Lynn Parker, Gatesville TX. Vis: 60-80 ft. Water: 80-84 degrees. Sunny. Water: choppy, Pat, our divemaster told us that our tables weren't applicable to the kind of dives they did, leading us inexperienced divers to rely on him for our dive plan. Depth limits given in the briefing, but only on the last few days were they enforced. Inn of Last Resort is lovely: laid-back, pleasant, friendly, clean, food usually delicious, accommodations spacious. Dive operation another story. Both boats broke down repeatedly. Problems with defective rental gear. Dive groups were large (12-15) with only one divemaster. One divemaster was intent on aggressive profiles. On one dive, the other instructor was unaware of the whereabouts of his group members at depth. New divers who like to know that the divemaster is aware of their whereabouts, might demand ahead of time that Janine serve as their divemaster - a true professional, and the designated instructor for this SSI-affiliated shop - although she only works there as needed.

Inn of Last Resort, June 1999, Fran Leach, Brewster, NY. Vis: 60-90 ft. Water: 80-82 degrees. Restrictions: 130'-60 minutes. Coral in shallower depths in average to bad condition. Less fish than Bonaire. Lots of juveniles, not many nature except groupers. Nice swim throughs. Most of time no more than 8 divers, but once a huge group of inexperienced divers so we went and did our own thing. Resort was great, like staying with family. Not much room to sit in sun for non-divers. Bring large towels, those in the hotel are very small.

Inn of Last Resort, July 1999, Tom Rain, Irving, TX. Vis: 50-75 ft. Water: 80-82 degrees. Restrictions: 130 max. Follow divemaster and her preset profile. Nice resort, about 3 years old. Nice, large, comfortable, air-conditioned rooms. Excellent food. Wonderful staff and service. Owners Andy and Donna treat you like family and make trip enjoyable. Andy offered me his wetsuit when my luggage was late. TACA Air bumped us in Houston so missed one day in Roatán. Dive bag arrived a day later. Very nice dive trip. It sure beats going to work!

Reef House, February 1999, Rick LeCompte, Mulberry, IN. Water: 70-75 degrees, Vis: 60-80 ft. Restrictions: 130' requested. Truly dive, dive, dive, dive! Isolated place. Dirt poor area but personal safety not an issue. Relaxed divemasters. Perfect for advanced divers ... questionable if a "newbie." Total freedom about where and when to dive. 19 dives in 5+, days. Mainly walls. Tons of dolphins. No nightlife. Basic, basic. (Ph: 800-328-8897 or 011-504-452297, Fax: 011-504-452142)

Reef House, July 1999, Marilyn Koukol (kokmar@icscjp.co.jp), FPO AP. Vis: 50-80 ft. Water: 80 degrees. Dive restrictions: no deco and one hour. Merritt was super at spotting tiny creatures. Seahorses, toad fish, neck/arrow crabs and flamingo tongues, short-nosed batfish. Nurse sharks, huge crabs, sting rays and eagle rays. Snorkeled with a school of dolphins during one surface interval. Reef House is rustic, but personal. Ask for the very end room right over the ocean. Food was tasty and filling. Merritt and Ron were helpful and gave personal attention. I enjoyed hanging onto the dive platform of the boat with mask and snorkel as it moved slowly over the reef. Great way to see lots with no effort! Most dive sites had beautiful coral and little damage. Three dives a day and had a couple of night dives too. Could shore dive anytime!

Utila

Laguna Beach Resort, April 1999, Don Cox, Ellen Roecker and Kelly Cox, Madison, WI. Whale sharks on two of three tries and a pod of dolphins on the other. Searching occurred on calm days, during the surface interval following the morning dive. Wagner, the captain, is famous for his ability to find the beasts, claiming to be able to smell them. Process involves turning away from the reef and island and pushing toward the deep, looking for birds, that lead to sea surface thrashing violently. Feeding there were small fishes, feeding on them larger fishes, bonito, marlin, and whoosh, a whale shark. Saw bonita and one marlin, but no other sharks, though weren't sure who owned the medium sized shark-looking dorsal fins breaking the surface from time to time. Wagner would edge the boat up to the frenzy and suddenly he would gun the engine and we would take off. Just as suddenly he would cut the engine. And there, one to five feet below the surface, would be a brownish gray leviathan with white spots. Best keep your snorkeling gear on during this hunt. We jumped in, created a lot of surface bubbles to go with those from the engine exhaust, looked down, and tended to see the creature gliding gracefully into the deep. Occasionally following it proved worthwhile; it came back up and turned around to have a peek at Kelly, almost nose to nose after she'd followed it beyond the crowd. Kid has all the luck. I was busy burping the 16-mm lens on our MM IIEX, and never got close enough for a decent picture. Leave the camera on board, enjoy the experience, and buy a picture. It is said there have been schools of whale sharks and there isn't so much hopping on and off the boat to chase just one around. I went through the guest book to see what experience others had. (back to January.) A lot had seen whale sharks. Some didn't. My guess is that in a week, the chances are at least 50-50. But the folks at Laguna Beach are eager to please, and are miserable when one or more guests express desperation at seeing a whale shark and it doesn't happen. Disneyland it ain't; there are no guarantees. Oddly, Wagner has never been in the water with one and has no interest in changing that fact. (Ph: 800-668-8452 or 318-893-0013, Fax: 318-893-0013, e-mail: awhite@utila.com)

