Thumbs Down: CoCo View

When Dave White arrived at Roatan’s CoCo View Resort last December with seven friends, they were looking forward to good diving, not the epidemic of turista that would lay them low and cost many of them precious diving days. White, from Arcata, Calif., reports that “nearly everyone, including some staff, who ate at the resort got some sort of intestinal sickness either due to bad water or poor food prep.” When he brought the problem to the manager’s attention, she replied, “it must be that cruise ship thing” and walked off.

For most people, the sickness passed after a day or two, though Ron and Donna Queen’s symptoms (diarrhea, cramping, and nausea) lasted for 12 days, until they were treated with Cipro back home in Fortuna, Calif. Ron Queen was told by the dive staff that people had been getting ill for a couple of weeks. He estimates that roughly 75 percent of the guests were affected while he was there. “One day,” recalls Dave White, “our divemaster didn’t show up — sick like everybody else — and we sat at the dock for almost an hour until they were able to find another divemaster.”

In our Chapbooks, similar incidents were reported by Undercurrent readers in May and September last year, and there have been other incidents as far back as 1998. So we contacted CoCo View’s management to ask about the problem, but they failed to acknowledge that they have ongoing troubles. Instead, they told us: “The intestinal problem that was occurring on the island disappeared before it could be identified or its source traced. We have not had any problems recently and have not heard of any new occurrences from the other hotels.”

Hmm. With customer complaints dating back five years or more, at various times of the year, that explanation doesn’t cut it. We wonder whether it’s time for CoCo View to [insert euphemism] or get off the pot.