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Agreed about the coral bleaching. It is a Caribbean wide issue, with water temps extremely high. We started seeing it years ago in Bonaire. Now its everywhere. Better dive it while you can...may get worse.Thanks for the detailed report. I really should have written one after my trip earlier in the year. I was very positively impressed with AKR and the dive operation overall. Things ran smoothly and they made it easy for those who wanted or needed to skip some dives but not miss others. Just once (and partly my fault) they forgot to load the tank for my second dive. They were horrified to see me carrying it myself
One thing that several of us were annoyed by was the tendency of the dive guides to harass the wildlife. Of course there's always a judgement call between pointing out things for your customers and not going too far. In my opinion, forcing garden eels out of the sand by poking them with a rod is going too far. Surrounding a cornered octopus with a dozen divers and their lights and flashes for over 15 minutes on a night dive is egregious. My buddy and I just stayed nearby and looked at other things, in agreement even though it was our first dive together.
We heard claims that other parts of the area had less coral damage, but I don't think I can go back. I have seen coral bleaching and other damage many times, but this was the first dive trip when I have been actively sad underwater. You could see the many coral-built structures and imagine what they were just a few years ago.
