End of the World Resort — Hotel in Isla Guanaja

NOTE: Google has a character limit on reviews, so this one is truncated. TripAdvisor has my full review.

Most of the reviews of the resort seem to be from people who have not actually stayed here. We stayed at the End of the World for two weeks in September/October 2019. Here is our review of the time that we spent here. For reference, we are scuba divers and we have been to Bonaire 7 times, and have been to Roatan as well as a number of other locations and we have traveled extensively throughout the Caribbean.

Summary:

If you want luxury accommodations, dancing to live music and a buffet, go elsewhere. If you want a somewhat off-the-grid experience with fresh local food, really good diving, and a quiet beach - this is your spot. It is pretty astonishing that a place with electrical power, Internet, a dive compressor and a bar even exists in this location. Bring a book.

The Diving:

The scuba diving was simply fantastic. We saw one other dive boat once in the two weeks we were there, so we had the whole reef to ourselves. We mostly dove sites along the reef out in front of the resort. The reef is pretty amazing, and there are nice dive sites at 30 feet and sites at whatever depth you want to go to. The Pinnacle is close-by, and it makes for a nice dive that starts close to 100 feet and slowly winds its way up to the shallower reefs. There are well constructed buoys on all of the sites, so getting tied off is quick.

The staff carries your gear to the boat in the morning. After breakfast, we would walk the 100 feet to the dock and get in the boat with our gear already assembled. 10 minutes later, we would be tied off and ready to dive. The water was amazingly warm, and we dove in t-shirts and shorts or a thin skin. Because nobody is there, the reef is in astounding condition. Roatan gets cruise ships and huge numbers of snorkelers and divers, so the reef is more abused. We dove with nurse sharks on at least half of our dives, and the explosion of fish was always spectacular. This is the easiest diving that we have ever done. No current, calm water and a staff that carries the gear make for stress-free diving.

The Location:

Guanaja is a small island and the resort is not near any of the small villages. It is off of the grid, so just realize this when you go there. The electrical power is reasonably reliable and a German engineer was there tweaking the solar grid, so it is probably even better now. There is Internet, but you won’t be streaming Netflix while you are there. The bandwidth is fine for email and general browsing.

The Accommodations:

This is a small resort. There are two guest houses up the hill, each with two separate rooms so, completely booked, four couples could be there. The owner and staff have houses down at beach-level. The scuba shack and restaurant/kitchen/bar are also at beach level.

The rooms at the resort are spare, bordering on monastic. There are 95 steps from the beach up to the rooms so, if you have heart or joint problems, this is probably not the place for you to stay. There is running water in the rooms but no hot water, so be ready for cool showers. Because the rooms are up off of the beach, there aren’t many biting insects up there and the rooms catch a nice breeze. The rooms have no air conditioning, but they have fans.

The Food:

The food was consistently good and very fresh. The fruit smoothies are from fruit picked locally, the fish was caught this morning, the shrimp is not frozen, and so on. Marley, the cook, is really friendly and accomodating. If you have something in particular you want, and she can get the ingredients, she will make it for you. If you want more (or less), just let her know. Her seafood stew (soup?)...

