Where to stay in the Bay Islands?

Hello! I'm planning a diving trip to the Bay Islands, the question is where to stay? Where is the best diving? I'm not interested in gourmet meals or all-day buffets or any of that....I just want to know where I can stay comfortably and have the most opportunity to dive at a good price. Mango Inn looks like it has good prices but how is the diving? I will probably be going by myself and I'm not too happy paying extra for a single occupancy in a double room. Any help or advice is very welcome!
Thank you!!!

West End Roatan: check out Coconut Tree Divers. They are a great shop for single divers cuz they cultivate social atmosphere. Can't speak to their rooms though, I haven't heard a complaint for the prices.

I stay at Seabreeze Inn and dive with West End Divers. I stay in the studio rooms in the back building, comes with one single bed and one double bed, kitchenette, cable TV, a.c., for $40-50. The beds are a bit hard but otherwise I'm happy enough with the place for the price and use the spare bed to spread out my luggage. Have been staying there a couple of times a year since 2003 or 2004.

cmneus:

.... just want to know where I can stay comfortably and have the most opportunity to dive at a good price.

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How many dives a day do you want?

That simple bit of information is the ultimate determiner of the answer.

2, 3, 4, or 5 with a night dive? Depends on what you mean by "most opportunity".

awesome, thank you!

---------- Post added May 17th, 2013 at 11:46 AM ----------

at least 3, and a few night dives.....sharks....thanks.

Sharks on Roatan are usually only found here: Roatan Shark Dive Any dive operator can book you there.

We only saw a couple reef sharks in Utila also - on the deeper north side. Not counting the 6 Whale Sharks we snorkeled with. But the optimum time for that is early spring. Utila in town is pretty affordable, lots of backpackers so prices at many places are reasonable - there's also some dorm-style accommodations. The AI's are farther out of town, isolated on the other side of a lagoon channel so all access is via their boats. They tend to be quieter.

Check flights before you commit to something also - Utila will be more difficult to get to, either multiple flights (no lights at the airport so all travel has to complete by mid-afternoon) or via the ferries. Depending on where you're from, that may mean an overnight in San Pedro Sula or La Ceiba along the way.

There used to be a direct Catamaran from Roatan to Utila but he was recently murdered. Via the ferries takes about the same time (4hrs.) it's just not as convenient because you transit thru the mainland.

Coconut Tree does 3-4 dives/day - at least 3 and 4 if there's demand. Also a couple night dives per week. The other shops (there's a lot of them) also night dive on different nights so you could probably find one just about any night - except maybe Friday when most people party on the West End. Dives with CTD are 10/$350.

Coconut Tree also has affordable cabins - $45/nt IIRC. My buddy rented a studio, queen bed, small frig, table, not much else. Kind of older, rustic but clean and decent.. Hot water worked there also - that's not the case everywhere.

There's a small store in the CTD building for essentials and a slightly bigger one - Woody's - a short block away. Most of the affordable food options are within a block or two in either direction. Sundowner's Bar which is a local dive bar is across the street. They have decent sandwiches at reasonable prices. There's a lot of under $20/meal options in the West End also.

There's also a lot of other affordable accommodations in the West End, ranging from a Hostel (Chillies) to private condos and small houses. Depends on your budget. CTD lists some options on their site: http://www.coconuttreedivers.com/roatan/accomodations.html

I personally think Utila has a slight edge for diving over Roatan. Most of it is longer boat rides though since town is on the south side and IMO the best dives were all N/NW on the north side.

Off the West End on Roatan, they come back to the dock often between dives, nothing is more than 20mins. out or less. We actually started prepping our gear while the boat was still tied up to the dock some days.

In all fairness, I like bigger animals. For macro Roatan's south side is probably the best.

chillyinCanada:

West End Roatan: check out Coconut Tree Divers. They are a great shop for single divers cuz they cultivate social atmosphere. Can't speak to their rooms though, I haven't heard a complaint for the prices.

