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Coconut Tree Divers hosts Bluewater Divers from Oklahoma

Roatan Island, Scuba Diving

Hosting Sharky Mark and Bluewater Divers Oklahoma

For the past 5 years we are proud to be able to host a large dive group of scuba divers from Bluewater Divers Oklahoma. Our friend Mark is the dive manager and close personal friend to Coconut Tree Divers, every year in May he organizes a dive trip to Roatan, and Coconut Tree Divers is his top choice.

So let’s ask Sharky Mark why CTD?

Location;

They have a large facility to handle groups of divers, each diver will be assigned a dive locker with their buddy to stow all your personal dive gear. The dive deck features a very scenic west side ocean view, plus the location in Half Moon Bay hosts a dock to load the boats, and as a result, is easy access to the best dive sites on Roatan.

 

Safety;

All dives are lead by very experienced Padi Instructors, what’s important is that their staff can take all divers to any site within the Marine Park and show them the best features and creatures each dive site has to offer. O2 kits, marine radios, AED’s, First Aid kits, etc… they have all safety protocols in place.

Boats;

Whilst it may take us longer to get to a dive site they gain the advantage in having a large platform for divers to comfortably walk around and have chit chats with staff and team mates on the boat. The ladders are custom made by a diver so it makes for an easier exit out of the water.

Bottom TIme dive boat Potlicker is a dive boat in Roatan Honduras for scuba diving

Fun;

Don’t make it job! Get out there have fun, take home memories and leave bubble trails….. We enjoy hosting the Bluewater Divers from Oklahoma because they all come with a positive fun fresh attitude geared towards safety and marine conservation. Mark has taught most if not all the divers in the group, so they are prepped ready for diving as soon as they arrive. Transportation is provided by Murphy’s Tours; in which is highly recommended. On your dry day why not do an island tour and see what this beautiful Oasis has to offer, who knows….. you may like it so much you move here!!

Summary;

Coconut Tree Divers and the staff would like to thank Blue Water divers for the week of May 8th till May 13th; Sharky Mark, Sarah, Erica, Tiffany, Will, David, Tony, Angela, Jim, Krista, Jeremy, Desiree, Dan, Kim, Jeff, Mandy, Lisa, and Roy.

We would also like to thank for the week of May 22nd till May 27th; Sharky Mark, James, Andrea, Pat, Annetta, Bret, Kerri, Tim, Jeffrey, Ciara, Adam Taavi, Kate, Gregg, Becky, Chad, Penny, Isaac, Trista, and Roy.

We look forward to seeing you all again next year!! Happy and Safe diving out there to you all.

You can find them @https://bluewaterokc.com/ or facebook https://www.facebook.com/Bluewaterokc for more information.

Need that dream vacation for your dive group, look no further. You know where to find us [email protected]https://www.instagram.com/coconuttreedivers/ @https://www.facebook.com/coconuttreediversandgoprocaribbean
http://www.coconuttreedivers.com

 

 

Roatan Cruise Ship Scuba Diving Excursion

Scuba Diving

Cruisin’ into Roatan for the day?! Lucky you!

Roatan is a beautiful Caribbean island that has so much to offer, one of those being STELLAR diving. Roatan is home to the Mesoamerican reef, the second largest on earth! We are lucky enough to be surrounded by this pristine coral reef, allowing for world class diving!

Roatan Reef Scuba Dive Cruise ship Excursion
Check out that REEF!

Let’s Jump In!

If you are looking to strap on a tank (or get your snorkel game on), come on down to Coconut Tree Divers. We have a few great options for you on your Roatan cruise ship day!

Those of you who are certified diver’s can catch one or more of our daily fun dives. No need to worry about specific boat times, as we work around you and your Roatan cruise ship schedule!

Not yet certified or have no experience? We have you covered! Join us for a Discover Scuba Dive to see what the scuba world is all about, or ask about snorkelling.

Coconut Tree Divers is located in the heart of West End with plenty of great food and beverage options near by. We have been in operation for over 19 years, no one knows the reef better than us and we cannot wait to share it with you!