Laguna Beach Resort, May 1999, Bryan Breckenridge, Nevada, MD. Water: 78-80 degrees, Vis: 50-75 ft. Divemasters accommodating; searched for and snorkeled with whale sharks!

Laguna Beach Resort, May 1999, Al Hinchee, Palmetto, FL. Vis: 60-100 ft., Water: 80-82 degrees. Restrictions: 125'. Great for dedicated divers. Not much for nondivers, but who needs a bunch of kids or party minded nondivers when you've come to do serious diving? Didn't see whale sharks. Swam with large schools of bottle nose dolphins. Spotted eagle rays at Ted's Point.

Laguna Beach Resort, May 1999, Jean & Bob Kirkpatrick (bojean@logantele.com), Russellville, KY. Vis: 75-100 ft. Water: 82-84 degrees. Restrictions: time limits and we didn't question depth limits. Bay Islands easy to get to, with beautiful reefs and prolific reef fish. Laguna Beach Resort a favorite spot laid-back island atmosphere and outstanding accommodations. The AC/ceiling fan cottages have beautiful wood interiors, high ceilings and many windows. Dive boats are the best, dive service personal and special. Reefs in great shape with little hurricane damage and little bleaching. 3 dives and 3 meals daily for the spring special of $699 a week. Spent surface intervals looking for whale sharks - no luck, but were entertained by several schools of porpoises. A great vacation.

Laguna Beach Resort, July 1999, Bill Stacy, Chesterton, IN. Vis: 40-80 ft. Water: 84 degrees. Restrictions: 130 ft. Beautiful resort on a spit of sand off Utila. 10 minute boat ride. Resort is laid back clean, convenient. Rooms spacious with enough room to lay out all gear and clothes. Plenty of hot water, great showers. A/C and ceiling fan kept room cool. King size beds were comfortable; hammock and chaise lounge on deck in front of bungalow overlooking the lagoon. Food plentiful though would have liked more variety. Plenty of bottled water. From the management to the workers, we were treated like family. Use Continental and SOSA to fly in. We were the only ones not to lose luggage. Diving is relaxed and easy; snorkeled with whale sharks three times and twice with bottle nose dolphins. Excellent areas to snorkel. Diving is OK but not spectacular. A great place to learn. Dive boats are great, never crowded, clean and well laid out. Plenty of room for cameras and gear. Ladders are the best. They handle all dive gear for you. Rinse your fins and mask and they do the rest. Excellent rinse tanks on dock with plenty of storage space for equipment. The town of Utila is worth a trip. Interesting though not much to do. Friendly people and safe. Laguna Beach Resort relaxing, comfortable, friendly, inexpensive solitude.

Laguna Beach Resort, August 1999, June Reinisch, Brooklyn, NY. Vis: 70-100 ft. Water: 84-85 degrees. Everything great. Bring insect repellent mixed waterproof sun block. Sand fleas when the breeze stops. Occasional night sea wasps, wear a skin!

Laguna Beach Resort, September 1999, Keith & Ellen Irwin, San Jose, CA. Camera table on the boat is used for all sorts of things besides cameras. No film processing at the resort. A separate rinse tank on shore but not on the boat. Nonetheless, a great place to shoot Whale Sharks. Liz Wayne, formerly of CocoView, makes you feel at home and accommodate you. Facilities are new, with their own power generation and water. Wagner, the captain, is superb at finding whale sharks if they around. The regular divemaster, John, is attentive, but will let you dive your own profile after a check-out. Does a great job pointing out critters. Food plentiful and good. Cabins spacious, clean, and well kept. Only bad news is biting bugs, particularly no-see-ums which seem immune to DEET. Take lightweight pants and long sleeve shirts for evenings and mornings. Getting here is also a pain. You must change planes in San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba, before landing on the dirt strip on Utila. LBR is a place for diving and relaxing. Other than the beach and some kayaks, there is not much to do.

