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I recently had the opportunity to return to Roatan for a week to dive the North Shore. I was quite excited to get this opportunity since I hadn’t had the chance to dive the Northeast end in many years. While I’ve been to Roatan nine times previously, I only got to dive the North Shore once before and the North side of Roatan is very different from the South side both in marine life and topography. So I was looking forward to some new photo ops and varied reef experience. Unfortunately, as fate would have it, that just wasn’t to be. I was in Roatan in September during hurricanes Harvey and Irma but the weather and water were both spectacular. This time (October) it rained , no stormed) day and night for six days. It rained so hard the airport was closed down due to flooding. Unfortunately this is the risk you take when you venture into the Caribbean during hurricane season.
But now the good news. Turquoise Bay is a typical small resort with several duplex cottages which are clean and well maintained. The staff is exceptional - one of the best I have seen anywhere in the Caribbean. They were without exception pleasant and helpful to whatever your needs. The food is a buffet with many local items as well as standard items you expect most places. The buffet is small and limited but well prepared and no one should have an excuse to go hungry, and if you get tired of the fare there are many excellent restaurants on the island to suit anyone. One of my favorites since I will kill for a good crab dinner is Gio’s which specializes in fresh island crab.
As I said the resort is well equipped for diving having a compressor on premises to fill tanks of which they have an abundant supply. They also have nitrox for those who prefer it but there is an extra charge for it ($138.00 for the week). It’s unusual as many places on the island don’t charge extra for nitrox. Eventually they’ll most likely have to give up on this just to stay competitave. There were several groups of divers staying there at the time but with five boats each group was able to have their own. Turquoise Bay did something I have not seen before anywhere and it was a real plus. As I said the weather was abysmal and a lot of divers opted to skip a lot of dives. There were many dives only a few went out due to winds and or chop which makes for a less than pleasant experience. However, while most dive facilities have a minimum they wil go out for, these folks were willing and even seemed gladn to take out only one diver if that was all that wanted to go. I’m a hard core diver and I don’t travel that far to sit in a room and watch tv or sit at the bar and drink away a vacation, so I really appreciate the commitment to the diver these people show. Sadly we only got to dive the North Shore for three days as the water finally got too rough to get back into the boat IIt was just too dangerous with six foot seas to risk it. However, once it became obvious it was so risky, they moved the boats (a half day trip for the crews) over to the calmer South side and we never missed a dive. This was truly one of the best overall staff I have dealt with anywhere.
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