Just returned from a week at FIBR 2/23 to 3/1. Generally I had a favorable impression of the place.
Arrival at the airport took a while to get through Passport control and while standing in line I thought I saw one of my bags on a luggage cart passing by. Once I got through passport control I went into the luggage area and found one of my bags, but not the other line up with a bunch of other Fantasy Island bags.
I went outside and found my other bag on a cart so at least they were both accounted for. The Fantasy Island bus came and picked us up and we were assured that the bags would be put on a separate bus right behind us.
When I got to the resort check in was pretty smooth although the front desk lady seemed a little overwhelmed and had some trouble finding my name but eventually did (my roommate had already checked in).
We were really hungry by dinner time that night and the food was pretty good and plentiful. The buffet alll week had a decent selection of food and we could always find something we liked. For breakfast they always had eggs or omelettes in addition to the other selections. Fresh fruits were plentiful at all the meals as well.
The worst meal was probably the "seafood night" which didnt seem to have all that much good seafood. There were supposed to be crablegs, but no utensils to crack them. (they were out of crablegs when I got there). There were some langostinos which were just ok and some cooked shrimp with shells on (we had those at several meals).
The night before we left they had some grilled lobster tails which were delicious.
As for the food - the dining room staff was sometimes a little slow to re-set up tables once they had been used. As a result, sometimes it was hard to find a table ready to eat at. We sometimes had to go track down a staff person and ask them to set up a table. At times, getting refills on water or juice at dinner was a bit slow, other times the staff was there pretty quickly. At each meal they always had water and some kind of juice. Sodas and wine were available at an extra charge.
In general, the food was decent, and plentiful. I can't see how anyone could go hungry at this place.
Now for the dive operation:
the morning after our arrival we had a dive briefing in the (large) conference room at 8 AM. We first had a couple folks tell us about some activities available at the resort (massages, airplane rides, etc). Then we were greeted by Robert who runs the dive operation. He checked our c-cards and collected the waivers. He explained the protocol for boat and shore diving and gave directions on how to navigate to the Prince Albert wreck from the gazebo (shore dive location). We then went down to the dive shop, got our weights and any other geat that was needed. Robert assigned us to a boat and we were greeted by the boat captain (Pedro) when we got on. For those that used nitrox, we would analyze the nitrox and take the tank onto the boat and set up our gear.
The boat staff didnt help with loading, unloading or setting up gear. If you were using regular air they did get tanks on and off the boat for you. They sometimes would unload the nitrox tanks but that's about it.
They did provide fresh fruit in a cooler which was cut up and ready to eat after each dive, so that was nice. Plenty of pineapple, canteloupe, and apples. They have a jug of water on the boat also - not chilled, but was plenty of drinkable water and that was ok with us. They also provided towels on the boat which were tucked up above the benches.
Our first dive we had some rough seas and the boat was rocking pretty good. We had similar conditions some other days and some of the later dives tended to be more calm.
The boat were were on seemed to be maintained pretty well and ladders were sturdy. The captain did help folks get on and off the boat. When conditions were rough, they would throw out a tag line which you grabbed and took off your fins on the line before coming to the ladder.
The diving was mainly wall dives of varying depths. We did one dive mid-week to Mary's place. Visibility was generally pretty good. I saw only one seahorse. I had a little congestion and didnt dive one day and they did see two seahorses on that day. Otherwise, no more seahorses the whole week.
The divemaster guided the dives and gave you a general suggested max depth but they didnt complain if you went deeper. When one of the group gets to 1500 PSI, they turn the whole group around and head back towards the boat. They like to limit dives to 50 minutes total.
