First let me say that this is a beautiful, high-end property which sits on a gorgeous white sand beach. It is the quintessential Caribbean scene you often see in postcards – powdery white sand and calm, turquoise water fringed by fluttering coconut palms. Just add Corona, or in this case Salva Vida. Now, allow that image to leave a permanent imprint in your mind, because the “landscape” shifts in the blink of an eye. First comes the audible portion of the “shift”. It starts with some yellin’, hootin’, and maybe some hollerin’. Then comes the visible portion of the “shift” – the full scale invasion of your Caribbean dream. In an instant, tranquil West Bay beach becomes Honduran Disney thanks to the arrival of one, or maybe a pair of cruise ships to otherwise laid-back Roatan.

A few more details on Infinity Bay and Roatan:

Rooms
We stayed in a one bedroom deluxe unit which had two balconies. The unit has a spacious living room and bedroom, one full bath and one half bath. There is no bathtub in the unit, which would have been a nice touch. All appliances are very modern, as the units are new. The bed was uncomfortable, as were the couches in the living room. In general, I was pleased with the accommodation.

Resort
Infinity Bay is a condominium resort consisting of two main buildings, a large central free-form infinity pool, and a beachfront bar and restaurant. The resort sits directly on West Bay beach and all units are a short walk to the sand/water. Many of the units have already been sold, but there are still some units available for sale. I was pleasantly surprised to find no sales pitch by the management. We met several of the owners, who are typically onsite at the pool, beach or restaurant. They were all extremely friendly and interesting people. The spa and formal restaurant are not yet open. There is construction in the back of the resort, but we really didn’t hear it during the day. They take great care not to let the construction interfere with the guests’ enjoyment of the resort.

Restaurant
Infinity Bay has a beachfront restaurant – La Palapa. It is open air style, with a few tables scattered on the sand. There is also a bar with several TVs for watching sports. The lunch and dinner food is good. I particularly enjoyed the curry shrimp and coconut shrimp, while my husband liked the fish sandwich. I was not particularly impressed with the breakfasts, and found their “typical” breakfast to be on the heavy side. The monkey la-la is an island drink that is a must try – kind of reminded me of the Virgin Island “Painkiller”.

Service
The management here has built a great team of employees. The bar, restaurant and beach staff are pleasant, friendly, polite and professional. Garry, Ivan, Freddie, Rommel, Marlon and Emmanuel all went the extra mile to make our stay pleasant. The owners are typically on-site, but they don’t announce themselves as such unless you ask or otherwise take the time to chat them up. They are a friendly bunch and have some interesting stories. They take great pride in their construction efforts, and with good reason.

Beach/Snorkel/Diving
As I mentioned above, West Bay beach is stunning and Infinity Bay sits smack dab on the most impressive spot. So bright is the contrast between the azure water and white sand that it almost hurts the eyes. The best snorkeling on West Bay beach is directly in front of, and to the left of, Infinity Bay. The reef is very close to shore. The water is extremely calm with excellent visibility. My husband dove with Bananarama and loved the diving on Roatan, as well as the dive shop expertly run by Mal and Sophia. If you like snorkeling, I will tell you how to find my favorite spot. From the Infinity Bay pool, head out of the left side beach entrance from La Palapa. Look for two mooring lines straight out on the reef. Head straight for those buoys and you will come across a few very large coral heads sitting in about 30 feet of water. You must go past the first shallow coral heads and then past another sandy bottom to find this spot.

Restaurants in Roatan
We tried several restaurants on West Bay Beach and West End. I particularly enjoyed the Argentine Steakhouse in West End, and Bite on the Beach in West Bay. Bananarama also has a nice breakfast and lunch. Bite on the Beach is a particularly cool waterfront spot, where you will find three large resident eels and an octopus in the shallows. They were there to put on a show both nights we were there. My favorite dishes were the peanut sate shrimp and pasta with fresh pesto. Vintage Pearl at Bananarama was also nice, but more of an upscale experience. No shirt, No shoes, No Problem sums up most of the restaurants in West Bay – no need to bring any dressy clothes or shoes. One pair of flip flops was enough footwear for the entire trip, and even they didn’t get much use.

The Invasion
I touched on The Invasion above, so you already know what I am referring to. You will immediately notice a drastic change in West Bay Beach on cruise ship days, of which there were three during our stay. Directly beside Infinity Bay, hundreds of white chairs are lined up on the beach in rows about three inches apart. Music is pumped out of a sound system, for the entire beach to hear. Cruise shippers are then shuttled to West Bay beach in droves. Suddenly, you find yourself surrounded and your otherwise empty beach so crowded that you can barely walk from your chair to the beach without stepping on several Carnival towels. Lunchtime rolls around and you are hungry, you decide to head up to a table at Infinity’s restaurant for a bite. After combing the 12 or so tables for a spot, you realize that they are all taken - by cruise shippers who aren’t staying at the resort. So they must be ordering lunch, right? Nope, they are sitting there eating food they have brought in from the ship. I’m not sure how the coral on this beach has survived the onslaught of fins since many of the cruise ship snorkelers I saw were standing on it while feeding bread to the fish. This is the scene that lasts for hours until they leave as quickly as they arrive. I believe that the same thing happens at Bananarama on cruise ship days. I have posted some photos of the cruise ship days so you don’t have to take my word for it.

