As we walked around the West End over the holidays this year, I noticed a lot of change taking place right before our eyes.... West End has changed...and is continuing to do so...The West End is two strips of sandy beach that make up two bays (West End Bay and Half Moon Bay). In between the bays lies a narrow rocky peninsula with several high end villas facing Half Moon Bay. The West End is a unique and very quaint area of Roatan. It is full of cruise boat tourists, dive vacationers, island vacationers and back-packers who wind up staying for a months. It is easy to recognize the back-packer because they usually tend bar or wait tables for a few months and they all congregate at the same little bars on the beach. The various cultures of the transient back-packers, local island people, and mainland Hondurans really make this place a unique island location that everyone MUST visit (not to mention the INCREDIBLE beaches).
The West End is a long strip of dive shops, restaurants, souvenir shops, bars, duty free shopping areas, scooter rentals, and musical venues among other things. The road is made of dirt lined with everything from shacks, bed and breakfast houses, 6-8 room boutique hotels, wood patio restaurants and beach bars, and beautiful thatched roofed island style courtyard shops. At any giving point you will find a multitude of people walking up and down the little dirt road. During the rainy season the dirt road is full of pot holes that look like little swimming pools (beware of the taxi in a hurry or you will get splashed). The little dirt road is not very wide so people have to share the road with cars. However, the pits and pools in the road make it virtually impossible for a car to go more than 5 mph. without leaving the car’s suspension, engine, transmission, cargo in the truck bed spread out all over the road. When there are four days of sunshine the road quickly because very flat and dry making it a pleasant smooth drive. When the days are sunny and bright the little dirt road is full of people in flip flops and toting shopping bags, dive gear or even a margarita (no problem drinking alcohol while walking on the road, just no glass containers). There is a tussle between the various shop owners on cementing the road or keeping it dirt. There are pros and cons to both… Some shop owners think that the cement roads will bring more people, and thus more revenue. I on the other hand, want to keep the West End a dirt road lined with all kinds of quaint buildings just as it is today. It is hard to find a real island gem where cultures blend together. It is impossible to walk down the West End and think you are walking down a Miami shopping thorough fare. If you want a cement street with shops go to um….. anywhere in the United States.
Small shacks, outdoor patios, cabanas, two story wood buildings, cement Spanish style buildings, thatched roofed wood structures are found up and down the West End. You will not find a 4 star hotel or restaurant. Instead you will find a US $2.00 crab stew with rice served from a local island person out of a shack. You can also find $5.00 hamburger and fries on indoor/outdoor patios on the beach. You can even spend upwards to $16.00 for a great steak or fish. There are many hostiles and bed and breakfasts on the dirt road that have rates from $15 - $80 a night. Most hotels only have a handful of rooms. The bigger restaurants usually convert into a night club during the evening hours. The Bali styled thatched roof courtyard contains a swim up bar, live music, steak house, Bali style furniture store, and rumor has it that the Bay Island Creamery is moving to the courtyard serving fantastic ice cream/gelato and Honduran coffee. A must do if it the rumor comes to fruition…
There are many bars and restaurants in the West End. Most of them are pretty small bars with a very limited number of bar stools. There is not a big bar/restaurant like a Sr. Frogs, but no doubt at some point there will have to be one. Parking in the West End is limited, but there is a big parking lot behind the Palms that has not really been discovered. The Palms is a new development with still some bar and restaurant space available. I don’t know if the parking lot will be for busses only or not, but time will tell. Land in the West End is hard to come by. Most of the vacant land has been built on. There are two waterfront lots (about 160 feet of waterfront) still available on the North part of the West End. The lot could be ideal to build a small condo complex, small resort or a magnificent house.