Coconut Tree Divers Scuba Dive
Our home!

Coconut Tree Dive Shop Cruise ship scuba dive
The view from our shop!

Fun Dives for Certified Divers

We would love to have you join our Coconut Tree family for a day of fun diving. Float through the gorgeous Roatan reef on one of our Divemaster led fun dives. With a 1 or 2 tank option, each dive lasts 50-60 minutes depending on air consumption and depth of dive. If you happen to run low on air before the time limit we have the luxury of having Divemaster Interns to assist you to the surface and back to the boat. Heavy breather?? No problem we have 15L / 100CF tanks for you if needed. Want that extra boost of Oxygen to help you feel better after a dive? Ask about diving on Enriched Air Nitrox.

It is important to us that our customers get the best experience possible! Unlike other big resorts or cruise ship run dives, all our dive groups are kept small to ensure a safe diver to Instructor ratio. Providing a comfortable, hands on, safe and awesome experience! Our large platform boats are equipped with large aluminium ladders that are easy to walk up.

Discover Scuba

There is nothing like taking your first breath under water. If you have always wanted to experience the world of scuba but did not know where to start… Discover Scuba has your name all over it. No experience necessary, just you and your sense of adventure!

To begin, one of our experienced instructors teaches you the basics of scuba, followed by practicing your skills in confined water, and then off to meet all the marine life for your very first shallow scuba dive!

Snorkel

If breathing underwater is not your thing, we also offer snorkel trips. The snorkelers board the same boat as our divers, allowing you access to all the best reefs spots. Perfect for families or couples who are split between divers and snorkelers but want to remain together!

Roatan Cruise Ship Scuba Dive
Magic

Price & logistics

From Mahogany Bay dock it is a 35 minute car ride, from the Port of Roatan a 15 minute ride. The cost for a 2 tank certified diver trip with transportation to and from your cruise ship is $100 per person or $60 per person for a one tank dive. For a Discover Scuba session with round-trip transportation the cost is $120 per person. Snorkeling is $10 a person, or $30 a person including transportation. Our fantastic and reliable driver Murphy will be waiting for you at your port! All prices include free equipment rental and all boat rides are typically 10 minutes or less. Our boats are spacious, have rooftops to keep you shaded with custom built ladders to walk up, not climb!

To book with us simply book your reservation online or email us at [email protected] with any questions or inquires. We will get you sorted with all you need, allowing for a relaxing a stress free day on the island.

Photography

Roatan Cruise Ship Scuba Dive
Roatan is home to so many magnificent turtles!

Gotta keep ‘the gram’ up to date, we know you want a picture with a turtle!! Let us capture your time under water in Roatan. You can hire our lovely photographer to capture candid’s of you underwater, or rent out an underwater camera. Check out more details here.

We cannot wait to meet you!

Molson, our fearless leader and dive shop watch dog will be waiting for you on your Roatan cruise ship day!

Coconut Tree Divers Scuba Dive Molson

Coconut Tree Divers Staff
See you soon!

To read about other’s excellent experience with us, look us up on trip advisor !

We would love to have you come dive with us!
For more info on Coconut Tree Divers, schedules, courses, and pricing head to our homepage HERE!
To make a reservation head to our online reservation page HERE!

Roatan’s Coral Restoration Certification Program

Eco Friendly, Scuba Diving

All around the world coral reefs are suffering due to coral diseases, climate change, over-fishing, land-based pollution and other stressors!

Our time and effort are crucial to preserving and restoring Roatan and now there is a way you can help…

Roatan Coral Reef

Introducing Roatan’s Coral Restoration Certification Program!

A program designed to empower divers to engage in coral conservation and provide a hands-on opportunity to grow, monitor, and outplant corals.

This program has been created by the Roatan Marine Park – an internationally recognized not-for-profit organization founded in 2005. Since then, they have protected Roatan’s marine ecosystems and worked with the community to spread knowledge and reduce hazards to the environment.

