North Coast of Honduras and Bay's?

Hi Guys,

Just wondered on your thoughts and advice... My girlfriend and I are looking to head out to Honduras and The Bay's in Feb 2011, The plan really is to head up to The Bay's and spend a bit of time on both. We will be over there for about 16 days, not sure where we are flying into just yet but our plan is to head up to the North coast fairly quickly.

Is there anything you seasoned travellers recommend doing or seeing on the coast before hopping over to the islands? Do we boat it over from La Ceiba?

We may even try head over to Guanaja at some point.

I'm looking for more of a backpacker feel rather than hotels, but want to hang out on the beaches of Roatan a fair bit as I hear there not too special on Utila? What's going on up on the East end of Roatan, anything? Will prob do a dive course on Utila too and party it up for a few nights - it'd be rude not too.

Thanks :)

The east end of Roatan has a few options for backers. on the dirt road 1 km past the Puma gas station is Marble Hill Farms with a dorm room for $15 a night per person, plus they have a dive shop. further east in Camp Bay, there is The Lodge, also $15 per person, but at the moment they only have two beds set up. the Camp Bay Hostel is booked for the next couple of months. La Sirena restaurant has a couple of cabins they rent out and you can do tours to the Mangrove Forest.
Guanaja is accessible from Camp Bay, but i still haven't made it there myself. there are a couple of boats that make that trip, but you'll need a few more people to keep the price down. i have heard good things about Guanaja. if you make that trip i would be interested in going.

Do you have a guidebook? Sounds to me like you need to do a little reading and then come back with more specific questions - we can help you better that way.

Most folks fly into San Pedro Sula (SAP) and bus or fly to La Ceiba and then ferry or fly to the island of their choice. No regular ferries to Guanaja and fewer flights there and to Utila than to Roatán; the flights are spendy imo; ask for dramamine when you buy your ferry tickets if you decide to go that route. It's possible to fly into Roatán from several US hubs.

With just 2 weeks plus travel time I wouldn't try to do all 3 islands. On the mainland there are great jungly activities - kayaking, rafting, hiking, horses; check out Omega Lodge. I really love Copán (Maya ruins, cute town, nature activities) in western Honduras, 3 hours by bus from SAP, but that would limit your island time more.

Buy a guidebook (I like the Moon Handbook), search this form for more information, and check out my photos, blogs, and detailed travelogues with links below. Good luck!

Thanks for the advice guys... Yep still early doors yet, so will indeed get a guidebook and do a little reading on when and where to go. Just was wondering if there was anything on the north coast that I shouldn't miss out on - on the way to La Ceiba.

:)

The East End of Roatan is a nice place to soak up some of the original feel, and as mentioned by #1, there are several reasonable accomodations and the mangrove tours are a great activity as well.
I accessed Guanaja from Camp Bay, but it wasn't that cheap -- getting to Guanaja is harder and more expensive. Guanaja has great hiking (it's the most mountainous of the islands), diving (I was fascinated by the topography of the underwater world there), and it has the most secluded feel of all the islands.

I absolutely loved The North Coast this past summer.
If you give some time to La Ceiba, give time to Pico Bonito National Park. Finding a way to explore the trails can be hard at first, but once you do, you'll have the chance of seeing several beautiful tropical birds, coatis, some reptiles and amphibians (especially in the morning or evening), and possibly some nutria and monkeys.
Cuero y Salado Wildlife Refuge is also a beautiful area. Tours cost $60+ per person if you go with a tour group, but you can do a tour for less than $25-$30 if you visit La Union and ask for a boat from there. Crocodiles, caiman, turtles, tropical birds, iguanas and howler monkeys are common sights, and there's also a reasonable chance of seeing sloths. If you're especially lucky, you might see a manatee.

Tela and the surrounding area is also beautiful, but since you only have 16 days, I'd spend some time at La Ceiba and then just head to The Bay Islands.

Have fun!

If your looking for backpacker type experience and feel. West End on Roatan. Utila is ok for a day or overnight trip, you can rent a scooter and see eastern Roatan in an afternoon. Do spend time in La Cieba area, I liked Sambo Creek better than Tela or Trajilo which I found noisy and dirty

Guanaja is VERY expensive - defintely not a backpacker budget.

If you take the ferry from La Ceiba to Roatan - it's only about an hour ride - 1 morning ferry, 1 afternoon ferry (I think 10 or 11am & 3 or 4pm??). The ferry port is about 20 minutes from town by taxi and you should be at the port at least 1/2 hour ahead. The ride can be a little rough - the am ferry usually more gentle than the pm ferry.

Utila & Roatan - unless you get a private boat (perfectly possible) you need to go back to La Ceiba to get from one to the other. Check out private boats once on the islands

Guidebooks are okay for some things, but not the be all & end all, I find it best to augment their info by asking around on forums like this and with other back-packers on the road as well as locals

If your interested in things to do on the mainland, well you could go to the beach town of Tela which is only 1 1/2 hours away from La Ceiba or San Pedro Sula. right Between. there are beautiful white sand beaches, mangroove tours, crocodile nights excursions, scuba diving, snorkling, horse back riding, etc. If you happen to explore La Ceiba I highly reccomend going white water rafting.
Enjoy your trip...

captain vern sails from roatan to utila at 1pm everyday ($55) and he leaves utila for roatan at 6.30am. its a lovely trip, the catamaran is often accompanied by dolphins and whale shark and/or pilot whales are often seen, check out www.aboututila.com for info and his email address. the ferry from la ceiba leaves for utila at 9.30am and 4pm everyday ($25).
i disagree with most of the posts on this thread, i think utila is way more pack packer friendly than roatan and certainly much cheaper. how about renting your own desert island for a week? several small cays around utila have a little house and can be rented at a very reasonable price. the main thing with utila is to get out of town, most people only go to the town and to them thats utila. but there are mile upon mile of beautiful deserted beaches and cays on utila that most tourists never see. utila is just like roatan was twenty years ago before all the condos, plebeian cruisers and middled aged jimmy buffet wannabes arrived.

Laurenceh

Ouch!

While all the advice on the thread was not what I would have said myself , there was not a single thing I would dispute, and nothing I thought unreasonable.

People ask questions on the forum to get opinions & answers (or so I think), so they are free to make up their own minds.

yellabrick

and i gave my opinion.

perhaps a tad harsh but the bit about the cruisers is undeniable and roatan is definitely one of the worlds hotspots for old balding guys with ponytails and hawaii shirts.

Laurenceh, I kinda agree about the Jimmy Buffett wanabes on Roatan but I suspect that their there because its a fun place to be. I'm afraid being alone on a private island would drive me pretty crazy after the first ten minutes. I'll take Roatan, we can keep solitary confinment for the criminals..