If you’re looking for a relaxing vacation with great diving, comfortable amenities and excellent food, look no further than the Anthony Key Dive (AKR) resort in Roatan, Honduras. My wife and I had an excellent vacation and dive adventure with Anthony Keys Dive Resort the last week of January 2022,
Our trip was booked through our local dive shop and hosted by the TikTok influencer Chris Foisey with Modern Diver Channel. In this article, I will share my experience with the resort and the diving. You will know what to expect when planning a trip to dive in Roatan.
Flying to Roatan, Honduras
We flew to Routan at the tail end of the COVID-19 pandemic. We flew from Toronto, Canada, directly to Honduras. At the time, Honduras just required that either one had been double vaccinated ( there wasn’t a 3rd vaccine requirement yet) or proof of a negative test 3 days from arrival. The resort’s website provided all the information and forms required to enter the country.
Before arriving in the country, all the COVID-19 verification forms had to be filled out. Even though they made the process as easy as possible, it still took over an hour to get everything completed and verified online. Luckily, when writing this article, in October of 2022, There were no COVID restrictions for entering Honduras.
The flight from Toronto to Roatan was approximately 4:45 min non-stop with Westjet. The plane wasn’t the most comfortable, but it was a short flight, and the complimentary non-alcoholic beverages helped pass the time a little.
Resort
The resort provided a shuttle direct from the airport to the resort. it was only a short drive from the airport, approximately 20-30 min. The drive gave us a look into what life on the Island was like for the locals. I always like to see what life is like away from home. We often take for granted how lucky we are to come from Canada if we compare living conditions, but it’s also sometimes a good reminder of how much we complicate our lives and how we may not need as much as we have.
Upon arriving at the Resort, we are ushered into a large conference room\ lobby area where we can sit while our bags are taken to our rooms. We are given a Complimentary rum punch, and the resort host will introduce themselves and give you a fantastic orientation.
Some things that will be covered are how to use the resort app (you can get any information you want from there), how the dives will be operated throughout the stay, and where to find any amenities. What live entertainment and educational programs will be available.
I highly recommend the reef identification talk. It’s put on by a local marine biologist who is staying in AKR while studying, so not only is it highly informative, the person is quite passionate about the local wildlife and diving. It is among the best, most organized resort orientations I have ever experienced. We were there at the tail end of the 2020 COVID pandemic, so there weren’t any restrictions while on the resort. There were vaccine and mask restrictions on the Island of Roatan, and the resort helped navigate all the rules to the level that they provided a Dr on site so visitors could organize for negative testing to make it back home if needed.
Rooms
There are two versions of rooms to stay in at Anthony’s Keys. There are mainland suits, as it sounds, rooms on the main island. The rooms are older than the over-the-water island suits. But they have everything you will need: hot showers, fresh towels and air conditioning. These rooms have a more affordable rate than the over-the-water rooms. One real advantage I heard some of my dive crew mention is that the mainland rooms are a much shorter walk to the restaurant and the dive shop. So, those rooms may be a great option if you prefer to walk less after a dive.
I stayed in the over-the-water suites. The rooms were clean and spacious, with two queen-sized beds. There are air conditions in the rooms. There was no TV in the room, but free wifi throughout the resort. The resort tries to be environmentally friendly, so they will only bring you new towels when you request them, but there were plenty of towels any time we needed.
Food
All meals happen in the one main restaurant, an open-air dining room. It has some great seating that can give you a view of the bay while you eat. They will serve breakfast, Lunch and Dinner in the exact location. All meals are set menu. I was very concerned about what the food would be like because it wasn’t buffet style, and I was worried that I wouldn’t like any food. Rest assured that they provide plenty of food, and even though it is a set menu, on every menu, they offer chicken or beef and fish and a vegetarian option, and there is always soup and salad to go with your meal.
If you didn’t feel like what they had prepared that day, they would be happy to make you a burger and fries, as some dive buddies took advantage of. The staff will go out of their way to make sure you have had something you enjoy and that you will be happy to eat.
Update
Later 2022. Anthony’s Key Dive resort closed the main open-air restaurant and Opened a new restaurant called the Ankor Grill, which looks to be an ultimately new air-conditioned dining room. They Provided all the same meals and services in the open-air restaurant. The Ankor Grill also has a seafood menu separate from the regular meal plan that one can pay out of pocket for and require advanced reservations for. From Following on social media, it looks like the Seafood grill menu isn’t only available for the guests at the resort. But also, people visiting Roatan can make reservations and enjoy the seafood grill.
Amenities
Anthony’s Key Dive resort doesn’t disappoint with its surface interval amenities, as there is a full-sized pool with lounge chairs and a full-service poolside bar. You could often see people unwinding after the last evening dive before the food services started. There are also lots of free kayaks and paddle boards you can sign out to explore around Anthony’s Key Island.
