BDSC
Contributor
So last week we had a group of 15 staying at Anthony's Key Resort. Here's my take.
Airport
We had no real problems at the airport. I will say the processing of folks when arriving and departing is a bit on the slow side (mostly departing is slow) but I kinda expect that in many Caribbean locations. Once we processed through customs and got our luggage there was staff from AK outside with a big sign. You can't miss them. They put us on an air conditioned van and the luggage went into another van and off we went for about a 15 to 20 minute ride to the resort. Overall the airport experience wasn't too bad but don't be in a hurry when leaving because processing back out is a lot slower.
Resort Arrival
They have a fairly brief orientation when you arrive and they give you a rum punch to sip on. If you have already filled out your paperwork before you arrive you won't have much to do. They basically tell you about meal times, where to find everything, and give you your room keys. By the time I arrived out on the key my bag was waiting and they carried it to my room.
Rooms
We stayed in the Deluxe rooms on the Key which are their nicest/largest rooms and are over the water. The room was very large with both a king bed and a double bed. Bathroom was large with plenty of hot water all week. Air conditioner worked very well. Great views out four different windows. These rooms have a large private porch with hammocks and a table with two chairs. Overall these are some of the nicest rooms I have stayed in at any resort. Can't really comment on any of the other room types as all of our group had these rooms. After staying in these, not sure I'd want to stay in anything else.
Food
We all thought the food was excellent. It exceeded our expectations. For breakfast they offered a buffet bar with fruit, cereal, juice, coffee, and various pastries. Then you could order off the menu as well. They had pancakes, omelettes, eggs, sausage, French toast, etc.
For lunch we were usually given three choices to pick from. You usually started with a soup or salad or both if you wanted it and then some sort of fish, chicken, or something else. It was always good.
For dinner again you had at least three choices to pick from. I can tell you they really do a great job with all their fish dishes. For both lunch and dinner you get a dessert. The desserts are simple but tasty.
I thought the portions were more than reasonable and like I said, there were absolutely no complaints from anyone in our group with the food.
Diving
Our group was assigned our own dive boat as we had 13 divers in the group. We had John as our DM and Leo was our boat captain. These two guys were excellent. John doesn't baby sit you once he sees you know how to dive. He does keep a watch to make sure divers are staying off the reefs and if he sees you on the reef, he will give you the sign to come up a little. All the divers are assigned a dive locker and at the end of the dive day you rinse your gear and put it away in your locker. Easy enough and your lockers have a lock and you get the key. I never hesitated to leave all my stuff in there from day to day.
The diving itself was better than I remember. In the past I had been and not seen any turtles or "big stuff". This trip we were seeing turtles on almost every dive. Saw so many big green moray eels that seeing another one was no big deal. We found three frogfish for the week and saw an eagle ray on two different dives. One site in particular was called Pablo's Place and it is as nice a reef in the Caribbean as I have ever been on. Just and incredible dive site. The diving far exceeded our expectations for the week.
I wouldn't hesitate to return to Anthony's Key and Roatan. All in all our group had a great experience.
Airport
We had no real problems at the airport. I will say the processing of folks when arriving and departing is a bit on the slow side (mostly departing is slow) but I kinda expect that in many Caribbean locations. Once we processed through customs and got our luggage there was staff from AK outside with a big sign. You can't miss them. They put us on an air conditioned van and the luggage went into another van and off we went for about a 15 to 20 minute ride to the resort. Overall the airport experience wasn't too bad but don't be in a hurry when leaving because processing back out is a lot slower.
Resort Arrival
They have a fairly brief orientation when you arrive and they give you a rum punch to sip on. If you have already filled out your paperwork before you arrive you won't have much to do. They basically tell you about meal times, where to find everything, and give you your room keys. By the time I arrived out on the key my bag was waiting and they carried it to my room.
Rooms
We stayed in the Deluxe rooms on the Key which are their nicest/largest rooms and are over the water. The room was very large with both a king bed and a double bed. Bathroom was large with plenty of hot water all week. Air conditioner worked very well. Great views out four different windows. These rooms have a large private porch with hammocks and a table with two chairs. Overall these are some of the nicest rooms I have stayed in at any resort. Can't really comment on any of the other room types as all of our group had these rooms. After staying in these, not sure I'd want to stay in anything else.
Food
We all thought the food was excellent. It exceeded our expectations. For breakfast they offered a buffet bar with fruit, cereal, juice, coffee, and various pastries. Then you could order off the menu as well. They had pancakes, omelettes, eggs, sausage, French toast, etc.
For lunch we were usually given three choices to pick from. You usually started with a soup or salad or both if you wanted it and then some sort of fish, chicken, or something else. It was always good.
For dinner again you had at least three choices to pick from. I can tell you they really do a great job with all their fish dishes. For both lunch and dinner you get a dessert. The desserts are simple but tasty.
I thought the portions were more than reasonable and like I said, there were absolutely no complaints from anyone in our group with the food.
Diving
Our group was assigned our own dive boat as we had 13 divers in the group. We had John as our DM and Leo was our boat captain. These two guys were excellent. John doesn't baby sit you once he sees you know how to dive. He does keep a watch to make sure divers are staying off the reefs and if he sees you on the reef, he will give you the sign to come up a little. All the divers are assigned a dive locker and at the end of the dive day you rinse your gear and put it away in your locker. Easy enough and your lockers have a lock and you get the key. I never hesitated to leave all my stuff in there from day to day.
The diving itself was better than I remember. In the past I had been and not seen any turtles or "big stuff". This trip we were seeing turtles on almost every dive. Saw so many big green moray eels that seeing another one was no big deal. We found three frogfish for the week and saw an eagle ray on two different dives. One site in particular was called Pablo's Place and it is as nice a reef in the Caribbean as I have ever been on. Just and incredible dive site. The diving far exceeded our expectations for the week.
I wouldn't hesitate to return to Anthony's Key and Roatan. All in all our group had a great experience.
......Were you on the north side or the west end??....