SHARK DIVE:
I did do the shark dive one afternoon. A Fantasy Island bus took us to the shark dive operator (we paid $12 to fantasy island for the bus ride) and we paid the dive operator directly for the shark dive (1898 lempiras plus 202 lempiras charge for using a credit card). We had to bring our own nitrox tanks from fantasy island for this dive. We set up our gear on the dock and went inside for a briefing. While we were inside they put our gear on the boat. The boat was full with 15 divers. Their boat, while fast, was pretty small. Entry was via a backward roll off the side. There was some current so we grabbed a current line to the mooring line and then down to the bottom in front of a coral wall. I counted about 15 sharks plus or minus a couple. We were allowed to swim around for a while with them. Later we were put back by the wall and the divemaster took the lid off the chum bucket and threw it out for the sharks. They had little feeding frenzy which was entertaining. Some of the sharks would shove their head into the bucket and then shake it off... After the sharks were gone there was a large moray eel and divers were allowed to touch the eel if they wanted to. The dive operator really didnt do anything to help us get our gear off the boat. - For the price we paid for that dive, I would have expected a little more service from the crew than we got.
Shore Diving:
Shore diving at FIBR is normally done by taking your gear over to a skiff which picks you up on the dock by the dive shop. The skiff driver takes you over to the gazebo and returns when you tell him you want picked up. If you wanted to do early morning or later night dives (outside the hours that the skiff operates - 8 AM to 8 PM), they will provide you will the tanks and you can leave them at the gazebo and then take your gear back to your room. The skiff driver didnt really help loading the gear at the dock - pretty much showed up when everyone was loaded and ready to go. He would usually help offload or load the gear at the gazebo though.
There is a cable with jugs on it going from the gazebo to the DC3 airplane - about a 7 minute for me. From the plane it's a short swim over the to Prince Albert wreck, or to Newman's wall. The wreck has a lot of growth on it and a variety of life. One of the dives on the back to the gazebo we swam through a school of squid. Having never seen squid before I thought this was neat...
Visibility was good for the most part, sometimes better than others depending on sea conditions.
ROOM quality:
We were in room 111 on the first floor down from the main entrance. We had a balcony out the back that was good or hanging things out to dry. The sliding door to the balcony didnt slide very well and you had to push it at the bottom otherwise it was hard to move the door. The lock mechanism on the sliding door didnt seem to work and there was no secondary lock/wedge for the door. The room had enough room for our luggage and there was a decent sized closet and one dresser and a table with 2 chairs. The dresser drawers were a little stiff to open, but clean. The floor was wood laminate and had a couple gaps in it. We did have a TV in the room - if you want a remote you need to leave a deposit at the front desk. There seemed to be all the major US networks.
The resort provides some small soap bars but no shampoo - be sure to bring your own shampoo. They did not have soap trays in the shower so nowhere to set your soap or shampoo during the shower (or after). The shower was very large and we seemed to have plenty of warm water (not too hot though).
The room was kept clean by housekeeping and floors seemed to be mopped every day so no problems with cleanliness. I ran out of kleenex and left the empty box on the sink so that the maid would see it was empty. She found the empty box and threw it away but didnt leave any more kleenex (a minor item most days, but I had a bit of a cold and the Kleenex was important). There were some ants on the floors once in a while but not too many.
The mirror in the bathroom by the sink has a sign on it that says not to drink the water. Housekeeping leaves a pitcher of purified water in the refrigerator in the room. If you need more, the bartended will refill it (not a far walk from my room, but could be an issue if you are in one of the more remote rooms).
There were always plenty of resort staff working around the place - raking, sweeping, etc so they certainly try to keep the place clean. One of the buildings was undergoing some maintenance - new steps and other woodwork and painting being done.
We didnt have any power outages while I was there (I stayed at ILR last year and the power was going out at least once a day). There did appear to be a generator facility on the hill by the resort (near the zoo) so perhaps the place was running on this generator all the time?
RESORT AMENITIES:
There were a lot of animals running around the resort so it was neat to walk around. They have these little guinea pig-like rodents walking around - Watusa (Huatusa??). They might be Agouti as they seem to fit that description. We thought they were cute. We also saw peacocks, monkeys, deer, and ant eater and a kinkajou. We discovered they have a little petting zoo up on the hill by the recompression chamber. They have a bunch of sheep, deer, monkeys, a kinajou, and several birds up there. The zoo was very quiet and there were only two of us walking around up there the afternoon that we went. It's a bit off the beaten path.