As beautiful as this resort is, as friendly as the staff and owners are, even despite the spectacular sunsets, I don’t think I would return to West Bay solely because of the cruise ship crowds. Roatan is building a new cruise ship terminal to accommodate even more ships, so I doubt that this issue will improve. It’s very unfortunate because otherwise this resort is 5-star!

There are not enought great things to say about this resort and this island!! To start with the resort is beautiful and truly the best beach front of any other local. The staff is phenomenal! They all go above and beyond! the resort is still under construction, but as a guest you never hear any noise or see the crew unless you go out to the front parking lot. The rooms are well furnished, comfortable beds, nice towels, flat screens and satelite tv. They have the most extensive water purification system that allows for drinkable water from all the taps! They also have a huge gennerator, so that the frequent power outages on the island are virtually seamless.

This island has the best water in the carribean! Magnificant sunrise/sunsets and great food all over the island!

I litterally cried when we left....we will be back soon!

We spent the first week of our (adult) family vacation on Utila, another smaller Bay Island. We were miserable. Don't go there unless your primary interest is diving, in which case you will enjoy it. Or if you love sand fleas, it's paradise. We then did some research and picked what seemed to be the most expensive hotel on Roatan. For $465 a night we got a third floor luxury condo with three bedrooms, three baths, four balconies with views of the ocean and and beautiful pool. Our condo had a full kitchen (with dishes, cutlery, but only one sharp knife; if you plan to cook, bring your own.) granite tops. The entire unit had marble floors. Full dining room and living room with cable/flat screen-type tv. We were ecstatic when we saw the swim-up bar. Even though we rarely used it, it was comforting to have it nearby.

The location on the beach was perfect, at the end adjacent to a protected area which made for great snorkeling. We'd snorkeled on Utila but were plagued with sea lice, invisibile creatures which sting like mini jellyfish. Only had some insignificant experiences here. The snorkeling was great, beach beautiful and uncrowded. Only saw one sunbather who forgot to read the memo on no nude sunbathing. Had no incidents with cruise ships and were told by the staff that they were forbidden from using the chairs at the hotel. There were always plenty of chairs available.

The second phase of the resort is still under construction but we felt well insulated from the work and it didn't bother us at all. The "spa" part of Infinity Bay Resort and Spa is in the second phase along with a four-star restaurant and is supposed to be completed by next year.

There is no restaurant other than food served at tables on the beach or room service. $20 for a two pound lobster tail is a bargain, however, and we didn't mind. We lucked into The Vintage Pearl restaurant which is walking distance down the beach. My 33-year old son agreed with another reviewer that he had the best steak he'd ever eaten. (It came from the US.) $250 for five adults included one bottle of wine, one drink and two beers. The service was excellent, atmosphere was island perfection. We loved it. Amazingly on Saturday night at 7 PM there were only four tables being served. We were seated immediately and had wonderful service.

We took a taxi to Coxen Hole to grocery shop. It's about a 20 minute drive each way and the driver waited while we shopped for about half an hour. We'd negotiated a $15 trip but gave him $20 for the wait. Well worth the trip. Bought wonderful Chilean wine for about $10 a bottle that beat the heck out of the (also Chilean) wine we'd been charged $20 a bottle for on Utila.

Definitely take the water taxi to see West End. There's nothing you can buy there that you can't find at World Market, but it's a throwback, very third worldish but charming. I don't think anybody goes to Roatan for the shopping.

Only downside to Infinity Bay: internet was sporadic, and if my kids hadn't been there to put it right every day I would have given up on it. We lost water 2-3 times including for two hours before our departure. We were on the third floor, and my husband is somewhat handicapped so that when the elevator went out, which happened 2-3 times, he was stuck in the room or at the pool. The hotel made an adjustment on our bill for the inconveniences. The staff couldn't have been friendlier or more cooperative.

We stayed at the beautiful Infinity Bay resort from Jan. 21 to 25, 2009 in unit 1001 located right in front of the beach and it was lovely. It was a very spacious one bedroom and was more than we really needed as we were not going to cook. The weather was sunny for the first two days and then it started to rain. We were told that it was the tail end of the rainy season. Forecast was for rain every day for the next week. Needless to say, we checked out early and headed to sunny Acapulco for the rest of our vacation.

If you go later in the year, say February or March, you can be sure to get better weather. The snorkeling right in front of the resort is first rate. The Infinity Bay restaurant is their beach bar and a few tables set on the beach. Food is OK, nothing to write home about. There are lots of nice restaurants within walking distance. And don't miss going to the Bay Islands Beach Resort on Thursday for the pig barbeque and crab races. It's all to raise some monies for the local school. You'll have a fun time.

The only down thing about Infinity Bay is Cruise Ship days. They allow cruise ship passengers to use their facilities during the day. As we were having breakfast one morning at the beach, a group arrived and quickly commandeered three tables for the entire day and ordered drinks for the group. This was at 8:30 am. Needless to say our intended quiet breakfast on the beach was quite noisy. Think college frat party. The boozing went all day until they had to go back to the ship. The only saving grace is that the local waiters get to make some extra bucks. The average wage in Honduras is $10 a day.

The Bay islands are very beautiful and when it's raining, there's not a lot to do unless you go diving every day.