9 Comments

  1. I was in Roatan in 2019 and 2021. Both times I stayed in West Bay. I also snorkeled in West End.

    I found the reef generally to be very healthy. More so the further you went from the beach. In close you’ll see some areas impacted by people standing.

    The snorkeling in West Bay was fantastic and a surprising amount of variety in a small area. I recommend exploring to the south. I swam as far as Kismet Beach.

    I’d also recommend night snorkeling. I did a tour from Infinity Bay Resort and then did a bunch of independent night snorkels. You don’t have to go far… lots to see within 15m of shore.

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      • We go every February and stay in the Turtle Beach resort area. Snorkeling right from the beach is amazing. We kayak out to the reef at 6:30am and see turtles and eagle rays.

        Lots of great spots to shore snorkel in West End and West Bay. We rent a car for a day and drive around the island for the day. Snorkeling and reef there is amazing. We have seen sea horses, nurse sharks, octopus, etc. right at our dock. Night snorkeling is amazing.

        This will be our 4th year. Reach out if you have any questions and join the Roatan travel group on Facebook for a great resource of questions and answers.

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  2. We snorkeled Roatan from Puerta Azul Resort which is a dedicated snorkeling accommodation. They have a long pier which extends to the main channel. From there, it is easy to cross the main boating channel (inside the reef) and be in prime snorkeling territory.

    We snorkeled both inside and outside the reef with good results. We were told you can’t cross the reef… It gets shallow but with care, we were consistently successful in getting outside the main reef. There is also a deep cut in the reef nearby (called ‘spooky channel’) which we used to return back to the inside of the reef.

    One day we hired a local (recommended by Puerta Azul) who took us to a more distant location and went snorkeling with us for a modest price.

    Puerta Azul also serves excellent meals and gets our recommendation.

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  3. I was in Roatan a month or two ago and also earlier this year. The snorkeling on West Bay was very good and easily accessible. I would also recommend night snorkeling.

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  4. I have been to Roatan the past four years in a row. West Bay degrades a little bit more every year. But other areas of the island are wonderful. I know you said shore snorkeling, but you can often jump on a dive boat as a snorkeler and see some great stuff. I’ve done this a few times with Las Rocas and have never been disappointed. It’s amazing how just boating out a little ways from the shore between West Bay and West End brings you to much healthier reef.

    I also highly recommend a night snorkel with Infinity Bay Resort. They walk in right from the beach. They usually do it on Thursday night.

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  5. We are in Roatan now, and were also here last year in February. The snorkeling at West End and West Bay are fabulous. However, we stay at Sandy Bay which is MUCH less crowded with people. It is a good swim from shore out to the reef, but the reef here is in really nice condition. Great variety of fish and coral, Eagle Rays, turtles. One of our people spotted a hammerhead shark yesterday on the outside edge of the reef. That’s exciting!

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  6. I have been to Roatan twice, fall of 2023 and 2024. We like it there staying at the Beach House Boutique Hotel in West End and at Paradise Beach Resort on West Bay. We liked the snorkeling enough to return this year.

    We found the coral to mostly dead. Are people confusing large dead coral outcroppings as healthy corals? There are some fan corals and a few soft corals. We saw almost no healthy staghorn or elkhorn coral. We tried five different sites with JC Tours. We did see a monster Pufferfish, two stingrays, two turtles and lots of Parrotfish. Other creatures too. The water was warm, the people friendly and the beer cold. But the coral is dead.

    We loved Bonaire but hear that the coral there is in trouble.

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