There is a recommpression (signs say "decompression") chamber at the resort - up on the hill by the dive shop. Not sure when it is staffed, but there is at least a building labeled "decompression chamber".
The beach at the resort was very nice and there was lots of room to spread out. There is an area to swim and lots of room to lay out in the sun. The pool is not very big, but was clean and seemed pretty nice. There was also a beach with chairs and a little less smooth sand on the other side of the main building over near my room. Hammocks were plentiful strung up between trees in several areas of the resort.
I did the Pirates of the Caribbean Extreme Canopy tour (zipline) which was only about 5 minutes from the resort. The canopy tour folks pick you up at the resort. They have 8 ziplines - the first of which is very high and long. It was quite exhilarating - but cost $70. I enjoyed the experience but it sure went by quickly.
Overall impression and recommendations:
I felt that FIBR was a decent place to stay and reasonable value. The combination of resort amenities (beach/pool/zoo, etc) and food quantity were plusses. The shore diving was something valuable to me and part of what attracted me to this resort. The dive boats were in decent shape and not overly crowded. The big disappointment for me was the lower level of service from the dive crew. I would have appreciated the staff loading/unloading gear, putting it on and off tanks, etc. When on vacation, I would prefer not to have to move my gear around. Perhaps I was spoiled since the resort where I stayed last year (ILR) did all that for you.
The boat captain was around after our last dives and we were able to tip him, but the divemaster had disappeared and we had to go look for him to be able to tip him. For the service received, I probably over-tipped him but I always try to tip the dive staff something. I was surprised I had to go looking for him...
There was no tipping protocol for the service staff that we were aware of and it might be more convenient if the resort somehow centralized the tipping process. Just before leaving we did personnally tip some the restaurant staff that had been particularly attentive to us - that was our best guess as to how to handle that.
I would definitely return to this resort as there was quite a variety of things there that made it attractive and we had a good time. I would definitely return to this resort in the future as I get it was generally a good value.
It sure was hard to come back to 30 degree temperatures at home.....
Arrival at the airport took a while to get through Passport control and while standing in line I thought I saw one of my bags on a luggage cart passing by. Once I got through passport control I went into the luggage area and found one of my bags, but not the other line up with a bunch of other Fantasy Island bags.
I went outside and found my other bag on a cart so at least they were both accounted for. The Fantasy Island bus came and picked us up and we were assured that the bags would be put on a separate bus right behind us.
When I got to the resort check in was pretty smooth although the front desk lady seemed a little overwhelmed and had some trouble finding my name but eventually did (my roommate had already checked in).
We were really hungry by dinner time that night and the food was pretty good and plentiful. The buffet alll week had a decent selection of food and we could always find something we liked. For breakfast they always had eggs or omelettes in addition to the other selections. Fresh fruits were plentiful at all the meals as well.
The worst meal was probably the "seafood night" which didnt seem to have all that much good seafood. There were supposed to be crablegs, but no utensils to crack them. (they were out of crablegs when I got there). There were some langostinos which were just ok and some cooked shrimp with shells on (we had those at several meals).
The night before we left they had some grilled lobster tails which were delicious.
As for the food - the dining room staff was sometimes a little slow to re-set up tables once they had been used. As a result, sometimes it was hard to find a table ready to eat at. We sometimes had to go track down a staff person and ask them to set up a table. At times, getting refills on water or juice at dinner was a bit slow, other times the staff was there pretty quickly. At each meal they always had water and some kind of juice. Sodas and wine were available at an extra charge.
In general, the food was decent, and plentiful. I can't see how anyone could go hungry at this place.
Now for the dive operation:
the morning after our arrival we had a dive briefing in the (large) conference room at 8 AM. We first had a couple folks tell us about some activities available at the resort (massages, airplane rides, etc). Then we were greeted by Robert who runs the dive operation. He checked our c-cards and collected the waivers. He explained the protocol for boat and shore diving and gave directions on how to navigate to the Prince Albert wreck from the gazebo (shore dive location). We then went down to the dive shop, got our weights and any other geat that was needed. Robert assigned us to a boat and we were greeted by the boat captain (Pedro) when we got on. For those that used nitrox, we would analyze the nitrox and take the tank onto the boat and set up our gear.
