AKR - how many divers on a boat?

[diverrex]

My wife and I just came back yesterday from two weeks in Dominica and to get over the disappointment of that trip ending I need to plan my next trip. We haven’t been to Roatan yet and some deals in the fall look pretty good so right now it’s looking like our next trip. Since my wife indulges me with two or more dive trips a year I need to keep her happy. She doesn’t need luxury but does want somewhere above “diver camp”. And while she loves to dive she’s mostly just two dives a day with an occasional night or afternoon dive, definitely not a four dives a day person. So FIBR and Coco View look out to me and we’re thinking about AKR. Plus she likes to keep active after diving and I figure the AKR pool, kayaks, dolphins and horses will help, plus maybe a zip line tour and a couple lunches and dinners in West End to get away from the AI monotony of AKR. But our last few trips have all been with six-pack ops and we’re getting spoiled in that direction. For instance I just figured out that aside from 2 dives in Dominica with a large op with 13 divers on the boat, on our other 16 dives the boat averaged just 3.4 divers a trip, 10 of the dives had just me, my wife and the DM. That makes for some nice diving.

So how many divers are on the AKR boats? Do they spit them into smaller groups with multiple DM’s to a boat? And how long is each dive? I've also gotten used to 60+ minute dives.

Any other thoughts about AKR or Roatan? I want to keep my wife happy so I can keep diving.

 

[Doc]

Be sure to post a report upon returning.

You still owe us all one on your Dominica trip from a month back.



<- AKR Boats (El clicko linko por enlargo)

 

[robint]

fall prices are good for Roatan...... that is because it is the rainy season, and I do mean rain!
We were there last Nov, and it rained every day, some days all day. It didn't stop everyone at CoCoView from diving but it was wet, and vis was down. We saw boats from AKR over off CCV several times and heard they had diving completely blown out several days. A group on our boat had booked the dolphin dive over at AKR one day and it got canceled due to bad weather. Luckily, they were notified early enough they could still get on the CCV boat, so they didn't miss any diving that day.

I am not saying it wasn't a great trip, it was for us. We loved CCV and plan to go back. But the weather was NOT ideal and it did affect the diving.

robin

 

[rob@diveinutila.com]

Last rainy season was exceptionally heavy. I have experienced several complete rainy seasons in the Bay Islands and I have to say never anything like last year's. Even the older generation locals were saying they'd never seen a rainy season like it! It kicked off in October with a last gasp attempt from the end of the hurricane season which did nothing except rain... a LOT!! Then those cold fronts from the States started arriving and just kept on coming... very wet and also very unusual.

I have had rainy seasons here with no more than 1 or 2 weeks rain and beautiful sunshine, warm but mild temperatures, whale sharks during December, etc.

I have had rainy seasons here when we had maybe 3 or 4 weeks of rainy weather spread over a 3 to 4 month period which I guess would be about normal. A cold front can give anything from 2 or 3 days to 1 week of rainy/showery weather before it has moved away.

Unfortunately for the 1 or 2 week vacationer if the timing is wrong it could mean a wet week but in general you can expect a mix of rain showers and sunshine.

Christmas and New Year are always popular on Utila and we seem to have a mostly unreported whale shark event that runs from around the 3rd week in December until the 1st week in January.

In short rainy season on the bay islands was unusually heavy last year and it can be almost non-existent!

-r

 

[ryssyr]

ive been to AKR and I probably would not go back there. the boats were crowded and the sites had a lot of folks on them. a few months back we went to banannarama. (i know it sounds cheesy) but the dive operation there is great. very personalized and never more that 5 folks on the boat!

The rooms are nicer as well. They have an eco resort page thats linked off of the main page. btw. AKR does not have a good beach. Banannarama has a nice sandy white beach to hang out on and its a short walk into town.

 

[Doc]

a few months back we went to banannarama.

<- click to enlarge

Many more Roatan Dive Boat Pix are at ScubaBoard Gallery - Dive Boat Pix, Maps, Charts, Sketches and scrawling of the back of Napkins

 

[diverrex]

<- click to enlarge

Many more Roatan Dive Boat Pix are at ScubaBoard Gallery - Dive Boat Pix, Maps, Charts, Sketches and scrawling of the back of Napkins

Thanks, I find it very helpful to see candid photos of dive boats and resorts from other divers rather than the slick promotional material produced by many resorts. I think we'll consider a number of options to AKR and Roatan for a fall trip. Resort deals seem to be all over the islands right now, as long as I can keep my job I may as well try to take advantage of the relative bargains.