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Dive Review of Tropical Island Divers /Paya Bay Resort in
Honduras/Roatan

Tropical Island Divers /Paya Bay Resort: "Ending a dive trip with old friends", Sep, 2019,

by Clem Clapp, AL, US (Contributor Contributor 18 reports with 4 Helpful votes). Report 11362.

Photos Submitted with this Report


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

Accommodations 4 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 5 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments After completing most of my dive trip with a couple of new dive ops, I ended up with 3 great days of diving with Tropical Island Divers of Marble Hill Farms Resort at Punta Blanca on the north side of the east end of Roatan. The dive shop has been completely renovated and the addition of the Happy Chamber Bar on the dock next door adds to the end of dive day adventure. Although I stayed at Paya Bay Resort a 5 minute skiff ride away, an agreement between the two supplies pickup and delivery service from the PBR dock. At depth water temp was around 86 which was a good fit to dive with no wetsuit.
The regulars at TID, Marek, the manager, plus boat captain Edward and dm Marco delivered some very good diving as always on some very familiar dive sites. The first dive had us at Spyglass, an old nearby favorite. This was a nice small wall with 100 ft. of viz where we found a good variety of sea life including a toadfish, school of Bermuda chub, filefish, coney, variety of parrotfish including a large stoplight. On top of the wall we found a scorpionfish and a huge orange seahorse. The second dive was at Two Crabs which was ok except that the viz was down to around 50’ or so.
The second day began at Tutu with great viz at 85 or so ft. It was a nice wall and pinnacle and we saw a nurse shark, pork fish, and a very large blue parrotfish with small morays attempting to attach plus another scorpion fish. There was a good variety of sea life including nice soft corals. A very good dive. The second dive at Pinnacles near Wilkes Point was a repeat of a dive with the Dive Pangea a few days prior. It was again a good dive with Pedersen shrimp and arrow crabs in corkscrew anemone plus garden eels as well as a nice mix of small fish.
The last day began at Gretchen’s Shell, one of my favorites in the area. The viz again topped out at 100 or so feet on this beautiful site consisting of a shallow wall, pinnacles and cracks. Lots of soft coral and several cleaning stations with Pedersons in corkscrew anemone, pork fish, banded and 4 eye butterfly fish, yellow tail snappers, a bunch of parrotfish, indigo and brown hamlets, yellow tail damsels of various ages, blue chromis and others plus a nice nurse shark. I don’t think we exceeded 75’ on this dive. The final dive of the trip was at Edward’s Place, named for our boat captain. Viz was pretty good and with a maximum depth of 66 ft. There was a large variety of parrotfish and others plus some Pedersons and a really huge banded coral shrimp. As most dives we saw a few lobsters as well.
Overall, this was a good end to a very nice dive trip on the east end of Roatan to a number of sites visited a number of times with an old standby dive op.
Websites Tropical Island Divers   Paya Bay Resort

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 501-1000 dives
Where else diving Mostly Caribbean
Closest Airport Coxen Hole Getting There Direct from Atlanta on Delta

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas calm
Water Temp 83-86°F / 28-30°C Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility 50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions Stay above the leader and not too far away
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? no

What I Saw

Sharks 1 or 2 Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles 1 or 2 Whales None
Corals 4 stars Tropical Fish 5 stars
Small Critters 5 stars Large Fish 1 stars
Large Pelagics 1 stars

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

Subject Matter N/A Boat Facilities N/A
Overall rating for UWP's N/A Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments [None]
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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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