DixieDolphin
Contributor
Little behind, but I don't have as much forum time as I used to. Nevertheless, wanted to share my trip from last August 18th to 25th.
Flew in on TACA, from LAX through San Salvador to RTB. Had /zero/ problems with TACA and, honestly, they had better customer service than a the domestic carriers I flew a few months later on a trip back to FL. Will definitely use them again.
Traveled solo and stayed at Anthony's Key. I splurged and got the Key Superior room, with the A/C and the over-water porch. Was /very/ happy with the accommodations. It was rustic and basic, but that's really my style. I don't need (or want!) a television or a phone or anything like that as a distraction. People expecting 5-star luxury are going to be disappointed, but I loved it! Wood floors & wall paneling, a little mini-fridge and water pitcher for drinks, an ice chest in the closet for picnicking, etc. Reminded me a lot of an old place I lived on the coast in FL, actually. It was like it was designed with my taste in mind. View was spectacular--my wall of windows faced east and I got a full on sunrise show of fantastic colors every morning--the sun climbing dramatically over a vista of calm sea and low rolling island hills.
Sunrise from my porch.
The porch over the water was, by the way, amazing. I spent a lot of my downtime drifting gently in the hammock on that porch, lulled by a strong breeze off the water. With my binocs, I could watch the dolphin presentations on the other side of the channel from my porch too.
The porch in question. I spent lots of good time reading a book in the hammock.
But, of course, it's the diving that we really care about!
I was very pleased with the dive op at AKR. The boats usually went out with no more than 12 divers on them. The divemaster on my assigned boat was friendly, helpful, and knowledgable. Traveling solo, I had no dive buddy but got paired up with another solo traveler--a nice, older gentleman from San Francisco. He was relatively new at diving, but was cautious and safe. I was grateful not to get paired up with some yahoo testosterone junkie or something. I've been paired with a lot of insta-buddies before on FL boats and this guy was definitely one of the better ones.
Could do up to three dives a day, but some days I opted for just two. The diving was wonderful, too. Most of my diving has been in FL up till now: freshwater spring dives, drift dives off WPB, fossil diving in Venice, etc. So, this was my first experience wall diving. I loved it! The feeling of gliding along this massive coral structure bursting with life on one side, and endless blue ocean on the other was awe inspiring. The reefs themselves looked pretty healthy. Some bleaching here and there, but not as bad as I've seen in S. Florida. Lionfish were at a minimum, too. Last dive I did off Riviera Beach in FL, I spotted dozens of them. In Roatán, I saw perhaps four in seven days--and those were usually pretty deep and hiding way back in coral canyons.
As far as larger critters, I saw several sea turtles and barracudas. No sharks, unfortunately. Lots of big schools of fish, though. And some pretty impressively sized parrotfish. A few sightings of my two favorites: Rock Beauties & Queen Angels.
Night dives were a first for me (all these years certified and finally got to do a night dive!) and a very enjoyable one. Saw a handful of octopus on each dive. The second night dive of the week, however, was swarming with bloodworms and jellyfish. It was straight into the shower after that one, ha!
Water was deliciously warm, about 78-80F every day. Vis varied, but was generally 60-80', although one day was exceptionally clear and probably was about 100'. Yes, this is why I flew all the way to Honduras from SoCal! I'm a cold water wimp who grew up in warm FL water--the water here in Los Angeles is just too dang cold for me.
I dragged along my old Canon A570 powershot & U/W housing, but I ended up not even turning it on. I bought a GoPro Hero3 Black prior to the trip and pretty much stuck to it the whole trip under water. Probably shot nearly 8 hours of footage, but condensed it down to the best 15 minutes and put it up on YouTube. See below:
[video=youtube;BzrZu6bLQvk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzrZu6bLQvk[/video]
( Roatán - A Diving Adventure - YouTube )
I also took my full Nikon D200 & D70s DSLR kit, which I used to capture the general topside ambiance, and my little rugged Nikon AW100 point & shoot, which was great for throwing in my dive bag on the boat since it's waterproof and takes better pics than the old Canon A570.
