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Review: CoCo View, Roatan, Honduras

by Conrad Blickenstorfer and Carol Cotton

Above is an aerial look at the CoCo View diving resort on the south side of the Honduran island of Roatan. Note the dive boat dock on top, the clubhouse in the center, and the guest houses and cabanas along the beach and on the water. The shallow areas in the water are coral reefs, and wall dives are within 150 yards of the shore. Oh, and in the channel to the left is the wreck of a 140-foot tanker in 65 feet of water.

Location: French Harbour, Roatan, Honduras

Overall: CoCo View is a resort that primarily caters to scuba divers. It is a small community of bungalows, cabanas and buildings on a secluded peninsula and not a traditional luxury resort with fancy restaurants and clubs. CoCo View has a very tropical feel, with flocks of Hummingbirds darting around, palm trees and other lush tropical greenery everywhere, and no cars at all. All of the bungalows and cabanas are directly on the water. Diving is sensational, with two walls and a wreck right off the resort beach (see map) and dozens of coral reef/wall dive sites reachable via dive boat within minutes.

Getting there: Getting to Roatan is fairly easy. It may be a peninsula off an island off mainland Honduras, but it's just a two and a half hour flight from Houston to Roatan island. And not in a small turboprop, but in a full-size plane.

Arrival/customs: On your flight you fill out customs documents (you can now also do an online Pre-Check In -- see how). Upon arrival, depending on the crowd and timing of flight arrivals it can take quite a bit to make it past immigration, which now includes electronic fingerprint scanning of all ten fingers and a picture. If your luggage is marked with one of the hot pink CoCo View tags that you receive with your package, CoCo View staff will gather it together. Once through immigration, you also go through customs carry-on check, which is very fast. A CoCo View staff person meets and greets you and shows you to the airconditioned CoCo View bus.

When you leave, you're generally dropped off with plenty of time to spare. Depending on the time of day, you may have to wait for the airline staff to show up. You can use the time to get your paper work done with immigrations. There is no more exit tax to be paid at the airport (it's now included in your plane ticket). Your carry-on will be checked and then re-checked.

Getting to the resort: The ride from the airport to CoCo View is about 20 minutes in the CoCo View bus. You see a colorful mix of American-style shopping strips, more modest local stores, corrugated steel covered huts, and driveways to mansion and resorts. You can ask the driver to stop at a supermarket if you want to pick up snacks and such.

The ride ends at a large boathouse from where we're ferried to the actual resort, just a short way away across a still mangrove-rimmed lagoon, and yet so far from civilization. Once at the resort, you get a brief introduction from a staff person who also hands out forms and the usual disclaimers and waivers to sign.

General: CoCo View is a "self-contained" resort. It is secluded and totally secure, and unless you schedule a trip via boat and van/taxi, you do not leave the resort. I am not the partying type and was quite content with staying at the resort, especially since the clubhouse is a very cozy hangout and I was usually busy uploading my underwater pictures and just generally being too pooped from diving. The resort does organize a couple of events every week, and so you never get bored. Below you can see some of the guestroom bungalows and cabanas on water. Yes, they have incredible sunsets.

Room: There are different styles of rooms at CoCo View, with a total of 28 generously sized guest rooms in all. They consist of 4 over-the-water bungalow rooms, 12 over-the-water cabana rooms, and 12 oceanfront rooms. In addition, there are the Mango Suite, the CoCo Casa and the CoCo Villa. A few privately owned beach houses right next to CoCo View may also be available.

During our October 2016 trip we stayed at Cabana C8, one of the all-wood cabana structures sitting on stilts on the water. The room was large, had two comfortable beds (a queen and a double), several fans, and US-type 110 Volt electrical outlets. There are plenty of lights.

Water pressure was very good and there was plenty of hot water. Contrary to an old rumor, the water in the CoCo View showers is NOT saltwater. Each room has a 5-gallon jug of filtered water for drinking or whatever else you want to use it for (the resort says the tap water is fine, but the implication is not to use it for drinking). There were enough towels (don't use them as beach towels; those you rent for US$5/week, with unlimited replacements.).

There was no hair dryer, and there aren't the usual elaborate little toiletry kits, so bring your own shampoo. Our room did have a bottle of liquid soap, and also a large bar of coap. The room had a coffee maker which I used every day. The local coffee supplied is strong and delicious! A nice size covered balcony faces the sea; a great place to enjoy a starry night in the comfortable hammock.

