Roatan trip Nov or Feb from Canada

[sportyluis]

Hi All,

We are looking to travel to Roatan potentially in Nov / Dec or in February. We are two divers (wife and I), one baby (2 year old) and 2 grandparents who love snorkeling. We are looking to get away as we usually travel to the Caribbean 1-2x a year but haven't due the pandemic.

We have a few questions we are hoping the group can help with:
1) are there direct flights from Toronto or what's the easiest way to get there if we don't want to fly Transat or Sunwing?
2) is the snorkeling good off the beach?
3) recommendations on which part of the island to stay? We don't mind doing an airbnb and travel around a bit. We'll probably only get 3 mornings of diving in (max)

Thanks!

Luis

 

[drrich2]

In case it's helpful:

CocoView Trip Report May 2021 - Trip Report - CocoView Resort May 8-15, 2021
My Research Notes from planning a Roatan Trip - My Research Notes from Planning Roatan Trip

I chose CocoView Resort on the southern coast. You mention you're probably only going to get in 3 mornings of diving; how long do you plan to stay on Roatan? I've got a suspicion you may end up opting for the West End.

 

[laurenceh]

I would suggest going in February. November/December is very rainy, it's the height of rainy season (November is the wettest month of the year and can be monsoon like for days at a time), February is usually much nicer.

 

[tridacna]

I was there in November a few years ago. Will never make that mistake again. I’ve never seen that much rain in a seven day period. Not light gentle rain. Torrential downpours that never seem to stop. Try and avoid November in Roatan if you can.

 

[Doc]

I believe the antithesis to ScubaBoard is Trip Advisor, but your specific needs and questions are the bread and butter of their TA Bay Islands Forum. We have some posters here, but TA is 99.9% of this niche.

At TA: Lots of Canadian snorkelers, with babies and grandparents in tow, looking for non-SCUBA adventurers and ‘exploring’. This is where you might well begin by searching.

During the months you specify, Roatan is still, and by far, your best gamble in the Caribbean, but I’ll still bet on ‘suck’. Do more research. On the less seasonally weather affected South side, you have but one viable option, it is Media Luna Resort, i believe it’s an HMR (Henry Morgan) and they speak fluent Canoodlian, big traffic from the Great White North. They have a close-in shore snorkel- if weather permits- but their outsourced dive op is snorkel-centric.

#2: Generally, no. Not where you’re going to wind up. Depends on your definition of “good snorkeling”. There is crazy good snorkeling off specific shores, but nowhere near where you will be going (if anywhere) which in all likelihood will be West End/Bay. There, it is passable but way far offshore. People do rave about it.

What I would add to this thread- you say you have some Caribbean travel experience. Roatan is likely nowhere near your prior travels. It is, even after 30 years of high-speed development, truly remaining a third world destination in a fourth world country.

 

[Hoag]

IIRC, at one point, WestJet was flying non-stops from YYZ to RTB, but they were mid-week. That would keep you out of the Sunwing or Air Transat flights. Having said that, I flew Air Transat from YYZ to RTB a few years ago (in the "Before Days"), and if it is leg room and overall comfort that has you concerned, it was no worse than an Air Canada Rouge flight.

 

[NDL_Diver]

February but March is better. Rainy season Mid Oct to February. Early February is still a little rainy but should not be a washout (expect a few days of rain early Feb and one maybe two days rain end of Feb (cloudy but not all day events).
November should be wet! Very, very wet. The visability will stink and you may see Roatan Chocolate (where the rivers turn the ocean a milk chocolate color).

We only go in April or early May because we were washed out once in November and had poor visability in early Feb due to a very rainy Jan.

 

[DogDiver]

Just a word here. CoCo View doesn’t allow children under 10.

 

[Scratch_Monkey]

So most tourists (but not all!) stay on either West Bay Beach or in the West End. West Bay Beach is going to have mostly resorts (no major chains, though) and the beach is just beautiful. The West End has a beach at Half Moon Bay (and it's super nice) but it's also very much a community beach shared by locals and tourists. While you will have the beach right in front of your resort if you stay on West Bay Beach, if you stay in the West End you will probably have to walk a bit to get to the beach at Half Moon Bay.

Double check, but even if you stay on West Bay Beach, few resorts have rooms that are right on the beach with that view. And if they do they will charge for that! Usually you walk through the resort to get to the beach where they will all have umbrellas and chairs, etc... out for guests to use.

Most of the West End is docks and bulkheads. It's a great place to stay if you are diving and want some nightlife as there are a lot of bars, restaurants, shops, etc... there.

West Bay is all about the beach. There are plenty of dive shops there as well but your dining options will largely be the resorts. To be clear, this is not bad! Some of them have great restaurants and there are other restaurants on the roads behind the beach (Celeste's comes to mind and that is pretty good).

If you want to snorkel, West Bay beach is probably the best, especially right in front of the Grand Roatan. The reef is super close to shore. The West End is not as good for snorkeling but people do snorkel in Half Moon Bay. I think the challenge is boat traffic there.

Either place is great, though! It just depends on how important the beach is to you vs how important shops and a variety of restaurants and bars is.

Before my wife was a diver, I would go down by myself and stay at a place in the West End because it was inexpensive and convenient. Basically a hotel built on top of the dive shop. I would dive the two morning dives and one afternoon dive, take a nap, get some dinner, go to sleep, and repeat.

But when my wife came down, we'd move to West Bay Beach and stay at the Grand Roatan as a treat for her. That place is not cheap. I didn't dive there but we would snorkel off the beach.

Finally regardless of which location you stay at (assuming you stay in one of these two places and not somewhere else), you can easily take a water taxi back back and forth. So if you do stay on West Bay beach, try to pick an afternoon to go into the West End and check it out. Or vice versa.

I can not help you on air travel except to say that if you do need to make a transfer, try to give yourself time between flights. With the flight disruptions that are happening right now, you don't want a delayed flight out of Canada to cause you to miss your connecting flight into Roatan.

I have some Canadian friends who would fly from Vancouver to Houston and then on to Roatan with a one hour connection. But that Vancouver/Houston flight was a red eye (last flight of the day) so any delays that aircraft experienced before it got to Vancouver were just going to stack up. They really gave themselves limited time between flights and they had to go through U.S. customs. Better to chill an extra hour in Houston or Miami than miss that flight to Roatan only to find the next flight is two days later or something.

Good luck!

 

[Doc]

@Scratch_Monkey , brilliant post, please allow me to clarify some wording…

While you will have the beach right in front of your resort if you stay on West Bay Beach, you will probably have to walk a bit to get to the beach in the West End.

I see what you meant, the distance from room to beach is the variable.

It might be misinterpreted. The walk between West End and West Bay looks inviting and quite do-able. Do not go there, locals avoid this wooded area. Tourists stumbling through here are treading dangerously, not a week goes by without something negative happening.

Take the water taxi.