My wife and I traveled here with our 2 teenaged sons and our 1 year old daughter. The resort was very beautiful and had something for everyone. The beach water in front of the resort is very calm, which was perfect for the baby to play in without large waves knocking her down. The VERY LARGE pool had a deeper section for swimming and quite a large shallow part that our 1 year old could walk around in without the water level rising above her chest (she loved being able to move about on her own).

The snorkeling was amazing, and very easy to do every day as the reef starts about 30 yards offshore and has amazing coral formations and a wide variety of sea life (we saw sea turtles, lobsters, sea slugs and a wide variety of fish including flounder, grouper, Barracuda, Parrot fish and many other colorful varieties). This reef consists of numerous channels and drops and is broken up by a couple of sand bars (often in 30-40 foot deep waters) between 2-3 sections of corral reef as you go farther off shore. About 80-100 yards offshore, there is a long corral wall that drops straight down from about 40 feet to about 120 feet and then slopes gradually to even greater depths (there were a lot of scuba divers going out right from the beach). This was perfect for the boys as they could go right out whenever they wanted to without hopping on a boat and paying to snorkel.

We also spent time at nearby Gumbalimba park (Zip lining, playing with the monkeys and Macaws, watching all sorts of Iguanas and Monkey La La's). The park is a 15 min walk from the resort or a 2-3 minute taxi boat ride and taxi boats were always available at the dock.

West Bay is very laid back and does not have a big party scene, although the resort bar is open until 11 each night and there are several other resort bars all along the beach in West Bay, often with live music. If you want to party it up, West End is a short taxi ride or a 5 min taxi boat ride away and has many night clubs and bars that stay open until 2 or 3 am.

The resort itself is very beautiful, and is always kept clean and manicured. The rooms are nice and the 2 bedroom we stayed in had 2 balconies with views of the pool and ocean. The cleaning staff was EXCELLENT and often did more cleaning than we expected (for example throwing our dirty clothes in our room's washing machine for us). The rest of the staff were very friendly and the bar restaurant staff were fairly expedient (keep in mind that Roatan is on "Island Time" as is much of the Caribbean, and what some people consider slow service is often just the way things run on the island). Drinks and meals were pretty cheap in comparison to some places we've gone in the Caribbean. Beer was $2.25 ($1.50 during happy hour), many rum drinks were $3 and some of the fancier drinks were $6-$7. You could eat a large lobster dinner for $25 and most other entrees ranged from $8-$17.

One thing to keep in mind is that Wed and Fri are cruise ship days and the beach can get quite crowded (they arrive about noon and leave about 4). It wasn't too inconvenient though because the resort asks guests to wear an arm band and does not allow cruisers to use the pool or their beach chairs. It didn't really bother us too much, except that it was a little difficult to find a spot at lunch. If the seating area is full when you want to eat I would simply recommend eating at one of the little restaurants off the beach that didn't seem crowded at all (1 or 2 min walk from the resort).

Overall we really enjoyed our trip to Infinity Bay and would love to come back and stay here again.

I stayed there for a week in May and it was a great adventure. Its was during the slow season so a little slow around the beaches but still a great time. The diving is highly recommended. You won't regret it. Do your online at home and just dive once you get there. The Infinity Bay is a great place. The infinity pool and pool bar are perfect. A+ all around.

Roatan, Honduras June 6-20, 2009

Accomodations:
Infinity Bay condos. This is a beautiful condominium resort sitting on the best part of West Bay Beach. It has a HUGE pool but the temperature of the ocean is much more refreshing than the pool at this time of year. The pool feels like bath water! The condos are beautiful inside with a full kitchen, stainless steel appliances (including a fridge with filtered water and ice in the door)! The bedroom of the 1-bedroom unit has a HUGE king size bed. It is pretty firm but we slept great on it! The couch in the living area also makes out into a bed. There is no dining table in the 1 bedroom and we kind of miss that but there are 3 bar stools up at the counter and a nice table out on the balcony. The bathroom has a nice open, tile shower. There is a washer and dryer so you can pack even lighter! There is a nice TV in the living area and wireless (once in a while) or a wired connection for your computer. The beach next to Infinity Bay is where the people off the cruise ship come for the day and it can get a bit more crowded on the days the boats are in but nothing that caused us any trouble. On Friday, the boat was in early but everyone was off the beach by noon. We were diving on the other day the boat was in, I think it was Wednesday. The resort does a good job of keeping the beach chairs resort amenities for resort guests only and if you have any trouble just let one of the staff know. It was kind of fun having the extra people around for a bit - just more people watching.

The reef (Tabyana) just in front of the resort is PERFECT for snorkeling and very large so you can spend days exploring it! On the days we didn't dive, we would snorkel and loved this as well. They do not rent tanks for shore diving on the reef but usually there is at least one boat with divers somewhere out there! If you don't have your own snokeling equipment, you can rent it all over West Bay beach.

Don't try to order room service if it is raining :) We found this to be pretty funny but we called in to order 2 burgers for dinner since it was raining and were told that they didn't have umbrellas and couldn't offer room service in the rain??? So, we walked in the rain to Il Pomodoro and the pizza special!!! Cheaper than burgers at the resort and better AND it was a fun walk but we got a few extra sand flea bites!