The window air conditioner in our room was a modern split unit with remote control and worked very well. That's a blessing when it's hot and muggy.

Clubhouse/Dining Room: The Clubhouse building serves as dining room, bar, hangout and, upstairs, conference/class room and hangout with a large flatscreen TV. It's a tropical looking rustic all-wooden structure that also has a ping-pong and dancing area, games, as well as a library/computer area. The Clubhouse used to be the focal point of the resort, but ever since WiFi became available in most guest rooms, it's regrettably become a lot quieter in there and at the bar.

Food: Full packages include breakfast, lunch and dinner. All meals are buffet-style. There is always a good diversity so that there is something for everyone. Food quality and taste on our October 2016 stay was very good, considerably up from our last visit December 2012. There is no soda machine, but you can help yourself to unlimited lemonade, water, coffee and ice tea (and lots of ice). If you want soda or beer with dinner, get it at the bar (inquire about prices as they keep going up). Make sure you get there on time or else the staff may have already closed the buffet.

Bar: The tropical-style bar is part of the diningroom/clubhouse. Beer, wine and alcoholic drinks are reasonable, especially Rum-based ones. Try CoCoView's special resort drink, the (more expensive) Monkey LaLa. Sodas all come in old-fashioned glass bottles. There's Fanta, Coca Cola and Coca Cola Light (different from Diet Coke), as well as "Tropical" grape and other sodas. The bar runs a tab. No bar tips as those are included in the summary tip paid at the end (see below).

Dive boats: CoCo View has a fleet of four or five sturdy regular dive boats, plus the larger and speedy Easy Diver boat. You sit along the sides, your tanks behind you, with a cubby below the seat. There is an area to soak cameras. Entry into the water is either at the back of the boat or on either side. To get back in, you either use the two ladders at the back or re-enter through a shaft in the bottom of the boat. The boat has cold water and our crew usually offered sliced fresh pineapple or melon. After the morning and afternoon dive to designated dize sites, the boats will drop you off at dive sites close to shore (usually Newman's Wall in the morning, CoCo View Wall in the afternoons). You can ask them to drop you off where you want to go.

Air: You get your own tanks or staff will automatically bring them to your locker. The boat crew will put your BC/tank on the boat for you (unless you signal not to with a wooden token). Air is included in the price of the dive package. If you want Nitrox (which almost everyone used during our October 2016 stay), it's US$8 per tank or US$125 per week. Nitrox tanks must be checked for Oxygen percentage by divers, with the information entered into a logbook that's on the table in each boat's locker area. Each locker area has an oxygen sensor. Nitrox divers are also responsible for putting a sticker with Nitrox info on their tanks. You can leave your dive gear in a locker/gearing-up area on the dock.

Weights: The resort has lead weights that you check out when you get there. You determine how much you need. There are plenty and they are available in pound increments.

Diving: CoCo View offers a nearly unbeatable combination of reef and wall diving. The location of the resort is unique. There are two walls (the CoCo View Wall and the Newman Wall) within easy reach from the shore. CoCo View Wall is within 140 yards from beach entry right in front of the CoCo View clubhouse where the water is almost always totally calm. It's shallow, too, and you can walk out to a small platform. From there it's between four and ten feet deep until the sandy bottom descends into a deeper channel between the two walls. The wreck of the Prince Albert, a 140 foot long hulking former tanker, lies in maybe 65 feet of water and, a short distance away, so do the remnants of a DC3 airplane. Where else can you go dive a major wreck and a historic airplane right from the beach?

The CoCo View dive schedule consist of two boat trips every day. The boats usually leave at 8:30AM for a dive site that's anywhere from five minutes to half an hour away. You never go too far from the shore as the reefs and walls are close. Each dive boat has a captain and a dive master. The dive master explains each dive, points out interesting things during the dive, and makes sure no one gets lost. Dives are usually an hour. For the second dive of a boat trip, the captain will drop you off at one of the walls close to the resort, or over the wreck. In the afternoons, the boat leaves at 2:00PM, again doing one dive site and a drop-off dive.

