Anthony Key Resort

[Teddyc911]

Hey, all the posts I have read on AKR are old. My hubby and I are thinking of going there next year. What is the best time to go and what does everyone think of AKR?

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Hey, all the posts I have read on AKR are old. My hubby and I are thinking of going there next year. What is the best time to go and what does everyone think of AKR?

I have been to Anthony's 3 times and have always found it to be first rate. The setting is spectacular, the food plentiful with local touches, and the cabins sitting on the island, sometimes over the water, are something of an adventure in themselves-----spartan but in keeping with the island atmosphere. The diving operation I consider to be fine and well coordinated, i.e. although there are several boats going out at any time, the dive sites are never crowded. Unfortunately, I am no longer able to partake of AKR because of the many steps to the dinning area---- but that is only
due to my present physical problem.
Time to go? Can't give you a good answer there---- mutiple factors----Heat, threat of hurricanes, how crowded, etc. I think my choice would be sometime around late winter- early spring.
Whenever you go have fun and keep on diving!
P.S. My daughter-in-law reminded me of th neat picnic with horseback riding on the beach, meeting some of the locals.

 

[scubaspider]

I just returned from AKR on Monday. I thought it was AWESOME and loved every bit of it. I dont have anything to compare it to though because I'm the only diver in the family. I got to go to AKR because of a class I took entitiled coral reef ecology, so I was doing research everyday (which I'm not complaining cuz of the diving). Like I said, I thought it was great everyone was soo nice and I made some great friends (locals) that I'm keeping in touch with. Every Monday you have lunch at Tabana Beach, and Wednesday is dinner on the key with games for both adults and children (musical chairs, limbo, and crab races). Unfortunately my schedule didnt work out to do the horseback riding so I cant comment about that. We did take a charter to Barbetta which was wonderful we saw dolphins on the way out. The reefs are in pretty good condition, obvisously there is bleaching but the reef is still full of life. I saw a sea turtle and a spotted eagle ray while there along with a 8ft and 6ft. moray eel. Vis was at least 100ft. on every dive we did. I suggest going soon because it is becoming developed and they are building gated communities which are taking away the beauty of the island in some places. Another thing about AKR is I felt safe, we had a police officer who would walk around our bunglows several times a day which we stayed by RIMS for our duration of the trip. Overall, I definately thought it was fantastic. If you would like more info on the best/good dive sites let me know and I'll look through my dive log, I dont have it with me at the moment, but I can get it soon, along with any other info you would like to know.

 

[Doc]

Hey, all the posts I have read on AKR are old. My hubby and I are thinking of going there next year. What is the best time to go and what does everyone think of AKR?

The best time to go is on Saturday morning.

Seriously though, it depends upon what you mean by "best time". Do you want the maximum heat, maximum whale sharks, maximum little critters, maximum underwater action, minimum rain... what?

Unfortunately, each of these occur at different pages on the calendar.

On certain pages of the calendar, the North side becomes pretty much so undivable enough to make your trip kinda iffy.

As to AKR, it once again depends upon what you're looking for. Do you want the best (such as it can be) of Roatan in Luxury accomodations... do you want the most diving... do you want the quietest spot... do you want tv in your room... do you want 24/7 diving... do you want real shore diving... do you want a pool... a hot tub... what?

I could honestly tell you that AKR is absolutely your best choice and tell you that almost any given month will be your best shot.... or for someone else I might not recommed AKR at all, no matter what the time of year. Just depends on who you are and what you want.

I've seen them all. I have picked my favorite... but I know it works for me... not everyone... but I have seen them all. That's my knowledge base.

What are you looking for?

 

[mjh]

We dove with AKR a little under a year ago and had a great time. We stayed in a Jr. Suite on the north side of the island. It had no air-conditioning but with the ceiling fan it was comfortable. The cabin had plenty of room for storage. We had a little sitting room, hammock and our own dock over the water with lounge chairs at the end for tanning. We found it to be very private and relaxing. The food is like many AIs plentiful but IMHO nothing special. The service was good and the dinning area is beautiful with an incredible view. The grounds are well maintained and you feel you have the best of the jungle and ocean.

Diving is two morning dives with the boats returning to the dock for your SI. After the 2nd dive you have time for lunch a short nap then a third boat trip out. Our DM, Lobo, was excellent and once he had seen you dive some he was willing to let you do your own thing long as you remained in sight. During our visit we had some larger group’s 10-15 people per boat with a wide range of experience. We had some new divers that Lobo was forced to baby-sit; one actually ran out of air only 20mins into the dive. They have a sign up board for night dives and with enough people will go out, that only occurred 3 times during a 10day stay. The shore diving is not spectacular and a bit bothersome to arrange. Most people just do the 3dive boat schedule. The only draw back is if you are good on air they do request/force you to surface at 45-50minutes. We typically get +1:10 from a tank. Lobo worked with us, made sure we were first in the water to get a little more bottom time.

We said we would not repeat any location until we had hit all the majors. Still have Palu and Red Sea left. But we enjoyed Roatan so much and our experience at AKR we decided to repeat this July. Due to the fact of Bottom Time and we are just looking to do more diving w/more photo opportunities we are going to try COCO View and Utila Lodge. But once again we really enjoyed AKR.

PS: Must do the dolphin dive and encounter. If you are a decent snorkeler you can really have fun with the dolphins at the “encounter”.