Luna Beach Resort, Best Scuba Diving on Roatan

Hurricane Wilma

Roatan was really lucky.

Last weekend the winds began to pick up for the on coming event of a tropical storm due in on Wednesday the 19th October that we all were expecting. That’s not what we got!
Wednesday came and the weather was pretty bad, large waves, lots of rain and strong winds. This we saw on the internet and on the weather channel should have been the worst of it, with minor damage to the dock and every where else the same on Roatan. But late that afternoon the winds began to build some more, taking us over night up to the edge of the eye which by this time had grown in size to hundreds of mile across. Roatan was lucky in this respect as I guess we only sustained around 40 to 50 MPH winds. As the West End and West Bay areas are protected by the reef just off of the shore this took the brunt of the wave force. Which saved this stretch of coast line, but if we had taken the full force of Wilma. There would not be much left of the north coastal area including us as everything is located on the beach, as many of you already know.
Yesterday the 20th October saw most of the West End loose parts of the road and dock areas. Some damage to Restaurants on the water and debris scattering the road, mostly water damage to the building along the coast due to the high water levels, that started to recede this morning.
West End is not closed, with all shops, restaurants and accommodation open as normal. Diving will probably be back to normal when the ocean calms down enough to take the boats out over the reef. The wind has dropped a lot today but the waves will continue to come in over the reef for a couple more days, due to continuing wind that is forecast.
This will be very interesting to us the dive community, to see what, if any damage the reef sustained. After Mitch broke up El Aguila in 1998 will be interesting to se what happened this time as the word on the street, is that the storm this time was a lot worse this time.
If you are planning to come to Roatan, this should not change your arrangements as everything will be back to normal by next week. As we are talking only about West End, it would be a good idea to contact your resort. To check your reservations over the next week.