Akr?

[Ozwald]

No worries....makes sense.

[jlevine]

SCUBA divers seem to post here on SCUBA Board.

True. The unfortunate drawbacks of SB are the poor search engine and the lack of organization within the forums. In a site like Tripadvisor it's much easier to research individual resorts. Each site has pros and cons.

[Oldbear]

I have been working on an overseas contract in the Middle East for seven years now...when I finish in a few months, this is where I plan to take my girl friend for "Our Time". She is not a diver, but likes to snorkle. Yes I want to treat her to Flipper... Right now the decision is to do the cruise thing (more desinations) or a dedicated AKR trip.

Still have time to decide...enjoy your trip.

~ME~

[tkscuba]

We went to AKR last February for our first official dive trip. It was awesome! A lot of steps, but not a big deal since lockers are down by the boats. BTW the boats are great. The staff at the dive shop were okay unless you had a problem and needed to rent something, then much more helpful. The shark dive was well done and an experience I will never forget. The food was actually quite good and you could choose from 2 main courses each night. Everyone says the bugs are bad but we didn't have any problems with limited bug spray and it was really wet when we were there (we lost a day and a half of diving due to weather, it rained 24" in 36 hours). I would definately recommend AKR to anyone. Service was great and dive sites were only minutes from the dock. Dive masters and boat captains were top notch.

We will go back someday, but we have so many other places we want to go first. Maybe for our 5th or 10th year SCUBA anniversary vacation. You will love it.

[Merfman]

Hey everyone! We're back! I'm going to buck the trend and post a trip report right here on Scubaboard instead of Tripadvisor!

We fled the snow and temps of 10 degrees in Denver and landed in Roatan just a few hours later... after a 20 minute or so bus ride
to AKR we were introduced, rum drink in hand, to the resort at AKR. We found we were assigned to cabin 21, much to our delight,
one of the cabins over the water on the east side. After checking-in we took the water taxi over to the island and found our accommodations
for the week. The interior of the cabin was done in an all-wood style, simple, clean and without phone or TV, bonus! Two hammocks,
two chairs and a rocking chair on the private deck offered an escape from the air-conditioned confines of the room. We slept a couple
nights with the AC off and it was great. The food and service were first rate if a bit Americanized. I'd like to have seen some local
fare offered but everything we received was great! My only complaint to the service staff: We're divers, we drink LOTS of water, leave
a pitcher.

The diving started on Sunday with orientation and explanation of how the operation works. They have it down to a science and it
works great. We were assigned the Stingray and DM Calderon with Captain Dean. Both these guys did an excellent job over
the course of the week. Most the reef diving in Roatan is very similar with a very healthy reef (by all appearances anyway) and lots
of fish life. The reefs at first appeared to be very dull colored but upon reflection, I've come to believe that's mostly due to the depths,
the angle of the sun on the horizon this time of year and the position on the reefs where we normally dove. When the coral was properly
lit with dive/camera lights, they appeared as colorful as any place I've been.

We dove two wrecks while there and both these were great! The highlights for my wife and I however were the shark
and dolphin dive, which are additions to the the normal schedule and normally scheduled dives most likely will need to be sacrificed
in order to enjoy these dives. The shark dive was great but be forewarned: We were told the current could/might be a little
bit extreme but the day we went we were assured it "wasn't bad" As we dropped in and started the descent against the current,
I quickly began to wonder what "bad" conditions might be like. Pulling down against the current was pretty strenuous and I
burned close to 400 pounds just on the descent. Once on the bottom (60') we were protected by a reef shelf that made
observation easier but the current lessened noticeably as we descended. 6 or so sharks arrived for the presentation of brunch
and didn't fail to amaze. There was considerable additional life present as well as the sharks. It was an awesome presentation
and the sharks got as close as inches to us as we swam with them.

The dolphin dive was equally as fun but much less strenuous. We were first taken to the compound where the dolphin
snorkle and other adventures were held. We were taught about the dolphins and got to meet Paya, the alpha male
with an age of 27 years. Once the meet and greet was complete, we reboarded our boat and went to a sandy bottom
area where we interacted with two dolphins for around 25 minutes. Great photo opportunities abound here so don't
forget your camera.

All in all, we had an excellent trip. I'd like to thank Shane from A1 Scuba in Denver for being a great group leader.
I'd also like to thank the entire group for being a great bunch of folks with whom we really enjoyed diving, dining and
relaxing.

Merf

[Oldbear]

Sounds like you had a great time...thanks for the follow-up report.

~Michael~

[Colo Hippie]

Glad to hear AKR is still providing great experiences. We stayed at AKR in September of 2008 and have nothing but great memories. We are currently scheduled to go to Fantasy Island March 24 - 31. I plan on posting a trip report and providing my .02 comparing the 2 resorts even though the trips are a few years apart.


Edit - yes this is my first post - been lurking for way to long