Coco View Resort — Hotel in Roatán

It's a long slog to get there from the West Coast of the US. And the airport experience is a bit chaotic, people grabbing your bags and disappearing makes me nervous! Once there though, they have a well-oiled process, AND they were kind enough to hold lunch over for us, even though we arrived around 2 p.m. Or was it 3? My phone never did pick up the right time zone. Speaking of which, the wifi at the resort worked fine for us in the overwater bungalows and clubhouse. ||The good: the staff would bend over backwards to help you and get you what you wanted or needed. I thought the mattresses in our room were SUPER hard and was waking up sore, so I asked if they might have a foam mattress pad, and by that night I had one on my bed, which helped immensely! The room was clean, everything we needed was there. ||We were in an overwater bungalow, which sounds great, but if you want to sit inside (where the a/c is) it was like being in a cave. If you opened the curtains everyone who walked by could see in. And the doors to the balcony had frosted glass, so you couldn't sit and look at the water from inside - super poor design, in my opinion. Also, the resort just across the water plays loud music late into the night, so if you're a light sleeper, you will NEED earplugs. ||I was really looking forward to the hammocks, but they were VERY uncomfortable. The chairs on the balcony were reasonably comfortable, but again, it was HOT out there, and you couldn't be out there early or late or the bugs would eat you alive (yes, we brought bug spray). The ONE chair in the room was very uncomfortable and there was no table/desk at which you could set up your computer. You could go to the clubhouse, but again, no A/C there.||The kitchen staff was super nice, and the food seemed to get better as the week moved on, but it was very ok, at best. The BBQ night was the best food, but still overly sweet. Honestly, the food was only ok. ||All of the above would have been fine if we had been paying what I would call "Honduras pricing", but at $5K+ for a week for two - well, we could have gone to Hawaii for that or slightly less, and had more comfortable lodging and better food.||Now, on to the diving. The dive operation runs very smoothly and they clearly have a great system. But the diving itself is, again, only meh. The visibility was never more than 50 feet when we were there the first week of March, and usually 30 feet or less. There were no big animals, with the exception of a medium sized ray and two turtles that we saw once. All the tropical fish were smaller. (in Belize we saw Angel fish the size of dinner plates!) There were a fair number of seahorses, which were cool, but overall the diving was disappointing for the price. The DM and Boat Captain were great, very helpful and clearly knew what they were doing. The rental gear from the dive shop (separate business located onsite) was good quality and the shop staff was very knowledgeable. ||The worst part was the last couple of days when you are constantly barraged with what you are EXPECTED to tip. Oh, and it needs to be in US cash and the bills need to be in good shape. Um, I needed to know that before I left home, I do not normally travel with a THOUSAND DOLLARS in new bills (especially to an "all-inclusive"). Seriously. We were told that the divemaster should get $150-$200 from EACH of us, same for the boat captain, and the same amount for the resort staff. Considering the cost of living in Honduras, we felt that a $400 tip for each the divemaster and boat captain seemed excessive. Unless the resort isn't paying them at all and they live on tips. Even so, in Hawaii at the end of a week we'd tip the boat a couple hundred dollars and they'd split it. It just felt really excessive and they were constantly badgering you about it. ||Overall, for the money we spent there (and that's not even counting the airfare to get there!), there are a LOT of nicer places with better diving to go. We won't be...

Unsafe and Underwhelming

My husband and I spent a week diving at Cocoview in early January 2023. The resort had come highly recommended from various divers we met in Belize.

SUMMARY - The best part of our trip was the wonderful group of divers we met. The Cocoview regular crowd is 55-60+. My overall impression is that the resort had its heyday some time ago—all the dive site maps were illustrated back in the mid-late 90s. Cocoview feels like a museum dedicated to past glory days (signed shirts on walls, faded posters and memorabilia). The resort needs massive investment in updates and much higher safety standards for its divemasters in order to compete with other popular dive resorts in the Caribbean.

SERVICE - The Cocoview Main Office and Gift Shop were often closed during regular office hours, and the front office staff seemed busy with other tasks when we popped in to ask a question. We often felt like we were bothering them. The dive nurse was rude on multiple occasions. The dive shop was not consistently open during regular business hours. I was allowed to dive without providing proof of my Padi Open Water certification, as I didn’t have it handy when filling out the forms and no one ever followed up.

SAFETY - We experienced an extremely lax approach to safety on our boat. We often had to wait 5+ minutes at the underwater rendezvous point for our divemaster to appear, and he usually seemed more interested in seeking out small sea creatures and hunting lionfish than keeping the group together. On one dive, the group (10 divers) had to stay put swimming against a strong current while we waited for our divemaster and 2 other divers to hunt lionfish. On a separate occasion, the group was slowly moving along a wall, staying together, and became tangled with another boat group because our divemaster was nowhere to be found. On our last dive, my husband and the divemaster were the last divers remaining under the boat, and our divemaster climbed up the ladder first, leaving my husband to fend for himself in choppy conditions. We believe it’s only a matter of time before a diver becomes lost or separated from the main group or an injury occurs due to lax safety protocols.

