Roatan in May

[Laine]

Hi,
Going to Roatan end of May (Bay Island Beach Resort-great price, owner fast at replies and answering all our questions, friend recommendation, air mile availabilty), but want to ask a few more questions. We want to take a day trip to either Barbareta or Cayos Cochinos any suggestions as to which one? Also want to eat off the property one evening and would like some suggestions? A list of must do divesites. Also has anyone done Spookey Chanel from BIBR as a shore dive or their drop off dive? Any other input would be appreciated. Zip line worth it and if so which one?
Thanks,
Laine

 

[steveann]

I've found a couple of websites that talk about some of the activities on Roatan (I'm going in July to AKR). Just google roatan diving review and so on. There's a good site called www.tripadvisor.com that may have something. Other than that, I think all the Roatan veterans must be in Roatan right now, since there hasn't been much in the way of replies this week.

Hope what little I have helps.

 

[UTLgirl]

Dinner Out: If you're in West End, try Dian's Garden of Eatin or the Argentinean Grill. If you're in French Harbor, Gios is a favorite, if you're going even further East, The View is a must eat place & 'the view' is spectacular (this makes a good lunch spot if you're renting a jeep for the day & touring the island). I've also heard Jergen has opened a place down on the East End since I moved to Utila. If you can find the name of it, he's a great chef and I'm sure you wouldn't be dissappointed. Rick's American Cafe also has some good food, as does a little spot in West End called 'Le Bistro' which is very misleading because they serve some of the best Viet. food I've ever had.

The zip tour is a lot of fun. The main differences between the 2 are that the one in French Harbor has shorter lines, and more 'Indiana Jones' type bridges, rope crossings, short rock walls etc. The comments we received from guests seemed to enjoy both, but did say the French Harbor one was a bit more difficult & had less canopy. The one in West end has more Canopy & winds up down at the beach where you can spend some time etc.

I enjoyed Cayos a lot, but I've only been past Barbaretta by sailboat, so I really can't compare the two.

Have a great trip!

 

[hopefulist]

UTLgirl - are their websites with information about the ziplines, by any chance?

 

[Doc]

We want to take a day trip to either Barbareta or Cayos Cochinos any suggestions as to which one?

Follow UTLGirl's suggestions.

As to the dive question, it depends upon how you are going to get to the two far flung and disparate places. How were you planning on doing these two dive sites, using what dive op?

 

[shadowdiver]

contact Patrick or Gillian at Subway water sports they may be able to get you out to either Barbaret or Cayos. they now have three different dive op locations on the East side of the island.

Close to BIBR there is Rick's American Cafe and the Blue Parrot at Sundancer. If you fancy going into West End, my favorites are Dian's garden of eat'n (will be closed for the next few months-building new restaurant) Posada Arco Iris (argentinian grill), Ooloonthoo (authentic Indian cuisine mmmmm), Lighthouse restaurant (Richard Gere was there a few weeks back) and also check out les boucanniers they have a new chef. In French Harbour and the east side. The view is a great stop for lunch. then Gio's for the dressed crab or Romeo's.

Spooky Channel is a fantastic snorkel and a very interesting dive-site, try doing it on your back looking up at the crack, the sunlight dancing off the reef is beautiful. Never done it from the shore. Texas, (on the West Bay point), El Alguila, Odyssey (the last two are wrecks and worth a visit). Hole in the wall. West Bay Wall. If you like caves Bear's Den is a good one.

For the zip line, there are now two as you go up the West Bay road. The first one on the left side of the road goes down onto the South Side of the Island and the second one on the right side of the road goes down to the beach and Gumbalimba park, has good canopies and long runs.

 

[Doc]

Lighthouse restaurant (Richard Gere was there a few weeks back).

Time to get out of Dodge.

 

[DiversMom]

He was in Copan before Roatan and was royally pissed off that LaPrensa was photgraphing him. After he left LaPrensa interviewed the hotel staff to find out what kind of SOB he really was - ni tipping the waitstaff, rude, etc.

 

[Laine]

Hi all,
Thanks for all the input to my questions. To answer one of yours Bay Island Beach Resort offers side trips to both Barbareta or Cayos Cochinos as day trips and we were interested in doing one or the other. So we are planning on using their operation as we are staying there. Thank you also for the website tips.
Laine

 

[Dave C]

Laine,

I was in Roatan last month and took a day trip to the Cayos Cochinos. It was arranged through the dive shop at our hotel (Las Rocas). The trip was one of the highlights of the vacation. The Cayos are drop-dead gorgeous, and I highly recommend a day trip there. There are two larger, high islands, and the rest are small sand cays with just coconuts growing. There are beautiful beaches on the islands. I snorkel only, and the cay at which we stopped for snorkeling had good snorkeling, but was not especially better than anywhere on Roatan. I suspect the same would be true for scuba diving. I think the visibility at the Cochinos may be a little less than on Roatan because the Cochinos are much closer to the mainland. One particular highlight of our trip to the Cochinos was that we stopped for lunch at the one cay that has a village. The village is inhabited by Garifuna fishermen that live in palm huts, and dugout canoes were pulled up all along the beach. It was a fascinating glimpse into a completely different way of life, and the lunch (barbecued fish or lobster) was darn good too.

One thing to keep in mind if you go the Cayos Cochinos is that you will be crossing about 20 miles of open ocean and it can be rough if the wind comes up. Also, if it's windy they will cancel the trip. Most of the days we were in Roatan, and we were there for 14 days, it was too rough to go the Cochinos. I know next to nothing about Barbareta and did not notice any advertised trips there when I was in Roatan. However, I think a trip to Barbareta might be better in windy weather because for the most part you could travel in the lee of Roatan to get there. Maybe someone else on the board could verify this.

Hope this helps.