Snorkel or dive with dolphins?

Is AKR the only/best place to do this? Which experience is more intimate? Anyone done both, which was preferred? Price?

For the last two weeks, we had "free" access to Flipper(s) who joined us, predictably, about 5 minutes East of CoCoView.

If you are asking if the AKR is the only paid Dolphin encounter, I believe that would be a "yes". I know they thought of moving a part of it to Mahogany Bay (the Cruise Ship disgorgement station), but I do not believe that has been put on simmer.

As far as the difference between "encounter" and "dive", the encounter (snorkel) allows for a lot of touchy-feely and is cheaper than the dive- where they might stay and play or flit by. The dive gives many divers the opportunity to take pictures that would simulate a natural wild encounter.

Yes, I am jaded.

As far as the difference between "encounter" and "dive", the encounter (snorkel) allows for a lot of touchy-feely and is cheaper than the dive- where they might stay and play or flit by. The dive gives many divers the opportunity to take pictures that would simulate a natural wild encounter.

Yes, I am jaded.[/QUOTE]

I did an encouter in Playa del Carmen when I was younger, we were just able to pet them, and they pushed us up on our feet across the pool etc, I think snorkeling with them might be a little more personal and like you said, touchy feely! Do you remember what the price was? I didn't see it listed on AKR's website.

There was a group at CCV our last trip who had all done both... they preferred the snorkel experience. They said the dive you actually don't even see the dolphins much, they swim around in and out of sight, so you may only get them pass by your for seconds at a time. The snorkel is the touchy-feely encounter.

Just to clarify, there's actually 3 programs.

Dolphin Beach Encounter - Anthony's Key Resort - Roatan - Honduras
Dolphin Snorkel & Swim - Anthony's Key Resort - Roatan - Honduras
Dolphin Dives - Anthony's Key Resort - Roatan - Honduras

They said the dive you actually don't even see the dolphins much, they swim around in and out of sight, so you may only get them pass by your for seconds at a time.

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I'm not sure what they saw but this AKR video is more like our experience. And they do cruise by quite a bit but generally within viewing once they settle down. Actually some of the best video I've got is panning as they go by. At the start of the dive you also go out to the pens to meet your dolphins - about 10mins. sitting on the dock. IIRC they didn't want us to put our feet in the water but you could reach down and pet them.



On our dive - it's not typical - the lead dolphin decided to stay behind. And the two younger ones took that as an opportunity to do a little exploring. So we didn't see any dolphins for about the 1st ten minutes.

But you probably don't get shots like this on the snorkel either - no cameras allowed during the 30mins. in the pens.

Price?

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Unless it's gone up, like $135 for the dive, $85-90 for the snorkel. We paid $128? several years ago but there's resort tax.

Sorry diversteve, I may have stolen 10 minutes you paid for. We found out that during those first ten minutes of the dolphin dive, they usually shoot over to the El Aguila and do laps around the wreck. We happened to splash on El Aguila right as the AKR boat was pulling up at their mooring a little ways away and we were treated to a nice little visit by them. Totally unexpected but definitely something I won't forget as it's the only dolphins I've seen thus far on SCUBA. It was definitely AKR's dolphins as well because after those few minutes they shot straight back towards where AKR was moored and our Captain spoke to the AKR Captain about it as we pulled away and he said that's normal. Cmneus- that was a dive with Native sons and we left about 30min earlier than they normally do that day. Might be worth trying to catch for free if they can get everyone loaded early enough for the wreck dive

diversteve:

I'm not sure what they saw but this AKR video is more like our experience. And they do cruise by quite a bit but generally within viewing once they settle down.

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Man, that looks amazing. Do you know what depth you were at for the dolphin dive? Our underwater camera goes to 45 feet (we bought it before diving was a consideration...oops. Should have gone with a Go pro...).



These are the prices Anthony's Key quoted us:
Dolphin dive $110 plus 12%tax-guest and $137 plus 12%tax-outside guest
Dolphin swim $83 plus 12%tax-guest and $103 plus 12%tax-outside guest
Dolphin encounter $50 plus 12%tax-guest and $62 plus 125tax-outside guest.



I'm trying to decide if we should book it as a cruise ship excursion: ($109 encounter, $149 snorkel, $159 dive!!!) or hope we make it back to Roatan for a diving trip someday.


I'm leaning towards the dive, because a) I'd love to see the dolphins play the way they want to, not necessarily interact with me, b) gives me a chance to do a dive- and living in Iowa, I won't get many!

My wife did the snorkel encounter and liked it well. She did say after a few minutes the dolphins had silted things up pretty bad so viz was not very good. I did the dolphin dive and I thought it was really great. Two dolphins went on the trip and they stayed near our small dive group most of the time. We moved into the current which kept the viz good for the whole dive. One of my friends did the dolphin dive a few years ago and the dolphins never showed up. I don't think they were refunded any cost of the dive.

Skittl1321:

Man, that looks amazing. Do you know what depth you were at for the dolphin dive? Our underwater camera goes to 45 feet (we bought it before diving was a consideration...oops. Should have gone with a Go pro...).

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60' sitting on the sand.

I'm trying to decide if we should book it as a cruise ship excursion: ($109 encounter, $149 snorkel, $159 dive!!!) or hope we make it back to Roatan for a diving trip someday.

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Does that include the ride? Seems a little pricey to me. Almost anywhere on Roatan was $10 for a shared van ride - the cruise operators get much better discounts.

If you were just going for the dolphin dive in the morning you might consider is taking a cab to AKR, diving with the dolphins, then cab over to the West End, look around, shop, get lunch then head back. There's only two main ways from either port - the same road goes from the port(s) to AKR then continues on to the West End. Driving back you can also go through Flowers Bay to see more of the island. Cab prices go up when your ship docks but I'd guess it's about $25 each way. A ride from the Airport to the West End is fixed at $25 - similar distance. Negotiate up-front. The ride from AKR to the West End is 5 minutes. You overpaid at $10. I've gone both ways for $6 once.

Of course this plan assumes you aren't carrying a lot of gear.

The Taxi stand for the West End is in the heart of town where the road enters - across from Coconut Tree Divers. Cabs were always there during daylight. If not they're the little white Nissan's with the numbers on the sides driving up and down the street you're walking on - there's only one main road.

I'm leaning towards the dive, because a) I'd love to see the dolphins play the way they want to, not necessarily interact with me, b) gives me a chance to do a dive- and living in Iowa, I won't get many!

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That was our thought also. The pens are IMO pretty depressing. Also when we met our dolphins at the pens, the water wasn't real clear - IDK if they'd just had an encounter though - the place was deserted except for our group.

diversteve:

Does that include the ride? Seems a little pricey to me. Almost anywhere on Roatan was $10 for a shared van ride - the cruise operators get much better discounts.

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Yeah, it does include transportation- but it is common for cruise ship excursions to cost way more than if you can book by yourself. But AKR won't book with cruisers since they contract through the ship. Since it is 60', I think we'll wait until we can afford a dive camera and just do it on a dive trip to Roatan. And not pay cruise prices.

We'll just do a normal 2 tank dive with an op in Roatan for a more reasonable, though dolphin-less, price.

Thanks for the taxi info- apparently they rip cruisers off on that too, because the taxi prices we've been seeing on cruise boards are insane. Looks like we may need to figure out a land vacation and go back!