Coco View Resort

Coco View Resort

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Roatan 2018

In February three of the Donkey Divers went to Roatan, one of the bay island that are part of Honduras. In the past we spent a week at Fantasy Island and Anthony's Key Resorts but more recently we have started staying at Coco View Resort. This was the second visit for Kim and I and Wally's fourth visit to this resort. They have a nice cozy facility. Everyone there is very friendly. They think of their guests as family. In fact, when our boat that brought us from the main island to smaller island that CocoView is on, the new manager and his wife on the docks with open arms saying, "Welcome home, everyone." I think everyone on our boat were returning guests. They get a lot of retuning guests so that says something about the resort. If stay at the resort 5 times, you officially a "Coco Nut". Wally will qualify on his next visit. If you stay there 9 times, your tenth visit is free of charge! two of the people there this week qualified for their free visit on their next trip. There were even a hand full of people there this week who had been there more than 20 times. The food is great (and included with the package). Their dive staff is great and they have a really nice house reef that you can dive any time you want, as many times as you like. The house reef contains wreck, the Prince Albert and an airplane wreck as well as two beautiful walls covered in healthy coral and full of marine life like lobster, rays, eels, turtles and hundreds of types fish.

We had a great time diving this week and gained a few pounds on the great food they served.

Below, you can see some of pictures I took this week.

Click on the thumbnails below to see the full size pictures. Then click the "BACK" button on your browser to return to this page.

Kim and I met up with Wally in Miami. He was able to get out of snowy Chicago in time to make our connecting flight from Miami to Roatan. The water here is so crystal clear that we could sit on our balcony and watch fish.

Kim and I at the first sunset of this trip.

So many fish that at times it was hard to see dive buddies.

Gorgonian Sea Fans on top of the wall silhouette against the surface of the ocean.

A Flamingo Tongue Snail crawling up a piece of coral.

Colorful coral. The translucent vessel coral stands out against the earth tones of the coral in the background.

Three Atlantic Spade Fish swam past us on our second dive.

A well camouflaged Scorpion Fish hides in plain sight on the coral. can you see him? If you can't see him in the enlarged picture, return to this page by hitting your browser's BACK button and then click on this link.

More colorful coral on the wall.

A Blue Hamlet hangs out next to an underwater memorial.

A large Banded Shrimp hiding on a barrel sponge.

There are lots of large red barrel sponges on the walls and reefs in Roatan.

A large crab tries to hide in the coral on a wall at Valley of the Kings.

Some large Elkhorn Coral formations can be seen in the shallows of some dive sites.

A French Angel Fish looks for some shade under a coral head. Notice all the particulate in the water. The visibility hasn't been optimal so far this week but we are still enjoying the dives.

A Gray Angel Fish swam past us in the shallow grassy flats on the way back to the resort after we dove on Newman's Wall.

This spiny Caribbean Lobster was resting on the wall at Valley of the Kings.

For a minute I thought my dive buddy, Mike Canfield, had joined us but it turned out there were a couple of other divers down here using dual side mounts.

I think Robin, Johnny, Linda and a few others will recognize this silhouette. Wally was diving just above me on this dive.

Some beautiful coral formations look like they could be a picture out of fairy tale book.

Lots of large sea fans and red barrel sponges.

This is that same Gray Angel Fish from above when he first spotted me. He turned to look at me and then came over to pose for a closer picture.

Two Banded Butterfly Fish in the grassy shallows.

A Peacock Flounder tries its best to blend in with the sand so that it will not be noticed.

A Green Moray Eel hiding in the coral formation showing his teeth.

Kim made her 400th dive today.

Right after he 400th dive the boat captain docked at the Hole In The Wall Pub (appropriately named) so we could celebrate.

This is one of several Queen Angel Fish that we saw today.

This is another.

We saw 4 Seahorses today. This one was on Kim's 400th dive at Calvin's Crack.

This is another Seahorse that we saw today.

Yet, another Seahorse.

A larger group of Atlantic Spade Fish came by us today at 40 Foot Point.

A Spotted Moray Eel pokes his head to take a look at us.

A small Spotted Moray hiding in the sandy bottom.

On our first dive on Wednesday, while our divemaster was looking for a seahorse, a huge Green Moray Eel swam right below on the way to the wall.

This little Four-Eyed Butterfly Fish popped up out of the Barrel Sponge it was hiding in.

A group of Purple Tube Sponges are starting to grow off this coral formation.

Another large coral formation with a great variety of types and colors of coral.

Kim (and Emily in the background) swimming along a wall of sea fans on Coco View Wall.

One of the few Lion Fish we have seen on this trip. They are doing a good job of controlling this invasive species here in Roatan. We have only been seeing two or three on most dives.

Kim found a Seahorse today. These guys always seem to hang out in places that make it impossible to get a good picture without touching any of the sea life. This is the view from above the orange Seahorse. You are looking down on his head.

This is the best side view I could get of the same Seahorse. The light would have made a view from the other side better but there was too much coral in the way. Anyway, this is the Seahorse that Kim found on Valentine's Day.

