Questions about Roatan resorts!

Hey everybody! As I posted in general travel awhile back, im attempting to plan out a dive-related honeymoon! I think, after discussing things with my SO, we are leaning in favor of Roatan, but had some questions that I thought we might be able to ask of your combined experience.

1. I know this seems silly, but how was the diving? I've heard some slightly mixed reports, and its hard to listen too seriously to the resorts that clearly have a vested interest in getting people there. Also, we love big animals (sharks, rays, etc) but heard it was rather light on those (we love macro stuff too, but want at least some heavy big-stuff dives).

2. Where did you stay, and would you recommend it? Was it luxurious enough to count as honeymoon-esque, and did it have some element of shore diving? We've kinda crossed off Cocoview for a honeymoon spot, as she wants it to be a nice, luxurious resort.

3. Did you fly straight to the island, or to Honduras and take a smaller plane or ferry to the island itself? Which would you recommend doing, and which did you find to be cheaper?

4. Did you rent a vehicle, and should we consider it necessary?

5. Did you find the island fun while topside? We love cultural and adventurous things, and its always fun to hang out in some sort of town area.

6. When would you recommend going? Is diving good year-round, or better at some times than others?


I know that's a lot of questions, but I can't thank you guys enough for the help!

Roatan is not what you are looking for. People don't go to Roatan for big animals OR nice, luxury resorts. They have neither.

What Robin said...or generally for shore diving either.

fuller43:

Hey everybody! As I posted in general travel awhile back, im attempting to plan out a dive-related honeymoon! I think, after discussing things with my SO, we are leaning in favor of Roatan, but had some questions that I thought we might be able to ask of your combined experience.

1. I know this seems silly, but how was the diving? I've heard some slightly mixed reports, and its hard to listen too seriously to the resorts that clearly have a vested interest in getting people there. Also, we love big animals (sharks, rays, etc) but heard it was rather light on those (we love macro stuff too, but want at least some heavy big-stuff dives).

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You're not going to see much of that there. The only sharks are at the shark dive and the dolphins are at Anthony's Key. Sometimes wild dolphins are spotted on the south side east. But that would be from Cocoview. We did see a few stingrays around the island and quite a few turtles. Occasional big grouper also.

2. Where did you stay, and would you recommend it? Was it luxurious enough to count as honeymoon-esque, We've kinda crossed off Cocoview for a honeymoon spot, as she wants it to be a nice, luxurious resort.

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That might be Barefoot Cay. Villas on the beach, just about a dozen guests total, valet diving, decent beach (for Roatan). Downside is it's a little isolated. Near French Harbour or about a 10min. ride to Coxen Hole - the largest city on Roatan. I'd really only go there in the daylight though.

Or somewhere in West Bay but IDK those resorts well enough to recommend one. You might look at Bananarama - they have an upscale villa section - Pearl something?. West Bay Beach is named one of the nicest in the region. Diving is too far out off most of it.

Parrot Bay or Lawson Rock might meet your definition of honeymoonesque also. Or maybe Media Luna. Maybe Luna Beach Resort also - it's 1/2 way between the West End and West Bay. Cocolobo on the east side of Half Moon Bay is nice but there's no shore dive there - just 5-6' of vertical ironshore cliff.

and did it have some element of shore diving?

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Shore diving is limited to the diving off Cocoview, Reef House Resort farther east - not luxurious - or the couple of dives off Anthony's Key which is maybe a little nicer than Cocoview. Their shore dive isn't. Wouldn't be my choice for a honeymoon. Scuba Shore Diving Site Listing for: Honduras, Roatan, Caribbean

3. Did you fly straight to the island, or to Honduras and take a smaller plane or ferry to the island itself? Which would you recommend doing, and which did you find to be cheaper?

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Direct to Roatan thru MIA. If you're going to fly into San Pedro Sula, catch a local flight over to Roatan. The ferry leaves from La Ceiba and it's a several hour ride from SPS to there - often requiring an overnite on the mainland first since the last boat leaves at 4:30PM. IDK the cost differential. Mainland Honduras is the murder capital of the world so not generally a good idea to linger. Roatan however seemed pretty safe.

4. Did you rent a vehicle, and should we consider it necessary?

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Personally I think that's a bad idea. Liabilities are different there, there's a lot of stray dogs and it seems to be a real hassle if you hit something/someone. Cabs are relatively cheap, plentiful and negotiable.

5. Did you find the island fun while topside? We love cultural and adventurous things, and its always fun to hang out in some sort of town area.

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We do also so we stayed in the West End. All the nightlife and most of the restaurants are there. West Bay is a lot quieter. Anywhere else is really quiet.