Got the whole gallery up here, if you're interested: 2013-08 - Roatán, Honduras - a set on Flickr
As far as land-based activities, I'm a life-long equestrian, so horseback riding was foremost in mind. Went twice, both times via AKR. First morning ride was wonderful, just me & the guide. When I told him I've been riding for 20+ years, he let us take a less touristy-tour with some nice, relaxed canters on the straightaways. Nice little jaunt up and down the beach by Sandy Bay. The horse was well fed & groomed and not terribly barn sour. A+ experience. Wish I'd let it lie at that, but I decided to go for round two later in the week. This turned out to be a big group and, as the wrangler knew by now that I was an experienced rider, he put me on the rankest, most foul-tempered horse in the bunch. I pity any beginner who might have had this horse foisted upon them during other trail rides. I spent the entire time fighting with a flighty, ill-behaved animal that alternated between jigging, rearing, bucking, and trying to bolt. If I hadn't grown up riding crazy, half-broke horses I'd probably have been eating dirt. By the time we got back both the horse and I were in a lather. Not fun. Plus, this horse didn't appear to be nearly as well cared for as the first one--thin and a little mangy. No saddle sores and not dangerously thin, but enough that I did not go back again. It's a double-edged sword letting trail ride operators know you can ride--sometimes it means you get more fun rides, other times it turns out like I mentioned, heh.
That was the only sour note of the whole trip, though.
Took kayaks out one afternoon, just paddled around the cay a bit. Strong winds and currents made it a real workout, but was a fine deco day activity.
The kayak launch area.
The food was good, but nothing to write home about. I'm something of a foodie in my spare time, but after a hard day of diving everything tastes good.
Only thing that was flat out bad was a hamburger I had one afternoon when my only other options were seafood dishes (I don't eat seafood). Where the food really excelled was when they served up some Central American fusion type of dishes. And breakfast was always good, I alternated between thick, rich french toast and traditional Honduran breakfast. The wait service was... meh. Sometimes they were a little inattentive, which could be because I was by myself (I've had that problem at restaurants everywhere dining alone). It was a little annoying sometimes, though.
Bugs... yes, there were bugs. I bought some of the Cactus Juice stuff they sold there and that kept me sand-flea-free the whole trip. Also had some basic DEET / Off from home that kept the mosquitoes at bay. Came home with no bug bites. But, having grown up in mosquito territory, I knew to stay indoors late at night to avoid the buzzing swarms. My hammock & porch always had a stiff breeze coming in off the water, which helped blow the little buzzing buggers away.
I loved this place.
As a solo female traveler, I never once felt uncomfortable. Never felt unsafe. The whole experience was utterly relaxing. Loved being able to just set my own pace. Dive the days and sites I wanted, skip the ones I didn't. Spent hours of blissful, uninterrupted time relaxing with a good book or floating in the water and listening to the wind in the palm fronds, too.
Would I go back again? Heck yeah! Been pining to go again, thinking about it for next year.
Flew in on TACA, from LAX through San Salvador to RTB. Had /zero/ problems with TACA and, honestly, they had better customer service than a the domestic carriers I flew a few months later on a trip back to FL. Will definitely use them again.
Traveled solo and stayed at Anthony's Key. I splurged and got the Key Superior room, with the A/C and the over-water porch. Was /very/ happy with the accommodations. It was rustic and basic, but that's really my style. I don't need (or want!) a television or a phone or anything like that as a distraction. People expecting 5-star luxury are going to be disappointed, but I loved it! Wood floors & wall paneling, a little mini-fridge and water pitcher for drinks, an ice chest in the closet for picnicking, etc. Reminded me a lot of an old place I lived on the coast in FL, actually. It was like it was designed with my taste in mind. View was spectacular--my wall of windows faced east and I got a full on sunrise show of fantastic colors every morning--the sun climbing dramatically over a vista of calm sea and low rolling island hills.
Sunrise from my porch.
The porch over the water was, by the way, amazing. I spent a lot of my downtime drifting gently in the hammock on that porch, lulled by a strong breeze off the water. With my binocs, I could watch the dolphin presentations on the other side of the channel from my porch too.
The porch in question. I spent lots of good time reading a book in the hammock.
But, of course, it's the diving that we really care about!
I was very pleased with the dive op at AKR. The boats usually went out with no more than 12 divers on them. The divemaster on my assigned boat was friendly, helpful, and knowledgable. Traveling solo, I had no dive buddy but got paired up with another solo traveler--a nice, older gentleman from San Francisco. He was relatively new at diving, but was cautious and safe. I was grateful not to get paired up with some yahoo testosterone junkie or something. I've been paired with a lot of insta-buddies before on FL boats and this guy was definitely one of the better ones.
Could do up to three dives a day, but some days I opted for just two. The diving was wonderful, too. Most of my diving has been in FL up till now: freshwater spring dives, drift dives off WPB, fossil diving in Venice, etc. So, this was my first experience wall diving. I loved it! The feeling of gliding along this massive coral structure bursting with life on one side, and endless blue ocean on the other was awe inspiring. The reefs themselves looked pretty healthy. Some bleaching here and there, but not as bad as I've seen in S. Florida. Lionfish were at a minimum, too. Last dive I did off Riviera Beach in FL, I spotted dozens of them. In Roatán, I saw perhaps four in seven days--and those were usually pretty deep and hiding way back in coral canyons.