The boat staff didnt help with loading, unloading or setting up gear. If you were using regular air they did get tanks on and off the boat for you. They sometimes would unload the nitrox tanks but that's about it.
They did provide fresh fruit in a cooler which was cut up and ready to eat after each dive, so that was nice. Plenty of pineapple, canteloupe, and apples. They have a jug of water on the boat also - not chilled, but was plenty of drinkable water and that was ok with us. They also provided towels on the boat which were tucked up above the benches.
Our first dive we had some rough seas and the boat was rocking pretty good. We had similar conditions some other days and some of the later dives tended to be more calm.
The boat were were on seemed to be maintained pretty well and ladders were sturdy. The captain did help folks get on and off the boat. When conditions were rough, they would throw out a tag line which you grabbed and took off your fins on the line before coming to the ladder.
The diving was mainly wall dives of varying depths. We did one dive mid-week to Mary's place. Visibility was generally pretty good. I saw only one seahorse. I had a little congestion and didnt dive one day and they did see two seahorses on that day. Otherwise, no more seahorses the whole week.
The divemaster guided the dives and gave you a general suggested max depth but they didnt complain if you went deeper. When one of the group gets to 1500 PSI, they turn the whole group around and head back towards the boat. They like to limit dives to 50 minutes total.
SHARK DIVE:
I did do the shark dive one afternoon. A Fantasy Island bus took us to the shark dive operator (we paid $12 to fantasy island for the bus ride) and we paid the dive operator directly for the shark dive (1898 lempiras plus 202 lempiras charge for using a credit card). We had to bring our own nitrox tanks from fantasy island for this dive. We set up our gear on the dock and went inside for a briefing. While we were inside they put our gear on the boat. The boat was full with 15 divers. Their boat, while fast, was pretty small. Entry was via a backward roll off the side. There was some current so we grabbed a current line to the mooring line and then down to the bottom in front of a coral wall. I counted about 15 sharks plus or minus a couple. We were allowed to swim around for a while with them. Later we were put back by the wall and the divemaster took the lid off the chum bucket and threw it out for the sharks. They had little feeding frenzy which was entertaining. Some of the sharks would shove their head into the bucket and then shake it off... After the sharks were gone there was a large moray eel and divers were allowed to touch the eel if they wanted to. The dive operator really didnt do anything to help us get our gear off the boat. - For the price we paid for that dive, I would have expected a little more service from the crew than we got.
Shore Diving:
Shore diving at FIBR is normally done by taking your gear over to a skiff which picks you up on the dock by the dive shop. The skiff driver takes you over to the gazebo and returns when you tell him you want picked up. If you wanted to do early morning or later night dives (outside the hours that the skiff operates - 8 AM to 8 PM), they will provide you will the tanks and you can leave them at the gazebo and then take your gear back to your room. The skiff driver didnt really help loading the gear at the dock - pretty much showed up when everyone was loaded and ready to go. He would usually help offload or load the gear at the gazebo though.
There is a cable with jugs on it going from the gazebo to the DC3 airplane - about a 7 minute for me. From the plane it's a short swim over the to Prince Albert wreck, or to Newman's wall. The wreck has a lot of growth on it and a variety of life. One of the dives on the back to the gazebo we swam through a school of squid. Having never seen squid before I thought this was neat...
Visibility was good for the most part, sometimes better than others depending on sea conditions.
ROOM quality:
We were in room 111 on the first floor down from the main entrance. We had a balcony out the back that was good or hanging things out to dry. The sliding door to the balcony didnt slide very well and you had to push it at the bottom otherwise it was hard to move the door. The lock mechanism on the sliding door didnt seem to work and there was no secondary lock/wedge for the door. The room had enough room for our luggage and there was a decent sized closet and one dresser and a table with 2 chairs. The dresser drawers were a little stiff to open, but clean. The floor was wood laminate and had a couple gaps in it. We did have a TV in the room - if you want a remote you need to leave a deposit at the front desk. There seemed to be all the major US networks.
