2015 Roatan

For me, the Roatan trip was all about hanging and diving with friends and relaxing. I spent all of my time in one of three places: diving, at the restaurant, and in my hammock.

Our arrival was tough. Think trying to check out at Wal-Mart at noon on a Saturday tough. The lines were four rows deep outside to get through customs. There were definitely not enough “check-out” clerks. There were employees walking around rearranging the line. They took anyone really old out and let them go through the line. They took any families with kids out and moved them to the front of the line. There were around 30 people that came off the plane after my group of friends, and I was the absolute last person to clear customs. It seems that the employees’ time would have been better spent processing travelers than rearranging the line. It was hot and frustrating. In the win column, they did have lots of water available for the people waiting in line. It was a breeze to get through the immigration and bag check area. Though that might have been a reflection of the fact that I was the last person through and they wanted to be done until the next flight arrived. After I made it through immigration, I went outside where the other 20+ people in my group were waiting for the buses. It took two buses and about 20 minutes to get to the resort, where all 25 of us had to check in and fill out paperwork.

The resort was beautiful. I mean, amazing. If you’ve seen the pictures online, that’s EXACTLY what the resort looks like. The Anthony’s Key website has a virtual tour that is extremely realistic. It’s like I’m there all over again.However, the resort is laid out in a strange manner. The lobby, bar, and restaurant are way up on the hill. I mean approximately 3 stories of stairs up the side of the hill. You’ll need to go up and down those stairs for every meal, at the very least. The Key rooms (Standard, Deluxe, and Superior) are located on an island a couple dozen feet from the shore. The island is good-sized and houses the pool, the spa, a pavilion, and lots of rooms. I was staying in a Key Deluxe room. It was more roomy than the other bungalows, but still not large. Anthony’s Key says the following:

Key Deluxe bungalows are our most spacious bungalows and can be found dispersed along the of perimeter of the key. These bungalows feature wood floors, Honduran hardwood furnishings, natural stone counter-tops, air-conditioning and high visibility glass windows for spectacular ocean views. Each bungalow has an adjoined private covered deck, inviting you to unwind after a day of diving and rest in a cozy hammock, while embracing the tranquility after a day full of adventure. Access to the key is by island taxi boat, traveling back and forth in the lagoon, between the key and main island upon request.

The access to the key by taxi boat is correct and a little inconvenient. Particularly when it rains. However, enjoying the rain hitting the ocean around you while you’re relaxing on your covered deck in a hammock more than makes up for the inconvenience.

The diving was great. The shark dive was GREAT. On regular dives, we saw so many turtles that it was almost boring. “Oh look, another turtle. I don’t think I’ll burn the air to go over there and get a photo.” There were some great shipwrecks, as well. We saw the Odyssey and the Aguila. On this trip, I saw my first seahorse. That was awesome. We were there in October. The temperatures were in the low to mid 80’s (Fahrenheit) with fairly high humidity. Sometimes, the first few feet of water was hotter than the air, and as high as 89 degrees. The visibility was not the best that I’ve seen, but it wasn’t the worst.

Some of the others on the trip went into town to party on the no-dive night. There’s a pretty fun BBQ night during the week on the resort. Drinks are not included, but there is happy hour every other night with 2-for-one drinks. Go with a friend. There’s a conservatory, on the mainland. And there’s the dolphin area near the resort. There’s a few things to do off the resort and plenty to do on. Anthony’s Key runs great buy-one-get-one specials, so that you can take a dive buddy for half price.

Overall, the resort was very nice for the price, though there was a lot of walking. The diving was very good and you can get in lots of dives. The shark dive is extra, but well worth it. I would definitely go again, and probably will.