6. When would you recommend going? Is diving good year-round, or better at some times than others?

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On the south side, I don't think there's a bad time. On the north side, diving sometimes gets shut down in Winter when a Norther blows thru. The bigger ops have the resources to move their boats/shuttle you south so all you miss is some diving.

Fly direct to RTB. Stay in West End. Don't rent a car. I like Jan to Sep.

Over a dozen dives on the north side, I'd guess your chances of seeing: parrotfish is 99.99%, big grouper is 95%, big snapper is 95%, cowfish is 90%, turtle is 80%, barracuda is 75%, moral eel is 70%, sting ray is 50%, eagle ray is 30%, and nurse shark is 5%.

The nicer places in West End are Mame Tree Bungalows and Cocolobo, West End, Roatan, Honduras. Hotel and dive packages

fuller43:

Hey everybody! As I posted in general travel awhile back, im attempting to plan out a dive-related honeymoon! I think, after discussing things with my SO, we are leaning in favor of Roatan, but had some questions that I thought we might be able to ask of your combined experience.

1. I know this seems silly, but how was the diving? I've heard some slightly mixed reports, and its hard to listen too seriously to the resorts that clearly have a vested interest in getting people there. Also, we love big animals (sharks, rays, etc) but heard it was rather light on those (we love macro stuff too, but want at least some heavy big-stuff dives).

2. Where did you stay, and would you recommend it? Was it luxurious enough to count as honeymoon-esque, and did it have some element of shore diving? We've kinda crossed off Cocoview for a honeymoon spot, as she wants it to be a nice, luxurious resort.

3. Did you fly straight to the island, or to Honduras and take a smaller plane or ferry to the island itself? Which would you recommend doing, and which did you find to be cheaper?

4. Did you rent a vehicle, and should we consider it necessary?

5. Did you find the island fun while topside? We love cultural and adventurous things, and its always fun to hang out in some sort of town area.

6. When would you recommend going? Is diving good year-round, or better at some times than others?


I know that's a lot of questions, but I can't thank you guys enough for the help!

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The "most luxurious" place on Roatan is Infinity Bay Spa and Beach Resort, Roatan Resort and Luxury Roatan Hotel | Infinity Bay Spa and Beach Resort, or Infinity Bay Spa and Beach Resort (Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras) - Resort Reviews - TripAdvisor. They are new condos on the very west end of West Bay. No shore scuba as far as I know, but great snorkeling since the reef is very close to shore. Bananarama, Roatan Diving, West Bay Beach Resort, Bananarama Dive, would be your best bet for diving. There are several other restaruants up and down the bay. Renting a car is dicey at best in Roatan. You really don't need one unless you want to go exploring by yourselves. There are water taxis to take you back and forth into West End and plenty of land taxis. You'll fly directly to Roatan International Airport if you so choose and Infinity Bay can have a ride waiting for you at the airport. Piece of cake! Have fun!!!

---------- Post added July 9th, 2013 at 06:40 AM ----------

Looks like they have a good special going on now: http://www.infinitybay.com/lp/endless-summer.html

fuller43:

1. I know this seems silly, but how was the diving? I've heard some slightly mixed reports, and its hard to listen too seriously to the resorts that clearly have a vested interest in getting people there. Also, we love big animals (sharks, rays, etc) but heard it was rather light on those (we love macro stuff too, but want at least some heavy big-stuff dives).

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For us, the diving was awesome, looking forward to going back. We had lots of big stuff, but not quite as big as you suggest, more of the large fish, large lobster, turtle etc variety. We did see an eagle ray, but only the shape of it from the distance while diving along the wall. There's a dedicated shark dive available on the island, which we didn't do yet, but definitely will when we go back.

fuller43:

2. Where did you stay, and would you recommend it? Was it luxurious enough to count as honeymoon-esque, and did it have some element of shore diving? We've kinda crossed off Cocoview for a honeymoon spot, as she wants it to be a nice, luxurious resort.

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Mayan Princess. Loved it and the dive op is great. No shore diving though and I don't think it would make for what's supposed to be a luxurious honeymoon. It's more got of a cozy feel to it.

fuller43:

3. Did you fly straight to the island, or to Honduras and take a smaller plane or ferry to the island itself? Which would you recommend doing, and which did you find to be cheaper?

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"Direct" from Toronto to Roatan, but with a stop in Belize City. Didn't have to get off the plane though.

fuller43:

4. Did you rent a vehicle, and should we consider it necessary?

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Not a good idea. The roads are awful and so is the driving. Take a cab if you want to get around, you can even hire one for half a day or even a full day, for not a lot of money.

fuller43:

5. Did you find the island fun while topside? We love cultural and adventurous things, and its always fun to hang out in some sort of town area.