This is a very mean looking Barracuda that we found out on the reef today. We I got close he started showing me his teeth to warn me to keep my distance.

On a night dive, Kim and I dove on a wreck called "Prince Albert". This little Arrow Crab that looks a little like a Daddy Long Legs Spider was hanging on the railing of the ship.

This is a Damsel Fish. This type has bright blue dots on it. They look like they are little LED lights but there are no batteries in the fish.

This is a Blue Tang cruising along the reef looking for something to eat.

The legs of a Brittle Star Fish are still outside this vessel coral as the Brittle Star Fish returns to its hiding place inside when the clouds parted and the sun began to light up the reef. Brittle Star Fish usually only come out at night or when it is very dark, like a very cloudy day or on a shaded side of the reef.

The coral formations are diverse and beautiful. This one looks like a tower made of mushroom shaped pieces.

This was a huge crab crawling over the coral along Coco View Wall. One of his claws would have made a meal for me.

A smaller Hermit crab was busy at night filtering the sand on the ocean floor to find things to eat.

This is a Hog Fish looking for something to eat in the sand.

You don't see lobsters out traveling during the day very often but this guy must have had someplace important he had to be. He was walking over the reef in the afternoon and paid no attention to all the divers watching and taking pictures.

Usually lobsters travel at night and often in a caravan. There were three lobsters traversing across the open sand in a single line but one got spooked by our lights and took a different direction before I could get a picture.

This is a Spotlight Parrot Fish. As I was swimming along the wall I saw him swim up to a cleaning station where he stopped to let small fish and cleaner shrimp remove parasites, dirt and other unwanted material from his scales, eyes, gills and teeth. when they do this the stop and hover at angle (about 45 degrees) and open their mouth to signal to the cleaner fish that they are there to be cleaned. When this guy opened his mouth, he had a really bright set of teeth.

This is a Queen Parrot Fish munching down on some good coral.

This is a small Pipe Fish. It may look like a snake but it is actually related to the Seahorse. They are long slender fish that are seen moving along the sea floor. The longest ones I have seen are about 6 inches.

Kim found a red Seahorse on Thursday. This was the second one she found on this trip.

This the same Seahorse seen from a different angle.

We came across large group of Squid. Kim said she counted over 40. They were fairly small (about 5 inches long).

Another view of the squid.

They can change color and usually try to blend in with background unless they are using their color changes to signal others in the group. Their color changes make it hard for the camera to focus on them especially when they are trying to blend with the background and the water is cloudy, like it was this week.

If you see squid underwater, don't swim towards them. If you stop and remain still and watch them from 15 or 20 feet away they will usually come very close to you to explore. If you have a camera, hold the camera in the position you want when you take pictures while you wait for them to approach. If you move the camera after they get close it will usually frighten them away so be prepared before they get close so you won't have to move when they get close. Any moves you do make should be slow and gradual.

Another view of the Squid as they are swimming across in front of me.

At Mary's Place we swam through a large crevice between coral formations we enter at 86 feet below the surface and this was the view if you looked straight up.

Some of the Translucent Vessel Coral is very colorful with beautiful designs.

On our night dive we found a huge Green Sea Turtle with three large Remoras the largest Remora was so big that at first I thought it was nurse shark riding the back of the turtlle.

This is a Yellow Headed Jaw Fish. They are about 2.5 inches in length and they live in a hole down in the sand. They pop up to small pieces of food that float past. They are very shy and you have to keep your distance and be still to see or photograph them.

This Yellow Headed Jaw Fish took a short break from eating to check me and my camera out.

Date	Location	Dive Site	Maximum Depth (ft.)	Bottom Time (min.)
2/10/2018	Roatan	Back Porch	51	42
2/11/2018	Roatan	Tulio	60	58
2/11/2018	Roatan	40 Foot Point	62	49
2/12/2018	Roatan	John's Spot	57	58
2/12/2018	Roatan	Newman's Wall	47	37
2/12/2018	Roatan	Valley of the Kings	72	51
2/12/2018	Roatan	Coco View Wall	42	49
2/13/2018	Roatan	Calvin's Crack	60	51
2/13/2018	Roatan	Coco View Wall	55	42
2/13/2018	Roatan	40 Foot Point	57	58
2/13/2018	Roatan	Back Porch	54	41
2/14/2018	Roatan	Carib Point	60	55
2/14/2018	Roatan	Osman Wall	49	60
2/14/2018	Roatan	Coco View Wall	44	47
2/15/2018	Roatan	Mr. Bud Wreck	68	56
2/15/2018	Roatan	Newman's Wall	90	52
2/15/2018	Roatan	Gold Chain Reef	68	59
2/15/2018	Roatan	Coco View Wall	43	33
2/15/2018	Roatan	Back Porch	53	58
2/16/2018	Roatan	Mary's Place	83	55
2/16/2018	Roatan	Coco View Wall	29	42

To see pictures from other dive trips, click on the button below to go to my SCUBA page. It has links to other pages of pictures and dive reports from many different dive trips over the years.