i read somewhere that there are bad sand fleas on roatan starting in may?? is this true, i have never heard of these before, can anyone shed some light on this???

nope, since we are going to be on the island for 2 weeks and only going to dive for 8 days or so, we are going to use our first day there to visit various dive operations.

we'd like to do two dives before lunch and then have the rest of the day to tour the island.

we also like to be on bigger boats, that stay out between dives, as compared to coming back in and going back out, because we like just hanging out on the boat between dives, or moving from one location to the other............

we are tentitve to arrive may 5th, but have not bought the ticklets yet

we're coming in from baltimore.................and just chillen sounds nice 

Hi Ron

Thanks for taking the time to post, its what keeps this site alive. How did you find us by the way ?

The orange stuff is labeled simply "OFF!" It costs more on roatan since it is imported, There is also a green version which is the deep woods variant for real problematic noseeums.

It used to cost about $5 in roatan, and less in the US I think.

thanks ron,

Coconut Tree is on our short list  that is the kind of boat that we like...........we also enjoy, meeting other people as long as the diving is not TOO crowded..............

we plan on using our first full day on the island just driving around, getting the lay of the land, and visiting with dive operations/people...............we want to try and hit the west, north, and south side..............and we are STILL determined to find someone who will rent us some tanks so that we can dive from our back door........

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I think all the best diving is on The West End/West Bay area.  West Bay is is more of the tourist trap kind of area...bigger hotels and such.  West End is simply one packed sand road   It's about 1/2 to 2/3 of a mile long.  And it is nothing but a dive town.  All of the great Dives spots are within 5 - 10 minute ride.  And the only thing in the town on both sides of the street is Dive shop/Place to eat/place to sleep..repeat...about 15 times.  It's SO damn laid back, just perfect.

As far as dives that are not too crowded, I'm with you.  I hate any dive with more then 8 people.  And that's about what he runs out of there.  And still have plenty of room on the boat.  You see other operations running out there with little John boats and 6 people on board...no way!

Oh, from what I understand, No one will rent tanks there.  Mainly, beacue all the dives are so close to shore, that everyone would just swim out to them and not go for the guided dives.  It would put dive shops out of business.

And yes, I have some fo the 98% deet stuff too, along with Ultra-Thon (consumer version of the Army repelent, it's DEET, but formulated a bit different) and some stuff with Picaridin from Cutter (supposed to be just as good as Deet, but not as bad for you)....also picked up some vitamin B6 which they say if you start taking a couple weeks before you go, it makes you taste bad to the sand fleas.

I dunno, but I'm taking it all, along with some antihistamine, and some benadryl lotion.  Oh, also just a little tiny bottle (like the ones you find in hotel rooms with shampoo in them) with some bleach in it.  I heard that if you have a bite, dab it with a que tip with some bleach on it, and it it will get rid of the itching.

Do you get the idea that I REALLY don't want to spend the week itching again?!?!?!?!

6 days and counting!!!!

Ron