Roatan---West End diving??

[nursesarah]

I have heard a lot of debate about some of the more popular resorts on Roatan---specifically AKR, CocoView, and Fantasy Island. However, I am wondering if any one has dove/stayed at any of the resorts in West Bay. We are considering either Island Pearl or Banarama Resort. These places seem smaller, more secluded, more laid-back, which is more our style. However, neither of us are super experienced divers, so the quality/attentiveness of the dive operation would probably be a deciding factor. Anyone with some good info/opinions???\

If we decide to go with one of the more well-known resorts, AKR is looking the best, but I have a bit of an issue with the dolphins, in what kind of situation do they live??????

Thanks for any info you all can offer!!

 

[Gr8fldiver]

I got a fantastic walk-up package deal diving with Sueno Del Mar and staying at the owners brother in laws hotel. I think it was the Seabreeze or something like that (check Sueno del Mar's website). We did 20+ dives over the course of the week and the bill was around $300 each. There are a lot of fun laid back places to eat and hang out. That whole segregated, all inclusive resort thing has LESS than no appeal for me.

 

[DandyDon]

:tree: I did a SEARCH of this Forum, finding nothing on I-Pearl, but two entires on Bananram. You might try that...

 

[mottja]

We stayed at Foster's in West Bay and dove with Bananarama. Foster's was nice because is was right on the beach. If you stay at Bananarama you have about a 30 yard walk down a path to get to the beach. Our dive guide (His name was Liber) was great. We also did our AOW with them. Let me know if you have any specific questions about Bananarama or Fosters...

 

[jaminsk1]

Stayed with Bananarama in the spring -the dive instructors Liber and Anja are both good fun as is Ron the owner - the diving was great and fairly cheap.

We stayed in a cabana there and loved the fact that we could do our own thing when it came to meals etc - all we had to do was jump on a water taxi and head to west bay. also liked the fact that you were only yards away from the beach which is one of the best I've been to - golden sands, very quiet, great snorkelling and warm shallow sea - there also seemed to be less sandflies up that end of the beach too which was a bonus.

I believe that the honduran tourist authourity are looking at starting a spraying program to irradicate sandflies and I think that Bananrama are one of the small resorts on the Island that they are piloting the scheme on which is also a bonus. with a bit of luck there should be next to no sandflies left

 

[nursesarah]

Thanks for all your responses---especially the tip about Foster's. I'm pretty sure we are going to stay there now, and I can't wait!! I've heard some good reviews of Banarama's dive operation. Any tips on how a fairly new diver (like myself) can go about picking the right dive operation to go with??

Thanks!!

 

[scotter]

I can't help you much with picking a place on the West End... but I will say you are on the right track.

I just got back Fantasy Island a few weeks ago, and the diving was good... however they stick you on cattle boats (average was probably 20+ divers per boat and one divemaster). Next time I think I will definitely try out the West End and go with an independent operation.

You may want to find out what the group sizes are before you pick a place... I am sure they are smaller than FI's.

 

[Cudabait]

Nursesarah,

You may wish to consider Utila. Smaller island near Roatan. If you are flying into Roatan, and depending on your time, you could do some walk up diving at west end. Then take the ferry to Utila and do some walk up diving there. I think you'll find the prices on lodging, diving and food to be about half of what you find on Roatan. Then you can come back to Roatan on ferry on way home. You can PM if you might be interested or need more info.

 

[champ]

Its been a long time since I was on Roatan (Jan 1994). I was backpacking with some friends and we stayed on the West End. We had no hotel reservations or anything but found a great spot right on the ocean. We had our own cabin and it costed about $3 per person per night. The guy's name was Sam but i'm sure he does not have a phone or website. We did our diving with Seagrape Plantation - very nice dive shop (I couldn't believe that a nice dive shop would be located in the middle of nowhere). The owner of the dive shop used to live in MN (where I'm from). I just did a search and found that they now have a website.

http://seagraperoatan.com/main.htm

It looks like they have both buget ($9) and nice rooms ($30).

If you do go, there was a small restaurant down the road that had the BEST bananna pancakes (note that there was only about 4 places to eat so you should be able to find it).

 

[AllenG]

Champ - Much has changed in the past 10 years. In comparison to what you saw, the West End would seem almost cosmopolitan. It still has its funky, undeveloped feel (still a dirt road), but there are many (many by Roatan standards, at least)dive shops, stores, bars, restaurants, rooming houses, affordable hotels, etc. You owe it to yourself to go back and see how the times have changed there! Still has a bohemian or youthful edge, but no longer just 4 or 5 businesses!