Coconut Tree vs. Sueno Del Mar

[rin1018]

Planning a trip for the last week in February (just booked flights!) and have spent several hours now reading through info about the different dive shops and places to stay.

Leaning towards Coconut Tree or Sueno Del Mar. Lots of info and reviews about CT (all great), but much less about SDM. Has anyone dived or stayed at SDM lately?

28 y.o. female traveling solo. Currently hold Open Water certification and am thinking about doing Advanced Open Water while in Roatan. Thoughts/advice on whether I should do the AOW cert? Did my open water summer before last in Monterrey CA and unfortunately have yet to be diving anywhere other than there. Can't wait for the warm clear waters!

Want to keep costs as low as possible without sacrificing safety etc. Looking to get away from the office for the week and just relax/get some good diving in, but def. enjoy meeting new people and CT looks like it might be more social.

Any thoughts/experiences/advice is appreciated!

Thanks!
Carin

 

[marcoa]

Hi Carin,

Either place will treat you right and will not comprimise your safety. You'll visit excellent diving locations. The AOW course consists of five dives. The deep and nav are required and you choose among the other courses (i.e. wreck, ppb, nitrox, digital photography, naturalist, night). At Coconut Tree you'll be on our morning boat doing the two tank dives during your course. If you decide to do the night dive, we go out every Tuesday and Thursday.

We are located at the heart of West-End. As soon as you come into "the village" you'll see our cabins to the right and the dive shop on the left. Our dock and boats sit right accross the street. We have a dorm room reserved for our divers for five bucks a night. It has hot water, AC, and runs off a generator. We don't experience power outages as we are off the grid. The water temperature has been on average in the low 80s.

Visit us when you get in and we'll show you around. Also, for more info, point your browser to Coconut Tree Divers - PADI 5-Star IDC Dive Resort on Roatan, Honduras - scuba diving courses, divemaster internships, instructor development, tec diving, and more!.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

-marco

 

[danktex]

I have never dealt with Sueno but have been out with Coconut Tree many times. They are as good as their reviews. Can't go wrong with them.

 

[halocline]

They're really different kinds of places; CTD is more social, there's a lot more divers, more instructors, more students. They're also at different ends of the west end, CTD is right where the road from across the island comes in, Sueno is down at the far end towards West Bay.

I can't speak for the vibe on the dive boats at Sueno, as I've never dove with them. I did visit the shop quite a few times. (They're a SP dealer, and I was constantly buying parts to fix various friends' regs) If you're coming by yourself and you want to make some new friends, CTD is ideal.

 

[Scuba Monster]

enjoy meeting new people and CT looks like it might be more social.

I met CT/Marco @ the TX Dive show this month ... definitely outgoing and social. There are a few dive destinations that I am considering for my AOW in the year to come, CT would be on my list for Roatan.

 

[diversteve]

I'd have to go with CTD also. Good crew, instructors and DM"s, the owner's PJ & Gay are the best people. But stay away from that crazy Marco - j/k.

For the social aspects how can you go wrong with a diveop that stocks beer on the honor system. There's always a group hanging around there post dive. The cabins in back are only $40 and decent but older. Sundowners which is a West End hangout is 100' from CTD. The two classes I observed, DM & OWSI were small and casual.

It's a good location to be exploring Roatan from also, the taxi stand is just across the street and Woody's market is a short block away - a smaller one is in the CTD building. I thought the restaurant upstairs was a little pricey - but there's plenty of reasonable options just down the road - Rotisserie Chicken was excellent as was the pasta place - ask Gay about others. A really nice$$ meal was the Argentinian Grille.

Another nice thing about that area is you're not too far from Coxen Hole, the Shark dive, the Dolphin dive at AKR etc. We even dove Mary's Place and the Prince Albert (Cocoview) wreck with another southside diveop - CTD set it up for us. Nothing was more than a $10 cab ride from there - negotiate in advance.

 

[sololady]

Both shops are top shelf and both are friends of mine. I've dove with both and you'll have great, safe diving and instruction from either.

Having said that, I dive almost always with CTD these last few years. I even leave my gear with them instead of humping it back and forth to the states and back. I travel as a single female diver, too. Gotta say, I try to meet the gang for beer-thirty on the deck every day. Great way to chill, review the day's dives, compare photos and transition from the dive day to dinner and the evening in paradise.

 

[leadweight]

CTD is very social. They have coffee on in the morning, complementary for their diving customers, sometimes they even have cake. Some days they order lunch for anyone who is interested. The lunch is not free but its always a good deal, usually about 100 Limpera. They have this nice deck in front of the shop that is a regular diver's hang out from 8 to 5 every day. Around 4 you can have a beer on the deck. They have an honor system where you can prepay 100 limps for 5 beers. That's dollar beers.

Their schedule is a two tank trip at 9AM and a pair one tank trips at 1PM and 2:30PM. If you feel bushed in the morning or "Rotaned" do the afternoon dives.

I just finished up 2 weeks diving with CTD. I told the owner, PJ they did a great job. The finicky weather is not under their control, but they did a great job adapting their schedules to it. This morning there was a lot of wind, and diving was done from the South side of the island. From the airport I could see even the water on the south side was a bit rough too.

 

[rin1018]

Thanks all! Just sent a deposit in to Coconut Tree, so I'm looking forward to meeting some of you while I'm down there.