There is also a full-service spa. We made good use of this on our last day and got deep tissue massages to help us get ready to return to the real world after a relaxing and adventurous week of diving and exploring with Anthony Key.
Included with your stay at AKR is a day excursion to another small island called Maya Key, where one could take a small hike around the island. There is a small zoo with local wildlife and a wildlife rehabilitation center; there are also some simulated Maya ruins for a photo opportunity. The visit to Maya Key usually includes meals, non-alcoholic drinks and some downtime on the beach.
Diving
Anthony Key Dive Resort is like the name state. It is truly a resort catering to divers They will have more than everything you need. Your Group will be assigned a dive boat and dive master to host your diving week. We had a dive locker provided to store and dry our equipment between dives and at night.
An excellent camera area has plenty of plugs to charge any batteries and a clean bench to work on if you have to service any O-rings on your camera or any other equipment. They even had Computers that one could use to remove content from memory cards. There is a complete rental and service shop, as I rented a wet suit for the week and had to have a light serviced. Luckily, they had the service shop.
The dives were great. You will get three dives a day, weather and condition permitting. There was a good mix of deep, shallow reef, drift, and wreck dives. The dive master will work with your group and find out what everyone wants to do after a few suggestions, so rest assured they give you the feeling they are there to provide the best and safest time possible.
I was lucky that this trip was hosted by YouTube/ Tick Tok dive celebrity Chris Foisey with Modern Dive Channel. Chris does excellent listening to everyone’s desires and advocating for the groups. He is an excellent guide in the water, pointing out all sorts of things to the group even the dive master didn’t point out.
Chris is very attentive to his dive group in the water. An example of that in our group was an older couple who weren’t the most experienced divers who would breathe through their air much faster. Chris would often take the initiative to dive with them as a three-person buddy team to make sure they got to the boat in time and with a safe amount of air as their dives were significantly shorter than the rest of us, Chris would come back and meet up with the rest of us to continue that dive. He wanted to ensure they had fun, adventurous dives within their limits, even if that would interrupt his dive.
Shark dive
Every group does a weekly shark dive. We mostly see black tip reef sharks, a few Caribbean reef sharks and a nurses shark. If you have ever been on a shark dive, then this will be just like most other shark dives You are taken to a spot, everyone goes down a line and kneels or hovers together, and then the dive master will bring down a bait ball, and everyone watches the frenzied form a safe but exciting distance. Once the bait ball is gone and provided enough air, you are invited to swim around with the sharks or rummage around the bottom of the ocean where the bait ball was to look for shark teeth that have fallen out during the dive.
One hidden gem that I feel was very undersold that I don’t want you to miss is the shore diving at Anthoney Key Dive Resort. One can do unlimited shore dives with this resort. One needs to plan and let your dive master or boat captain know how many shore dives you would like to do each day, and they will make sure there are full air tanks available for you. That way, you don’t have to lug air tanks across the whole resort. There is only one location to shore dive from at AKR, easily located on the map as there is a little dive shake on the shore where one can gear up and pick up your tank. You can do this dive every day and still not see everything. This dive starts shallow, and with multiple reefs, swim through till you get to the sandy bottom of the ocean at about 60 ft. We did this dive several times, including a night dive. We saw many lobsters, octopuses, small nurse sharks, trumpet fish and one giant devil ray that visited us on a dive. I don’t think you will regret the shore dives and can be as good as any boat dives on this trip.
Snack shop
For post-dive recovery, there is a snack shop near the dive boats. It is separate from your resort price. AKR makes it easy to charge most things back to your room at the resort. I quickly got in the habit of getting some post-dive Gatorade. They sell it in a pop can, not plastic bottles like at home. I don’t know if it was the dives or the aluminum cans, but I felt the post-dive Gatorades from the snack shop just hit like no other; leave it to say I spent a small fortune on canned Gatorade that week. The shops will have anything you need, from snacks, beverages, sunscreen, identification books, sunglasses and much more. But if you are looking for souvenirs, don’t miss out on the Routan Marian Park key chain, or check out that gift shop, which is fully decked out.
I mentioned it earlier but can’t emphasize enough to take advantage of the nature talks and the AKR’s marine museum available to visitors. Once diving in Roatan, you will notice a lot of conservation efforts going on to preserve the reefs around the island. Most support for the Routan Marian park comes from conservation-focused resorts like Anthony Key. All proceeds from the marine parks go directly back into the conservation efforts in which the people running the Museum and Talk are participating.
I can’t say enough good things about my visit to Routan and Anthony Key’s Dive Resort, from spectacular diving on beautiful reefs chock-full of life to the incredible hospitality on the resort on your private island. We had great company with Dan’s Dive Shop Crew and Chris Foisey with Modern Diver Channel. I am sure you, too, will have a great adventure and vacation visit to Roatan, Honduras at Anthony’s Key’s Dive Resort.
