This weeks dive site review: West End, Roatan Honduras I know what your thinking, um …buddy how the heck are we gonna try that. Well so glad you asked, first of all I am going to tell you a little about our trip there on Feb. 24th-Mar 5th. Every year from now on, Sidney Dive N Surf will be going on a charter to Roatan at least once to dive its barrier reef. This year we had 6 lucky customers join us for some of the worlds best warm water diving, Henry, Roger, Andrew, Bob, Ian, Scott and me of course. Although the events depicted in this story are real, the names of the persons have been changed to protect them. Our first dive of the trip was as I expected it would be. For some reason the first dive of my trips there has always been one of the ones we talk about till next year. We enter the water (a little cooler this year, only 79 degrees) and descend to about 70 feet, which will be our cruising depth. Within 4 minutes we see our first resident Hawks Bill Turtle flying along the walls edge. He doesn’t take off, but allows us the courtesy of a few pics and then meanders off to the surface for a breath. We were to see 2 others in the next 3 dives, as well as thousands of species of reef dwelling neon paint strokes. The barrier reef there is the second largest in the world next to the “other” one ( Australia ) and it has been a protected marine reserve for many years - so its extremely healthy. Our night dives were great too, our second dive on Thursday night yielded 3 octopi out of their den, roaming about, changing colors, and looking like aliens gliding over razor sharp coral without a scratch. We also saw something really cool (as if a color changing gliding octopus wasn’t) - a beautiful black moray came along, swimming towards us on the sandy bottom. He was on the prowl and we were lucky enough to see him in action going head first into the sand after some unknown prey (which escaped so fast we could’nt tell what it was). After pulling his head from the sand he let out a cough and a mouth full of sand, the disgusted look on his face that followed was priceless, I mean, you could really see it! Being that the reef has fabulous walls surrounding it, one can dive at whatever depth you are most comfortable. There is tons of smaller life in the 20-50’ range and as you reach the edge of the wall that seems to be the place turtles, grouper, and barracuda are most commonly seen. And, as you descend and cruise the wall near the recreational depth limit, you can catch the glimpse of occasional Ray, Reef Shark and if your lucky something bigger like Whale Shark or Hammer Head. There are some great ship wrecks in Roatan, some like the Aguila and Odyssey are artificial reefs like our Church/Mackenzie. There is also a great technical/deep dive to the locally famed wreck of the “Josee J”. She went down in a storm just 20 months ago with a full load of cargo on her, including a 2004 Toyota van. The J.J. lies in 160-200 feet of water and has come to rest directly on top of the van (which makes for a stunning visual). The first time I dove it on last years trip was by accident, as my buddy and I cruised along at 130 feet she came into view. At that time I hadn’t been able to prepare myself for that kind of profile so it was short, but sweet. This year I had been looking forward to the Dive for twelve months and I came prepared. Lets just say it was breath taking and spooky. The wreck had shifted in last years hurricane and spat out the van to her lower starboard side, building materials strewn everywhere and hatch doors opened (perhaps by other curious divers). The Grand Finally: Friday comes too soon and we are all wishing we had another week (something we will offer in subsequent trips). Our day starts out with a return to the Aguila where we will attempt a group photo on her bow and hopefully one last look at its resident “monster” Moray Eel. On the way to the dive site we have a long boat ride by the area standard of about twenty minutes. As we get about half way we are greeted by a huge pod of wild dolphins, our boat captain, Marvin, swings us into play and our whole group enjoys a 10 minute bow riding show & pet. Just as we thought that was the coolest thing we’d seen a two foot long needle fish launches out of the water 7 feet into that air and 20 feet away from us. Just as he reaches an apex, a Dolphin comes out of the water, like a submarine launched missile, and bites him in half, followed by an eruption of cheers……unreal. Our last dive was the much anticipated Shark Dive. As usual it was a hit with everyone. I mean its not everyday you get to swim side by side with a 9 foot reef shark or a 150 pound grouper. After a hundred and sixty or so shark dives, I’m still the biggest gremmy - I’ll never get used to it. My Italian friends Sergio and Marulio put on a first class show that starts with a twenty minute long briefing and finishes with a thirty minute long adrenalin rush. Thanks to all my customers for joining me this year and for making it a memorable vacation. Keep checking the web site for the Roatan trip dates in November 2006 and February 2007. “Breathe continuously “ Dan Sidney Dive n Surf |