Most dives consist of a drop off to a reef top at depths between 25 and 45 feet and then excursions along walls that can drop down from dozens to many hundreds of feet. Visibility varies from quite good to a bit murky, and it can change very quickly depending on where you go. Along the walls it is usually fair to very good, and on the reef tops as well. In the channel between the two walls, where the wreck of the Prince Albert lays, visibility is usually less and changes almost on an hourly basis. Most often, CoCo View sites have between 50 and 70 feet visibility.

For beach night dives, the protocol at CoCo View is that a flashing strobe must be attached high above the bottom on the "front yard" buoy mooring chain. The first diver who goes out must take the strobe and attach it. Each subsequent diver signs for and takes a numbered tag that must be clipped onto the chain. That way everyone knows divers are out there. Upon return, the last diver retrieves the strobe and brings it back in.

Shark dive: You can sign up for a shark dive organized by a couple of Italian divemasters who run Waihuka Diving Adventures. The dive site they boat their daring customers to is called "Cara a Cara" — Spanish for Face-to-Face. You go down a line to about 70 feet where you stand or sit against a cliff. Shark feed operations use chum buckets full of stuff that sharks like and the local sharks know the routine. Once the dinner bell is rung, Caribbean Reef Sharks appear in a hurry and do get into the feeding frenzy you see in TV documentaries. However, they have no interest whatsoever in the divers, just the food in the chum bucket. Divers are allowed to circle around the whole scene. Once the chum is gone, the sharks leave. The whole thing is recorded on video and participants can buy a DVD.

Fish and other sea life: This is diving in Caribbean waters on a shallow reef system and along walls that can drop down anywhere from a few dozen feet to the next ledge or several hundred feet. It is a macro photographer's dream. You will see a lot of small fish — jaw fish, damsels, blennies, butterfly fish, chromis or hamlets. Somewhat larger are the angel fish, parrot fish, groupers and many more. You may also encounter the occasional octopus, sea horse, barracuda, scorpion fish and spiny lobster. There are schools of spade fish, jacks and sometimes, right off CoCo View resort by the wreck, squid. You generally won't see many pelagics, though it always pays to keep your eyes open when you're swimming along a wall and peruse the blue water. The squid below were part of a school that on one of our seven visits to CoCo View endlessly circled around in the channel by the wreck of the Prince Albert.

Dolphins and other extra activities: You can book a trip to go see dolphins (dive, snorkel, do an encounter), zip-line through the tropical forest, take an island tour, or go shopping. We didn't do any of this (this time) — too busy diving. The old seaplane is no longer around.

Facilities/amenities:

  • The Dockside Dive Shop is a PADI 5-star facility. It has a good variety of whatever one might need. The shop runs a tab for your room. The tab must be paid the day you depart, separately from the bill.
  • There is a shop for photography and video where you can get supplies, rent equipment, and sign up for classes.
  • There is a weight/exercise room that has the best air conditioning in all of the resort. If you ever get hot, go to the exercise room to cool off.
  • An American-style soda machine would be great, but there isn't one anywhere.
  • The Hitchin Post is a small snack shop midway between the resort and the Playa Miguel beach houses that has all sorts of snacks as well as ice cream and munchies.
  • CoCo View has a small, centrally located shop adjacent to the office. It has a little bit of everything, from snacks and drinks (including some alcohol) to a nice cross section of mementos and souvenirs of all kinds. Some represent the arts of the islands and the prices are often lower than what one would pay from one of the visiting vendors.
Electricity: CoCo View gets its electricity from the island's grid and has backup generators. Electricity may go out at times, but it never presented a problem for us. Else, no brownouts or glitches of any kind.

Office: The office is centrally located and a good place to stop by because it has great air-conditioning. It's very informal and they have answers for everything and also advice. Everyone speaks English.

Computers/Internet: The resort has a number of wireless Access Points for guest internet access. A public access computer is located in the Club House. Coverage of the access points is now far enough to reach all guest rooms. Internet access is faster than it was in the past, but still slows down during times of heavy usage.

Cellphones: US cellphones don't work. There is an island cellphone system, but I wasn't able to figure out what it supports. Email, therefore, is via web within the proximity of the wireless Access Points. We had no problems doing kype or facebook video calls.

BBQs: The resort used to do at least one lunch and one dinner BBQ-style on a small island with a bar structure and seating under trees at the tip of the CoCoView resort peninsula that's connected via walkways over water. There were no BBQs during our October 2016 visit, presumably because of the no-see-ums.