Meals:
The Palapa Bar at Infinity Bay serves breakfast, lunch and dinner out under the palm trees (or you can have room service) and everything we've ordered has been wonderful, however, we are cooking our own meals in a lot well as meals can get quite expensive and we are here for 2 weeks. The first day we had lunch at the Palapa Bar, shrimp spaghetti and a fish sandwich plus chips and salsa, 3 coronas and one pina colada and it was $45!! We had lunch another day and both had the cheddar cheese burger and diet cokes and it was about $20 and VERY good burgers! There is a small deli/restaurant/market, Mangiamo, that you can walk to just behind the resort to get some basic supplies and save yourself some money for drinks and meals if you want. The basic mixed drinks at the bar are $5 but they are really good and a nice, large size (or make them in your condo for about 1/2 that or less with liquor and mixers from the store)! Beers are $3.50 for imports and you can buy them for about $1 each at the store (Corona)! We've enjoyed buying fresh vegetables and fruit in West End and making all kinds of things to eat with sandwiches, chips and pastas. We have found some items are cheaper in West End (liquor) and that is the only place you can get the fresh veggies and fruit off the trucks (unless you catch a truck that comes to Mangiamo - we never saw it). You can eat in West End cheaper than in West Bay but the water taxi is $2.50 - $3 per person each way or a regular taxi is $10 each way.

We ate at a small shack in the middle of West End between dives and enjoyed Baleadas (grilled flour tortillas with your choice of filling - beans, cheese, chicken or beef) for about $1.50 each - 2 is plenty.

We enjoyed lunch at The Lighthouse Restaurant in West End, the shrimp basket and the fish and chips were excellent. We had all that, plus beans and tortillas for an appetizer and 4 teas for about $30. We also enjoyed lunch at a new mexican restaurant called Blue Oceanic I believe, very near the Baptist church in West End. We both had pork chimichangas and a diet coke and it was about $12.

Back at West Bay, we had dinner one night at Bite on the Beach, on the end end of West Bay nearest West End. The calamari was very good! I had shrimp in a peanut sauce that was good but not what I expected - VERY peanut buttery! It came with rice and veggies. Steve had spicy grilled lobster, served with mashed potatoes and veggies. We only had water to drink and it was about $40 and a beautiful view of the sunset. They are closed on Sunday and Monday!

IL Pomodoro in West Bay is really good and they have some great specials almost everyday of the week! It is actually an italian restaurant but on Saturday we had fajitas for 2 (chicken and beef) special, 2 Monkey lalas (a really yummy drink) and a diet coke and it was $22 with tax and tip included! We even had plenty to bring back for a lunch! It is located a couple of blocks back from the beach, near Paradise Beach resort - maybe a 3 or 4 minute walk from Infinity Bay. There is another little market back there where you can get some basic supplies for eating and drinking! We ate dinner here on Monday night as well! Had the buy 1 get 1 pizza special and it was AWESOME and was plenty to bring back for another meal! It was $20 for 2 pizzas and 2 cokes. We had the Hawaiian and the one with just tomatoes and garlic oil and they were both excellent! We had 2 for 1 pasta on Thursday night. We both had the seafood pasta with red sauce. The red sauce is sweeter than we prefer but the seafood was very good and the pasta cooked perfectly. We both at and had waters for $20 - you can't beat the specials here. Overall, our favorite meal there was the pizza so if you can only eat there one night, go on Monday night for the 2 for 1 pizzas!

Thai Island in West End, just north of the water taxi pier was a great dinner! We ordered the summer rolls and they were AWESOME!!! I had pad thai with shrimp, a big plate and VERY good! Hubby had sweet and sour chicken, really good but not the thick sweet and sour sauce we are used to at home! He had 2 beers and I had a coke and it was $45. If you are hungry for some Thai food, I would recommend this one!

In West End there is a great spot for a cool treat called Cream of the Trop! It is a little hard to see but it is behind Rocket's Hamburgers in a really neat little shop. There is a nice little pool (just for decor) outside the shops but it looks really tropical! Anyway, we had fruit crepes with gelato and it was to die for!! They are $4 each and soooooo worth it! You can pick the fruit in your crepe and the flavor of gelato you prefer.

The Noodle Shack in West End (just across from Foster's Bar and Grill) was an excellent noodle craving fix! You choose your pasta, meat and sauce - asian style choices. We chose the udon noodles, shrimp and the ginger sesame sauce. It was very yummy!!! We asked for medium spice and it was very spicy, our noses were running but the flavor was awesome! It is a bit pricey but you get a good portion of food. It was $22 with 2 sodas and the 2 noodle bowls.


Diving:
We dove with West End Divers again. A great dive operation but you do have to get yourself there by water taxi or taxi each day. If you dive more than 4 days, the dives are $30 and if you dive that much, they will also include gear rental if you do not own your own gear. They will store your gear at the shop and have it set up on the boat when you arrive for your dives. They take out small groups - 6 or less usually and have a schedule on the board of the planned dive sites. They will also try to accomodate any special site requests you have. We are not picky and just love seeing everything we can but if they took us to the same spot everyday, it wouldn't make a difference to us!


The downside of Roatan if there is one! The sand flea bites!! You don't see them and you don't feel the bites but you see the red spots that turn into red itchy bumps and they DO itch!!! Some people just get covered with them and some don't get bit, it just depends on your flavor I guess! I have lots of bites and hubby has only a couple so I guess I'm the preferred flavor of the week! I tried using some repellent but it doesn't seem to make a difference. There are a few flies and I've seen a couple of mosquitos but it's the things I don't see that are making me itch! Deet and Coconut Oil is supposed to help and supposedly that is what the locals use. Also we hear the cactus juice helps. We didn't find this out until too late but I would be happy to try it! If you get bit, the Ice with aloe seems to help calm the itching, along with some benedryl and hydrocortisone cream. Try to prevent rather than treat though!!!

The whole place is awesome. The swimming pool, the room, the beach, the awesome snorkeling within a few steps from your room. Everything riight at your fingertips. We snorkeled, dove, kayaked, rode horses, danced to Reggae music and had wonderful food. Most beautiful place on the Island and it is a beautiful Island. We were on a senior trip . This place has something for everyone . It is huge. All ages will love it
Cona