I stay at Seabreeze Inn and dive with West End Divers. I stay in the studio rooms in the back building, comes with one single bed and one double bed, kitchenette, cable TV, a.c., for $40-50. The beds are a bit hard but otherwise I'm happy enough with the place for the price and use the spare bed to spread out my luggage. Have been staying there a couple of times a year since 2003 or 2004.

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+1 on Coconut Tree Divers

We came to West End with the intention of diving with Coconut Tree or West End Divers....talked to both and found the price per dive was pretty much the same. Coconut Tree do a two tank morning dive which sounded interesting, however they were fully booked two days ahead so we went with West End and haven't been disappointed.

The next time back I'm going to seriously consider Native Sons, just to ride in his dive boat. If you like boats, it's a thing of beauty.

Several people have also recommended Scuba Roatan. They were closed the first week we were here, so we crossed them off the list, but may drop in and chat before we leave.

mango inn is part of utila dive center and runs all kinds of special deals if you're diving too. also on utila deep blue divers, cross creek and captain morgans as well as many others all have budget accommodation if you dive with them ($3-20 a night). you could also consider diving with utila cays diving which has private rooms for about $10 a night at there place on the utila cays (nice and quiet). also utila cays diving is the only place thats within ten minutes boat ride of the superior diving on the north/northwest side.
getting to utila isn't hard as long as you land at san pedro sula by 1pm or roatan by 2pm its just a quick connecting flight from either (no need to spend a night or use ferries unless you plan poorly) and you'll be on utila by 3.30pm. for internal flights i suggest you use alice hill at worldwide travel on utila, she is an agent for commercial flights and small charter flights around the bay islands. have fun.

Thank you all for the help! I'm looking into the suggested places. Now, one more question.....Utila or Roatan!!!!!??????? Is it worth choosing Utila just in the hopes of seeing a whale shark? Or is the diving overall better there as well?
Also, should I pick a place that offers a package deal, room + diving or go for a cheaper hotel and go with a seperate dive shop?
Too many options!

Someone will probably disagree but the likelihood of snorkeling (diving is not allowed in Honduras) with Whale Sharks is the highest off Utila - in the Spring.

Sure they're occasionally seen off Roatan but some of the operators on Utila specialize in finding them. Deep Blue Utila - the AI resort, not the shop in town, runs special programs certain weeks in the spring where experts are brought in etc. We did that a few years ago, saw 6 over 2 days and listened to a couple of evening lectures - our expert was a marine geneticist working with the Shark Research Institute to ID/track them. We participated in one cell sampling during our trip.

Also Laguna Beach has one painted on the bottom of their pool - I doubt they would if it wasn't a big draw there as well. Both Laguna Beach and Deep Blue are on the opposite side of the lagoon channel from town so all access is via their boats. Laguna Beach is larger also - Deep Blue is 10 rooms/20 guests max. It's not whale shark season but if Deep Blue is an option for you, they have an $850 All-Inclusive package in the summer. They have a nice bar/lounge/dining area but it is a smaller property. Good people own/run it. Laguna Beach has the pool and slightly nicer beach if those are factors for you.

Both have shore dives off their property - you can almost access one from the other. Deep Blue is right off the Pretty Bush dive site, you can find that on most dive site listings. I think Laguna Beach has their site named for the resort. I don't think any of the in-town shops/resorts have a shore dive since they're mostly located along the harborfront.

If you did want to stay on Roatan, some of the operators run day trips over there. But that's kind of like a needle in a haystack - we spent several hours daily after our morning dives endlessly cruising deeper water looking for telltale signs. Pretty boring until one was spotted. You could wind up on a very expensive 2-tank Utila dive trip and see very similar stuff to what's off Roatan. It's also frequently a rough return ride. We had booked an operator to do it but they cancelled on us due to conditions - yet it was bright/sunny all week on Roatan.

It's my feeling that Whale Sharks show up in Utila early spring - Mar-May, move to Belize a month or two later since their "season" tends to be Apr-June, then move to Holbox off Mexico for the summer. As you can tell from my avatar, it's something that interests me.

Not that you don't have a chance other times in the year off Utila - IDK if it's still the case but a couple years ago there had been sightings every month for at least the past year. I haven't stayed in contact to see if that's changed.