Dive Review of Anthony’s Key Resort in
Honduras/Roatan island

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Anthony’s Key Resort: "Good, big resort diving in Roatan. Well run. Above water activities", Jul, 2015, by Bill Schlegel, MO, US ( Contributor 19 reports with 17 Helpful votes). Report 8635 has 4 Helpful votes.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	I like Anthony's Key Resort. Have been there before and they get a little better every time. One thing I noticed was how well organized their dive operation was. AKR appears to manage over 100 divers a week, on a busy week. Because of their experience and policies, this doesn't have to be "cattle boat diving". They check out everyone for basic skills (don't gripe, suck it up, just do it !) on day one and if you fail, you will politely be offer instruction. They then seemed to segregate divers according to experience and requests. Makes everyone happier. The actual diving was what you would expect. Good Caribbean warm water, calm, and physically easy diving. Several types of dive boats but all with easy ladders. Boat facilities included sunshades or roofs, drinking water, some type of camera table, emergency oxygen, marine radio. No heads on our boat. Dive routine was to leave dock at 8:00 after breakfast, travel 5 to 20 minutes, moor on established buoy, dive for an hour and then surface interval for 50 min. Repeat. Then back to resort for lunch. Dive gain after lunch. Night dive. Dive restrictions were typical and reasonable. No deco diving unless you are taking a course with an instructor. Computers strongly recommended. Briefings always said 40 minutes with a safety stop. Not only smart but polite for others on boat who go back to boat early. Since everyone on our boat wanted to stay down longer, we are frequently well over an hour. Divemaster would return to boat at about 40 minutes though. Remember, dive masters dive every day and have a different nitrogen accumulation profile than the typical sport diver on a one week vacation. They did not rush us, nor were they in a hurry to get back to the dock on some time line. AKR is affiliated with Roatan Institute of Marine sciences. Right across the lagoon from AKR. This is also called the dolphin academy. I know, there are people who go berserk when penned up dolphins are mentioned, but you should consider this. This is an internationally known facility that works with these animals at all levels. I understand it is respected among those who know these things. Activities range from dolphin shows for cruise ship tourists to serious work with university level marine naturalists and researchers. Dolphin shows and courses are used to raise money to feed the critters and help fund research. They care for and shelter injured dolphins and other sea creatures such as turtles. I would recommend at least an afternoon dolphin swim with the dolphins encounter. For those inclined, they have "summer camp" encounters of one week to one month for kids and adults. These are very professionally run. You will learn a lot. I did one years ago. Book a SCUBA dolphin encounter with their "wild dolphin herd" in open water. I should note that although most or their dolphins are within netted enclosures, they are able to jump over the nets and leave. We were told that they always come back, for food etc. Shark baiting and diving. This is something that, I believe, is actually controversial. AKR does not do this themselves. But, they will inform you that another operator on Rroatan offers this. There is a reef several miles out from Roatan Island, that comes up to 60 feet, where this operator baits sharks. This may minimize one of the most serious criticisms of shark baiting; that it makes sharks associate divers with food. Nobody dives there except the shark dives. You will see 20-30 Caribbean reef sharks, close up. No one has ever been bitten, they say. Got some great video. The actual AKR resort is split between the "mainland" portion (on main Roatan island) where the office, restaurant, bar, dive operation, recompression chamber, dive equipment lockers (everyone gets one, right next to your boat) and photoshop are located. Then, there is Anthony's Key itself. The Key, which is a beautiful palm covered island, a couple hundred yards wide, is separated from main island by about 100 yards of water. About 20 cottages on the key that sleep 2-4 made from tropical hardwood with beautiful ocean and bay views. Cottages are raised on pilings to keep sand flees out and minimize damage during storms. All have covered porches with hammocks and space to dry gear. Insides have T.V. and phone, air conditioning. Most people turned off the A.C. and left windows open in the 80 degree climate. Phone only calls office. WiFi. Prompt efficient and free ferry boat service to main island 24 /7. Good security personnel on resort grounds. Kayaks, windsurf boards, snorkeling in the lagoon is quite good. I would summarize AKR as a well run and safely dive resort with some special offerings that is great for groups, families. Fair for photographers. Not first on the list for technical divers, extremely jaded experienced divers or handicapped divers as the outboard ferry service to the Key is not accommodating to some handicaps and the stars up to the restaurant had lost of divers griping about his steep and long they were...
Websites	Anthony’s Key Resort
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	About everywhere.
Closest Airport	Routan airport, 20 min by shuttle	Getting There	Delta. No problems. American, United others also go there.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm, no currents
Water Temp	82-83°F / 28-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	All divers need to demonstrate basic skills: Mask removal and clearing underwater, regulator retrieval, buddy breathing. Done by having everyone jump off the boat (at the dock) in 10 feet of water and 1:1 with dive master. Not a bad idea for large operation with lots of customers / week.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Anthony's Key's photoshop is professional and good. Their focus is on producing and selling videos of divers and their groups dive vacations. Beautiful facility. Nice rental photo and video equipment. Instruction, for those that want to take a photo course. They offer both basic and advanced instruction. However, they don't have anything for those rare birds who still use film.

Report currently has 4 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Anthony’s Key Resort in Honduras/Roatan island

Anthony’s Key Resort: "Good, big resort diving in Roatan. Well run. Above water activities", Jul, 2015,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Anthony’s Key Resort in
Honduras/Roatan island