AKR, FIBR, Bananarama - which is best and why?

[weaponeer]

Planning a trip to Roatan with the wife, both divers, no kids. I've been reading up on dive resorts there and have narrowed it down to these 3. I know the diving will be great at any of these resorts so I'm more interested in the "topside" details.

Particularly, the extent of dealing with bugs both outside and in, power outages, low water pressure for bathing and general room amenities. Meal quality is also important. If it were me alone, I wouldn't care so much, but I need to make this a great trip for my better half. We're celebrating our 25th anniversary with this trip and I want to minimize problems topside so we can concentrate on getting some great diving in. Planning on going during October 2010.

For those that have been there, help me pick one of these resorts, please.

 

[seahorsey]

Been at BR and love love love the dive shop. Personal attention all the way, much smaller than the other two. More say in where you'll go. Very safety conscious and knowledgeable about the area and dive sites. Resort, staff very nice and helpful. Food though, hmm. If you're not afraid of grease and love plantains with everything you will be fine, but don't expect any light choices. They do mix the best Pina Coladas at the bar! The Island Pearl on the same property has international fancy food, for a price. There is a handful of other restaurants along West Bay Beach to choose from, within 5 min walking or so. I like Bite on the Beach for it's scenery and salads. If you go for a night snorkel there you'll see all the moray eels of West Bay come for their supper. And some octopus and beaded sea cucumber, too, and maybe a scorpion fish or sharptailed eel. Beach: white, wide, fine sand, turquoise water, scrupulously clean, and halfway deserted most of the time - none of the others will be able to match West Bay Beach, its the best beach on the island. IMHO. They spray, so there is no sandfly problem, but bugs, yeah, you better spray yourself...couldn't say MORE mosquito than I've seen at AKR or on the south side, but there are some, no doubt. BR is prettier than AKR, but haven't stayed at FIBR.

 

[LynnB]

Well I just booked our first trip to FIBR. We fell in love with Roatan on a cruise in 08 and went back last summer for a week. And here we go again.
While I don't know a lot about the places you ask I will tell you what I have felt.
We stayed at Las Rocas in West Bay and really enjoyed it. If you just want to do a couple of dives a day West Bay was great. There are several restaurants up and down the the beach but not a lot to do when not diving. We usually ended up doing more than our 2 boat dives a day that were included and then when you add food and everything it gets a little pricy.
Yes the beaches are very beautiful but use bug spray or Cactus Juice,
We did a dive with AKR from our cruise and it is really nice there. We had thought about staying there. But when we went there with our college children last year to show it to them and see the dolphin show it seemed very crowded. A lot of the cruise ships have excursions there so it was pretty packed with people and kids......I was glad we had not stayed there.
And last I have never done FIBR but am very excited to have a total all inclusive where I can just dive, eat and sleep....As long as I have a clean bed and some food (of which I am not picky) I am happy. Oh and from what they say some of the best diving and shore diving on Roatan.
Lynn

 

[becndov]

I have only been to FIBR so I can give you my experience from there. The diving was awesome with a great dive staff and easy schedule to make the three daily boat dives. They spray the beach every morning at around 6 AM for better or worse. Not sure I like the idea of all the chemicals but between the spraying and the breeze I only put on insect repellent once the whole week and that was near the beginning. The rooms were clean with AC, a TV and fresh water provided in a mini fridge. Water pressure was not great and hot showers were a rare thing but there was only one cool day where I really missed having a hot shower. The food I would give a five out of ten with select items being a seven or eight. It is buffet style so unless someone is very picky they can always find something to eat, at least some ice cream which was awesome. If cost is a factor FIBR is definitely the way to go, but just understand you get what you pay for.

 

[CODMAN]

FIBR, the best (in my oppinion) deal for price/ quality/ quantity of diving... But... Food... I gave it a 3 out of 10 stars (I'm hard to please food wise)... Rooms are clean and most are OK (ask for the new section near the dinning area), but not always with hot water and also the occasional problem...

These things didn,t bother me because 1- It was an incredible deal, 2- I was there for the diving above anything else.

If those items are important for you (more than the $$ and the diving), I'd say try AKR. if not FIBR is hard to beat...

Just my 0.02$

 

[Doc]

Three very different places, each has it's attraction.

For me, it would also boil down to economy of diving, because when I go, I want maximum bottom time. This can add-up in price, especially when someone is keeping tally of your dives, or when there is no shore diving. The only legit shore dive in the three is from FIBR. Look with care at the pix of the dive boats that are used for daily guests. Look & search elsewhere on this forum for detailed descriptions of dive site styles, geography and critters that vary greatly between FIBR and the other two. There is no one that is better, but I will assure you that there are extreme differences.

If you want no more than two dives a day, going to a place where you have just such an "X" number of dives included in the weekly package often makes sense. I would start doing the math with Bananarama, figuring that the dives were going to cost me $27 each. The math gets complex, but the other two show dives as "included" pricing. Paper and pencil time?

As far as sand flies, it is utterly dependent upon the breezes, rainfall and your luck. Because of it's geography, likely AKR has the potential for greatest exposure. (Lots of moist decaying vegetable matter, shady areas, still air) FIBR is probably the most sand fly free, due to it's breezy location, and also unfortunately due to the daily chemical spraying.

There is an additional factor, important also if the first consideration- the amount of diving, isn't such a big issue. If you are looking for diversions outside of the dive-dive-dive, all three choices are okay, but the location of Bananarama puts you in the center of where Roatan's diversions spring forth... the West End. It is the concentration of bars, shops, and touristy attractions for the island... still, don't expect Cozumel (and thanks for that!).

