Roatan AKR in Three Weeks

[frameless]

I'm planning a trip to Anthony's Key first week of April. Seems like there are mixed reviews on the resort. First, the accomodations appear to be better on the key rather than the hillside. Any comments would be appreciated. Secondly, how is the dive operation?

Lastly, what should I look out for, ie, cruise boats, snorklers, bugs, food (good or bad)

 

[UnderwaterBumbleBee]

We have a group trip with our local scuba shop booked for AKR in August so we haven't been yet. We are staying on the key in a bungalow, it was just a little more for the key rooms and it seemed worth it. One of our shop instructors will be our "group leader" and she said AKR and Roatan are her favorite place to dive.

I have heard several experiences about bugs however so we'll hopefully be prepared. A couple of girls we traveled with on our last dive trip said the bugs in Roatan were horrible. They met some other people there a week or so after the other couple had arrived and they were totally covered with bites. Our instructor told us to take garlic pills the entire month before we leave and to also coat ourselves with citronella oil when we get out of the water (I've read about people using other types of oil also). Someone else posted somewhere on here not to linger around the the surface after your dive. Get out of the water and put the oil on or spray yourself with DEET insect repellent products.

AKR looks amazing, especially the shark and dolphin dives so I can't wait. Guess I'll find out how we fare...

 

[zinnia7]

We were there in May 2006 and LOVED it! I would go back in a heartbeat IF they wouldn't have raised their rates so much.

We were in a Key Superior room and it was wonderful. I think I would definitely pay extra for the air conditioning hillside or key. I don't know anything about the hillside rooms - I don't even remember seeing them. They were way up in the trees.

The dive operation is top notch. Very organised and well run. We didn't do the shark dive but I've heard it's one of the best. The dolphin dive was incredible!

If you are interested, I have a couple videos from AKR on my youtube page

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=zinnia7

We saw many people covered in bug bites - we left with only a few. We used Cactus Juice religiously during the day and backed that up with DEET in the evenings. Maybe the bugs just don't like us (which is fine with me) but honestly we didn't find them to be that bad.

 

[zinnia7]

Oh and about the cruise ship pod people - if you stay at AKR you won't be bothered by that at all. When we were in Roatan a few years ago we stayed on West Bay Beach and one day during the week (don't remember which day and it's probably more than 1 day now) the beautiful beach was totally taken over. Snorkeling and shore diving was great every other day of the week.

 

[frameless]

Thank you. Great Video. I am staying on the key so it sounds like the rooms are better. However, I'll be in the water more than the room so it doesn't matter.

 

[Doc]

Oh and about the cruise ship pod people - if you stay at AKR you won't be bothered by that at all. When we were in Roatan a few years ago we stayed on West Bay Beach

The majority of income at AKR is generated by Cruise Ship visitors with families, something which can not be seen nor felt while enjoying West Bay.

 

[diver 85]

Get them to send you a copy of their promo tape....the whale shark 'bump' was filmed by our son, Matt......

 

[zinnia7]

The majority of income at AKR is generated by Cruise Ship visitors with families, something which can not be seen nor felt while enjoying West Bay.

Wow...I had a totally different experience on my 2 trips to Roatan. On my first visit I stayed on West Bay Beach and as I said the nice beach was overrun with cruise ship passengers. Granted - it was only 1 day out of the week, but that one day was awful.

At Anthony's Key I guess maybe because the majority of the time I was out on the dive boat, I never noticed any cruise ship people. We did the dolphin dive and snorkel at AKR and were with the same ol dive people we were with all week. I never noticed any interlopers. If AKR does bring in so many cruise ship people they do a good job of managing it because I never even noticed them!

 

[SoCalOffshore]

AKR is very nice. we will be at BIBR April 7 to 14. I cant wait to get back down to Roatan.