Security: The resort is secluded and can only be reach via boat. There is good lighting and security patrols the resort at night. It is, and feels, safe at all times. Each room has a small wooden lockbox for valuables. Rooms have old-style keys that you can either take with you on the boat or drop off at the office. We sometimes left the key in our open locker at the dock, and often we simply left the room unlocked (yes, it feels that secure, even in 2016).

Vendors: Most days one or more vendors come to CoCoView and exhibit their arts and crafts in the area outside the dining room/clubhouse. Most of it is jewelry and smaller items made by local artisans including black coral items, decorated and painted wooden boxes, embroidery, etc. Most speak passable English. Payment is in dollars and some accept credit cards. Prices are generally reasonable, but it pays to negotiate a deal. Keep a degree of skepticism so as not to overpay.

Cost: Anytime you go an a week's worth of vacation it adds up but I feel the trip was well worth it. In 2008, staying at Cabana C2 from Saturday to Saturday cost US$1,900 plus US$300 hotel tax for the two of us, or about US$1,100 per person. That included the very cool cabana room, all meals (including a barbeque and picnic), all diving including air. For us, back in 2008, airfare from Sacramento on Continental added about US$750 per person. In 2016, we paid US$735 per person from Knoxville, Tennessee on Delta. We used Nitrox, so that cost US$125 extra per person. And then there are tips, the bar tab, and the money spent in the dive shop, photography shop, and extra trips. In December 2011, the Cabana C2 cost US$1,100/person per week plus hotel tax. In December 2012, Cabana C6 was US$1,200/person per week plus (the rather high Honduran) hotel tax. In October 2016, cabana C8 cost US$1,314 plus $250 hotel tax per week per diver

Tips: The resort recommends a 10-15% tip based on guests' cost of staying at CoCoView (before tax). So if the room/meals/diving total per diver is US$1,300, the suggested tip per diver is about US$130-195. You can pick up tip envelopes in the office for tips. No one sees how much of a tip you leave or who it is from. The money in the "general" envelope is being divided among all staff except the dive master and the boat captain. Those you tip separately. The suggestion is US$10-15 per diving day per person each for the captain and the dive master. So if you dive for six days that adds $120-150 per diver. Tips are usually paid in bills, but you can also charge gratuities.


Bottom Line: CoCo View is a unique diver's resort on the Honduran island of Roatan with 28 guest rooms in cabanas, bungalows (on the water) and beachside buildings. It is secluded and rustic, and has just the right combination of modern amenities and tropical charm. It has its own dive shop, five comfortable dive boats, store, and recreational facilities, but no conventional restaurants or clubs. Shore diving includes two walls and a large wreck, and there are dozens of coral reef/wall dive sites reachable within minutes via dive boat. Staff is friendly and competent, and the buffet-style food is good and plentiful. CoCo View boasts a very high number of returning guests, and we can see why.
CoCo View Webcams
Booking CoCo View trips
CoCo View direct
Roatan Charter, Inc.
CoCo View websites
CoCo View on Facebook
CoCo View resort
CoCo View Dockside Dive Center
CoCo View front yard cam
CoCo View dock cam
Temperature/weather
It seems that whenever I check the weather on Roatan island on my iPhone, it will likely show the thunderstorm symbol. That is quite misleading. As on many islands, yes, you can often see clouds in the distance, and I'd heard reports of tropical weather with frequent showers and rapidly changing weather, but with the exception of one day where it rained for a few hours, the weather was sunny and bright. In August 2008 it was 90 degrees during the day and 80 degrees at night every day.

Early December of 2011 we had 80s during the day, mid-70s at night, and a mix of sunshine and clouds with occasional rain showers.

Mid December of 2012 we had 80s during the day, mid-70s at night, and a full week of gorgeous sunshine and very acceptable humidity.

