Anse Chastenet vs. AKR

[KidK9]

My fiancee and I are currently trying to come up with a place for our Honeymoon. We are considering Anse Chastenet vs. Anthony's Key Resort. Of course we are comparing things such as romance, diving, topside activities such as horses or canopy tours, as well as dining. Does anyone have any thoughts. I guess, unfortunately, I have a dove a broad spectrum of places, so I'm looking for diving that is in the range of Turks and Caicos or Bahamas. I'll welcome all thoughts and suggestions!

 

[Alex777]

My Dad used to work at Anse Chastenet but (Sorry, Dad) I'm gonna have to vote for AKR.

I have dived at AKR (Roatan, N side) and in the area of St. Lucia around Anse Chastenet - AKR definitely offers better diving. There is simply more marine life about. Roatan diving is more or less on a par with the Turks & Caicos (where I have also dived).

St. Lucia is a wonderful island, more interesting than Roatan, but AKR has some great top side activities: check out the Dolphin Research Center, for example. And be sure to rent one of those cottages on the small island just off-shore - sufficiently romantic that it may reduce the number of dives you get in.

 

[MaresMan1]

KK9,

This is a hard one to answer for all of the personal choice reasons but..........

You will not find anything in Honduras as romantic as several resorts on St. Lucia (IMHO), including Anse (Ladera, Rendezvous). The hotel is beautiful, very romantic with a lot of amenities (but it can be a bit pricey). The horseback riding on St. Lucia is fantastic and the diving (mostly wall) is really great with loads of reef life, color and critters. Don't know if there are any zip line canopy tours on St. Lucia though. Dining is another great area on St. Lucia with a nice assortment of resturants and styles.

If you are looking for a more layed back Honeymoon, then AKR is your place. Things are a bit closer but you do not have the variety that you have on St. Lucia. However, if diving is your main concern then go with AKR.

I would also advise using the cabs (or water taxi's on St. Lucia) to get around in both places as the roads can be quite challenging. You are there to enjoy your honeymoon.

Good luck with whichever you choose and have a wonderful honeymoon.

http://www.ladera.com/ Beautiful and no fourth wall
http://www.honeymoonsinc.com/Page2824.aspx for Rendezvous couples only, all inclusive

Cheers!

Dive Smart; Dive Safe
Enjoy the ride
MM1 :14:

 

[trigfunctions]

St. Lucia is INCREDIBLE, topside and underwater. Look at my avatar - you won't see anything like that in Roatan. Roatan is great underwater and so-so topside. Anse Chastenet is beautiful and you can snorkel and dive right off the beach. I really doubt that you would be disappointed in the diving. The snorkeling in the protected area right off of Anse Chastenet is amazing.

 

[barrmust]

depending on when you are looking to go ance has construction going on right now. i was in st lucia 2 weeks ago and when we went buy it they were expanding the resort. we stayed in marrigot bay and that was a very nice area to vacation in. the people were nice, the area was lush and beautiful and the diving was nice. the dive operation picked me up at the ferry dock right in front of our house.

Russ

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

Have been to both. If its all about romance with some good diving thrown in then its Anse Chastanet. If its all about great diving with some romance thrown in then its AKR. Personally if it were my honeymoon there is no doubt that Anse Chastanet is the better choice.

 

[divingjd]

The previous post pretty much sums up my view on Anse Chastenet and AKR. I loved both places, but for me there would be no question: Anse Chastenet would be the choice for the honeymoon and AKR would be my preference for a dive vacation.

 

[Jasonmh]

Have been to both. If its all about romance with some good diving thrown in then its Anse Chastanet. If its all about great diving with some romance thrown in then its AKR. Personally if it were my honeymoon there is no doubt that Anse Chastanet is the better choice.

I agree with this, although since my wife and I had our honeymoon on St. Lucia I might be biased. If the diving is the most important thing then AKR, if the honeymoon is the most important thing with some decent diving thrown in, then St. Lucia.

 

[KidK9]

You guys always seem to stear me right. Thank you very much for your replies and I look forward to hearing anymore if anyone else would like to post.

 

[jeffrey-c]

Can't comment on AKR, but we stayed at Anse Chastenet a few years ago in April. Overall, we thought it was so-so.

The food was pretty good, not great, but better than the average Caribbean resort. Views from the upper rooms were very nice, although we found ourselves staying at the beach all day and not hiking back and forth to the room since it was quite hilly.

I found the lack of AC a little uncomfortable, but not too bad, but my wife was bothered more by it. The biggest disadvantage we found was without AC it was harder to control the bugs, and St. Lucia does have a lot of bugs. My wife freaked out a little when she figured out what that cute romantic netting hanging around the bed was really for. And that it was really needed.

The diving was good, with nice short boat rides and not too many divers on a boat. The best part was the reef right off their beach which offered some good shore dives and endless hours of snorkeling. Pretty good corals and small critters, but not extraordinary.

We also found the locals in St. Lucia to be a bit cool. They weren't hostile or anything, but in some islands they seem to welcome tourists and are much friendlier. We also found that there were always people on Anse Chastenet's beach trying to sell us something - we'd have to go all the way to the far end to be able to lay on the beach without being pestered every 15 minutes.

Perhaps the telltale sign for us was that we haven't been back, whereas there are a number of other places on other islands we've returned to a number of times.