CoCoView, Roatan
July 16 - July 23, 2005

We were nervous as we counted down to our third trip to CoCoView. We were travelling with my brother Lynn and his wife Cheryl, and Claire and Dave Belling. The same travelling companions we had when we flew into the tropical depression in Belize in 1999 and into the tropical storm over Cozumel in 2000 that became Gordon. This time it was Emily who kept wandering westward instead of veering off north like a respectable hurricane. But by flight time NOAA was only showing a 20% chance of tropical storm force winds on Roatan and the prediction held true. (In hindsight it looks like a tropical depression came through on Thursday night and later formed into Gert in the Bay of Campeche -- but that was just some bumps on the flight back to Houston.)

Don't expect too much out of this trip report. I haven't organized my thoughts yet so I'm just going to put down some notes and maybe I'll form it into something cohesive later.

The resort hadn't changed that much but there were noticable changes. The bar deck had been extended and the bar was about 10 feet longer, some welcomed room. The cabanas have their own decks with hammocks now, releaving a lot of the competition for the hammocks. Bungalows and cabansa are air conditioned now, so there's no more wishing for a breeze to pick up. There's wireless access most places (notably missing in our bungalow D, and the relay to the clubhouse dropped in the power failure during the storm).

I also thought the food had picked up a notch or two since 2003. It was less likely to be overcooked and flavors were richer. The steak on Friday was medium rare, tender and juicy. THe Carribean chcken at lunch that day was truly excellent. (And the chain eels appreciated having ham at breakfast evey day....)

Poncho has joined the resort since our last trip. He's a hoot to watch. Wanting to play fetch, or tug, but always vigilent against his arch-nemisis the eagle ray. Sadly fhough, Maggie was barely able to move around and it was difficult to watch. They decided it was too much for her and put her down on Wednesday. It's sad, but if I could pick a life to have had, her 14 years as a resort dog in paradise might be the one that I'd pick.

I didn't get to dive (accursed doctors!) but I did get to go out on EZII and snorkle and watch the divers as they came back to the boat. It's not diving but at least it scratched the itch. Half our crew did the shark dive and came back wide eyed. Most our our crew did the more physical of canopy tours and came back drenched with sweat. Most of us did the dolphin snorkel at AKR and came back drenched with rain (I think there was a good 8 inches of water in the launch that took us over to the key and it was a downpour).

The full moon tides seemed to have a big impact on the visibility on the Prince Albert. After one morning drop off on the wreck the divers were reporting about 12 foot visiblity. They dropped again on an afternoon dive where some tide was coming back in and it had improved to about 40ft.

Photo Sets

Dive 2 Valley of the Kings

Dive 3 John's Spot

Dive 4 40 ft Point

Dive 5 Gold Chain Reef

Dive 6 SS Prince Albert

Dive 7 Mr. Bud

Dive 8 Too Tall Too Small

Dive 9 Mary's Place

Dive 10 Newmans Wall

Dive 11 Calvins's Crack

Resort

Dolphins

Tide Charts