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Dive Review of CoCo View Resort in
Honduras/Roatan

CoCo View Resort: "Smooth Sailing", Jun, 2022,

by Eric A Frick, IL, US (Top Contributor Top Contributor 30 reports with 24 Helpful votes). Report 11953 has 3 Helpful votes.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 3 stars Food 3 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 3 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving 5 stars
Snorkeling 4 stars
Value for $$ 3 stars
Beginners 5 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments I visited Coco View as a part of a marine conservation group doing fish population surveys. It was my first visit to Honduras but I’ve been on previous dive trips to neighboring countries like Belize and Nicaragua. The pandemic era protocol then in place called for testing prior to travel to Honduras and the use of their online system to upload your information. The website was clunky but Coco View's suggestions and the guide to the online system were helpful. By the time I departed for home, the U.S. was already changing their re-entry protocol to eliminate the necessity of testing.

Upon exiting customs on arrival, the pink luggage tag provided by Coco View alerted the baggage handlers as to my destination and the bags were quickly loaded onto what I hoped was the correct cart. I kept an eye on the bags and found the Coco View representative who got me into a van for the 25 minute ride to the dock and the five minute boat ride to Coco View. I was met at the dock and given an orientation of the dive operation which is rather ingeniously designed.

Four of their six boats could be described as the core of their operation, these 50-foot craft seem very well laid out for diving with tank racks and benches along the perimeter and tables and rinse tanks in the center. Each is equipped with a ladder in the very center of the boat that allows you to exit right through the keel after a dive. We were told the design makes an exit easier during rough weather and it seemed to be so. The boats are moored directly behind the resort and each is associated with its own area of benches, rinse tanks showers and cubbies. Stow your gear in a cubby directly opposite where your boat is docked. If you’re planning to dive the next morning, hang a fob with your room number on a nail by your cubby. Your dive equipment will be aboard the boat the next morning. Stop by your cubby to collect all your bits and bobs and then simply step aboard the boat to assemble your gear. Not planning to boat dive? Take your fob off the nail and your gear stays in your cubby. You’re free to grab a tank for a shore dive anytime. Rules and procedures for night diving are explained during your orientation.

Speaking of orientation, if it’s your first visit to Coco View, your first dive is a guided orientation shore dive. Instead of stepping onto a boat, you take a short walk through the resort in your dive gear and enter the water on a sandy path as you head out toward a raft floating offshore. You perform a short buoyancy check and then swim along a chain that leads out to the Prince Albert wreck in front of the resort. The guided dive orients guests to the offshore features and to the route for returning from a dive in the area, information you’ll need as you will note below.

Your boat captain and dive guide are assigned to your boat for your entire time at the resort and each of them seemed to me to be a native Honduran, not just some dive bum working his or her way around the world. After boarding the covered boats and checking that you have all necessary gear, you receive a decent dive briefing and take a short ride to one of their many dive sites. After your guided dive and a surface interval, your boat returns to one of the two wall sites in front of the resort and you jump in for your next dive that concludes with a shore exit for a short walk back to the dive center. By the time you return to the dive center, your boat is back at the dock and chances are the captain will be there to welcome you back and to help tend to your gear.

Our group of mostly very experienced divers, many of whom are expert-level fish identification folks, identified well over 200 species during our week. We saw very few sharks or turtles but certainly saw more larger fish (mutton snappers, cubera snappers, jacks, groupers) than we typically see in other parts of the Caribbean these days. Stony coral wasting disease damage was apparent and algae cover was present.

Noseeums and other insects are a part of life in this area of the world. Although I was not bothered by insects, several in our party were. Still, before departing my room for breakfast or for dinner, I applied repellent, using the heavier duty stuff. Accommodations were clean and I spotted some fresh paint but there’s plenty of the wear and tear apparent that you might expect to see in the tropics. The floor in my cabana was a bit wavy and spongy and the bathroom tile was uneven, perhaps from water damage to the subfloor. Coco View’s airy large bar and dining room area is fully screened with outdoor space for those who might prefer to dine alfresco. Food was plentiful, in decent variety and served by friendly Honduran staff cafeteria-style. The vegetarians in our group had no complaints about finding selections to meet their needs and said that the staff went the extra mile to provide suitable choices. That said, we ate because we’d worked up an appetite diving and not because we were salivating thinking about what culinary wonders might emerge from the kitchen.

So, go for the diving which is as solid as you’ll find in the Caribbean these days and is conducted using equipment and a system that makes it quite easy. You’ll stay among a friendly, capable staff and plenty of repeat visitors who have made Coco View a favorite. The dining room doesn’t have any Michelin stars and you won’t find any 600 thread count Egyptian cotton bedding but you will eat and rest just fine.
Websites CoCo View Resort   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 501-1000 dives
Where else diving Various Caribbean, Mexico, Florida Keys, Great Lakes, Hawaii, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Maldives, Palau, Chuuk.
Closest Airport Roatan (RTB) Getting There Seemed to be plenty of North American connection options.

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, windy Seas calm, choppy, no currents
Water Temp 83-85°F / 28-29°C Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility 40-80 Ft/ 12-24 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions 60 minute time limit on boat dives. Advise guide at 1500 PSI.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

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

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

Subject Matter 4 stars Boat Facilities 4 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 4 stars Shore Facilities 4 stars
UW Photo Comments Lots of camera tanks available. Their on site photo pro can answer ANY question.
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Report currently has 3 Helpful votes

Subscriber's Comments

By Kelley Price in WA, US at Jun 29, 2022 17:20 EST  
Thanks for your review!! We're considering a trip to CocoView and wondered if it had changed much during Covid.
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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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