Las Palmas//Sol Y Mar// Parrot Tree Beach

[brookeq]

We will be in Roatan the first week of April.  We are trying to decide on a beach to go to.
We are on the carnival magic.   There are 3 ships there that day.  (magic, vista, allure of the seas)

A few years at West Bay Beach  at Bananarama.  While it was pretty, it felt very crowded.  I am not sure I would like it over spring break and with three ships.  My husband didn't like being bothered by vendors as soon as he even tried to move from his chair.  We didn't get to snorkel last time because of having young kids.  So i am bummed we missed out on that.

 

We are doing a private tour with Ronys.  We will be going to see the sloths/monkeys first.  And possibly at some point dropping off donations at an orphanage or school.  But wanted some beach time.  He has these three options but I am not finding a ton of information:

las palmas -- is the closest to mahogany bay.  I think Royal Caribbean has an excurison here. 

Parrot Tree Bay -- is a bit further away.  When researching it currently says its not open but will early 2019.

Sol Y Mar -- looks ok

 

I don't know if we should just head back to West Bay Beach (maybe with inifinity day pass) or one of the above.  Has anyone been to one of these three?

 

 

[Guest 2000]

I think it mostly depends on what you seek... if all you need is sea and sand about any beach would do.. yes? 

 

THIS thread has the only info I know about Sol Y Mar. I have not been but I understand it is in Sandy Bay, which has a fair amount of shallows before the water so one would need a pier.. or if playing in the water is not your thing. I s'pose it is possible the dig out some of the shallows.  

 

I would not count of Parrot Tree being open. island time and all that. Parrot TRee has a web site with pics, you will notice they are on the windward side of the island and the water people play in is a man-made Lagoon. I am no longer sure how close food and drive is to the water, last time I was there one had to go up and any from the water. Mind you,  I was only zipping thought on a scooter. 

 

Las Palmas has been around for a long time, has changed hand and its primary name... I am sure you can google pics. It is on the windward side of the island. I think fair close to town and the airport not sure I would want to get in the water. 

 

Ginger's is on Half Moon Bay in West End.. they would be more than happy to food and drink you while you take in the beauty of the bay from your lounger... if you want to swim they have a buoyed section to keep you safe from dive boats.  Sundowner's is also on Half Moon Bay. 

 

I just had another thought, it may be the members of the Trip Advisor Roatan board would be of help.. HERE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 27, 2019 by Guest 2000

[brookeq]

Thanks.  We have a private driver so figure we should get our moneys worth.  I will look into Gingers as a stop.  

[Guest 2000]

If you want to get your money's worth, perhaps you have time to go to Camp Bay....last time I was in the area  there was  one restaurant Las Sernia? and Camp Bay Lodge which had a restaurant.  There have been whispers that maybe Las Sernia is no longer open.  Paya Bay is very close to camp Bay it's actually resort with two different beaches. I stayed there for a week 1 year it was quiet and lovely. There's a steady breeze off the water which keeps the bugs down the snorkeling is not good. 

[c-leg5]

We have been to Sol y mar (recently) and Parrot Tree several years ago. My review if Sol y mar is in above thread as there was little about it when I was researching. I had read Parrot Tree was closed for renovations. I will try and help with any other questions.

 

we are also considering Ginger’s or Buccaneer Bar in West End for our next trip as we found West Bay too busy and not worth the time taken to get there. I would not advise going all the way to Camp Bay on a cruise ship day with the animal encounter you were considering, (possibly with Daniel Johnson) - seems like a lot of traveling from Mahogany Bay.

[goodthatwontcomeout]

We went to Parrot Tree a few years back after it had rained and we couldn't go on our regular scheduled excursion. I wasn't impressed. Nothing super remarkable about it. They had LOTS of jellyfish laying on the beach and also in the water. We got stung a few times. 

[c-leg5]

26 minutes ago, goodthatwontcomeout said:

We went to Parrot Tree a few years back after it had rained and we couldn't go on our regular scheduled excursion. I wasn't impressed. Nothing super remarkable about it. They had LOTS of jellyfish laying on the beach and also in the water. We got stung a few times. 

 

I dont think Parrot Tree is renouned for its beach - it is man- made.

[KelJ]

We went to Sol Y Mar last month.  I personally would not recommend it.  Here is the portion of my review that deals with Roatan and Sol Y Mar:

 

Roatan. We had breakfast in the Windjammer and then walked around the very small port area. We each had a drink at a little outdoor bar and then walked to our designated excursion meeting area. We had prebooked the Sol Y Mar adults only beach day with a meeting time of 10:45 a.m., which was the latest time of the three choices we were given when we booked. At 11:00 a.m. we set off on about a 10-to-15-minute ride in an air conditioned bus to Sol Y Mar. Though a short ride, we were taken through very dirty, unappealing areas of the island. There were junked cars everywhere. Our guide was Nicole, and she was very friendly and informative and ended up being a babysitter to some. All in a day’s work, I suppose.

I have mixed reviews about this place. When we arrived, Nicole walked us to a section of the beach which was very crowded. There were probably more chairs than loungers on this beach, which I thought was odd, but we found two empty loungers and moved them in such a way that one was under a tree and one was partially in the sun. It was cloudy when we arrived but soon became very sunny… and we got the sunburns to prove it!

Our excursion included unlimited drinks and “snacks.” The only snack was nachos, though they ran out of cheese. There was chicken and/or something else set out there as well, but our package didn’t include those food trays (as evidenced by the color of our bracelet), which was fine with us as we purposely had eaten a big breakfast. There were flies all over the food areas and trash areas. The workers kept the food covered until they were serving it. When the woman wasn’t serving food, she was swinging a towel to chase the flies away. 

The bar was separate from the food area but still very close to our beach area, and the drinks were good and strong (and there were no flies). Bar service was very good.

This is a very rocky/shelly beach. I wished I had worn my water shoes (which I had packed for cave tubing in Belize) because it was extremely uncomfortable to walk in bare feet on the sand and in the ocean. On this particular day, the water never was deeper than three feet, no matter how far out you went, and there were no waves whatsoever. In addition to the rocks and shells, there was a lot of nasty seaweed. 

There were some bar waiters coming around to the loungers, and there were natives just over the dividing line of the beach that were selling bracelets and cutting open coconuts and selling them. There was a guy walking around with a big sloth that you could get pictures with (for a tip) and a guy with a small monkey named Kojak who would sit on people’s heads for pictures (also for a tip). We got a few pictures with the monkey.

At first I was very disappointed in this place overall. Then we got in the water to cool off, and I realized the abundance of beautiful shells. We even found a huge, beautiful conch shell. Once I just sat on the ocean floor in a non-seaweedy spot, I found myself really enjoying digging for shells. In fact, I spent too much time, did not reapply sunscreen, and really paid for it the rest of the week. However, I started to have a better opinion of the place. 

While this section of the beach was supposed to be adults only, there were a few little kids on the beach and in the water, but they were no bother at all. Non-motorized activities were included, but we didn’t use any. Also, probably after we were there an hour, the place really cleared out. At 3:00 p.m. we stumbled back (some more than others) to where the bus had dropped us off. We had to wait a few minutes for some stragglers, and then we were taken back to the pier. Nicole told us that she receives no salary and works for tips only. Thankfully, it seemed that everyone was tipping her as they exited the bus.