Roatan - we want diving and a lot of relaxing fun too - help us!

[DandyDon]

Has anyone stayed at the Island Pearl? It looks beautiful.

This search will show you where it has been mentioned here before: http://www.scubaboard.com/search.php?searchid=2668657

 

[Doc]

I would recommend the West End area. There isn't much to see on otherwise. I would recommend against a rental car. Liability is total and enveloping, anyone who says otherwise is not informed. Hire a driver, they know the -places to go- such as they are.

There isn't much to do on Roatan other than dive. Only a few resorts cater to that exclusively.

 

[chuck41]

We stayed at Seagrape Inn in West End last year. Since then they have added a local dive shop and another modern cement block building, but still have the charming little cabins overlooking the sea. http://seagraperoatan.com For a place to relax and be away from the crowds it is hard to beat.

We loved it. Stayed in the cabin for half the trip and moved to one of the new buildings for the remainder of the time. Both were very nice, clean, and included a small refrigerator for keeping snacks. The new buildings are much cooler in very hot weather if AC is a big deal for you as it was for my wife.

They also have budget rooms for about $10 per person but are not AC. It is about a five minute walk to restaurants, 10 minutes to main part of West End. I dove with Native Son Divers and they were fabulous, but most of the dive shops there are really good.

We are going back in April and are debating as to whether to stay again at Seagrape or to go to Bananarama or Las Rocas on West Bay just for a little variety. (The beach at West Bay is unbelievable!!!) Hope you have a great time.

 

[getwet2]

We stayed at Seagrape Inn in West End last year. Since then they have added a local dive shop and another modern cement block building, but still have the charming little cabins overlooking the sea. http://seagraperoatan.com For a place to relax and be away from the crowds it is hard to beat.

We loved it. Stayed in the cabin for half the trip and moved to one of the new buildings for the remainder of the time. Both were very nice, clean, and included a small refrigerator for keeping snacks. The new buildings are much cooler in very hot weather if AC is a big deal for you as it was for my wife.

They also have budget rooms for about $10 per person but are not AC. It is about a five minute walk to restaurants, 10 minutes to main part of West End. I dove with Native Son Divers and they were fabulous, but most of the dive shops there are really good.

We are going back in April and are debating as to whether to stay again at Seagrape or to go to Bananarama or Las Rocas on West Bay just for a little variety. (The beach at West Bay is unbelievable!!!) Hope you have a great time.

We had to stay here for one night when our plane broke down and we couldn't take off. I thought it was a nice resort but be advised that they do not have a restaurant so you have to go to town to get your breakfast in the morning, not a big deal. They also do not have a pool as of yet, if that's important to you but I was told that they were starting on one in the next month or so.

A couple of the people in our group took a look at the dive shop and said it was very nice, lots of new equipment including the boats. We stayed in the new building which doesn't show up on the arial photos on the site but it is across from the main office and behind the cabins that are along the coast. Very nice room everything is new and I must say that it was a nicer room then the first room we had at Fantasy Island but a couple of the other rooms our group had were not so nice. They also discovered a couple of spiders in the bed when they pulled the sheets down but that can happen anywhere in the tropics. Apparently the spiders were of the harmless type but they certainly were HUGE.

It looks like it's going to be a nice resort when they are done with it, maybe worth keeping an eye on this place.

 

[swimmer722]

We just returned from a week on Roatan and stayed at Luna Beach Resort. We are all new divers and wanted a place where we didn't feel intimidated by lots of experienced divers. The accomodations were perfect for us. We had a 4 bedroom house, with a king bed in each room and a full kitchen. They also offer three bedroom houses as well as beach houses (one room, no kitchen). Bedrooms in the houses and in the beach house are air-conditioned and have a ceiling fan. Beds were really comfy, everthing was immaculate and they provide daily maid service. They provide 5 gallon jugs of water, as much as you need. The resort is convienent to West End and the many restaurants and bars there, and is an easy 10 minute walk along the beach. (which we did several times a day). They do have a bar and restaurant on site (the food is good), but it closes down early and the place is VERY quiet in the evening (no parties or night life there at the resort). They have a beautiful, new covered dock where we sat each evening and watched the sunset. You can also walk over to West Bay Beach (about 20 minutes) or take a water taxi, which will pick you up right on the dock.


The dive shop and staff was terrific. We ended up doing 12 dives that week - they go out at 9, 11 and 2. Really nice divemasters, very safety conscious and very convienent. Nice, covered boat and most dive sites were only 5-10 minutes away. The most people we ever had on the boat at one time was 10 (and six of those were us!) My two oldest kids (20 and 17) ended up getting their advanced certification so they could do a night dive and deep dive. They loved Tim and Andrea, the couple that runs the dive shop.

Luna Beach has a nice website, which you should be able to find if you google them. Be sure and click on their "Lunablog" which has great pictures and information. We all agreed that this was probably the most relaxing vacation we have ever taken.

Hope this helps.

 

[tlc]

We rented this house in Roatan. It is wonderful, right on the beach. There are several other homes in this small compound - some smaller. There was a good dive shop about four doors down on the beach so it was easy to dive. Also excellent shore dives and snorkeling from this spot.

http://www.westbayvillage.com/st_macs_villa.htm