AKR or Coco View?

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

Hello everyone: Planning another trip to Honduras. Last time I was in Utila so this time I am looking at Roatan. Coco View seems to have a lot of fan following here because of their famous shore diving front yard but I was wondering if the boat diving they do is the same as AKR or other places? If you are not interested in shore diving then would AKR or Fantasy Island be hitting the same sites or offering comparable diving? The price difference between AKR and CocoView is huge because AKR is offering a special so it is half of Coco View.

What would I be losing going with AKR?

Thanks -

CS

 

[Doc]

CCV's diving is mainly South Side, AKR is mainly West/North. Both resorts have the capability to offer to do a dash to visit either side.

This equal capability can become critical during the months of August through February when Northers can close down West/North dive sites. AKR moves everything to the South side, other smaller dive ops on the Wet End just send divers to the bar. CCV is unaffected.

FIBR is located right next door to CCV, but FI is in, yet again, a "state of flux".

I just paid $1400 x 2 for our upcoming May 16 week at CCV, paid it right after the BOGO deal (2 for $1300) at AKR was announced. Never gave it a second thought.

That's just me.

What you read here on SB should keep anyone away from FI, but it doesn't. The more than occasional super discounts ($650 weeks) attract people no matter what scary things have been posted.

Conversely, very little is posted here about AKR, but like the huge amount of commentary offered here on CCV, it is universally positive.

I think either is a good choice, but the plus for me is that CCV offers immediate boat and shore access to truly unique underwater environments, the best reason to come to Roatan- to closely examine the South side. I get 27 in a week. Shallow intact wreck shore dive. Shallow Sunlit walls, wide variety of macro. Night diving every night. I travel to dive, on Roatan, CCV is where I know I can get it by the bucketful.

AKR puts you within an easy cab ride to West End, a big plus for those who might want to do some partying. There are 68 steps up and down there 3x a day to each meal. 15 dives in a week might be the max, but 18 is doable, and that would be a real effort. Deeper darker more bleak environs, but it does have larger fish (common Caribbean types) due to the Marine Park. Deep tattered placed wreck. Although referenced, the shore dive is more theoretical than anything. The Dolphin deal is right there, but this is sold to any visitor to Roatan. They do their real business by servicing cruise ship divers. They have a pool.

You are likely to never again see that sweet BOGO deal at AKR. It was offered because their booking system burped and told them they had most of their rooms booked when that wasn't correct in reality. They fixed the room reservation system, but had a whole lot of inventory (un sold rooms). Might be a once in a lifetime deal.

That I skipped.

 

[Stoo]

I've never stayed at CV, but did stay at FI years ago... same diving which was ok. CV looks very nice.

I have stayed at AKR twice... similar nice diving. We LOVED staying out on the caye... always a great breeze at night. The food was good, the dive op was top notch (including a mandatory buoyancy check off the dock... something I would make patrons do if I owned a dive resort.).

The boat at AKR are superior although both do the job they're designed to do. The dolphin thing at AKR is one of those things I have mixed feelings about, but I must tell you that I spent a lot of down time hanging over the edge of "their" dock, playing eel grass "fetch"...

If I was to go back to Roatan, I wouldn't hesitate to return to AKR. (All of this assuming a lack of significant price difference.) I really don't think you'll go wrong with either.

 

[diversteve]

A couple other things come to mind.

4 boat dives per day at CCV is actually 2 boat dives followed by 2 drop-off dives on Newman's Wall or other nearby sites. Having the Prince Albert in their front yard is definitely better than AKR's wreck since they don't have one. I haven't done it but based on where it is, I think the AKR shore dive would be kind of meh. also. I know it's a long wade out in very shallow water.

AKR is 3 unique boat dives/day plus 2 night dives. It's near Spooky Channel, CCV is near Mary's Place - both frequently mentioned dives. MP is the better dive.

If you're going as a single, both resorts have a single supplement. At AKR that likely only applies to the hillside rooms/cabins - the Key's bungalows are all designed for more people. Primary difference between Standard/Superior? Air Conditioning...

If you are more people, the CCV cabanas are actually overwater, AKR's are mostly over ironshore fronting the water - some have decks overwater. One or two actually are IIRC. At least the one near the "beach" was.

Neither resort has much in the way of nightlife except their bars and both do a beach bbq one night IIRC. Most of the nightlife on Roatan is found in the West End - as seen on the map, 5mins from AKR, probably 30-40 mins. from CCV. There's also a few nice beach bars there - Sundowners (Facebook) is popular with divers.

Neither resort has much of a beach but AKR does have a little strip and a pool on the Key. In their header picture showing the guy riding out on the boat - that's it behind him. If you tire of the AI food, there's quite a few good restaurants in the West End also. I don't think there's much near CCV.

I agree with Stoo, AKR has the nicer looking boats - I've been on one also. But CCV's have the moon well for boarding. Maybe they need that on the south side.