 

[Reef Tank]

FIBR, the best (in my oppinion) deal for price/ quality/ quantity of diving... But... Food... I gave it a 3 out of 10 stars (I'm hard to please food wise)... Rooms are clean and most are OK (ask for the new section near the dinning area), but not always with hot water and also the occasional problem...

These things didn,t bother me because 1- It was an incredible deal, 2- I was there for the diving above anything else.

If those items are important for you (more than the $$ and the diving), I'd say try AKR. if not FIBR is hard to beat...

Just my 0.02$

Yes, doesn't every dive location require a bit of thick skin? How many good dive locations have US Hilton quality? The only question, I think, should be about dive quality, dive shop facilities, and safety; maybe a little conversation about food.

 

[weaponeer]

Thanks for all the input. I'm beginning to lean toward FIBR. Is the food there more the "fast food" variety? If so, I feel we'll end up staying hungry because we just don't eat much fried foods or burgers. Haven't been in a McDonalds, Wendys or the like in decades. Salads, fruit, pasta and rice dishes are fine, and grilled meats are ok too. My wife is the main concern with food. I'm retired Navy, have plenty of experience eating whatever is served, and my system functions fine on it. My wife is a different story - not eating the right balance will stop her up tight and she'll be miserable for the week. She's also a runner which helps her stay regular and I know she won't be doing any running in Roatan. 3 of 10 stars for food quality at FIBR concerns me. Ice cream, huh - that'll work.

I'm not at all worried about the diving. I'm sure that wherever we end up it will be great. We are not beginner divers - I'm Rescue and my wife is Advanced cert with plenty of dives in the 80 to 100 fsw range, including wrecks. I also do photography and we own all gear required. I expect that 2-3 dives a day will be fine and if I find myself bored after that a good shore dive will be the answer, which looks like FIBR is best situated.

We'll be sure to bring some insect repellent with DEET wherever we end up.

Night life and shopping are not concerns. We aren't big partiers or shoppers. A quiet evening and a cool beer or wine after a day of diving is perfect for us. We'll be sacked out by 10pm.

 

[SEVADiver]

The wife and I (both divers) made our first trip to Roatan for our 32nd anniversary in April of this year, so I have been through your same decision process about nine months ago. After much research, mainly on this site, I had narrowed it down to AKR, Bananarama, and Barefoot Cay. I had ruled out CoCo View as it seemed a little basic for our needs. I also ruled out FIBR as there were just too many bad reviews. We chose AKR because it seemed to meet our needs the best (good diving, 3 dives/day, good food, nice rooms). I also though that we would enjoy the diving on the north side better, since we are terrible at finding all the tiny stuff and neither of us is into underwater photography. I was also a little afraid of the hoards of cruise shippers that they bring to West Bay ( a negative for BR). Well, we had a great trip, and would go back to AKR in a heartbeat. As to your specific needs...
- Bugs...I guess we were lucky but they were never a problem. My wife is still giving me grief about all the Cactus Juice and Deet products that we hauled down there, hardly used, and then hauled back home!
- Rooms...we had a Key Superior, which I would recommend. Always had power, AC, and hot water. And I have to disagree with some people who call them "rustic." They are not 5-star, but for the Caribbean they are very nice. All done in wood inside with high ceilings.
- Food...Very good. Served plated and two differnet entree choices at each meal (like a fish and a meat). No complaints.
- Someone mentioned cruise shippers. Most of the cruise people are coming for the Dolphin encounters that are run by the Marine Science Museum, not AKR. They are taken to the Museum (down the road a piece) and then directly out to Bailey Key by boat for their event. We saw them go by, but never had any interaction with them, as they don't intermingle with resort guests. Never had any cruise ship divers on our boat.
- By the way, we did our surface interval at FIBR on the day we dove Mary's Place. I was not impressed.
- We also spent an afternoon in West End and I was glad we had not stayed there.
Hope this helps.

 

[Reef Tank]

Thanks for all the input. I'm beginning to lean toward FIBR. Is the food there more the "fast food" variety? If so, I feel we'll end up staying hungry because we just don't eat much fried foods or burgers. Haven't been in a McDonalds, Wendys or the like in decades. Salads, fruit, pasta and rice dishes are fine, and grilled meats are ok too. My wife is the main concern with food. I'm retired Navy, have plenty of experience eating whatever is served, and my system functions fine on it. My wife is a different story - not eating the right balance will stop her up tight and she'll be miserable for the week. She's also a runner which helps her stay regular and I know she won't be doing any running in Roatan. 3 of 10 stars for food quality at FIBR concerns me. Ice cream, huh - that'll work.

I'm not at all worried about the diving. I'm sure that wherever we end up it will be great. We are not beginner divers - I'm Rescue and my wife is Advanced cert with plenty of dives in the 80 to 100 fsw range, including wrecks. I also do photography and we own all gear required. I expect that 2-3 dives a day will be fine and if I find myself bored after that a good shore dive will be the answer, which looks like FIBR is best situated.

We'll be sure to bring some insect repellent with DEET wherever we end up.

Night life and shopping are not concerns. We aren't big partiers or shoppers. A quiet evening and a cool beer or wine after a day of diving is perfect for us. We'll be sacked out by 10pm.

At FIBR the food is buffet, the beef does not quite taste like US beef, the long beach has nicely packed sand for running, don't drink the water or ice or milk, bring Imodium, and the free beer is great.

What surprised me is that even though huge quantities of tilapia are farm raised in Honduras, FIBR was able to cook them Reebok style.