Coco View Resort

Coco View Resort is about 20 minutes from the Roatan Airport. Morris, a 19 year veteran employee of Coco View, drove us to the resort. You arrive at a landing and take a small boat to Coco View's "peninsula". The resort consists of the DockSide Dive Center, dive equipment storage area, boat docks, office, "clubhouse", boutique, snack bar, and rooms. The clubhouse contains the dining rooms, bar, and kitchen. Upstairs dining is non-smoking and the downstairs dining is for smokers. Being a Californian, it was really strange to see people lighting up in a restaurant.

There are some privately owned beachhouses and some property for sale, but I don't have much detail about those arrangements. I heard rumors during the trip that the resort may be for sale. Figures like $3M were tossed around, but again this was rumor only.

It was really cool to arrive at Coco View and be shown that we were already signed up for (Aho-Goodenough) a dive boat.

Now some of the really fun stuff begins! We were concerned about our missing luggage, but we shouldn't have been. We were too tired to dive since we had been travelling all night so Resort Manager Erin toured us around the resort. Later that night we were at the boat dock. The divemasters were heading to the landing to get a load of delayed luggage, and they asked us if we wanted to go. "Sure", we said, and 10 minutes later we came back with all our luggage, gear, and about 50 other suitcases. Now, we were happy.

The boutique (tee shirt shop) and bar are on the honor system. No one staffs the tee shirt shop, so you just write down your purchases on a tab. You run a tab at the bar as well, charging your drinks to your room. If no one is at the bar, the honor system applies there too.

The resort has over-water cabanas, 2 story air-conditioned bungalows, and several private beach houses. We were in cabana 5. On our next trip, if it is available, I am going to request Cabana 12. Cabana 12 is on the end of the row, and its windows face East into the wind which I figure would help with cooling the room off after a hot day. Also, our West-facing room got really warm as the sun heated up the west-facing wall each afternoon. Avoid Cabanas 1, 5, and 9 since they all face west.

There are few, if any, mosquitos at Coco View, but there are some nasty "no see ums". We knew this in advance of the trip and brought a large supply of bug repellent with DEET. I found that I got bit with or without the DEET. I also found that my bites compared to other people's bites were minor. Some people were covered with half-inch-size red spots affectionately referred to as "Cocopox". Regardless of the size of the spots, they itched like crazy, so be prepared.

A feature of Coco View is the fact that phone service is very limited. The office staff dials the AT&T operator for you. Sometimes it takes 5 minutes just to get the operator. Since you are using Coco View's office line, you are asked to limit your call to 5 minutes. I only called to check on my kids 3 times. Kati never checked her voice mail...yee ha, this was a really great vacation!

I felt the resort was well managed. Things seemed to be really well thought out. Owner Bill Evans keeps an eye on the operation and guests. He is very nice to speak with. I never felt we suffered from "Island Time". Once lunch was served picnic-style outdoors, and it came out 10 minutes late. Apparently this rarely happens and was noteworthy even to the staff.

There is a Hawksbill Turtle hatching operation on the Coco View property. Bill takes great pride in discussing Coco View's turtle project. Approximately 150 turtles have been hatched and released from Coco View.

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