If you dive the dolphin dive offered by CCV they're going to bring you to AKR. If you do the Roatan shark dive either resort is going to bring you to the Waihuka dive site off the airport. I liked the Dolphin dive - you get 45mins. with 2-3 dolphins in 60' on a sandy bottom after meeting them at Bailey's Key first. There's also a snorkel there in the pens.

On the off-chance you need the chamber - it's at AKR. We didn't consider that at all until my friend did.

Geographically CCV is mid-south on Roatan - AKR is north-west. No one regularly dives the other side except on "special" trips. The "tacks" are all mine - the few dive flags are from a list I didn't create/can't edit. They're not the best of Roatan diving. There's no significance to the places shown in blue letters either - Google Earth placed them. Open this in a new window and zoom in for more detail - .vbulletin mangles attachments regularly.

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

Thanks a lot for all the info guys. Personally I am not interested in night life. I am also not looking to rack a massive number of dives in the shortest possible time. Quality boat diving with good photo-opportunities is all I seek. From all the information I have gotten above it seems like I will be doing the AKR. CocoView is something I would reserve for some other time.

If there is anything else that is missing please keep it coming.

 

[Stoo]

You won't regret AKR Captain. It is on my top 3 or 4 "Happy to return to anytime and probably already did..." list.

 

[dmoore19]

Haven't been to CCV but have been to AKR 3 times. They rooms on the Key are good sized comfortable with a deck looking out on or over the water. Never stayed hillside. The food is good, the dive shop is great, the boats are comfortable. They do 3 a day and then 2 night dives during the week. They take you to Mary's Place during the week, at least they have when I was there. Very well run place, clean and friendly. The pool is nice and there is a bar on the key and one on the hill.

The steps are kind of a pain but not really that bad. No TV or phones in the rooms and nothing fancy. Get the superior that means air conditioning. I would go back again and again. My wife, a non-diver, has gone with me and enjoys the place. There is a wreck <5 minutes from the dock that is a great dive. As has been said, you can do the shark dive or a dolphin dive or a dolphin snorkel. I like the snorkel and so did my wife. West End is a great place to take an afternoon and go in and get your Roatan gifts for the folks back home. Lots of photo ops and little to no current generally. Great DM's for finding stuff too.

 

[CajunDiva]

I think that you should definitely go to BOTH of the places you mentioned. The diving on each side is so different, yet so amazing. You need to experience both!

We used to go to Fantasy Island all the time because the guys at the dive shop were so great. Now there is not one single member of the original staff at Fantasy Island. That's bad news for Fantasy Island. But what's bad for Fantasy Island is great for Media Luna Resort.

We just spent two weeks diving there and were very happy to be reunited with some of our friends. The location of Media Luna is farther out east than CocoView, so it makes different dive sites more easily accessible. Calvin's Crack is very close by, as is Carib Point. There are also several other nice dives close by that we were happy to explore. The nice thing is that our old familiar dive sites are still easily accessible also. We were able to run to Mary's Place to the west and several of the other notable sites in front of CCV/Fantasy Island. It was like diving freedom! They offered 3 boat dives per day with 1 night dive per week. If you're into shore diving, the house reef at Media Luna Resort is "Half Moon Bay Wall" - wow! I am not normally one to enjoy shore diving, but I couldn't stop There's a resident seahorse and even a batfish...which was elusive while I was there.

Clearly you are looking at two very different options on Roatan. One on the south side and one on the north/west side. In my opinion, since you should REALLY experience both of those areas, it would be smartest to choose based on what time of year you plan to travel. We were thankful to be on the south side a couple of weeks ago. During the 12 days we were there, 2 or 3 cold fronts blew in, making conditions on the north side (AKR) undiveable. From Sept./Oct. thru February, I wouldn't book a trip to that side of the island. The south side of Roatan is the "leeward" side and generally open for business.

It's a really nice decision you're trying to make - you really can't go wrong. Hope you will come back and post a trip report so we can live vicariousy through you

 

[Lorenzoid]

The price difference between AKR and CocoView is huge because AKR is offering a special so it is half of Coco View. . . .

AKR's current deal is even better than their "second diver half off" deal that swayed us a couple of years ago to choose AKR over CocoView. We had not been to either before.

If you haven't read the detailed review of my AKR trip, it says it all. In summary, we liked AKR, and I suspect the diving there is pretty much the same as the diving from CocoView absent special circumstances, but CocoView on the whole probably would have suited our tastes better. Not to mention that in the past two years we have discovered we really like macro dives--that alone would sway us toward CCV.

 

[robint]

I have videos of the diving at CCV.
As I have said before, CCV is not for everyone... it is for the Dive Addict. If you want fancy, or things to do besides dive dive dive... go somewhere else. If you are traveling with a non-diver, go somewhere else, if you only want to do 2 dives per day, then sit around a pool and drink coctails, go somewhere else.

my videos of my last trip: https://vimeo.com/album/2443620

robin