Turquoise Bay Dive & Beach Resort — Hotel in Isla de Roatán

Our week at this resort was extraordinary.||Our priority when planning this kind of week is quality of diving, all-inclusive food and beverage and finally, safe and comfortable rooms.||Our hesitation about the island centered around bug bite concerns, I will summarize our reality about the subject at the very end.||Turquoise Bay exceeded our expectations as a family friendly, perfectly located, serene natural setting with an extraordinarily kind and welcoming staff.||We were met at the airport with a nice mini-bus for our group of 8. Our family ranged from three 16-year olds to grandparents.||Accommodations||Our picturesque rooms were scattered on the hillside with sunset views of the bay. The front desk quickly accommodated one room change request due to physical limitations navigating so many steps.||Each room had its own mini-split that kept the tiled rooms comfortable even on 90° plus days. The water pressure and temperature of the showers was outstanding. There are no hair dryers available, so pack accordingly.||There was a coffee maker in the room with locally sourced, freshly ground coffee and it made for very pleasant mornings on the room’s balcony or strolling to catch the sunrise on the beach. The resort went out of their way to make sure that you NEVER had to search for fresh, purified water for coffee or filling up your sports bottles before a dive.||General Property Comments||This resort has a pretty good balance between diving groups and cruise ship day visitors to its beach front. Especially with our teenagers, there were a few things that didn’t mesh between the two worlds… small things like the clear bottomed kayaks not being available for our use after our afternoon dive. Also, the over the water bungalows were extraordinary, but I am still a little confused about when we could use them and when there was bar service available out there for us.||Don’t expect awesome snorkeling right off the beach. The most amusing area was right under the over-the-water bungalows with schools of silver fish and an occasional barracuda. I snorkeled towards the mangroves, but the water was pretty stirred up and the bottom was a monotonous bed of seagrass. Geared towards the cruise ship customers, they do launch a snorkeling excursion to a nice reef just beyond the bay.||One of our biggest regrets is not going on the little property tour the very day we arrived. Walking past the dive boats and going through the topiary tunnel emerging at the horse stable and aviary was AMAZING! Marvin, the manager of that area, along with his crew became one of the highlights of our week, outside of diving. The beautiful horses and puppy dog-like ponies were so much fun. Our horseback ride (reasonable-priced) through the property, including a short stretch of beach, was dreamy.||I have kept chickens for a few years and can tell you that their aviary is beautifully designed and very well-maintained. (It was fun to know where the eggs were coming from at the breakfast omelette bar.). Several unique pairs of peacocks and a variety of beautifully-colored Asian pheasants contrasted with the more tropical macaws and parrots. A few bunny rabbits, ducks and deer rounded out the menagerie!||Food and Beverage||Our package included daily buffet breakfast, lunch, and dinner with an afternoon snack at 4 o’clock. Their kitchen deserves high praise for the quality, quantity and presentation of food throughout our eight day stay. Special shout out to the ceviche and fried fillets of our Lion Fish catch as well as the balloon decorations and beautiful cake to celebrate a very special twin birthday!||Cold beers, fun tropical cocktails and soft drinks were always available. I cannot adequately describe how genuinely friendly and accommodating the entire staff was throughout our stay! (Please re-read that last sentence for emphasis!)||Dive Center||Oz (or Junior) welcomed our group and made sure that all of our dive certifications and individual needs, like rental equipment were addressed. Five of our seven divers signed up to attend the Roatan Marine Park-sponsored lionfish hunting certification program. (If interested, be sure that you bring extra cash.)||Because we came in a day early compared to most groups, we had Captain Billy and Dive Master Eddie the first day, but spent the next 17 dives under the watchful eyes of Captain Bruce and Dive Master Nelson. Again, the level of competency, kindness and humor were perfect for our group!||Our Nitrox tanks were consistently filled and tested. And a few pieces of rental equipment, including BCDs, were in excellent condition.||We went to a nice variety of dive sites going as far west as the La Aguila wreck but staying mostly within a short ride of the resort, so much so that the majority of our surface intervals were pleasantly spent back at the resort instead of bobbing up and down in the open water.||The airy group locker rooms were very well done, organized and locked nightly.||I think you can tell quite a bit about a dive center by the number of locals who joined in on the dives. A shout out to Lou, Kathy, Drew, Stacy and Eric…. and a special thank you for generously sharing some of your photos with us.||The Bugs||We read the reviews and tried to come prepared. Our group experienced the entire range: Just a couple of little bites that were easy to ignore to dozens of itchy bites which interfered with sleep. I came prepared with a daily moisturizer made up of coconut oil, eucalyptus and deep woods off (DEET). My best advice is to come prepared use it prophylactically. Try hard not to itch the bites that you do get because it seems to aggravate and intensify...

A wonderful all-inclusive dive resort! For non-divers, they offer kayaking, horseback riding and just lounging on the beach or at the pool, along with some kids water activities. It also seems like it would be a great place for a day trip; they offer little wooden huts out over the water to rent that include a place to recline, a picnic table, and hammocks over the water (that are built into the structure so you don't have to climb in and out of- just scootch over it from the floor).