Roatan's Coral Restoration Program
Cleaning some coral! Photo by Patric Ocean

Why the need for this program?

For many years, the Roatan Marine Park has been working hard to protect the reef from multiple stressors. Now they are also engaged in rebuilding the reef through active coral restoration and created a certification course to get YOU involved.

“This project is an important part of our strategy to protect our marine ecosystems and empower people to engage in coral conservation. We hope you enjoy learning about our coral restoration program and use your knowledge and experience to help educate others about the importance of coral reefs” – Francis Lean, Executive Director, Roatan Marine Park

coconut tree divers coral conservation
Constructing a nursery!

Give me the coral details

Currently, the program is focused on growing Staghorn and Elkhorn corals. Each a crucial species as they provide the three-dimensional framework vital for healthy reefs. The bad news- up to 98% of these crucial species have been lost due to the White Band Disease epidemic of the 1970′ and 80’s.

The good news- Roatan still has many resilient Elkhorn and Staghorn coral colonies, that have survived the disease epidemics and the other stressors! Even better news- these species grow FAST and the program works to preserve the genetic diversity of the survivors by growing them in coral nurseries and outplanting the coral back on the reef!

So what’s a Coral Nursery?

This is a tree like structure built to house and grow the coral and it looks like this…

Roatan's Coral Restoration Program
Look at all those nurseries! Photo by Patric Ocean

The Roatan Marine Park has partnered with local leading dive shops (like us at Coconut Tree Divers!) to build a community supported coral nursery near the SeaQuest Deep dive site.

By collecting viable coral fragments, or small cuttings from healthy colonies, we are able to stock the nursery and grow the fragments over 6-9 months into large enough pieces to ‘re plant’ back on the reef. Our work does not end there though, we make sure to monitor the growth and health of the outplanted coral to evaluate and improve our process.

The Roatan Marine Park Coral Restoration Program has successfully installed 20 coral nursery trees growing a total of 910 corals and COUNTING!! Every little piece helps to save our coral reef ecosystem!

Roatan's Coral Restoration Program Cleaning coral
A volunteer at work! Photo by Patric Ocean

How YOU can get directly involved – Roatan’s Coral Restoration Certification

For those passionate and interested in learning how to maintain the nurseries and plant corals back on the reef… this certification course is for you!

FIRST – Roatan’s Coral Restoration Certification course will start with a four hour classroom session where divers are provided a background on coral ecology, coral stressors, the and the procedures used in maintaining coral trees, and outplanting and monitoring coral.

Coconut Tree Divers Roatan Coral Restoration Presentation
Coconut Tree Instructor Rachael Teaching the crew about the program at our dive shop!

NEXT – you will complete two open water dives.

First dive will be to maintain the coral nursery and the basics of how to clean coral trees. With the second dive to either outplant coral, monitor coral health, or install coral trees depending on the needs of that time!

FINALLY – Once successfully completed, you will be issued your RMP Coral Restoration card and be certified to continue with any volunteer efforts you wish. Just visiting? That is fantastic and we so encourage you to get involved in the program and experience hands-on coral restoration to inspire you to continue to engage in ocean conservation and awareness.

Roatan's Coral Restoration Program
Photo by Patric Ocean

And you never know what type of critters you will spot during your time under water! Check out this squid squad that decided drop by the nursery.;.

Squid roatan diving
SO COOL! Photo by Patric Ocean

How do I Sign Up?

The RMP Coral Restoration Certification class is offered by us here at Coconut Tree Divers! Part of the certification course goes directly to the Roatan Marine Park to protect and restore Roatan’s coral reefs.

Please contact us at Coconut Tree Divers for a list of available dates and prices! We cannot wait to work with you!

*Please note you must first have your open water certification

For further information check out RMP’s Coral Restoration page here.

Roatan's Coral Restoration Program
Eagle Ray spotting!

We would love to have you come dive with us!
For more info on Coconut Tree Divers, schedules, courses, and pricing head to our homepage HERE!
To make a reservation head to our online reservation page HERE!

