Two Weeks In West End - How Much Money to Bring?

[zubaz]

Scubaboarders,

I am in the final stages of our honeymoon planning. Eveyone has been a big help and I will post a trip report when I return with as much info as I can remember.

We are staying at Pasado Arco Iris and generally diving with Coconut Tree Divers. I pretty much know the lodging and diving will cost.

I am trying to figure out how much spending money to bring. We will need money for food, some drinks and entertainment, etc. Can anyone help with the daily cost of vacation living in West End for two people? I really hate the thought of carrying more cash than I need. We are not interested in buying anything or eating really expensively, but do like to go out in the evenings and have a drink. Also, we are on our honeymoon and do not want to limit things like smoothies, etc.

I figure we will splurge every now and then but generally we live pretty simply. How about this for a breakdown for an average day?

Breakfast $20
Lunch $30
Dinner $50
Drinks $10
Misc Supplies $20

So about $130 per day for 13 days is $1700. This is a lot of cash to be carrying around. Does anybody have any good ideas or recommendations on what they spent per day for west end living (as opposed to all-inclusive). Also, can I take a portion in travelers checks and pre-pay a restaurant or something like that so I don't have to carry a bunch of cash?

I am the king of 3 day weekends and have never taken a vacation this long.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

 

[undefined]

That sounds about right, although I'd triple the drinks budget and drop the lunch budget by 30%. Honduran beer is like water - even though it is only about $1 per beer, even my petite wife can put away a dozen or more without ill effects.

As for your dinner budget - $50 buys a lot of good food in West End. If you don't drink alcohol, you'll find that many of the good places in West End won't cost that much even if you try. You'll fill your belly before they empty your wallet.

Here's an easy breakdown:

B: $10 - Grab something before getting on the boat
L: $20 - This feeds two and gives a nice tip at "The Galley"
D: $50 - Steak or lobster + two drinks each
Drinks: $30 - $35. Beer is $1 each, mixed drinks are $3 - $5. This is 3 mixers each, or 16 beers, not counting tip.
Misc Supplies: ??? - This will end up going into the food or drinking.
Dives: 4 dives each @ $20/dive (boat dives, air)

About $270/day plus tips for your bartender and divemaster. Depending on where you dive and drink, that might be the same person!

 

[zubaz]

Sounds like I am not too far off! I will look into getting a bunch of travelers checks so I don't have to have quite so much cash.

 

[zach5150]

My girlfriend and I went to west end on a couple of evenings while staying at CoCoView. I dont know about budget, but I can tell you about 2 places and costs associated. They are right next door to each other too!
1)Rudys- AWESOME smoothies! We went back on Saturday to get a second round and sadly found they are closed on saturday's We went to The Cannibal Cafe as a backup for smoothies, and they sucked. Other stuff there looked and smelled good, but the smoothies MUST come from Rudys They are about 4-5 bucks each

2)Right next door to Rudy's is a brand new Thai place. I dont remember the name, but it's literally right next door. The West End is not that big, so you'd definitely walk every square inch of it if you are there for 2 weeks. This Thai place had VERY good food. They are new, so dont be in a hurry....they were a little slow with service and you can tell they dont have their "process" down, but the ambience is really nice and romantic. It's candlelit and all the tables are actually on sand, so it makes it really unique. I think it was about 50 bucks for 3 entrees, 2 appetizers, 3 or 4 drinks...

Have fun!

 

[RockyHeap]

$130 bucks a day just to eat?

Ouch!

Heck, at cocoview, my 3 meals a day, the over the water cabana room, PLUS unlimited diving cost the same amount ((~$130 a day !!!!!!!!!!!!)

Yup Yup Yup!

Plus I wasn't all that impressed with even 1 day in the West End during our last trip, so I can't imagine staying 2 weeks there...........I'm not even going back to the west end during our next trip there in 3 weeks, but your milage may vary. Happy Honeymoon!

 

[halocline]

There is a cash machine right next to Coconut tree, so fear not! I think I spent about $300 for food and beer in a week when I was there, but I'm not a big drinker and I only went to Diane's once and the Indian place once...those were the most expensive restaurants I remember.

IMO, mostly the cheap food is better in the west end anyways; the rotisserie chicken place is pretty good, and there's a great place for lunch which I think is called bamboo grill or something like that. Since this is your honeymoon, you might be thinking of going to the more upscale places for those romantic dinners, in which case $50 will be about right for a nice dinner for two with wine and/or liquor.

If only there was a real tex-mex place in the west end I bet it would be packed all the time. In fact, I'm going to suggest that to half a dozen of my favorite taco joints here in San Antonio!

 

[zubaz]

Thanks for all the advice. Keep it coming if you have more!

I am glad there is a cash machine there. I am sure it is as unreliable as everything else in Honduras, but maybe we can get lucky and it will work. I am going to take some travelers checks and cash. I really don't care how much we spend, I just don't want to be walking around with a bunch of cash. I have lived in the third world enough to know that $500 is a lot of money when you don't have 10 cents.

We will have a few romantic dinners I am sure but mainly the regular food like chicken and sandwiches. I don't even want to think of what my body would do if I fed it steak and lobster every day! I can guarantee that we will be frequent visitors to the smoothie line. I will have to budget for this!

Rockyheap - Different strokes. I like a bit of adventure and the all-inclusives are just too structured for this kid. Kind of like a cruise ship without the cruise...... or the ship. Don't get me wrong, CoCo View seems like a great place from all of the reviews and we may go there on a non-diving day to check it out but we would rather be in a place where there is a variety of things going on. Being a musician, I am regularly up very late and am accustomed to being surrounded by a variety of unusual and sometimes unruley characters. This is half the fun and I am sure the West End will suite me just fine. As for my bride, she is even tougher than I am!

I spent time in West End about 8 years ago when I was working in Honduras. The best day I had was at a little bar out on a point toward the far end of West End. I forget the name of the place. We sat and drank Port Royals and Salva Vidas and rum drinks all day and had a great time. I remember West End as full of young people working the dive ops, a few locals, usually also working the dive ops and restaurants, and a whole bunch of divers, vacationers, and a few europeans having a great time. I hope it hasn't changed much!

 

[zach5150]

I spent time in West End about 8 years ago when I was working in Honduras. The best day I had was at a little bar out on a point toward the far end of West End. I forget the name of the place. We sat and drank Port Royals and Salva Vidas and rum drinks all day and had a great time. I remember West End as full of young people working the dive ops, a few locals, usually also working the dive ops and restaurants, and a whole bunch of divers, vacationers, and a few europeans having a great time. I hope it hasn't changed much!

Yup....it's still pretty much the same in the West End....bar, dive shop, souvenier shop, bar, dive shop, hotel, bar, dive shop souve.........etc!!!! I understand what you mean about being a little more adventurous and not wanting to do the All Inclusive. My GF and I just got back from CoCoView, and while we had a great time there, we have discussed that if/when we go back to Roatan, we'll do exactly what you and your new bride are doing....living the adventure at West End! I hope you have a great trip and (honeymoon, was it?)....

 

[Bay Island Diver]

It really halps to have a PAYPAL account. Make sure you open it a month before you come so you can go through all the verification stuff.

 

[zubaz]

I do have a paypal account but am not sure how that would help me?