In early October 2016 we had mid-80s during the day mid-70s at night, and a full week of sunshine but high humidity

Water Temperature
During our trip in August 2008, the water temperature on the surface was generally 84-86 degrees, and the coldest water I ever encountered was off Mary's Place where it dropped to 82 degrees Fahrenheit at 80 feet. In our December 2008 trip, the water temperature was 78, during our December 2011 and December 2012 trips it was 82 degrees. In early October 2016, we had a consistent 86 degrees.
Bugs
I'd heard much about the dreaded "no-see-ums," so named becaused you apparently can't see them. I never did, and on our trip in late August 2008 they were not much of a problem. I am still not sure what they are, though they are said to hang out in/near sand. The only time I had a problem was when we stayed out at night on one of the decks on the beach. That resulted in a dozen bites or so. Thankfuly, they did not itch. Whenever we walked around we sprayed exposed arms and legs with bug spray. Else, we fully expected a variety of critters, but didn't come across a single one in our room. On subsequent trips, we were bitten both in August and in December, though mosquitos were pretty much absent in December. December 2011 was almost bug-free whereas December 2012 the no-see-ums were out in full force.

Most bites seem to happen when putting the wetsuit on and off at the dock, so we ended getting in and out of it in the room. October 2016 no-see-ums were pretty bad, but we outsmarted them with lots of bugspray and changing to/from wetsuits in the room.

CoCo View animals
CoCo View has its own roster of animals. A few friendly dogs poke around and entertain. They often hang around the Dockside Dive Center, probably because of its very effective air-conditioning. A couple of magnificent large parrots are in a large habitat behind the clubhouse. Jose, a very talkative third parrot, expired December 2011. Finally, you may see some Monkey Lalas, funky lizards that can run on two legs (well, stagger, really, hence the name of CoCo View's signature drink). In October 2016, there were several friendly, lazy dogs and a couple of colorful parrots.
History of Roatan
Roatan is part of the Honduran Bay Islands that also include Guanaja, Utila and a few dozen much smaller ones. The 49 square mile island was said to be visited by Columbus on his fourth voyage (1502-1504), then visited by Spanish conquistador Velasquez in an episode disastrous for the indigenous Paya Indians who were enslaved and put to work.

Roatan became popular with pirates who, together with the British, were a thorn in the side of the Spaniards. Spain essentially demolished the island by 1650 but English privateers returned and used Roatan as a base. Even the notorious pirate Blackbeard was there for a few weeks in 1718. In the 1700s it was a constant back and forth between England and Spain without much in terms of permanent settlements.

By 1800, the English brought thousands of revolting slaves from other islands. Those were called the Garifuna and their descendants are still there today. Roatan was informally considered a British Crown Colony, albeit a rather minor and neglected one, and influential English families and their servants from the Cayman Islands arrived. Though the island was essentially English and Scotch, Queen Victoria, against protests from the settlers, turned Roatan over to an only vaguely interested Honduras in 1858.

These days, the official language is Spanish, but many still speak English, and most municipalities have English names. The scuba community discovered the island in the 1970s and 1980s, with CoCo View getting its start in 1980.

Language
Roatan has a long history that's both Hispanic and English. The predominant language used to be English, but now it's mostly Spanish. CoCo View is all English, though; it's as if you never left the United States. Management is mostly American and almost everyone else speaks English fluently.
ScubaDiverInfo blog
Beginning Scuba
We all have to start somewhere... and the beginnings can be humble. Follow the trials and tribulations of a scuba newbie.
Pics: Calvin's Crack
Diving at CoCo View
Photography
CoCo View is a photographer's paradise, both above and underwater. We're reviewing underwater and adventure cameras as part of our job and so we always take along a few review units for testing.

Carol's general tips:

  • Take as many pictures as you can so you get a few really good ones.
  • Make sure you bring along a large enough memory card and a couple of backups. I brought my computer so I could always upload the pictures and play with them.
  • Keep in mind that flash underwater is a mixed blessing; it brings out the color (red disappears after 15-20 feet of depth) but also illuminate scatter. Practice focusing as the camera will want to focus on anything but the subject.
  • If you're experienced, play with depth of field, different focus methods, different white balances (especially manual!), and bracketing.
  • If your camera does video, shoot some video, too. The quality is usually quite good and it's fun.
  • Always, always, always check the O-rings of your camera housing before you go diving with it!
  • If you need help, consult with Tim Blanton in the Dockside Dive Center. He knows everything about getting great pics and video here.
The pics below show one of CoCo View's wonderful hangouts on the water and below that a look through Calvin's Crack, one of Roatan's great dive sites.

CoCo View famous line
"Everything's free...
til Friday."
-- Liz (former CoCo View General Manager)