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Dive Review of Dive Pangea/Paya Bay Resort in
Honduras/Roatan

Dive Pangea/Paya Bay Resort: "1st Time Charm in Camp Bay", Sep, 2019,

by Clem Clapp, AL, US (Contributor Contributor 18 reports with 4 Helpful votes). Report 11341.

Photos Submitted with this Report


Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 4 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 4 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 5 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments After diving the south side of the east end at Oak Ridge, the middle portion of a two week dive trip to the east end of Roatan was diving my first time with Dive Pangea on the north side while staying at an old nearby favorite, Paya Bay Resort.
Chrissie Bowen and husband Brian have carved out a wonderful piece of paradise on a delightful stretch of near uninhabited but beautiful public beach in Camp Bay. Their combo dive shop and house sits just a few steps from the dock and this is where the surface intervals are taken since the dive sites are so close by. Also making the use of this op desirable is that they will do a pickup and delivery at Paya Bay’s dock. They are the most eastward of dive ops on the north side and dive roughly from Wilkes Point to the Santa Elena mangrove cut. The boat driver, Isley, along with Chrissie and Brian and Anthony and Tiny, a couple of young dms in training, made for a relaxing and laid back small boat diving experience.
These folks are making a name for themselves by participating in an Island Pride operation that is designed to get locals involved with diving since the expanded marine park is putting restrictions on fishing. They have also awakened locals to the nesting of sea turtles and this year monitored and protected 5 local nests from discovery until hatching. Brian said that these endeavors are paying results with them beginning to see more fish and turtles than ever. Their relationship with the marine park was evidenced by the new park patrol skiff getting gas at their dock and stopping to assist a park maintenance boat repairing a buoy.
Our first dive was nearby westward to Pinnacles. This is basically the normal most eastward site visited with the Tropical Island Divers at Punta Blanca to the west, a dive op with whom I have been diving for a number of years. The young dm Anthony has a fine eye for small critters between shooting lion fish. Moving at a slow pace, he pointed out 2 pipehorse, 2 decorator crabs, juvenile spotted drum and trunk fish while we cruised among a nice variety of fish from queen angels, blue head wrasse, yellow tail damsel fish and others. This site also had some of largest number of elkhorn coral that I’ve seen locally. During the week we also dove sites such as Jimmy’s Jump Off, Puma Posse, Linda’s Garden, Camp Bay Lodge Wall and a few others, including a yet to be named and buoyed site where we saw a juvenile green razor fish in the sand and thus gathered the suggested name for that site. Among other fish on most dives was rock beauty, banded and spotted butterfly fish, coneys, a school of Bermuda chubs and silver jacks, spotted trunk fish, striped and spotted goat fish, stoplight and queen parrotfish, harlequin bass, indigo hamlets, black durgin, jawfish, stingrays, a large nurse shark, a few morays, a small turtle and a school of dolphin in the distant. I also enjoyed a number of cleaning stations and their regular inhabitants such as Pederson shrimp and banded coral shrimp. Besides the elkhorn there were lots of gorgonians, sea fans and a variety of sponges.
With water temps of around 84 degrees, fairly clear water and a nice variety of dive sites and critters this was a fine week of diving for me, even enough for a revisit at some point.
Websites Dive Pangea   Paya Bay Resort

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 501-1000 dives
Where else diving Mostly Caribbean
Closest Airport Coxen Hole Getting There Direct from Atlanta

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas calm
Water Temp 83-84°F / 28-29°C Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility 60-75 Ft/ 18-23 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions Follow the dm to see stuff or stay close by
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? no

What I Saw

Sharks 1 or 2 Mantas None
Dolphins Schools Whale Sharks None
Turtles 1 or 2 Whales None
Corals 4 stars Tropical Fish 5 stars
Small Critters 5 stars Large Fish 1 stars
Large Pelagics 1 stars

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter N/A Boat Facilities N/A
Overall rating for UWP's N/A Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments [None]
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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