Roatan

Roatan is the largest of the Bay Islands. After becoming certified divers we decided to head to Roatan to experience some new dive sites.

Where Not to Stay

We stayed at a hostel called Roatan Backpackers Hostel in Sandy Bay. A high Hostelworld rating and cheap prices made our choice, but we regretted it. Sandy Bay is far from everything you will want to do. If you stay here you’ll have to rent a motorbike or take colectivos and there goes your savings from the cheap room. In addition, the staff was not very friendly. The only good parts were a 25% discount when we dove at Eco Divers and they have a swimming pool.

West End

Stay at West End if you’re a backpacker. This town has a nice beach for swimming and snorkeling, many restaurants and bars and there are many dive shops to choose from.

Recommendations

Night Life
Frank’s, Blue Marlin and Sundowners Beach Bar were recommended to us for a Friday night. Frank’s had reggaeton and house music and the dance floor was a wild experience.

Drunken Sailor
This pizza parlor has delicious pizza that you can customize.

Costa Dulce
An ice cream parlor and coffee shop with swings on the beach.

Eco Divers
We dove at Eco Divers and did two fun dives for $25 each (we had a 25% off discount because we stayed at Roatan Backpackers). I was amazed by the amount of marine life there was a mere five minute boat ride from West End. We saw a King Crab, sea turtles, a ray, squids, a barracuda and many types of fish. The coral was teeming with life and seemed much more active compared to Utila dive sites.

 

West Bay

West Bay is a town on the Western tip of the island. This town is less for backpackers and more for older Westerners on vacation. The beach was full of resorts and had a shopping complex. It’s worth a visit if you have a motorbike but otherwise isn’t worth the effort.

Roatan was a lovely island and even though Utila has my heart because of my experience at Paradise Divers, Roatan had the better reef.