Utila Lodge, December 1998, Rob Clarke, St. Albert, AB Canada. Vis: 20-75 ft. Water: 78-85 degrees. No shore diving. No arrival day dives. Nitrox $6 USD extra/tank. Marvelous food. Vis poor. No see-ums intolerable; sprays, nets and long pants and socks did not deter them; most people had 100-500 itchy annoying bites covering legs, arms and backs. We will not return. Departure fee is $25/person. (Ph: 800-948-8452 or 011-504-453-143, Fax: 011-504-453209)

Utila Lodge, March 1999, Larry Cook, Santa Rosa, CA. Vis: 50-125 ft. Water: 76-78 degrees. Small operation run by Americans Jim and Kisty, who make you feel at home. Set up local activities and services, e.g., horseback rides and local massage therapist. Operation connected with Utila College of Diving across the street. Did an advanced course with German instructor Martin, competent and good-natured; a rewarding experience. Boat captain Willy the archetypal island sailor, one of the best, loved his Utilan dialect. Divemaster Neil is young, fun-loving, helpful and professional though sensitive if you criticized sites that had been damaged by "El Niño." Utila more affected than Roatán by warm currents and had more damaged sites. Plenty were in good shape so others should have been avoided. 3 boat dives daily, no afternoon dive on the days you do a night dive. Did not see any whale sharks due to windy conditions though Willy and Neil certainly tried.

Utila Lodge, April 1999, Robin Stanclif (robielee@aol.com), Tucson, AZ. Vis: 40-60 ft. Water: 78-82 degrees. Sunny. water: calm. Vis not always great but there's so much to shoot! Third visit. Always great dives with lots of fish and coral, saw whale sharks, turtles, dolphin and tarpon. They take great care of us, it's not a touristy island. Relaxing. Small and personal and over the water so little problem with the no see 'ums as long as we put repellent on. Owners are friendly; boat captain Willy is a character and knowledgeable. Food is terrific.

Utila Lodge, June 1999, Walter Brenner, Wayne, PA. Vis: 50-80 ft. Water: 82-84 degrees. Everything topnotch. Unfortunately, the reefs are sparsely populated, lots of juveniles but maybe we saw one full grown fish on each dive. A 3-4 foot barracuda was a "big guy". No comparison with Grand Turk, for example. Reefs are otherwise healthy so strict conservation efforts could reverse this trend.

Utila Lodge, July 1999, Allen Garrison, Liberty, TX. Vis: 30-100 ft. Water: 83-86 degrees. Restrictions: 130 ft., one hour. Rooms clean and well laid out. Good a/c and water pressure. Ceiling fan in my room (D) sounded like a vegematic. The lock box in my room: could lock it and put another padlock on it and still get in by pulling on bottom of door. Food good and plentiful, not gourmet. Staff was great, helpful and friendly. Made you feel like family. Diving very good. Jeff, divemaster, gave good briefings and let you dive your own profile, no babysitting. Never told where we would be diving until we got to site. All sites are moored except the sea mounts. Saw one whale shark. Three dives a day, night dives Monday and Wednesday. Lobster, shrimp, scorpion fish, angelfish, eagle rays, lots of eels, flounder, garden eels. Diversity of sea life was great.

Utila Lodge, July 1999, Bruce V. Wyrwitzke, Astoria, OR. Vis: 60-100 ft. Water: 84-86 degrees. Restrictions: 130 ft. I loved this place! Jim and Kisty Engel's staff makes your stay enjoyable. Food wasn't fancy, but if Mom's were as good I would never have gone into the army! Our skipper, Willy, has a unique ability to spot whale sharks and get us in the water with them. In 46 years on Utila, he had only seen two sun fish, but he spotted one for us to snorkel with for 40 minutes. Got in the water with a pod of dolphins. Of all of the places we've been, this provided the best overall experience and we consult Undercurrentand Rodale'sbefore we go anywhere!

Utila Lodge, August 1999, Gary Easterly, Houston, TX. Vis: 60-100 ft., Water: 78-82 degrees. Restrictions: 100 ft min. 1500 psi tanks then surface. Very seldom can you spend six days and 5 nights in a third world country with 3 teenage sons (I'm 50) and spend all your time outside goin' and playin' hard and come away with only memories of perfection - the diving - the sights, food. Best dive boat in Caribbean!