Just to let you know, I found this resort thanks to Trip Advisor reviews! I want to keep the info fresh, and keep the Luv going, for End of The World Resort.||**My travel agent did not tell me about this place-so thanks to real people who review on Trip Advisor!||||My husband and traveled to End of The World in Guanaja on July 10-17. I am a health care provider and this was a trip to get away from all things Covid-19. We needed to DIVE, RELAX, and JUST BREATH. No crowds here-social distancing is easy:)|| ||We chose End of the World as it is a small resort in a ideal location. Booking the trip was supper easy-Dealing with the owner of the resort made planning stress free. Brian was in contact with me via email and WhatsApp. He offered help with airline and entrance requirements for the country. Any question that I had he answered personally We flew from Newark - Houston, to Roatan - Guanaja. No problem! Along the way, we were anticipating a great vacation and that is what we got. ||Brian sent a boat to the Guanaja airport to pick us up. Open air airport that is quite efficient, we were out of there within 15 minutes of landing. The short boat ride to his resort is spectacular, the North side of the island is pristine. No over development here, just peaceful beach and tropical green island. We choose the Islander Room on the hillside, but honestly any of the 4 cabanas will impress with their view and tropical breeze. The bedding was comfortable, the room bright with plenty of space, and a covered porch for relaxing, and drying wet beach wear. There is a fan in the room and we occasionally turned that on, but the breeze is all you need. We could hear the birds and the waves on the beach when in the room. ||We both are vegetarian and the staff did a great job creating satisfying meals for us. The screened Tiki bar is a great place to talk about the days dives and offers a nice selection of beer and a daily drink special. We also played cards several evenings. ||The dock/boat is a stones throw from the rinse tanks-but you never touch your gear. After dropping your dive gear on arrival-it is all taken care of for you. Diving here is easy and fun. No rush, swim at you pace. No crowded boat. Lots to see and more nurse sharks than I have ever seen. Beautiful hard and soft coral, tons of fish. The water was quite calm, no current. SIT time between dives was spent back at the resort or on a secluded beach by ourselves. ||Bugs in our room were never an issue. We did get some non-itchy red dots on our hikes, but we never felt the need for bug spray. ||We hiked to 2 water falls, the "little water fall" and the "big waterfall". At the waters edge you can put your feet in the water and little shrimp walk on your toes (free pedicure) We are not "hikers" but we love to walk and climb in the jungle. ||I have only good things to say about End of The World. On arrival you feel as though there is not a care in the world. ||If you are a SCUBA Diver, I encourage all to enjoy a week or two at this fantastic destination-take a break from life, enjoy and dive. If your not a diver and just need a holiday in a quiet, peaceful, safe place this beach front resort is a perfect choice to re-charge. ||Covid testing before we returned to the USA was required and was no problem-we had our result in less than an hour. ||We never felt anxious or unsafe-travel was a little different, getting in the water was long over due. ||||A big thank you, to Brian and his family for sharing their slice of paradise at the end...

We read several reviews about this destination and determined EOW would fit our plans for an escape (at least temporarily) from pandemic fatigue, winter doldrums and a busy work schedule. The prospect of a quiet atmosphere, a relaxed pace, the beauty of the Bay Islands and great diving fit the bill. Getting There (and Leaving) – Our host, Capt. Brian, was 100% involved from start to finish. He was in contact with us every step of the way and coordinated our travel to and from the resort once we arrived in Honduras. The requirements for re-entering the US during the pandemic involved receiving a Covid-19 test prior to departure. Capt. Brian personally scheduled our Covid-19 tests and took us to the local health clinic to ensure that the documentation was correct for our departure. Knowing that we had a tight flight schedule for the return home, Capt. Brian stopped into the local airport office the day before we left to confirm our flight was scheduled & on time.

Accommodations – The rooms at EOW are built uphill from the beach and offer an awesome view of the ocean & the surrounding landscape. The elevated location of the rooms also provided for a very pleasant breeze throughout the day & made for comfortable evenings. The rooms were very clean & comfortable & the staff visited daily with fresh bedding & towels (unless you request otherwise).

Food – Capt. Brian is also a master chef! He, along with Stephanie & Ashley, saw to it that we never went hungry! Three delicious homemade meals per day, including fresh vegetables, steak, lobster, shrimp, grouper and of course, specialty cocktails. The outdoor masonry grill is something to see!

Diving – We had 5 days of wonderful diving. It had been 2 years since we had been diving & Brian & Jordy made certain that we were comfortable & well attended to. We only brought our masks & snorkels, which wasn’t a problem since the resort is well equipped with gear that was very well-maintained (BCDs were brand new). Visibility was good to excellent with light to almost no current. The healthy coral, abundant fish and a relaxed pace made every dive a pleasure. Highlights include nurse sharks, green moray, rays, barracuda and turtle. If you visit, make sure to ask for a dive at the extensive swim-throughs, they are fantastic! There are numerous dive sites just minutes from the resort dock so long boat rides weren’t necessary and the surface intervals were spent on several secluded (nobody there but us) beaches close to the dive sites. Can’t say that surface intervals were ever a dive highlight before but these between dive stops were very relaxing and became something to look forward to. Bonus- The snorkeling is great with several sites a short walk from the resort.

BOTTOM LINE – No colored wrist bands here! A personalized diving experience by people who care about where they live, the people they work with, & their guests. Our comfort & satisfaction were their top priority! We arrived as guests, we left as friends! We don’t usually visit the same place twice, but EOW may be...