I just returned from a great week at the Inn of Last Resort. Granted, since I dive quarries mostly, it doesnt take much to impress me as far as diving goes, but I found the diving to be great.
I was meeting the rest of my group at the resort since we were all on different flights. I arrived at the airport on the second Delta flight of the day. A couple minutes after we unloaded, along came the Continental flight. All of us were then hearded over to immigration/passport control which took over an hour. Once through there, I got to baggage claim and soon saw someone holding up an Inn of Last Resort sign. Once I put my bags into the xray machine at customs, I pointed them out to the guy, he grabbed the bags and took them outside to a truck for the Inn. I was then greeted by an Inn employee who already had my name. Then Donna appeared and told me they were waiting for one more person but they would go ahead and take me to the resort as a passenger in the baggage truck.
When I arrived at the Resort, I was greeted by Ed - I don't know his official title, but he appears to be the manager. He got me a drink and make sure I got some lunch right away. He then took us all on a tour of the resort.
By the time I got to my room, my bags were waiting for me at my door.
The boats at ILR art roomy and covered - which was great for me since I like to stay out of the sun. Those that wanted sun were free to ride on top of the boat.
Sunday we met our divemaster Willie and had two nice dives in the morning. Sunday afternoon was the optional shark dive ($85 extra charge). This dive was AWESOME. The sharks were right in our face. We were able to swim around a safe distance from Willie as he moved the bait bucket around and the sharks circled. After a while we all went back to the bottom, Willie opened the bucket and the feeding frenzy began - lasting less than a minute.. This dive was worth every dollar!! If you'e never done a shark dive before, this one should not be missed.
I did 17 dives through the course of the week. The only one I can say was somewhat uninteresting was the night dive - there really wasn't much to see. Also after the night dive we had a fair amount of surge which made getting back on the boat a bit of a task - both divemasters - hung back and watched the waves and would yell for us to either watch out or get on now. Aside from a little shin bruise on the ladder I was able to get back on the boat uninjured. A few others got banged up a little more - one lost her mask when the ladder hit her (I loaned her my spare). Everyone survived...
Comments about the diving in general: The water was around 80 degrees - visibility was usually 100 feet or more. I was impressed by the variety of nice colorful coral. The fish life was varied and plentiful in most places - as many have said mostly smaller fish - not a lot of large fish. Our divemaster- Willie was always pointing out things we might not notice on our own (ie: tiny red lipped blennies, etc).
We dove the El Aguila and the Odyssey wrecks. The Odyssey was my favorite of the two- a little more structure to explore. We were hoping to find the frogfish which had recently been seen there but no such luck..
Willie was very good a adapting to the variety of divers we had in our group - we had one guy who did his open water checkout dives on the first couple days- some who went through their air faster - and a couple of us who usually had lots of air left. As the week went on, when most of the group had gone up to the boat, two of us who had lots of air left stayed with Willie and continued the tour. Willie was very good at making sure we got the maximum bottom time we wanted.. The last dive of the week, everyone else had gone up and I stayed down with Willie. We went over the edge of a wall and sighted a spotted eagle ray!! I was thrilled since I had never seen one that close before. Right after that we came upon a turtle and I was able to get a short little video of that. What a cool way to end the week.
Once you set up your gear the first day, the divemaster took it on and off the boat and changed out your tanks. They just ask that your remove integrated weights from your BC. I did dive on Nitrox which was a flat fee of $125 for the week. The mix was supposed to be 32% but I think I had only one tank which was close to 32. Most were between 30 and 31%. Not really a big deal. Gear was hung up in a secure locker every day and at least my wetsuit was nearly dry by the next morning. I wore a 3 mil fullsuit and was confortable and never got cold on any dive. Others wore shorties or just a swim suit and t-shirts but sometimes got cold.
I didn't try any shore diving but did snorkel a couple times in the lagoon which had a variety of life to observe.
Accommodations - I was pleased with the size of my room at the Inn. There are 3 beds in the room and lots of space to walk around and plenty of hangars and shelf space to put clothes on. The bathroom was a little small - especially the shower, but hot water was plentiful and everything worked. We did have frequent power failures (like the rest of the island) but the resort has a generator and they usually got the power back on pretty quick.