Roatan Restaurants: The Best and Most Delicious

Roatan Island

 

Wondering where to enjoy the best meal on Roatan?

You’ve enjoyed a long day in the sun, filled with swimming, snorkeling, and scuba diving through the turquoise water…
Now you’ve hung your suit to dry, washed the sand from your hair, can feel the heat from your sun kissed cheeks and are wondering.. hmm where shall we eat tonight?!

Well, we’ve got you covered! After years of enjoying all the island has to offer, below is a list of our favorite and most delicious places Roatan restaurants!

Roatan restaurants
Coconut Tree instructors Cruz, Tina, Racheal and Shane out with friends for dinner at Oasis!

Oasis

Our favorite restaurant on the island, without question!! If you are looking for the best quality, most delicious food on the island, look no further than Oasis.

Roatan Oasis serves freshly prepared food using local ingredients. Their dishes draw inspiration from every corner of the globe and their menu is always changing (in the best way possible)! The service is the best on the island and the atmosphere here is lovely, laid-back and elegant. Oasis has an extensive wine list and the handcrafted cocktails are a true highlight. If you are up for some live music, head to Oasis on a Thursday as there is always an acoustic set!

Oasis is quite popular (for good reason) so best to make a reservation through their website or contact info below. Do not miss Oasis when visiting Roatan, it is too delicious to not visit and the best of the best Roatan restaurants!

FAVS: Try the chipotle glazed baby back ribs as a main and the snickers for dessert. You won’t be disappointed.

Hours: Monday – Friday 5-9pm (Closed weekends)
Website: www.roatanoasis.com
Make your reservation: +504 9484 6659 (number works for WhatsApp as well)
Location: West Bay Road, very near after leaving West End
Price rating: $$$

Oasis Roatan restaurants
The attention to detail at Oasis is what makes them the best!

Oasis Roatan restaurants
Best cocktails on the island to cool you down from our hot island days!

Café Escondido

Delicious breakfast, coffee, smoothies, salads, sandwiches and an abundance of the most delectable noodles you could ever wish for. The restaurant has a great vibe/aesthetic to it and total bonus: Cafe Escondido is located on a second story facing the ocean, making for a perfect view of the sparking Caribbean sea right in front of your face! Escondido is a hot spot for lunch among divers, tourists and locals, especially when they do their lunch specials. Escondido does not serve dinner (tears), so make sure to head there before it closes everyday around 2:30!

We love Café Escondido because the flavor and portions are so plentiful. A great price, great quality, great location and a stellar view make Escondido a forever favorite of ours.

FAVS: Banana shake, cucumber lemonade, and ANY of the noodle dishes (so good).

Hours: Tuesday – Sunday 7:45am- 3pm (Closed Mondays)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/CafeEscondido/
Location: West End, West End Road. Walk South along West Ends main road, keep an eye out for West End Dive shop on your left and look up! There they are!
Price rating: $$

Escondido Roatan restaurants
I dunno about you, but I am hungry now..

Escondido Roatan restaurants
The view looking in, and looking out of Escondido!

Pazzo’s

Pasta Pasta Pasta… it’s all about the Pasta at Pazzo’s.

Every place needs that classic, staple Italian restaurant, and ours is the ever so delicious Pazzo’s. Everything is made with true Italian love at Pazzo’s. The homemade pasta, dessert, appetizers and salads are so so good, and can be enjoyed in their very simple yet charming open dining room. The chef works diligently to come up with different and extravagant specials on the reg so you are always in for a surprise when you dine at Pazzo’s!

The authentic Italian food is superb, but we’d be doing you a great disservice if we didn’t mention one of our most favorite things about Pazzo’s : BYOB. In our case, more like BYOW!! Make sure to grab a bottle of wine to pair with your pasta dish before dining at one of the most delicious Roatan restaurants!

