Diving Trip to Roatán (Honduras)
This year’s Christmas present to ourselves was a week-long pre-holiday scuba diving trip to Roatan, one of Honduras’ Bay Islands. Roatán is known as a Caribbean dive mecca, part of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System that borders Mexico, Belize and Honduras. The region boasts healthy coral reefs occupied by a multitude of fishes, corals, sponges and other sea creatures; a place where we could add to our dive skills and underwater experiences.
Our expectation was that we would see a variety of fishes, try new new types of dives (including night dives and sunken-wreck dives), experience new dive sites and even try a dive with sharks. We did all of this and it proved to be an unparalleled experience, made even better by staying at terrific dive resort and sharing time with some wonderful people.
Caribbean Dive Mecca
This was our third scuba trip together and it was the best. Most of the credit for that goes to Anthony’s Key Resort (referred to as AKR), an extremely organized and comfortable venue with an atmosphere that is warm and intimate. The diving was great, but combining that with an exceptional dining room, clean, comfortable living quarters, the camaraderie of truly interesting people and an attentive support staff, made this trip special.
Almost all the lodging at AKR is on its own island (or key), about 75 yards from the shore and accessible by a water taxi that runs 24 hours a day. Each of the 56 bungalows on Anthony’s Key is spacious,clean and air conditioned, with an attached porch jutting out over the water. The key features a pool, bar and spa, but most of our non-sleeping time was spent on shore where the brand new dining room, a second bar, dive shop, a fleet of dive boats and associated shops are located.
There is also a second nearby key (Bailey’s Key) that is part of the resort. This is where dolphin pens are located for those who wish to watch the dolphins train or who wanted to swim with them.
The organization of activities was nothing short of spectacular, considering that the dive shop had to manage a fleet of boats (at least 6 dive boats) that ventured out on 3-4 dives per day, their crews (divemaster and captain) and all the rental dive gear for dozens of divers, while conducting a safe diving experience at tens of dive sites operating simultaneously. If that juggling act was not enough, they had to incorporate additional events like night and shark dives, and a midday excursion to Maya Caye for a picnic lunch and visit without disrupting the schedule. To their credit, everything ran on time; scuba tanks and equipment were always ready when the divers got on the boats.
We lucked out with the weather since December is still considered the rainy season in Honduras. We had a mostly sunny week and the only significant rain only hit us overnight. Daytime temperatures hovered around 80oF and water temperatures averaged 83o, making for comfortable diving.
Perhaps it was the luck of the draw, but we really enjoyed getting to know the other divers on our boat. Obviously, we shared had a common interest, but everyone was especially helpful and encouraging at all times. That experience was the same when we took a different boat (with additional divers) for the shark dive. The camaraderie was instantly warm and friendly.
We realize that the actual dives will only be of interest to some readers; we describe them on separate pages, with links below:
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If there were flaws at Anthony’s Key we did not experience them. Amazingly, we did not hear a single complaint about AKR the entire week, which we believe speaks volumes.
