A whole bunch of jumbled answers...
Hey, all. My daughter is a 19 year-old college student and she's trying to plan a July trip, with my help. She doesn't have much money, just enough for airfare, meals of beans rice and bananas, and a cheap place to stay for a few weeks in (possibly) Roatan. She's traveling solo.
She will be a newly-certified diver and may end up doing a few dives while on Roatan, but since diving is expensive she'll end up spending most of her time snorkeling. She's an experienced snorkeler and will have her own gear.
Single dives with
Coconut Tree Divers including equipment are $35. They often return to the dock between dives also so she wouldn't have to pay for two morning dives. Most afternoons there's a 1PM single dive also.
In terms of accommodation she's thinking of a hostel in Sandy Bay. She says it seems a bit quieter than West End.
It is. But the West End is mostly busy near the end of the week. Su-Wed it was dead - we walked it every night going back to our house.
Another hostel option in the West End is Chillies - I think they have a dive discount with Native Sons on-site.
Chillies: Best Budget Hotel on Roatan Island We dove with Coconut Tree Divers but our other choice would have been Native Sons.
http://www.nativesonsroatan.com/index.html
What sort of money does she have for lodging? A decent safe place is Coconut Tree Cabins - their studio rents for $45nt. Granted it's double hostel prices but you get a studio with bath, table, hammock and a mini-frig. They're set back off the main road - some behind the Coconut Tree Divers building so even when the West End is bustling, it's still pretty quiet.
Coconut Tree Cabins, Roatan, Honduras Half Moon Bay Cabins at West End
I think she'll find many more inexpensive food options in the West End also. Woody's Market is there also - IDK if there's a market in West Bay?
http://www.roatanisland.net/woodies.htm There's street vendors selling fresh fruit, fish etc. out of the back of pickup trucks on the main road. And street side vendors that sell grilled meat and other inexpensive options.
A cheap place to eat nearby is the Noodles Bar. Rotisserie Chicken might be another - enough food for
4 of us cost me $22 one night. Generally paying in Lempira is cheaper. The restaurant above Coconut Tree Divers has some inexpensive lunches also.
How about the sand fleas and sea lice situation? Any one side of the island better than the other (I'll bet the windward side is pricier!).
Sand
flies are pretty much everywhere - Deet or something is required. I've read the sand fleas can be a problem in West Bay. Also there's the mosquito issue - Roatan is one of the locations where the CDC recommends Anti-Malarials be taken.
There's really no options for affordable lodging on the south side anyway - just a handful of AI resorts (Cocoview, FIBR etc) and some private house rentals so she's limited to the West End/West Bay area if she wants to be near beaches and diving. Some inexpensive options:
Bay Islands Diver Home
What are the best places to do beach snorkeling, say, around a dock or a shallow wreck, etc? Are there any places where she can pay a daily access fee to rent a hammock/chair?
IDK anything about public access beaches in West Bay but Half Moon Bay Beach in the West End might be an option. Most of it is public - IDK about chair rentals. I sat on the beach with no Sand Fly hassle one afternoon but it was pretty windy.
She could probably sit on Half Moon Beach at Sundowners for a long time if she bought an occasional drink or lunch - sandwiches in the $5-10 range. It really only gets busy later afternoon/evening. Beach chairs right at the water's edge -
Best beach bar on Roatan (and possibly in the world) - Review of Sundowners, West End, Honduras - TripAdvisor They also had an Internet cafe on-site but it was run by Paradise Computers which may have closed recently.
There's good snorkeling off Half Moon Bay Cabins located on the east side of Half Moon Bay - I don't
think you have to be a guest to snorkel there either.
Hotel in Roatan, Honduras. The best place for diving and snorkeling
The bay area just steps away from our resort is considered as one of the best places in the world to practice snorkeling;
You could also swim there from Half Moon Bay Beach - from the east end of the beach Google Earth puts it at about 150? yds.
Just about every cab ride on Roatan is negotiable also. Once the driver even asked me what I thought was fair. The expensive ride will be from the airport to West Bay/West End - afaik it's a fixed price - maybe $25? Cab stand is out front of Coconut Tree Divers in the West End. There's also several water taxis between the two communities - it's a little too far to walk from one to the other.
This is worth a read:
http://www.bayislandsdiver.com/Authors Tips.html
