Planning first trip to Roatan

[chillyinCanada]

I stay at Lost Paradise. When the cruise ships were coming pre-pandemic, it was nice because it's just beyond the edge of the village. But it's still close to everything - the whole village is about 1 mile long. No safe in the room but they have a safe in the office where you can store valuables.

But there are lots of great places in West End. Regardless of what they look like on the outside, they are very clean and comfortable - no need to spend $200+ a night.

Again, no bad dive shops there that I can think of. I dive with Island Diving but I would recommend just about any of them. West End Divers is a good shop too. I think they tend to have more divers on the boat though. I prefer only a few on the boat. Splash Inn has a good dive shop - Roatan Divers too, Native Sons, Sun Divers, Coconut Tree and others. I would figure out where you are staying first, then choose a dive shop close by. You may want to see how full their dive boats are though.

I do have a few recommendations for food though. You can eat very economically in West End.
- make sure to seek out Creole Chicken.
- don't worry about eating the food from the street vendors. It is very good - we eat street food often
- baleada's are great for breakfast and lunch - and quite cheap
- splurge at least one day on a breakfast sandwich from Bean Crazy. It's not far down from the traffic circle.

Excellent advice.

 

[KatieMac]

Oh @Vic K one thing I forgot to mention ... if you are into tropical island drinks, have a Monkey La La while you are there. But seek out Tita's Pink Seahorse down the beach towards West Bay (it's not far beyond Lost Paradise, then Brisas del Mar then about 50m walk max down the beach). Tita makes the very best monkey la las on the island. She makes a delicious burger too. But don't ask her for onion rings

 

[Biotech Diver]

Has anyone dove with or have any feedback on Blue Planet Divers? I’m trying to select a dive shop for my trip from April 2-11.

 

[Vic K]

@KatieMac wanted to thank you again for being so helpful with all the information you had sent as private messages also. Really appreciate you taking time to answer all the questions. THANK YOU!!

Also I have another related question. Is there a regular loss of power in Roatan? Do hotels usually have power back up? Looking to go in July and don't want to get stuck in hot weather with no power.

 

[jmcgilroy]

Here's a photo of a power pole in West End. The power went out almost every day that I was there but it was very bad weather in October/November. I'd guess hat you should be OK in July.

 

[poorstudentdiver]

I went to Roatan in early March as a solo woman. I stayed at Seagrape Plantation resort, which I think is technically in Half Moon Bay, but only a 10 minute walk to West End. I never felt unsafe walking around in West End at night. West End is pretty busy - lots of restaurants and bars - and as long as you stay on the main street, there's probably going to be lots of other people around.

People are correct that everyone takes USD. I often paid in USD at Woody's Groceries and they gave me lempira back at a fair exchange rate (1:25). I also went to the ATM a few times and haven't noticed any suspicious charges nearly 1 month after using them.

 

[FezUSA]

We have a place that is a few minutes walk from Sundowners/Sun Divers/Half Moon Bay. It's part of the Cocolobo buildings. We have 5 kids and the mid thru' oldest are allowed to walk in to town in the evening but we require them to stay on the main street. @KatieMac has given you some great information and we can back that up. My wife and kids are there for the month of July usually, and I'll join them for a week or two. We will eat at a couple of nice restaurants, but mostly either street vendors or bbq/ cook at home.

Occasionally I do have to work remotely from there and the Internet and power has been OK, but can never be guaranteed!

We bring cash and use clean condition dollars, although as we build up local currency we will also use that later in the trip.

Our place is available for rent, if you're interested send me a message.

 

[KatieMac]

@KatieMac wanted to thank you again for being so helpful with all the information you had sent as private messages also. Really appreciate you taking time to answer all the questions. THANK YOU!!

Also I have another related question. Is there a regular loss of power in Roatan? Do hotels usually have power back up? Looking to go in July and don't want to get stuck in hot weather with no power.

Yes and no. There used to be frequent power outages. We couldn't get through a trip without losing power at least once a week. That doesn't happen so much any more. Some hotels/inns have generators. Check which ones do first.

 

[KatieMac]

We have a place that is a few minutes walk from Sundowners/Sun Divers/Half Moon Bay. It's part of the Cocolobo buildings. We have 5 kids and the mid thru' oldest are allowed to walk in to town in the evening but we require them to stay on the main street. @KatieMac has given you some great information and we can back that up. My wife and kids are there for the month of July usually, and I'll join them for a week or two. We will eat at a couple of nice restaurants, but mostly either street vendors or bbq/ cook at home.

Occasionally I do have to work remotely from there and the Internet and power has been OK, but can never be guaranteed!

We bring cash and use clean condition dollars, although as we build up local currency we will also use that later in the trip.

Our place is available for rent, if you're interested send me a message.

You have a place!?!? If I'm ever stuck ...

Can you PM me with details and cost?

 

[Biotech Diver]

I

Yes and no. There used to be frequent power outages. We couldn't get through a trip without losing power at least once a week. That doesn't happen so much any more. Some hotels/inns have generators. Check which ones do first.

Today I’m leaving Roatan after 9 nights. We did lose power 3 times during our stay but the power was back up within an hour each time, where we were staying at Orchid Beach Village.