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West End is probably your best bet then, but generally and especially outside of the (small) tourist area I've found the island to be mostly a dump.

fuller43:

6. When would you recommend going? Is diving good year-round, or better at some times than others?

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We went in November and the weather was quite wet and unsettled. The dive op took us to the south side almost every day. No experience with other times of the year.

Was it luxurious enough to count as honeymoon-esque, and did it have some element of shore diving? We've kinda crossed off Cocoview for a honeymoon spot, as she wants it to be a nice, luxurious resort.

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I've been following this thread & keep coming back to this statement. It'd be useful to know what 'luxurious' means to you.

For me, a comfortable bed, spacious room, good AC, in-room fridge and on-site good food and a maid cleaning the room occasionally, with scenic surroundings, is luxurious.

For somebody else, that may mean formal wear at dinner with some French guy named Pierre bring food to their table and lifting a big metal cover off the top of it.

For somebody else, it may mean laying around a beautiful pool (strangely without swimming in it) reading a book (that was available at home) and sitting in a spa sweating, or getting some mud rubbed on the face and somebody doing a massage.

Some people want to drink alcoholic drinks out of glasses with little plastic umbrellas and cups made out of coconuts.

So, what does 'luxurious' mean to you guys?

Richard.

drrich2:

I've been following this thread & keep coming back to this statement. It'd be useful to know what 'luxurious' means to you.

For me, a comfortable bed, spacious room, good AC, in-room fridge and on-site good food and a maid cleaning the room occasionally, with scenic surroundings, is luxurious.

For somebody else, that may mean formal wear at dinner with some French guy named Pierre bring food to their table and lifting a big metal cover off the top of it.

For somebody else, it may mean laying around a beautiful pool (strangely without swimming in it) reading a book (that was available at home) and sitting in a spa sweating, or getting some mud rubbed on the face and somebody doing a massage.

Some people want to drink alcoholic drinks out of glasses with little plastic umbrellas and cups made out of coconuts.

So, what does 'luxurious' mean to you guys?

Richard.

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To me "Luxurious" means anywhere AWAY from booger-eating kids, fat ladies in spandex, drunk fat bellied men, and buffet lines.

I loved my time at Coco View and can't wait to go back, but Roatan isn't known for luxury. The rooms were simple and clean, the food was plentiful and delicious, the diving was great (no big stuff...but lots of pretty macro critters), and the people were friendly and helpful. But, I wouldn't even remotely consider taking my wife there on any kind of a romantic luxury getaway. Unless I wanted a divorce.

fuller43:

5. Did you find the island fun while topside? We love cultural and adventurous things, and its always fun to hang out in some sort of town area.

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Definitely stay away from Roatan if you are looking to immerse yourself in local culture. It's VERY far from what the West Indies is like (think all of the islands in the southern Caribbean chain). If you enjoy that sort of thing, you know, local music everywhere, fish friday, great local rum, hiking and waterfalls, stopping at a roadside BBQ, etc., then avoid Roatan at all costs. It's pretty 'Americanized'. You can speak Spanish to the locals and they seem ashamed to speak in Spanish back so they will only reply in English. No local culture. Heading across the island (in my rented car, which seems to upset a lot of people), I started to realize how bad it was when I saw the Applebee's

Roatan is where people go to see how many dives they can make in a week.

If you want a honeymoon where you can have a vacation with some diving (instead of powering as many dives as possible into a trip to say you did it), I would suggest Grenada. I'm suggesting it from experience as I was married there and did the honeymoon thing at the same time. Great diving, lots of wreck diving if that interests you as well. No shark experience dives or anything like that but you do get amazing local culture. Touring the island you can see all sorts of neat places, hit up fresh water waterfalls, go to the fish market. There's always something cool to do topside. There are resorts there that are mind blowing.
Grenada Hotels & Resorts: 40 hotels, with 5,218 Reviews | TripAdvisor

True Blue is well priced and the rooms are great. A/C, four post bed, nice shower, full kitchen, attached restaurant as well as dive shop (Aquanauts). They're around $120 a night but can be had for much cheaper on skyauction. If price is no object, I've heard good things about La Luna, at around $500 a night it better be good...

Do yourself a favor and do not take your honeymoon in Roatan. Keep us posted with what you decide and how it goes! I'm very curious to see how it all plays out! Congrats on the marriage too!

My wife has loved our many honeymoons in Roatan.

After reading your requirements, Roatan will be fine if you execute an iron clad pre-nup. Otherwise, I would encourage you to research the sensationalistic stories of the several Honeymoon SCUBA fatalities. They have yet to occur on Roatan, as far as I know.

Such incidents on other islands have always had the new bride as the victim, but if you insist on taking her to Roatan, you might be a real trend setter and be the first bridegroom to run out of air or be eaten by a Shark. Check your SPG often and all gear for any pork chop she might have mistakenly put in your weight pocket.

How about Cayman ?