Roatan- Anthony's Key Resort trip report

We just got back from a fabulous week at AKR. The diving, location and staff were incredible. The food was top notch. We were diving with our children ages 11 and 14. The dive staff made us feel safe on every dive. Our divemaster, Wendell Omar Woods and our boat Captain, Tyrone were awesome. Since you dive with the same people everyday on the same boat you really make some nice connections and that made the diving get more comfortable everyday.

We took advantage of the shark dive/dolphin dive combo for $150 each. They were really fun.. the shark dive was a little stressfull because of the number of sharks and the volume of fish that were present. We did have three divemaster types with us, however, I probably would not do that again .

We took a walk towards Coxen Hole on a dirt road just on the other side of the RIMS. There is some pretty profound poverty mixed with some huge houses. We felt safe and everyone was really nice. You get a feel more for the locals just by the walk. There is also a small shop that has pop, chips etc just steps of the property. You save about 75% if you shop there plus help out the locals. We took a cab to West End and walked around. On our last day we rented a car from Island rentals for $40 and drove all the way to Punta Gorda . It was fun to explore and see the non tourist side of Roatan.

One thing about AKR that we found difficult was the tipping policy. There are so many nice staff that you wanted to give everyone a tip. The staff does rely on the tip because the salarys are appparently low. If we went again I would try to take tshirts, socks, hats, boxers etc that you could pick up at Old Navy on sale to give to the staff members and then just cash tip the divemaster and captain. Just and idea.

If anyone is going to AKR and could take a package to Wendell for us that would be great . We have some wetsuits that our kids have out grown and it is hard to get a package through. I would love to mail the suits to someone in the states to make sure that Wendell could get them for his own kids. He is wanting to start to teach his 11 year old son to dive so he can train to become a divemaster. We really got attached to our divemaster and his family. He and his wife both work to put the kids in private schools which is 450 dollars/month. A huge amount in Roatan.

Thanks in advance if anyone can help. Roatan is awesome and I can't wait to go back!

Holmespoint:

One thing about AKR that we found difficult was the tipping policy. There are so many nice staff that you wanted to give everyone a tip. !

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Please explain. ... & Thanks for posting the report.

I guess the problem is they ask you to tip, at the end of your stay, anyone who you feel has given you good service. That is from the luggage staff, to your meal servers , the person who cleans your room, the guys who run the water taxi, the dive staff , front desk staff, etc. They are all great and friendly and really seem to be good people. Of course it is optional, but the American "tip" mode kicks in and ouch! We ended up tipping the cleaners, wait staff, divemaster, boat captian , luggage guys and the water taxi guys, that was around $125 for each traveler on our trip . Maybe that was to little or to much ? I still had a great time, love Roatan, would go back in a second. It might be my favorite place ever compared to Europe, Aruba, Cozumel, Costa Rica, Argentina and the good ole USA!!!
Beth

The resort I'm used to suggests 10% of your landd package price, about $90, tossed into a "communal tip jar". We do that and give the Boat Captain $30 and DM $30 each. They always earn their tip, no doubt. Going to and from the airport, our bags are untouched by us at any time, we never touch them, period. We give the bag guys $5/bag each time.

That's $90 + $60 + $20 = $170

I don't think you were all that far off, it's just that some other places make it a hell of a lot easier to see that everyone including the folks you don't even see... get compensated.

thanks for such and indepth trip report- and the honest comments about the tip situation. It can be difficult, and the idea of taking gifts to leave is a good one- there are many things which are greatly recieved by those working in the service industry in island communities.

Tipping is a cheap way to help these people get a little extra money in their pocket.

We just got back from a weeklong trip to Cozumel over christmas holidays.

Before we left on the trip, I went and got 100 $1 bills, and 20 $5's at the bank..........

$200 in tip money over a week really isn't that much, and it was fun always having a couple extra bucks in my pocket for all the people that work their butts off so you can have a fun fun holiday experience.

Thanks for the AKR resort trip report.......we'll be going there sometime soon as it sounds like a great cheap place to stay for their all inclusive all dives included week long package deals.

If it can wait, I live in Seattle and I am headed to Roatan in June of this year. If you find someone going sooner, no sweat. But wanted to offer. Sounds like you had a great time!!

Thank you so much for your offer. I will let you know if I haven't gotten the suits to Roatan by June. If I do get an earlier offer for the wetsuits, maybe you could take some tennis shoes for the kids. Apparently it is $20.00 for a pair of kids shoes. Pretty expensive for him! Thanks, Beth

Hi, I just want to add my voice to the original poster's two main points: Anthony's Key is a magical resort, and it's a wonderful gesture to send items to the Honduran families if you can. I will be leading a group of more than 20 divers to AKR in August (my 11th time on the island, 9th at Anthony's Key) and will definitely be transporting some donations. If anyone would like to add some unneeded items (shirts, caps, toys and vitamins are among the most common requests) I will be more than happy to take them with us. Just drop me a note and we'll figure it out.

Hmm.. What can one expect to pay for "adult beverages" here?