Food: The menu is set every day - breakfast always had a fruit plate and benyas (little fried dough squares) and then either omelettes or french toast - also bacon, sausage or ham on various days.. Lunch had a variety of entrees. Snacks (popcorn and sometimes some small appetizers were provided around 5 PM). Dinner was at 7 PM and included soup, a salad (sometimes a traditional salad, sometimes marinated onion, carrots and other veggies), then the main course and always dessert. They have a well stocked bar available all the time. Iced tea is always complimentary and was actually pretty good. The wait staff was very polite and attentive to our needs. They were happy to accommodate dietary restrictions / allergies, etc.
On the day of the night dive, we had the afternoon free and I did the canopy zipline tour. The picked us up right at the resort and the zipline was fun. Afterwards, the shuttle driver (after some persuasion by our guide on the zipline) took us into Coxen Hole for a little souvenir shopping, then returned us to the Inn. I didn't do any other sightseeing on this trip - never got around to going into West End. Maybe next time.
When it was time to return to the airport, we were well taken care of. I put my bags outside my room, the Inn staff brought them to the truck and we got to the airport early to beat the crowds. As a result, the checkin line for Delta went pretty fast. When we got our bags off the truck the airport baggage guys (skycaps?) were quick to toss our bags on their carts. These guys rather aggressively came in holding their hands out for tips (I'm happy to tip folks but I can't say I've ever had someone come and hold out their hand saying "Tip"). Checkin with Delta was pretty fast since we beat the crowd. We paid our departure tax and got our passports stamped pretty quick too. Andy stayed at the airport with us to make sure everyone got checked in and through customs without a hitch. Since the airport was on generator power, there was no air conditioning inside and Andy suggested we not go into the secured area until it was closer to our boarding time. We sat outside until it was time to get to the gate. Delta does a second bag screening of your carry on so that took a little more time when we went to board.
My flight to Atlanta was unventful and left on time. My return flight from Atlanta to Cleveland was oversold and I was able to get a bump - $400 voucher and hotel to take a flight this morning. That flight was also oversold so I took another bump and $200 voucher to come into a different airport - actually closer to home. Still havent seen my bags (with all my dive gear) but the airline is supposed to deliver them tomorrow (I hope).
I thought the ILR was a great bargain - 17 dives- 3 meals a day, decent rooms and great dives for a good price. I would definitely recommend this resort. If you can, try to get Willie as your divemaster. He's got a great personality and was a lot of fun both under and above the water.
Happy diving..
I was meeting the rest of my group at the resort since we were all on different flights. I arrived at the airport on the second Delta flight of the day. A couple minutes after we unloaded, along came the Continental flight. All of us were then hearded over to immigration/passport control which took over an hour. Once through there, I got to baggage claim and soon saw someone holding up an Inn of Last Resort sign. Once I put my bags into the xray machine at customs, I pointed them out to the guy, he grabbed the bags and took them outside to a truck for the Inn. I was then greeted by an Inn employee who already had my name. Then Donna appeared and told me they were waiting for one more person but they would go ahead and take me to the resort as a passenger in the baggage truck.
When I arrived at the Resort, I was greeted by Ed - I don't know his official title, but he appears to be the manager. He got me a drink and make sure I got some lunch right away. He then took us all on a tour of the resort.
By the time I got to my room, my bags were waiting for me at my door.
The boats at ILR art roomy and covered - which was great for me since I like to stay out of the sun. Those that wanted sun were free to ride on top of the boat.
Sunday we met our divemaster Willie and had two nice dives in the morning. Sunday afternoon was the optional shark dive ($85 extra charge). This dive was AWESOME. The sharks were right in our face. We were able to swim around a safe distance from Willie as he moved the bait bucket around and the sharks circled. After a while we all went back to the bottom, Willie opened the bucket and the feeding frenzy began - lasting less than a minute.. This dive was worth every dollar!! If you'e never done a shark dive before, this one should not be missed.
I did 17 dives through the course of the week. The only one I can say was somewhat uninteresting was the night dive - there really wasn't much to see. Also after the night dive we had a fair amount of surge which made getting back on the boat a bit of a task - both divemasters - hung back and watched the waves and would yell for us to either watch out or get on now. Aside from a little shin bruise on the ladder I was able to get back on the boat uninjured. A few others got banged up a little more - one lost her mask when the ladder hit her (I loaned her my spare). Everyone survived...
Comments about the diving in general: The water was around 80 degrees - visibility was usually 100 feet or more. I was impressed by the variety of nice colorful coral. The fish life was varied and plentiful in most places - as many have said mostly smaller fish - not a lot of large fish. Our divemaster- Willie was always pointing out things we might not notice on our own (ie: tiny red lipped blennies, etc).
