Texasdiver2
Registered
Have just returned from an excellent week in Roatan. Our party of six arrived on Sat June 4 and departed on Sat June 11, 2011. We rented a 4wd truck that seated 5 and a VW Crossfox which seated 4 and had a very small trunk. Rented from Avis. Car was very nice. Truck was adequate but was old and has been used hard.
We stayed at a 2 BR 2 BA condo in Pineapple Villas in French Harbour. Pineapple Villas Resort & Spa
We found this to be a very nice place to stay. The condo was very comfortable with a full kitchen. It is not ocean front but we had a view of the sea from our patio. The complex had a very nice swimming pool. There is a good restaurant on-site called Pineapple Grille which was very good. It had inside and outside seating with a view of the sea. There is also a sports bar, above the restaurant, called Herbie's. This is an excellent bar and we spent many evenings there rooting for the Mavericks in the NBA Finals. The Bar has 25+ TVs and tons of sports memorabilia. Herbies has a different menu from the restaurant, Herbie's is more bar food and sandwiches, all that we had were good. Beer was reasonable. The restaurant was more steak and seafood. Both the restaurant and bar welcome customers whether or not they are staying at Pineapple Villas.
We used Barefoot Divers for eleven dives during the week. Roatan Dive Shop | 5 Star Dive Resort in Roatan - Bay Islands, Honduras
They are located between French Harbour and Coxen Hole just west of Los Fuertes.
We found Barefoot to be an excellent dive op. They have three dive boats and do not take more than eight divers per boat. We had six divers and on many days, it was just the six of us on the boat. We dove twice each day Sun-Thur and did one night dive on Tues evening. The dive op has a dive shop and a locker area. They have large freshwater sinks to rinse gear. They rinse your bcd and reg and store in your assigned locker for you. The locker area is locked up when the boats are out diving and there are security guards on duty. The locker area has two restrooms each with a shower. The dive op will suggest dive sites based on interests or will visit dive sites of your choosing if they are in the general area of Barefoot Cay. We dove Gold Chain, 40 foot point, Mary's Place (3 times, once exploring the cracks, once at night and once diving along the wall.), Calvin's Crack, Leta's Hole, Cemetery Wall, Insiduous Reef, among others.
We dove with Jocko, Delphine, Scott, and Jed. All were terrific and very pleasant. All tried to ensure we had everything we wanted and worked hard to find and show us the underwater life. Our boat captain for the week was Tex except for one day when it was Christian. Both were very nice and good boat handlers. On all dives, except one, we had two dive masters in the water with us, one leading and one trailing. On one dive, Delphine dove with the six of us. All dives last a maximum of 60 minutes including a 3 minute safety stop. We originally thought we could "dive our computers" and that is so but there is a 60 min limit. On the night dive, we had to request the 60 minute limit as the dive was orignailly going to last 45 minutes. They were happy to extend it to the 60 minute limit. On many of our dives, we were coming up with plenty of time left before deco stops would be required and with 1000+ psi of air or nitrox (four of our party of six dove nitrox).
That being said, we were very pleased with Barefoot Divers and would heartily recommend them and would use them again.
Barefoot also operates a lodging facilty but we did not stay there. The lodging facility has a restaurant and we did order lunch from them one day. They delivered it to the dive shop area which has a nice covered porch with tables and chairs. It was good.
On our last day, we explored the island. We drove east from French Harbour along the paved road. We detoured off the road and visited Jonesville. There we stopped at Puky's (yes, Puky's...) a waterfront spot that offered food and beverage. we only had beers. $2 for local beers Barrena and Salva Vida. We met Alejo Monterosso (sp?). Fascinating man who knew a lot about Roatan. He is hoping to develop a snorkel operation out to a blue hole located off of Jonesville.
We continued east toward Camp Bay. Ultimately you will turn off the paved road onto a dirt/gravel road. It has lots of potholes but we had no difficulty with either of our vehicles on a good weather day. You will start to see signs for La Sirena and/or Asylum. These are directing you to a restaurant located in Camp Bay. Jimmy and Selina are the owners of La Sirena/Asylum ( I think the bar is Asylum and the restaurant is La Sirena, but I could be wrong. It doesn't matter because the entire operation is in a palapa located at the end of a 40 foot pier. There is a beach that you can camp on if you bring your own equipment. Jimmy talks about camping on his website AsyumEnter
The menu changes based on what Jimmy and Selina can obtain from the local fisherman. We enjoyed dinners of Amberjack or combos of lobster and Amberjack all with garlic mashed potatoes. We had numberous beers and rum and cokes. Jimmy is a very genial host and a great conversationalist. He is a former Washington DC restaurateur. Selina is an excellent cook.
Jimmy can arrange activities for you such as windsurfing, camping and scuba if you bring your own equipment, including tanks. We just enjoyed the beautiful view, the great food, the hospitality and the relaxing afternoon.
We retraced out steps along to unpaved road back to the main, paved road. took a drive thru the Garifuna community of Punta Gorda and ultimately returned to Pineapple Villas in French Harbour.
