So what else do the ALL inclusive NOT include I wonder?
Well, since you brought that up....
Some of them include the
privacy and security of being removed from the traffic of the everyday life and local population. Some may decry this isolation as removing oneself from "island culture", but essentially there is no such critter extant on Roatan with the exception of Punta Gorda- where there are no longer any dive operations.
At CCV, one or more traveling merchants arrive daily to lay out their handmade wares, always of a very select nature- not the Guatemalan import crafts that are hawked along the day-dive op/guest house zone of West End.
Security means a lot to many as I often see dive computers, laptops and digital cameras left lying about CoCoView, which is on it's own private 10 acre island. Other such operations that are physically removed are Fantasy Island, Reef House Resort and Barefoot Key.
What an AI includes is
the simplicity of daily life. At an AI, you can easily bang out 3 to 5 dives a day, and some people get 6 in... without having to worry about buying groceries, cooking meals, or starting coffee.
Dive, eat, sleep.
The AI's are fairly well removed from
the several nice restaurants that dot West End, but the AI Anthony's Key is still quite close. For the more remote AI's, such as FIBR and CCV, it is a short cab ride (or long walk) to French Harbour where there are two of the fanciest restaurants on the island. Usually, at least once during the week, group vans are arranged to go there, but I prefer the more local shacks located to the East... also a short ride away. These are the places that you might find some remnant of actual island culture- certainly not in the beer soaked floors of West End bars.
I can go to bars back home in Chicago. I can eat out at different restaurants when I want, as well.
I came to dive. That's what an AI should offer in my estimation...
maximum bottom time. Stuff I can't do at home. That's me.
If you want to goof around and do jungle canopy zip lines, there is always Friday afternoon before your Saturday flight. The "island extras" are just that... nothing to do with
diving- and that's why I spent the preposterous airfare to get there.
If someone is "on a budget", you have to decide what that really means. I am as cheap as most folks, but if I wanted to get my regular 27 dives per week schedule at a non-AI, that would really run into some serious cash. And remember- most day-dive ops offer only one night dive per week...
only if there are enough signed up. I am a
night dive junkie... not everyone is... until they have tried it and gotten comfortable with it.
You have to be truthful and realistic in your expectations and
stated wants. For some people, doing two a day, then maybe a day with just drinking frosty beverages is just what they wanted. For them, a 14 dive week might be just the ticket. An AI would be a poor choice, economically. If you want a vacation with some diving, do not go to an AI on Roatan. If you want a dive vacation, AI is the only way to go. But again- you have to be accurate in stating what you really want. Some people believe they are proclaiming themselves as "less a diver" if the low volume schedule suits their desires. Not really. You just have to be aware of what your options are, what your rewards will be, what the true costs include.
Most of the people I run with are
there for the diving, and prefer to look at
food as fuel.
Anything that gets in the way of diving is a negative. Nobody I dive with wants to shop, cook, or even make coffee. When I go to CCV, I am always amused at the number of people who show up to meals still in their dripping-wet rash guard suits. Having your
gear rooms a few feet away from the room is a huge plus of an AI.
Access to it 24/7 is another.
Not common to all AI's, but on Roatan...
Here's why some of the most popular
dive resort specific AI's are located on the South shore (where there are
no day-dive ops):
As you pointed out, Will, there is essentially no real
shore diving from the North/West, even though the AI of AKR still describes one in it's materials. The shore dives that are operational on Roatan are from the AI's of FI/CCV, and if the wind is behaving, the Reef House Resort as well.
The shore diving at CCV is one of the main reasons people go there. The 24/7 access allowing for multiple night dives or dawn dives is a huge draw. At this point it might be good to remind people that although boat dive #2 and #4 for the day do end up with you doing a shore exit to CCV, the drop-off dives are simply "not the same", as some might imagine. They are done on two VERY distinct walls, and if you have been diving enough, you'll understand that what you see on a dive site changes moment by moment.
At an AI, you will be
greeted at the airport by a resort staffer, and most of them won't let you touch your luggage after you are through passport control. Your
luggage is deposited in your room while you are relaxing.
During hurricane season a few years back, we were supposed to fly out on a Saturday, but didn't make it onto a flight home until Tuesday. Every day, the AI of CCV would load our luggage onto tarp covered trucks, every day they would take us to the airport as required by the airline, every day they would feed us. As a matter of fact- there were free bar nights every night... after all- you couldn't dive in all that rain. There was no charge for the rooms, and CCV gave us vouchers against our next stay- even though we had a great week plus a few days of rain extra.
Service is the word. Not all of them do it to that extent, but that's why you pick and chose with care.
No one way for everyone, but just making one sentence, unsupported statements and challenges is contrary to the ideal of a message board such as this.
I go to dive, and wherever we go in the world, we usually are at an AI or liveaboard (a floating AI).
We go to dive.
. the points about AI vs. non-AI, costs, schedules, etc. are well taken.