Be warned it is a small restaurant and reservations are crucial. In busy season try booking up a week ahead. If you are not on the island just email us at the Coconut Tree dive shop ([email protected]) and we can make reservations for you. You’re welcome!

FAVS: The carpaccio, tiramisu, and ANY of the pasta specials!

Hours: Monday – Friday 5:30PM – 9PM (Closed Weekends)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pazzo/
Location: West Bay Road just right around the corner from West End round about. (West End)
Price rating: $$

Pazzo's Roatan restaurants
Pasta, Pasta, Pasta!

Junior’s

Juniors is SUCH a cool place. The owner (and chef) Junior, has created the perfect little pizza paradise here on Roatan and opened his doors for all to enjoy! Junior’s has long tables set right in front of his pizza making station and oven. Allowing you to see all the love Junior puts into each one of his pies.

This fab little pizza joint can be a touch difficult to find, it is just outside of West End right after Pazzo’s but before Oasis through a wooden fence. There is a small sign that says Junior’s, and if you ask around anyone will be able to point you in the right direction. We love that it is a little hidden, makes it more fun!

It is BYOB, so grab some Salva’s and head to Junior’s for the best pizza on the island, an awesome experience, and great company.

PRO TIP: If you have a bigger group best to make a reservation so that Junior can make sure to accommodate.

Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 5:30PM -8PM. (Closed Monday/Sunday)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/juniorspatio/
Make your reservation: Call / WhatsApp +504 3207-7949 or email [email protected]
Location: West Bay Road just right around the corner from West End round about between Pazzo’s and Oasis
Price rating: $$

Junior's Roatan restaurants
The legend himself, Junior!

Totally Taco

It does not have to be a Tuesday to enjoy some taco’s on Roatan! The youngest restaurant to make this list and for good reason… these taco’s are out of this world delicioso. This place produces some awesome taco choices like the Sriracha Lime Fish or Wasabi Shrimp just to name a few. No choice of taco would be a mistake here, the only mistake you could make is to leave without trying the dessert ‘Sweet Torts’… aka friend tortilla strips coated in cinnamon and sugar (umm yummm).

Totally Taco would make a great lunch break from your beach day while down in West Bay!

Hours: Monday – Friday 11AM to 7PM Sunday 12PM to 4PM
Website: https://www.facebook.com/totallytacoroatan/
Phone: 8771-5600
Location: On Bananarama Road behind West Bay Mall (West Bay)
Price rating: $$

Totally taco, Roatan restaurants
The totally taco crew and their delicious menu!

There you have it, the best most delicious Roatan restaurants.

If you are looking to catch the sunset before you head to dinner check out our list of the best places to watch the sunset!

ENJOY 🙂

Comment below with some of your favorite Roatan restaurants ! 

We would love to have you come dive with us!
For more info on Coconut Tree Divers, schedules, courses, and pricing head to our homepage HERE!
To make a reservation head to our online reservation page HERE!

A Plastic Free Roatan

Eco Friendly

A PLASTIC FREE ROATAN

Plastic is widely used in every day life. It is cheap, diverse, and very useful.

SO.. what is the problem with plastic?

The problem with plastic is that most of it isn’t biodegradable. Unlike paper or food, plastic never rots. Once thrown out, it can remain on earth for hundreds of years.

Which totally sucks because every year 400 million tons of plastic is created and 40% of that is one time use only. AKA: we ditch it into the world after using it once.

Unfortunately most of this plastic ends up in the ocean. There are five enormous patches of plastic in our worlds oceans. The one between California and Hawaii is the size of the state of TEXAS. About 8 million metric tons of plastic are thrown into the ocean annually.

A plastic island in the ocean
A giant plastic ‘island’ in the middle of the ocean formed due to currents.

Plastic and marine life.

When plastic is entered into the ocean it does harm in more ways that one.

Many marine life animals cannot distinguish plastic items with food.

One in three sea turtles, and around 90% of seabirds, have eaten plastic. Often times plastic is covered in algae and mistaken as food, or tiny pieces of plastic are accidentally consumed due to size or placement. Animals cannot digest plastic so their stomachs become blocked or full, leaving no room for actual food and starving them to death.