Returned our cars on Saturday morning, paid our approx $38 "airport fee" each. Would love for this fee be used to make the AC in the Roatan terminal functional. We had a very long, very hot wait to board our homeward bound plane.
We had a great week in Roatan and will return!
We stayed at a 2 BR 2 BA condo in Pineapple Villas in French Harbour. Pineapple Villas Resort & Spa
We found this to be a very nice place to stay. The condo was very comfortable with a full kitchen. It is not ocean front but we had a view of the sea from our patio. The complex had a very nice swimming pool. There is a good restaurant on-site called Pineapple Grille which was very good. It had inside and outside seating with a view of the sea. There is also a sports bar, above the restaurant, called Herbie's. This is an excellent bar and we spent many evenings there rooting for the Mavericks in the NBA Finals. The Bar has 25+ TVs and tons of sports memorabilia. Herbies has a different menu from the restaurant, Herbie's is more bar food and sandwiches, all that we had were good. Beer was reasonable. The restaurant was more steak and seafood. Both the restaurant and bar welcome customers whether or not they are staying at Pineapple Villas.
We used Barefoot Divers for eleven dives during the week. Roatan Dive Shop | 5 Star Dive Resort in Roatan - Bay Islands, Honduras
They are located between French Harbour and Coxen Hole just west of Los Fuertes.
We found Barefoot to be an excellent dive op. They have three dive boats and do not take more than eight divers per boat. We had six divers and on many days, it was just the six of us on the boat. We dove twice each day Sun-Thur and did one night dive on Tues evening. The dive op has a dive shop and a locker area. They have large freshwater sinks to rinse gear. They rinse your bcd and reg and store in your assigned locker for you. The locker area is locked up when the boats are out diving and there are security guards on duty. The locker area has two restrooms each with a shower. The dive op will suggest dive sites based on interests or will visit dive sites of your choosing if they are in the general area of Barefoot Cay. We dove Gold Chain, 40 foot point, Mary's Place (3 times, once exploring the cracks, once at night and once diving along the wall.), Calvin's Crack, Leta's Hole, Cemetery Wall, Insiduous Reef, among others.
We dove with Jocko, Delphine, Scott, and Jed. All were terrific and very pleasant. All tried to ensure we had everything we wanted and worked hard to find and show us the underwater life. Our boat captain for the week was Tex except for one day when it was Christian. Both were very nice and good boat handlers. On all dives, except one, we had two dive masters in the water with us, one leading and one trailing. On one dive, Delphine dove with the six of us. All dives last a maximum of 60 minutes including a 3 minute safety stop. We originally thought we could "dive our computers" and that is so but there is a 60 min limit. On the night dive, we had to request the 60 minute limit as the dive was orignailly going to last 45 minutes. They were happy to extend it to the 60 minute limit. On many of our dives, we were coming up with plenty of time left before deco stops would be required and with 1000+ psi of air or nitrox (four of our party of six dove nitrox).
That being said, we were very pleased with Barefoot Divers and would heartily recommend them and would use them again.
Barefoot also operates a lodging facilty but we did not stay there. The lodging facility has a restaurant and we did order lunch from them one day. They delivered it to the dive shop area which has a nice covered porch with tables and chairs. It was good.
On our last day, we explored the island. We drove east from French Harbour along the paved road. We detoured off the road and visited Jonesville. There we stopped at Puky's (yes, Puky's...) a waterfront spot that offered food and beverage. we only had beers. $2 for local beers Barrena and Salva Vida. We met Alejo Monterosso (sp?). Fascinating man who knew a lot about Roatan. He is hoping to develop a snorkel operation out to a blue hole located off of Jonesville.
We continued east toward Camp Bay. Ultimately you will turn off the paved road onto a dirt/gravel road. It has lots of potholes but we had no difficulty with either of our vehicles on a good weather day. You will start to see signs for La Sirena and/or Asylum. These are directing you to a restaurant located in Camp Bay. Jimmy and Selina are the owners of La Sirena/Asylum ( I think the bar is Asylum and the restaurant is La Sirena, but I could be wrong. It doesn't matter because the entire operation is in a palapa located at the end of a 40 foot pier. There is a beach that you can camp on if you bring your own equipment. Jimmy talks about camping on his website AsyumEnter
The menu changes based on what Jimmy and Selina can obtain from the local fisherman. We enjoyed dinners of Amberjack or combos of lobster and Amberjack all with garlic mashed potatoes. We had numberous beers and rum and cokes. Jimmy is a very genial host and a great conversationalist. He is a former Washington DC restaurateur. Selina is an excellent cook.
Jimmy can arrange activities for you such as windsurfing, camping and scuba if you bring your own equipment, including tanks. We just enjoyed the beautiful view, the great food, the hospitality and the relaxing afternoon.
We retraced out steps along to unpaved road back to the main, paved road. took a drive thru the Garifuna community of Punta Gorda and ultimately returned to Pineapple Villas in French Harbour.
Returned our cars on Saturday morning, paid our approx $38 "airport fee" each. Would love for this fee be used to make the AC in the Roatan terminal functional. We had a very long, very hot wait to board our homeward bound plane.
We had a great week in Roatan and will return!
