Thumbs up to Anthony's Key Resort

designbysue · Feb 9, 2013

Just returned from a week at ARK and want to praise them for an excellent experience. Every staff member there was wonderful. From the diving, to the food, to the accommodations, everything was wonderful. Their set up is great, you are assigned a boat for the week and can dive every dive that you want to - 3 or 4 a day, no limit and no charge for "extra" dives. Because my buddy and I dive a lot, we always end up spending hundred's of dollars in dives beyond that offered in the packages we book elsewhere, so this we great for us. Also the nitrox was for the week - so the more you dived, the less expensive each tank was. We also did the Dolphin Encounter and Snorkel with RIMS and had a real intimate experience with a lot of dolphins (if you go be sure to dive down and grab some sea grass to play with them). Only drawback is the 75 steps to our room - but we could live with that!

Highest praise to AKR - We will be back.

Sue

Doctorfish · Feb 13, 2013

This may stir up some controversy but;

I'm curious as to whether the dolphins are captive or free in the ocean. If captive, given the violence that goes into dolphin capture and the cruelty of keeping sapient animals in captivity, why frequent this resort when there are other choices?

smokey braden · Feb 13, 2013

doctorfish,
have you been to AKR?
while i was there it was clear that the dolphins can leave anytime they want to.
in fact one did.
the next day they had to open the gate to let him back in.

nimoh · Feb 13, 2013

smokey braden:
doctorfish,
have you been to AKR?
while i was there it was clear that the dolphins can leave anytime they want to.
in fact one did.
the next day they had to open the gate to let him back in.

If they have to open a gate to let the dolphins in, how do the dolphins get out?

designbysue · Feb 13, 2013

I suggest you do some research on RIMS to calm your concerns. Basically yes the dolphins are in a "pen" but could at anytime get over the "wall". They are taken out on dives with divers and allowed to swim free - and leave if they were to so choose, and the stories are told that some have left, only to return days later. Again before this gets to be one of those posts that simply started as a positive statement about a great dive resort and turns into something ugly, research RIMS.

LoveOceanicGears · Feb 13, 2013

I was at AKR with LDS last April. According to LDS owner, who has been to AKRS many times, dolphins are free to go and come back. From time to time, when AKR does a head count on dolphins, sometimes they find there are less dolphins, sometimes they find more dolphins because dolphins bring their friends back from wild.

If I remembered correctly, door is one way. Dolphins can swim out freely but human needs to open the door for dolphins to swim in. This is done so predators won't swim in and hunt dolphins.

During my stay, I did a dolphin dive. One dolphin spent more time playing with a diver in our group than with the trainer. It was pretty amazing.

nimoh · Feb 13, 2013

LoveOceanicGears:
I was at AKR with LDS last April. According to LDS owner, who has been to AKRS many times, dolphins are free to go and come back. From time to time, when AKR does a head count on dolphins, sometimes they find there are less dolphins, sometimes they find more dolphins because dolphins bring their friends back from wild.

If I remembered correctly, door is one way. Dolphins can swim out freely but human needs to open the door for dolphins to swim in. This is done so predators won't swim in and hunt dolphins.

During my stay, I did a dolphin dive. One dolphin spent more time playing with a dive in our group than with the trainer. It was pretty amazing.

I don't know nearly enough to make any comments on AKR's treatment of dolphins, my earlier question was just for clarification, and thanks for answering it.

I hadn't considered the possibility of a one-way door, and makes perfect sense.

Doctorfish · Feb 13, 2013

Not trying to turn post into something ugly. Just want to know if dolphins were captive or not. The fact that they can leave any time through one way gate does not answer how they got there in the first place. I assume they were captured in the wild and then trained and rewarded to stay and interact with humans.

Lorenzoid · Feb 13, 2013

Doctorfish, if you are interested in the dolphin issue, why not start a thread on it? Sue's trip report shouldn't be an opportunity to investigate AKR's practices. If you want to research what AKR does, you can do so and include it in your thread. I'd be interested to read it. Just not here.

nimoh · Feb 13, 2013

Doctorfish:
Not trying to turn post into something ugly. Just want to know if dolphins were captive or not. The fact that they can leave any time through one way gate does not answer how they got there in the first place. I assume they were captured in the wild and then trained and rewarded to stay and interact with humans.

I don't think you can assume that they were captured in the wild based on the information provided in this thread.

Perhaps they were coaxed in with free food, and then why would they leave if they had free food? Or, perhaps they were rescued from somewhere else?

I am all for animal rights, but I don't assume some atrocity has occurred anytime "dolphin" and "fence" are mentioned in the same paragraph. I think the biggest danger to these dolphins is if the resort closes down and stops providing food, the dolphins might be at a disadvantage going back into the wild if they have come to depend on the resort for food.I am all for animal rights, but I don't assume some atrocity has occurred anytime "dolphin" and "fence" are mentioned in the same paragraph. I think the biggest danger to these dolphins is if the resort closes down and stops providing food, the dolphins might be at a disadvantage going back into the wild if they have come to depend on the resort for food.

Thumbs up to Anthony's Key Resort

Please register or login

designbysue

Contributor

Doctorfish

Contributor

smokey braden

Contributor

nimoh

Contributor

designbysue

Contributor

LoveOceanicGears

Contributor

nimoh

Contributor

Doctorfish

Contributor

Lorenzoid

ScubaBoard Supporter

nimoh

Contributor

Similar threads