We dove the El Aguila and the Odyssey wrecks. The Odyssey was my favorite of the two- a little more structure to explore. We were hoping to find the frogfish which had recently been seen there but no such luck..
Willie was very good a adapting to the variety of divers we had in our group - we had one guy who did his open water checkout dives on the first couple days- some who went through their air faster - and a couple of us who usually had lots of air left. As the week went on, when most of the group had gone up to the boat, two of us who had lots of air left stayed with Willie and continued the tour. Willie was very good at making sure we got the maximum bottom time we wanted.. The last dive of the week, everyone else had gone up and I stayed down with Willie. We went over the edge of a wall and sighted a spotted eagle ray!! I was thrilled since I had never seen one that close before. Right after that we came upon a turtle and I was able to get a short little video of that. What a cool way to end the week.
Once you set up your gear the first day, the divemaster took it on and off the boat and changed out your tanks. They just ask that your remove integrated weights from your BC. I did dive on Nitrox which was a flat fee of $125 for the week. The mix was supposed to be 32% but I think I had only one tank which was close to 32. Most were between 30 and 31%. Not really a big deal. Gear was hung up in a secure locker every day and at least my wetsuit was nearly dry by the next morning. I wore a 3 mil fullsuit and was confortable and never got cold on any dive. Others wore shorties or just a swim suit and t-shirts but sometimes got cold.
I didn't try any shore diving but did snorkel a couple times in the lagoon which had a variety of life to observe.
Accommodations - I was pleased with the size of my room at the Inn. There are 3 beds in the room and lots of space to walk around and plenty of hangars and shelf space to put clothes on. The bathroom was a little small - especially the shower, but hot water was plentiful and everything worked. We did have frequent power failures (like the rest of the island) but the resort has a generator and they usually got the power back on pretty quick.
Food: The menu is set every day - breakfast always had a fruit plate and benyas (little fried dough squares) and then either omelettes or french toast - also bacon, sausage or ham on various days.. Lunch had a variety of entrees. Snacks (popcorn and sometimes some small appetizers were provided around 5 PM). Dinner was at 7 PM and included soup, a salad (sometimes a traditional salad, sometimes marinated onion, carrots and other veggies), then the main course and always dessert. They have a well stocked bar available all the time. Iced tea is always complimentary and was actually pretty good. The wait staff was very polite and attentive to our needs. They were happy to accommodate dietary restrictions / allergies, etc.
On the day of the night dive, we had the afternoon free and I did the canopy zipline tour. The picked us up right at the resort and the zipline was fun. Afterwards, the shuttle driver (after some persuasion by our guide on the zipline) took us into Coxen Hole for a little souvenir shopping, then returned us to the Inn. I didn't do any other sightseeing on this trip - never got around to going into West End. Maybe next time.
When it was time to return to the airport, we were well taken care of. I put my bags outside my room, the Inn staff brought them to the truck and we got to the airport early to beat the crowds. As a result, the checkin line for Delta went pretty fast. When we got our bags off the truck the airport baggage guys (skycaps?) were quick to toss our bags on their carts. These guys rather aggressively came in holding their hands out for tips (I'm happy to tip folks but I can't say I've ever had someone come and hold out their hand saying "Tip"). Checkin with Delta was pretty fast since we beat the crowd. We paid our departure tax and got our passports stamped pretty quick too. Andy stayed at the airport with us to make sure everyone got checked in and through customs without a hitch. Since the airport was on generator power, there was no air conditioning inside and Andy suggested we not go into the secured area until it was closer to our boarding time. We sat outside until it was time to get to the gate. Delta does a second bag screening of your carry on so that took a little more time when we went to board.
My flight to Atlanta was unventful and left on time. My return flight from Atlanta to Cleveland was oversold and I was able to get a bump - $400 voucher and hotel to take a flight this morning. That flight was also oversold so I took another bump and $200 voucher to come into a different airport - actually closer to home. Still havent seen my bags (with all my dive gear) but the airline is supposed to deliver them tomorrow (I hope).
I thought the ILR was a great bargain - 17 dives- 3 meals a day, decent rooms and great dives for a good price. I would definitely recommend this resort. If you can, try to get Willie as your divemaster. He's got a great personality and was a lot of fun both under and above the water.
Happy diving..
