West End assistance for a first time diver

After too many years of waiting, I am finally going to Roatan to learn to scuba dive late this spring. I bought my plane ticket and will be visiting for a week. After doing research on trip advisor and this forum, I know I want to stay in the West End and take an open water certification class. I plan to spend the second half of the week diving, relaxing, and exploring the island a bit.

Should I reserve my open water class before I arrive or wait until I get there? I have read extremely positive reviews of almost all of the dive shops in the West End and it seems almost impossible to tell which one I might like the most based on the internet. Are there any dive shops that are particularly better or worse for first time divers? Is it a situation where I will probably be happy with any place I choose?

I would also love any thoughts on whether I should spend a few hundred extra dollars for the week and stay at Cocolobo. I am divided between staying there vs Posada Arco Iris or Las Orquideas. Cocolobo gets amazing reviews but I don't know if it's worth spending money that I might otherwise spend on diving and other activities. I am open to other suggestions too if there are better places to stay in the same price range.

Thanks!

Trip Advisor is a lousy place to get dive advice. Glad you came to :sblogo:. I'll defer to the West End experts.

But....

vermont123:

I plan to spend the second half of the week diving, relaxing, and exploring the island a bit.

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A lousy plan. You're getting certified in a place where there is some of the best diving that remains accessible in the Caribbean. Plan on diving 4x a day, get in as much as possible. The diving is easy and you need experience right now, while it's fresh. If you have done any research, here or elsewhere in the internet, you're likely to deduce that there is precious little "to explore" on the island.

Come to dive.

LOL @Doc.

My friends and I enjoy taking a day trip up island and stopping for lunch in Punta Gorda, but that's only when I've got more than a week. A person should take a couple of hours to enjoy West Bay beach. You can get there and back by water taxi. Don't miss the last wrt taxi of the day. They quit running around sundown. There's a zipline that's reasonably fun but don't go on a cruiseship day if you can avoid it.

My recommendation is West End Divers. Speak to Mel (Melanie) or Alex.

That said, since it appears you intend to stay in the end of town, check out Native Sons and Coconut Tree Divers. You do not have to book your class before you go. Go to the dive shops. Look at their boats, gear, setup, talk to the staff. See if you can pick up a vibe that you like (or don't like).

There are two dive ops that I do not recommend and one of them is probably already closed down.

---------- Post added February 26th, 2013 at 03:04 AM ----------

By the way, vermont123, are you traveling on your own or with a buddy? IMO Cocolobos and Los O are too out of the way and the walk to and fro after sunset is quite dark and a bit isolated.

Don't be afraid to wait until you get there to walk through West End and to visit some dive shops on your first day. Some will seem more inviting than others and you will be able to talk to staff face to face to get a feel for it. There are many good safe shops but the atmosphere is different at each of them so sign up with the one that is comfortable for you. As Chilly mentioned West End Divers and Coconut Tree are good. My shop of choice these days is Reef Gliders. IMO, Mickey is an awesome dive master.

Thanks so much for all the feedback. I am traveling on my own and appreciate the input regarding certain hotels being pretty isolated.

I sort of have a different opinion.

Posada Arco Iris wouldn't work for me for two reasons. One is that the buildings are perpendicular to the beach so if you have an end unit you look thru all your neighbors patios at the ocean. The 2nd is that Argentinian Grille is right out front so there will be some noise from that till 10PM or so nightly.

We stayed at a house just east of Cocolobo. I walked over there one day to look it over, it's pretty nice. One thing about that area is that it's all 5-6' ironshore cliffs down to the water so there's no water access possible. That whole area will be quieter than in town also.

I didn't have any issues with safety at night but I'm 6'4" so that may have been a factor. The West End isn't quite as bad as Coxen Hole or other areas also - there's often somebody walking around till pretty late - esp. near the weekend. Mostly tourists.

There's also a cut-thru in that area - not shown on the map - that will put you on the road behind Half Moon Resort for a quicker walk into town. It's even lit in a few needed places. It's about a 5min. walk thru the rainforest canopy then onto the main road, a semi-lit public area right into "downtown".

We dove with Coconut Tree all week, really liked them. The first day we walked our gear over and left it there all week. After cleaning it, they would ensure that it was all stored safely while we did something else. They would have probably brought it out onto the boat for us also but we wouldn't let them.

Reef Gliders would have been our 2nd choice also but it's Panga (26' open boat) diving so you may want to look for someone with a bigger boat with a ladder for your initial class. It's a little easier off a swim platform and boarding a conventional (rather than short) ladder. Coconut Tree has two conventional boats. West End has both.

The other thing about Coconut Tree is they train a lot of dive professionals - on many of our dives there were also 3-4 DM trainees shadowing us. One afternoon dive my friends did something else so there were four divers and 6 staff members on that dive. Being in a class you would always have your own instructor also.

Another idea would be to get the cert process out of the way locally before you go on your trip...at least the classroom (or e-learning) and pool work. That way you maximize your diving time.

I also agree with West End Divers and be sure to call ahead and talk to Alex.
We stayed in October at Splash Inn. Right next store to West End divers. Nice enough rooms and right there on the little strip. I would Dive With West End though. Also consider knocking out your Bookwork online.

I spent two very enjoyable weeks in the West End last October.

The walk from CocoLobo to the metropolis of the West End is extremely easy and will take you all of 5-7 minutes. In exchange you'll have a quiet place to stay with an absolutely stunning, unobstructed, 270 degree view of the ocean.

I dove with Coconut Tree and would absolutely do it again. Great folks, and because they have so many DiveMaster and IDT candidates, you'll be very carefully watched and receive excellent instruction.

Pick your dive op when you get there... There's enough choice that you won't have a problem getting there and then finding out there's no classes going on. As diversteve mentioned, Coconut Tree trains a lot of dive pros (myself included), and as he said, there's always a few DMTs trailing the group. During the 3 months I was there, when some students showed up, a class started, so there's a strong possibility of getting a private (or close to it) class. (I imagine it's fairly similar at other shops in the area.) The first morning dive at Coconut Tree is not new-diver-friendly as far as depth goes, so they will pair up new divers (especially those who just finished their course) with one of the DMTs and and you'll follow the group at a shallower depth, so you're not missing out on anything.

Just go down there, see what kind of vibe you get from the different shops and pick the one you feel most comfortable with. They all go to pretty much the same sites.