Roatan Suggestions Needed Please

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aeweems12

Contributor
Messages
97
Reaction score
107
Location
Alabama
# of dives
25 - 49
Hey y'all! My mother and I are looking to go to Roatan on vacation sometime in May and I am hoping you might have some suggestions on places to stay and dive/snorkel operators to use.

Some quick background: We prefer to stay in smaller places (condos, houses, etc) instead of resorts. We want where we are going to be stay to be relatively quiet at night and for there to hopefully be no crazy parties going on next door. We are ok with staying slightly further away from the action and having to drive to get to the dive operator.

As far as diving/snorkeling... I am a diver, she is a snorkeler. We are hoping for recommendations on operators that cater to both or if you know of a good snorkeling operation she can go with while I am diving. We have been with operators that take both snorkelers and divers on the same boat, but they honestly cater more to the divers than the snorkelers and she comes away unhappy. So if I can put her on a snorkel boat then that makes my life better haha! As far as a dive operator, I am looking for a place that is ok with newer divers (I will have my AOW by the time of this trip, but I'm still a newbie). I don't mind paying extra to dive with a DM.

Any suggestions/advice you can give would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance :)
 
It sounds like CocoView would be perfect for you & your mom. The dive operation is superb, the shore diving is unrivaled, therefore there is plenty of snorkeling available as well. There is lots of information available here on ScubaBoard about CocoView - you can do a search and I'm sure others will contribute lots of information for you too :D
 
CCV would be cost prohibitive for a non diver. That said, if a die-hard snorkeler wanted 24/7 access to the reef just 150' off the shore, that would be the place. And yes, for divers who want 5x a day, it is the single best place to go on Roatan.

As I was reading the OP, I was thinking West End, West Bay. You simply can not be assured of how quiet your neighbor-of-the-week will be, though. aeweems12, I heartily agree that you should split into two boats, and West End is your best option for that... This is one of the main destinations for the many cruise ship snorkelers... They know how to service that client.

The majority opinion here on SCUBA Board and on (not the place for real SCUBA types) Trip Advisor... Avoid rental vehicles, hire a driver or just stay near the dive op... Again, West End.
 
You won't find big resorts on Roatan. I would think that West Bay would be more in line with your likes. CocoView is all-inclusive, and isolated from any restaraunts, etc and West End does tend to get noisey. Try looking on TripAdvisor for places in West Bay West Bay Lodging: Read Reviews and Compare Prices - TripAdvisor. We are returning in March & staying at Foster's again; we love that little place: Foster's West Bay (Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras) - Resort Reviews - TripAdvisor. Good luck

---------- Post added January 29th, 2014 at 05:37 PM ----------

Also, see the thread: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/bay-islands/475058-roatan-west-bay-resort-choices.html
 
There's a known shore snorkel spot on the west side of West Bay. I don't have a lot of details about what's nearby.

There's another one on the east side of Half Moon Bay. Half Moon Bay Resort is on it. Probably every single day we saw snorkelers out there. If you believe their website:
The bay area just steps away from our
resort is considered as one of the best
places in the world to practice snorkeling;
relax and enjoy the crystal clear waters of
the Caribbean Sea and admire the marine
animal and plant life guided by our experts.

There's also access to that area (about a 60'? foot swim) from the east end of Half Moon Bay Beach. The West End can get a little loud at night - most of the bars etc. are about 2 blocks away. You might look for something on the east side point of Half Moon Bay - Cocolobo is very nice. SeaGrape rents private cabins also. There is no snorkeling there though since the ironshore is over 6' high and very vertical. From either, Mom could walk to the Half Moon Bay site. We stayed in a house out there - 5min. walk to town and you barely hear the West End at night. The waves smashing against the ironshore helps also.

I found this place recently also - IDK much about it. VILLAS DEL PLAYA - LUXURY CARIBBEAN CONDOS - Home

If you want something a little more private, vrbo.com has rentals in both West Bay and the West End. This is one of them - it's about a block removed from the main West End road. That area is probably a little quieter also as most of the crazy is a block or so east. West End Vacation Rental - VRBO 508277 - 2 Bed / 1 Bath in the Heart of West End You could easily walk to several dive shops from there and Mom could walk to Half Moon Bay Beach to snorkel.

We liked Coconut Tree Divers. You won't need to hire a DM as they put one, often two on every boat. Most times one was also their chief instructor - Marco. In the afternoons their DM trainees shadow the dives - once my buddy and I had 4 DM's following nearby.

Understand that anything youi find directly behind the main street in the West End might be a little loud later in the week. But it's an easy walk to all sorts of shops and many of the restaurants on Roatan. There's also a couple of small food markets and street vendors sell everything from fresh fish to produce daily.

It's $25 by cab from the airport to the West End. I agree with Doc, there's all sorts of good reasons not to rent a vehicle there. Pretty much everything you need is close by and cabs are cheap if you negotiate. We didn't pay more than about $10-15 to get anywhere - even across the island to the south side several times. The cab stand for that area is right where the main road enters town. Cabs were always there til late at night.
 
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I would also recommend you check out Tropical Island Villa Roatan Vacations and take a look at "Villa Joya". My wife and I have stayed at this condo and found the location and amenities fantastic. North end of West Bay, quiet, private, swimming pool and small beach in front, well taken care of (but not a luxury condo), manager checks in and responds very quickly to any issues. Did I say quiet? Walk to West Bay Beach, dive shops and restaurants, water taxi stops at the dock next door, and you can snorkel from the beach to the reef. It was one of the most relaxing vacation rentals we have ever stayed at.
 
Funny how you prefer smaller places and quiet areas but so many feel either the CCV Resort or te most touristy areas of West Bay or West End are your best choice. If your only looking at maybe a couple dives a day then almost anywhere on Roatan probably works. If you stay at someplace like West Bay or West End, deffinately do not rent a car but if you stay outside the main tourism areas you may want to, I have never found it to be an issue. I would look at places like VRBO and see how much you can get for the dollar

---------- Post added January 30th, 2014 at 06:45 PM ----------

The majority opinion here on SCUBA Board and on (not the place for real SCUBA types) Trip Advisor... Avoid rental vehicles, .

LOL, I guess Vast majority can be as little as two, years. Seems there is at least one person who regularly suggests not renting a car, and only renting from English speakers with no regard to the renters native language or that Spanish is the official language
 
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Thanks for all the suggestions and advice y'all! Even though it wasn't what my Mom was initially thinking of when she wanted to go to Roatan, but I think we are going to try to make the Invasion.

Cheers!
 

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