DIVE CONDITIONS - Low visibility and poor weather conditions on the majority of our dives. Trash in the water around the Front Porch during our orientation dive. Apparently this is due to pollution from the mainland / other parts of the island.

ACCOMMODATIONS - We rented one of the Playa Miguel beach houses adjacent to Cocoview, though we still booked our meals, diving, and travel through the main Cocoview resort. Upon arrival we were asked to move to a different beach house for mystery "maintenance" reasons, and declined. Beach houses are not in the best condition - our showers smelled of bleach and mildew and we felt we needed to wear shower shoes when showering. The sheets and towels were threadbare. Control of the air conditioning unit in one bedroom had to be fixed. A toilet broke—would not flush—on the 2nd day and a part had to be replaced. Our grocery order was incomplete and several of the produce items weren’t ripe (e.g., green tomatoes). Leaks in the roof soaked gear that we hung inside to dry during a thunderstorm.

FOOD - Meals were buffet-style and heavy on fried and carbs. Vegetables lackluster - usually steamed cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots. Same salad bar night after night. Bar food was popcorn and various frozen fried apps. The most memorable fare was fresh fruit, pico de gallo, and lionfish ceviche courtesy of our boat mates. I asked for a veggie patty during cheeseburger lunch but they said they were out. (If you’re a vegetarian, you’ll likely be eating lots of beans and rice.) There is a nice variety of hot sauces on the tables. We enjoyed the steak and lobster on Friday night. You typically clear all of your dishes and cups and napkins, though a staff member will sometimes pick...

I have reviewed numerous other scuba dive resorts over the years, but recently changed my email. Here is my scuba and travel history.||Instructor with almost 2600 dives|105.5 (two years+) total weeks of dive travel out of the USA|30 foreign countries visited for scuba diving||We just got back from a trip to CocoView with 40 other divers from our dive club (my wife and I were the hosts) and the resort was amazing as usual. This is my seventh stay at CocoView and I still think that it is the most fun and best overall dive resort in the world. I have stayed at many other great dive resorts, but none of them make you feel like you are family like CocoView does. This why there are so many repeat divers at the resort including Harold, who has been there more than 350 times. Harold has been at the resort five of the seven times I was there.||Only someone with a bad attitude would not like CocoView, but that type of person is going to complain about everything because that is their personality.||I want to start off by saying there is no perfect place and I did leave them, the resort, with a few minor recommendations when I left. ||The front office did an amazing job of managing our large group and made several special arrangements to accommodate us. The rooms and the property are very rustic, but that is it's charm. This is as laid back as it gets, so if you need luxury this is not the place for you. The rooms are also rustic but clean. The bar is run by Willie, a one man show, who is fast and good at his job. He does a good job of getting the drinks to you quickly and always seems to have a smile. There is live entertainment most nights at the bar. The restaurant staff is also very welcoming and the food is good to very good. It is all buffet style with plenty of it available. I did tell our group to arrive as soon as meals are served for the best freshness. ||The diving is not what I consider the best in the Caribbean, but it is unlimited and still very entertaining. The two walls are beautiful. Make sure to carry a light to look in all the openings in the walls for large crabs and lobster. The dive set up is definitely the best I have seen with an amazing shore dive and a great locker/set up area. The dive boats don't look like much, but they may be the most spacious and comfortable in the industry. The boats also have an opening in the center to renter the boat. This is definitely helpful when conditions are choppy and the boat is rocking. We were fortunate to be able to pick our crew and boats for the week and we had Gringo and Robert from the yellow boat, Coco I, and Reuben and Marcos from the blue boat, Coco II. I had been on both boats in the past and knew these guys to be very good at what they do. They did not disappoint us and found lots (at least 8) sea horses as well as numerous other small critters. They did a great job of getting our gear on the boats as well as changing out the gear in between dives. The customer service on the dive boats is very hard to beat. ||Here are a few things to consider when visiting CocoView:||If you have the time, do the shark dive. We had about 20 Caribbean reef sharks on our dive and it ranks 2nd for me in the world for shark dives. ||The shore dive to the Prince Albert, the wreck to the front of the resort, is an amazing dive but the visibility can be diminished due to water movement from the inlet at tide change. Don't expect perfect conditions each time.||Although this is not CocoView's fault, there is loud music until 11pm most nights from the resort (Fantasy Island) across the inlet. Bring ear plugs if this may bother you. If you are in bungalow A to D (their most expensive rooms) the music will be at it loudest for those rooms.||Thank you again to the staff of CocoView. I will be back with my wife soon and again someday...