The resort provides some small soap bars but no shampoo - be sure to bring your own shampoo. They did not have soap trays in the shower so nowhere to set your soap or shampoo during the shower (or after). The shower was very large and we seemed to have plenty of warm water (not too hot though).
The room was kept clean by housekeeping and floors seemed to be mopped every day so no problems with cleanliness. I ran out of kleenex and left the empty box on the sink so that the maid would see it was empty. She found the empty box and threw it away but didnt leave any more kleenex (a minor item most days, but I had a bit of a cold and the Kleenex was important). There were some ants on the floors once in a while but not too many.
The mirror in the bathroom by the sink has a sign on it that says not to drink the water. Housekeeping leaves a pitcher of purified water in the refrigerator in the room. If you need more, the bartended will refill it (not a far walk from my room, but could be an issue if you are in one of the more remote rooms).
There were always plenty of resort staff working around the place - raking, sweeping, etc so they certainly try to keep the place clean. One of the buildings was undergoing some maintenance - new steps and other woodwork and painting being done.
We didnt have any power outages while I was there (I stayed at ILR last year and the power was going out at least once a day). There did appear to be a generator facility on the hill by the resort (near the zoo) so perhaps the place was running on this generator all the time?
RESORT AMENITIES:
There were a lot of animals running around the resort so it was neat to walk around. They have these little guinea pig-like rodents walking around - Watusa (Huatusa??). They might be Agouti as they seem to fit that description. We thought they were cute. We also saw peacocks, monkeys, deer, and ant eater and a kinkajou. We discovered they have a little petting zoo up on the hill by the recompression chamber. They have a bunch of sheep, deer, monkeys, a kinajou, and several birds up there. The zoo was very quiet and there were only two of us walking around up there the afternoon that we went. It's a bit off the beaten path.
There is a recommpression (signs say "decompression") chamber at the resort - up on the hill by the dive shop. Not sure when it is staffed, but there is at least a building labeled "decompression chamber".
The beach at the resort was very nice and there was lots of room to spread out. There is an area to swim and lots of room to lay out in the sun. The pool is not very big, but was clean and seemed pretty nice. There was also a beach with chairs and a little less smooth sand on the other side of the main building over near my room. Hammocks were plentiful strung up between trees in several areas of the resort.
I did the Pirates of the Caribbean Extreme Canopy tour (zipline) which was only about 5 minutes from the resort. The canopy tour folks pick you up at the resort. They have 8 ziplines - the first of which is very high and long. It was quite exhilarating - but cost $70. I enjoyed the experience but it sure went by quickly.
Overall impression and recommendations:
I felt that FIBR was a decent place to stay and reasonable value. The combination of resort amenities (beach/pool/zoo, etc) and food quantity were plusses. The shore diving was something valuable to me and part of what attracted me to this resort. The dive boats were in decent shape and not overly crowded. The big disappointment for me was the lower level of service from the dive crew. I would have appreciated the staff loading/unloading gear, putting it on and off tanks, etc. When on vacation, I would prefer not to have to move my gear around. Perhaps I was spoiled since the resort where I stayed last year (ILR) did all that for you.
The boat captain was around after our last dives and we were able to tip him, but the divemaster had disappeared and we had to go look for him to be able to tip him. For the service received, I probably over-tipped him but I always try to tip the dive staff something. I was surprised I had to go looking for him...
There was no tipping protocol for the service staff that we were aware of and it might be more convenient if the resort somehow centralized the tipping process. Just before leaving we did personnally tip some the restaurant staff that had been particularly attentive to us - that was our best guess as to how to handle that.
I would definitely return to this resort as there was quite a variety of things there that made it attractive and we had a good time. I would definitely return to this resort in the future as I get it was generally a good value.
It sure was hard to come back to 30 degree temperatures at home.....
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