Best place to stay in Roatan

[Thiad]

I'm a huge fan of Barefoot Cay. I can't say enough great things about them and the entire operation - both as a place to stay and as a dive shop. We stayed on the beach, dove 3x every day, had the most amazing of vacations. Everything was above and beyond our expectations!

 

[diversteve]

You could walk to French Cay from Barefoot Cay. It's the only south side resort close enough, Cocoview/Fantasy Island are about 15mins. drive away. We dove with Barefoot Divers and if I ever return to Roatan they'd be high on my list to stay with. IDK if you can do it within your budget unless you get one of the lofts in the main building on the shore (non Cay) side.

Any sort of nightlife will be in the West End though. There's a lot of rooms/apts./small cabins that would be well within your budget in and walking distance to town. Cocolobo looked really nice, >10min. walk to the West End from there. Closer in town, Posada Arco Iris is right across the street from the beach. So is Coconut Tree cabins further down. I'd stay at any of them from a safety/convenience standpoint. Woody's Market is between Posada and CT and there's another small market at CT in the main building. Some friends stayed at CT cabins, they're older but clean. The West End was mostly quiet all week after about 10PM except for things pickup a little closer to Friday - esp for most Sat-Sat divers since it's their last night.

Lots of good info here: http://www.bayislandsdiver.com/

We did 4 dives/day with Coconut Tree but my group was almost all their business that week - they seemed to indicate that 3/day was more typical depending on customers. They also do a couple of night dives during the week. Good people, good crew, ask Gay in the shop for anything you need, she knows everybody.

Reef House Resort is even further removed from everything than any of the others.

Anthony's Key is nice but you dive there, eat there etc. It's on it's own private oceanfront so is removed from the main road - although realistically there isn't much along the road until you get into the West End - about a 5-10 min. cab ride away.

Cabs are cheap and plentiful in the West End if you want to go somewhere else. The taxi stand is across the street from Coconut Tree - unless it was very early in the morning there were always cabs waiting. It's about a $5-6 ride to AKR.

One other place to consider is Luna Beach Resort. It's on the far west of the West End so would be a long walk to "downtown" but they have a water taxi. Also I believe there's a shore dive there.

One tip: When you get off the plane, get in the right lane for immigration. (You'll see why once you round the corner...)

 

[RTBDiver]

You could walk to French Cay from Barefoot Cay. It's the only south side resort close enough, )

Anyplace on Roatan is walking distance to pretty much any other as long as you have the time, My neighbors tell of yers gone by walking from Flowers Bay to French Harbor, Barfoot Cay is still a pretty good hike to FH or FK and a cab is still the best way

 

[GoonieGooGoo]

Thanks all. Any places i should definitely stay away from?

 

[RTBDiver]

One tip: When you get off the plane, get in the right lane for immigration. (You'll see why once you round the corner...)

Ok, Now you got my attention,
Why the right lane? In my 3-4 trips a year I have never found there to be any type of consistancy at immigration.

 

[diversteve]

It's shorter, ergo faster - at least in my recent limited (2x) experience.

 

[RTBDiver]

It's shorter, ergo faster - at least in my recent limited (2x) experience.

Sometimes there re 4 agents, 2 on each side, sometimes three and the 2 can be on either side sometimes there is one on each side, sometimes there is only one and they can set up shop on either side as well but if only one they are more often on the left, Of course none of it matters too much as even the last through still often waits for luggage and next rip they may reconfigure the entire setup. It was real easy to get through quick when flying on an MD88 from Delta as they do not have stairs to fit the plane so we get off the back, Many wondered why I would move to the very last row towards the end of the flight, or at least they wondered until we deplaned

 

[GoonieGooGoo]

I'm leaning towards the South....Coco View, RHR, Barefoot Cay, Fantasy Island. Comments or alternatives? Hey RTB Diver, I hope I don't see that dog on any of my dives.

 

[peeweediver]

GGG: Tried to reply and think I messed up. Anyway, I am fairly single-minded when it comes to dive trips. I look for the place that makes diving the easiest and offers the opportunity to do the most diving. IMO, CCV is the number one place for both in all my diving, except live-a-boards (but close). Great people working there, decent food, nice accommodations, and really nice shore diving to add to 4 boat dives a day. My spouse was not a regular diver going into this trip ended up doing 4-5 a day and now wants to know when and where the next trip will be. Hope that helps some.

Rob

 

[DeputyDan]

If it's your first trip to the island and the purpose of the trip is to dive (not go on vacation and do a few dives) - I would suggest you stay at COCO View and take your non-dive day to travel around and scope out some of the other locations mentioned. Then you will have some reference for possible future trips to the island.