Bananarama can be bought as an AI if you look on their specials page. It's in West Bay on the Beach. Vintage Pearl there is supposed to be one of the better restaurants.
Roatan Diving, West Bay Beach Resort, Bananarama Dive I don't know the other resorts in West Bay well enough to comment on them. WB Beach is supposed to be one of the nicest in the area.
FIBR isn't really a luxury hotel IMO. Some friends stayed there a few years ago and said it was pretty tired - AC and water delivery problems. it's been around a long time. Recently they renovated the resort grounds but I've heard not the rooms. It's also gone thru at least two ownership changes in the past several years. Luxury would be Barefoot Cay by comparison.
I didn't understand your comment, is FIBR too nice for you? There's a lot of less expensive accommodations in the West End ranging from hostels (Chillies) on up. Coconut Tree Cabins were decent for the price, some of my friends stayed there when we dove with them. They also list some other options here:
Accommodations At a quick glance, none are beachfront but it's often across the road.
Your friend can walk across the road in the
West End in some areas and be right on the beach. Sueno Del Mar and the property south of it are
on the beach - in that area it's pretty wide. The area around Sundowners Beach Bar - can find it on any map - has a narrower strip of beach that kind of runs out on the east end of Half Moon Bay where it becomes all ironshore. We stayed on the point there, it was all 6' ironshore cliffs. Like this:
Cocolobo, West End, Roatan, Honduras. Hotel and dive packages About a 5min. walk back to town/the beach.
Posada Arco Iris shows the beach on their website - they have chairs there for guests use. It's a nice beach but not very wide. And across the road from the resort.
It's best to look at it on Google Maps or Google Earth in detail since some resort websites show the beach that's nearby - not on-site. Thru most of the West End the main road fronts the beach and the resorts are set behind it - often behind a row of shops/dive shops/restaurants also. PAI is one of those, Argentinean Grille fronts much of the property with the rooms behind.
One other option for both of you might be Luna Beach Resort. It's sort of the far west end of the West End - about a 10min. walk to town.
Roatan accommodations - Roatan resort and beach - Roatan scuba diving The problem there is that the reef/seagrass get pretty close to shore in most areas so while the beach is nice - wading out into the water is not particularly so. You can sort of see it on the shot taken from the air.
Belize is the only place you can
dive with Whale sharks in the Americas. Unless you get lucky at Flower Gardens NMS (liveaboard) or occasionally south Florida. Splash Belize breaks it down pretty well on their website - dates, package prices etc. Placencia has some nice beaches also.
I think the spot with the highest likelihood of snorkeling with them is Holbox MX later in summer but IDK much about those other places you mentioned. Except my friends did dive with Whalesharks in Belize with Splash in spring 2010. They only come in to feed at Gladden Spit during/after the full moon so you have to time it. It's a fairly long boat ride out and just an average dive if they don't show.
From videos I've seen of Sipadan, nothing in the Caribbean comes close.
I'll try again.