As far as larger critters, I saw several sea turtles and barracudas. No sharks, unfortunately. Lots of big schools of fish, though. And some pretty impressively sized parrotfish. A few sightings of my two favorites: Rock Beauties & Queen Angels.
Night dives were a first for me (all these years certified and finally got to do a night dive!) and a very enjoyable one. Saw a handful of octopus on each dive. The second night dive of the week, however, was swarming with bloodworms and jellyfish. It was straight into the shower after that one, ha!
Water was deliciously warm, about 78-80F every day. Vis varied, but was generally 60-80', although one day was exceptionally clear and probably was about 100'. Yes, this is why I flew all the way to Honduras from SoCal! I'm a cold water wimp who grew up in warm FL water--the water here in Los Angeles is just too dang cold for me.
I dragged along my old Canon A570 powershot & U/W housing, but I ended up not even turning it on. I bought a GoPro Hero3 Black prior to the trip and pretty much stuck to it the whole trip under water. Probably shot nearly 8 hours of footage, but condensed it down to the best 15 minutes and put it up on YouTube. See below:
[video=youtube;BzrZu6bLQvk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzrZu6bLQvk[/video]
( Roatán - A Diving Adventure - YouTube )
I also took my full Nikon D200 & D70s DSLR kit, which I used to capture the general topside ambiance, and my little rugged Nikon AW100 point & shoot, which was great for throwing in my dive bag on the boat since it's waterproof and takes better pics than the old Canon A570.
Got the whole gallery up here, if you're interested: 2013-08 - Roatán, Honduras - a set on Flickr
As far as land-based activities, I'm a life-long equestrian, so horseback riding was foremost in mind. Went twice, both times via AKR. First morning ride was wonderful, just me & the guide. When I told him I've been riding for 20+ years, he let us take a less touristy-tour with some nice, relaxed canters on the straightaways. Nice little jaunt up and down the beach by Sandy Bay. The horse was well fed & groomed and not terribly barn sour. A+ experience. Wish I'd let it lie at that, but I decided to go for round two later in the week. This turned out to be a big group and, as the wrangler knew by now that I was an experienced rider, he put me on the rankest, most foul-tempered horse in the bunch. I pity any beginner who might have had this horse foisted upon them during other trail rides. I spent the entire time fighting with a flighty, ill-behaved animal that alternated between jigging, rearing, bucking, and trying to bolt. If I hadn't grown up riding crazy, half-broke horses I'd probably have been eating dirt. By the time we got back both the horse and I were in a lather. Not fun. Plus, this horse didn't appear to be nearly as well cared for as the first one--thin and a little mangy. No saddle sores and not dangerously thin, but enough that I did not go back again. It's a double-edged sword letting trail ride operators know you can ride--sometimes it means you get more fun rides, other times it turns out like I mentioned, heh.
That was the only sour note of the whole trip, though.
Took kayaks out one afternoon, just paddled around the cay a bit. Strong winds and currents made it a real workout, but was a fine deco day activity.
The kayak launch area.
The food was good, but nothing to write home about. I'm something of a foodie in my spare time, but after a hard day of diving everything tastes good.
Only thing that was flat out bad was a hamburger I had one afternoon when my only other options were seafood dishes (I don't eat seafood). Where the food really excelled was when they served up some Central American fusion type of dishes. And breakfast was always good, I alternated between thick, rich french toast and traditional Honduran breakfast. The wait service was... meh. Sometimes they were a little inattentive, which could be because I was by myself (I've had that problem at restaurants everywhere dining alone). It was a little annoying sometimes, though.Bugs... yes, there were bugs. I bought some of the Cactus Juice stuff they sold there and that kept me sand-flea-free the whole trip. Also had some basic DEET / Off from home that kept the mosquitoes at bay. Came home with no bug bites. But, having grown up in mosquito territory, I knew to stay indoors late at night to avoid the buzzing swarms.
My hammock & porch always had a stiff breeze coming in off the water, which helped blow the little buzzing buggers away.
I loved this place.
As a solo female traveler, I never once felt uncomfortable. Never felt unsafe. The whole experience was utterly relaxing. Loved being able to just set my own pace. Dive the days and sites I wanted, skip the ones I didn't. Spent hours of blissful, uninterrupted time relaxing with a good book or floating in the water and listening to the wind in the palm fronds, too.
Would I go back again? Heck yeah! Been pining to go again, thinking about it for next year.