The staff always greets you with a smile, and aims to please. There were numerous choices at the buffet-style meals, and everything I tried was delicious. Large urns with coffee and hot water, along with a variety of tea bags, seemed to be available from early in the morning until well after dinner. It was a little rough though, having to wait until 7 pm for dinner after a day of diving.

There was also plenty of alcohol in the adult beverages, which isn't always the case at all-inclusive resorts. Unlike my stays at other dive resorts (albeit in the Caribbean), when I asked for water to drink the server would return with a glass within a matter of minutes and offered to refill it as soon as (or before) the water was gone.

There is a big screen tv on the restaurant lanai, and the bar has a pool table and big screen tv. Our room also had a big screen tv, and while most of the channels are in Spanish, there are a handful of English-speaking/American stations. Each of our rooms also had a wall safe, although some of them were not anchored. Housekeeping always made sure we had at least half a gallon of bottled water in our room each day, for drinking, brushing our teeth and making coffee.

The wifi was reliable- it's password protected and there are several different networks throughout the resort, but you use the same password for each of the networks. I didn't have any problem surfing the web, or uploading pictures to social media or email.

Bring cash for tipping. On our first day we were told that it's best to tip the staff throughout the week so that the staff gets their tips even if they are off at the end of the week. I tried to remember to bring some cash with me whenever I went to the restaurant or bar so that I could tip as services were rendered rather than trying to track everyone down at the end of the week- and possibly missing someone. There were a few staff members that I checked to see when they were on days off so I could make sure I got them a tip before I left, but I'm afraid I may not have gotten everyone.

Before entering the resort drive, there doesn't appear to be anything (restaurants, shops, grocery or convenience stores, etc) within reasonable walking distance of the resort, but pretty much everything you need is available on site. However, I chatted with another guest from another dive group who said that the resort arranged transportation so that they could go to the West End one evening.

I really enjoyed my stay here. Usually I'm not particularly interested in returning to somewhere that I have already been, but this would be an exception. The staff was wonderful, the food was good and plentiful, and the dive sites had a lot of seahorses (my favorite!), juvenile fish, crustaceans and interesting topography. We also saw an active octopus on one of our night dives, and that might just be the marinelife highlight of any dive...

I just came back from a dive trip to Turquoise Bay Resort in Roatan that was set up by a local (Florida) dive shop. The resort is probably about 35 minutes or so from the airport. My dive package included transfer to and from the airport. If you have to arrange for your own transportation check ahead of time, it could be expensive. I was welcomed at the resort with a complimentary non-alcoholic drink, and check in was smooth and efficient. The room was spacious and clean. There was no ventilation (exhaust fan) in the bathroom, which is a pet peeve of mine, especially in a tropical climate. The shower had one of those narrow clotheslines in it, but trying to dry anything out in the shower was an exercise in futility. What they did have though that I thought was neat was a bar to hang your clothes on outside the room. The constant tropical breezes would probably have dried my swim stuff quickly, but I was there during the rainy season, and boy did it rain! That's no fault of the resort.

Service at the resort and on the dive boat was top notch. In the resort the waitstaff knew your name and your favorite drink by the second day. By the time you were putting your fork down after finishing a plate, someone was there to clean it away for you. During the day while in the pool, the staff would take your drink order and serve it to you without your having to get out of the pool. They do have a beach with a pavilion large enough to feed the whole resort, as well as chairs, umbrellas and kayaks. I only had the opportunity to go down there my first night, as it rained just about every other day.

The boats all had a captain and two dive guides. The captain never got in the water, but the dive guides seemed to know their stuff, gave good briefings and pointed out fish and other animals that I would have never seen on my own. I did 17 dives during my week there. I hit 100 feet on one dive, but most of the others were around 70 or so feet. There was plenty to see without needing to go deep.

The dive boats have seen better days. I never felt unsafe, especially since we never ventured far from shore, there are so many dive sites so close to shore, and there was generally another dive boat close by. One of the boats couldn't get started after a dive and had to be towed back by another of the boats. I believe that it was an issue with the starter. Our boat also had an issue with the starter switch. The captain had a piece of wire that appeared to be kept on hand for just such an occasion, and he jumped the starter in the engine compartment. These were minor inconveniences and again, I never felt unsafe.

There was only one thing that I didn't like, and maybe it's just because I wasn't thinking about it before hand. Tipping. I expected to tip the dive guides and hospitality, but not the dive shop on site. However it was the dive shop that made sure all the tanks were filled between dives, and they were also working their butts off. I prefer to give tips in cash, and not thinking about the dive shop I had to put that on a card. Just remember to add that into the total price for the trip.

This was my first dive trip to Roatan. The trip was put on by a local dive shop and they picked the resort. If they picked this resort again, I would have no hesitation in going. I would just...