Roatan, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity

Date dove: 12/02, 12/03
Booked through ship? Yes on RCCL, No on Celebrity
Operator: Anthony's Key http://www.anthonyskey.com/and Las Rocas Resort http://www.lasrocasresort.com/cruise_ship.html
Air Temp: 90° F
Water Temp: 82° F
Vis: 50 ft.
Return factor? Anytime, anyhow! We've always thought maybe we'd retire on Roatan.
Information about the island: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roat%C3%A1n

It isn't always easy to find itineraries that include Roatan. We've been told because of the port facilities. All of that should change soon with Carnival's announcement of their plans to build a complete new facility. You can read about it here: http://cruisecafe.blogspot.com/2007/03/carnival-plans-to-build-terminal-in.html

Our first trip here was 2002 with RCCL. We booked through the ship, which used Anthony's Key. We were immediately enchanted with the island, the people, and the diving. Anthony's Key Resort looks like a great place to take a vacation, and their dive operation was top notch.

We dove a wall they called Green Outhouse on the first dive and Peter's Place #20 on the second dive. Corals were pristine and marine life abundant. We saw more turtles here than anywhere we've ever dove.

Our second stop at Roatan was with Celebrity in 2003. We opted to book our own dive, which turned out fortuitous since Anthony's Key cancelled the excursion due to lack of participation. The other two divers hooked up with us through the concierge on board and their dive day was salvaged.

We chose Las Rocas for several reasons-- 1) they picked us up at the pier, 2) they allowed non-divers in our group to come along for a beach day for a small charge, 3) since we are in the resort biz ourselves we wanted to see the resort. One of owners, Pasqual, picked us up in a van and provided a colorful tour on our way to the resort. He also told us the story of he and his partners from Italy spending their life savings to move to Honduras to buy the land for the resort.

The diving was as good as before, with only slightly lower vis due to storms the previous week. We dove Hole in the Wall and Black Rock.