We found West Bay Lodge on Trip Advisor and booked a week there from 6/21/08-6/28/08. What a warm cozy place! We were in bungalow 5, and had a firm but comfortable bed, excellent A/C, great shower, little kitchen with microwave/fridge, TV with DVD player and lots of movies to choose from. The lodge is in a lush tropical garden (like what comes to mind when you think of the Garden of Eden). Big, green, leafy banana trees (with bananas hanging off of them), bright red hyacinth bushes, cheerful colorful flowers of every type all over the place...and especially surrounding the pool. It was a little oasis of calm. They serve breakfast every morning so you can just roll out of bed and have an omelette or banana pancakes or bacon depending on the day.

We needed some R&R but couldn't be completely disconnected and West Bay Lodge was perfect for that. It is one of the only hotels in Roatan that we could find with Internet connection in the room. West Bay Lodge also has a back-up generator that keeps everything working even if there is a blackout on the island - there were three while we were there, but no impact to us :-)

The owners - Milos and Celeste (and their son Jacob) were very friendly, warm and eager to make our stay comfortable and fun. They picked us up from the airport and drove us back. There is a lot of construction on the island and one day there was work being done on the building next door. We complained about the hammering and Milos went next door and asked them to stop immediately and come back a week later (to our surprise, this works in a 3rd world country!) and the rest of our stay was quiet and peaceful.

To get to the beach, you have to cross the street and walk down a long gravel road, which is a little inconvenient. But the beach is the best on Roatan. You can snorkel by wading in and you see colorful fish beginning in 4 feet of water! There is a fantastic deli right across the street from the hotel with yummy rotisserie chicken, sandwiches, microwave popcorn, etc. There is also a great Italian place 2 "blocks" from the hotel called Pizzeria Il Pomodoro. Aside from that, we typically ate at the hotel restaurants right on the beach (burgers at the Mayan Princess were very good). We also went to West End for some variety and a few good meals at the Cannibal Café and Mavis & Dixie’s.

We explored the island by renting a motorcycle from Murray at Captain Van’s (also right across the street from the hotel). Best thing we did! The island is beautiful: green and hilly with winding roads that every so often give way to amazing views of the sea. The island is dotted with small villages with schools, and stray dogs and chickens roaming around. There are tiny dirt roads that take your down to secluded white-sand beaches lined by coconut palm trees. It took our breath away.

We typically ended every day with a swim in the pool, which is as warm as a bath-tub. Overall, the trip was amazing and the West Bay Lodge was a great hub for all our little adventures.

The only complaint: the bungalows are comfortable but spartan and rustic. The only place that I found to curl up with a book was the hammock on the terrace of our bungalow. Other than 2 basic plastic chairs, there was no place to sit in our room - no sofa, no chair with a cushion. Only the bed. There were no full-length lounge chairs near the pool either, just the basics. Most people who go to Roatan are very active – diving and snorkeling all day long, so they probably wouldn’t notice, but for us readers… That said, we loved the intimacy of this small hotel and we made friends easily with the other guests – like Kelly and Kyla who we went snorkeling with. We would highly recommend the West Bay Lodge.
- Potoula & Pete