If fish are consuming plastic, and you are consuming fish then…

Manta ray eating plastic
The litter leaves this Manta Ray with no choice but to consume all this plastic.

Animals do not have to consume plastic for it to be harmful.

Larger pieces of plastic, such as carrier bags or food packaging, can trap, strangle and endanger animals. Manta rays, whales, sharks and turtles all suffer big time from this.

Coral reefs are called home by 25% of the oceans critters. A coral is more likely to die by 85% after coming into contact with plastic causing damage or infection. WOW.

By 2050 there will be more plastic in the oceans than there are fish (by weight)… think about that.

Turtle plastic
Poor turtle has plastic caught around his mouth.

So what do we do?

Solving this plastic problem is not going to happen overnight. I do not know about you… but the thought of this plastic catastrophe is overwhelming. It is loud, it is real, and of great magnitude, but we all have to start at home to make a difference.

Our home is the Coconut Tree Dive shop located in Roatan, Honduras. Here are things we do (that you can too) in an effort to reduce the amount of plastic our beautiful Caribbean waters see.

Carbon footprint

We reduced our carbon footprint by eradicating all styrofoam, straws, plastic plates, bags, cups and utensils from our shop. Instead, we provide our staff and customers with real plates, silverware, coffee mugs and reusable cups and straws. It is such an easy fix to simply not use plastic items.

Beach and ocean clean ups

Our staff, dive masters and even customers participate in our frequent beach and underwater clean ups. Picking up trash from the beach front not only makes the beach more inviting but prevents those rubbish items from making their way into the ocean! The real fun can come from our diving clean ups though. We gear up with one mission in mind: gather as much trash and plastic as you can.

Take a look as this…

Plastic free ocean
All of this plastic and trash found from one dive!

Recycle

Here on Roatan, all trash goes to the ‘dump.’ An above ground land fill, that is often so massive it can overflow into the ocean. It is so important here to dispose of waste properly so that we can minimize what goes to the dump. We make sure the waste from our shop gets properly recycled and disposed.

Restore

Cleaning up the trash and recycling is essential. But we like to do what we can to help restore as well. In an attempt to even slightly offset the amount of coral we lose to plastic and stress, we do our part to help create and maintain coral nurseries. To grow more coral to add back to the reef!

Coral nursery roatan
Building coral nurseries on our dive shop deck!

Education

We can do our individual parts all we want, but if you ask us the biggest tool at our disposal to help create a plastic free Roatan we would say: Education. Teaching and spreading the facts about plastic. Passing on this knowledge so that others are inspired to take the same measures we are!

First and foremost, we teach all of our students and customers how to become sustainable divers.

Second, we offer a few specialty courses at our shop to help engage and educate more divers in the mission of creating a plastic free environment.

Our Turtle & Shark conservation specialty courses aim to educate you about the causes of declining shark or turtle populations, to build an understanding of what is missing in our worlds efforts to prevent this.

Our Eco Dive program specialty course ‘Dive against debris‘ from Project AWARE empowers scuba divers to remove marine debris from the ocean and report data on the types, quantities and locations of materials collected.

Turtle educated diver roatan coconut tree divers
Become a turtle educated diver with us at Coconut Tree Divers Roatan

Coconut Tree Divers also looks forward to working with and participating in annual awareness events and activities organized by the Roatan Marine Park each year!

Plastic is a problem that is not going to go away without a lot of people’s help. Please do your part on the path to a plastic free planet. 

Thanks for reading =)

Roatan, Honduras aerial view
Together, we can keep our world this beautiful! Roatan, Honduras

We would love to have you come dive with us!
For more info on Coconut Tree Divers, schedules, courses, and pricing head to our homepage HERE!
To make a reservation head to our online reservation page HERE!

Want to keep up with all things Coconuts?! Make sure to follow us!
Instagram : @coconuttreedivers

Photo credit: 1, 2, 3

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