Utila Dive Center (UDC) or Bay Islands College of Diving (BICD)

So, I have been looking into places to travel for my Divemaster certification and possibly OWSI. I started with looking into some internships in Bonaire (Buddy Dive Bonaire and Dive Friends Bonaire), but I think I've decided to go with Utila. I'm open to doing either an internship or just going for the course. I have heard nothing but amazing things about both Utila Dive Center and Bay Islands College of Diving. I checked out this forum: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ba...a-dive-centre-bay-islands-college-diving.html but it is from five years ago, and I'm hoping to get a little bit of a better idea based on good and bad experiences at these shops. I have a friend who did her OWSI training at UDC and absolutely loved it, but after spending hours and hours online, it seems like BICD has an awesome program as well. BICD offers some free specialties and lots of other cool extras with their course, but UDC seems to have quite the unbeatable reputation. It's not a huge deal, but I like the idea of going to a PADI CDC and if I don't do OWSI in the same trip, I'd like to be able to return to the same shop to get that certification in the future. I'm very excited to go further with this but also very, very indecisive! Any help would be great!!

You likely will not get much feedback from folks that have done Divemaster and or OWSI from both so right away there is a problem. Then does simple popularity come into play? Lets see, If we polled car owners about quality you likely would get plenty replies from Toyota, Volkswagon, Nissan, and the US brands and very few from Rolls Royce owners , does than mean the Rolls is not as good a car? There are likely many who think either shop is great but remember, How many OW divers tell someone so and so was the Best instructor without really thinking he/she was their ONLY instructor so while being BEST, at the same time was also , by default, the WORST diving instructor they had

Thanks RTBDiver, that makes a lot of sense, I didn't really think the poll through. Hopefully I'll get some good and bad experiences from people who have gone to one or the other (or maybe at least dove with both shops, even if not for a course). As you said, the poll is just going to show popularity, so I'll just take into account any opinions people have on either shop.

The best bet is to not book anything in advance and once you land on the island, take half a day and interview the different shops to see who's offering what as well as see which shop you "click" with. It's well worth taking the hike out to Coral View to see how they operate then you can order yourself a Slava and consider you options from a real time, boots on the ground perspective rather than trolling the internet trying to make your decision based on what happened last month.

So, why do you want to become a SCUBA professional ? IMO, DM is the best job going and if that's what you're interested in doing then it may be worth finding the shop who will get you diving with both students and fun divers and allow you to do the course in as much time as you can afford. DM is a great course to do for both the fun of it and exposure to the industry and is well worth taking as the focus of a trip.

OWSI, OTOH is only worth doing if you're seriously planning on working as an instructor and it might be worth considering whether it's better to put the cost of that course into lengthening the duration of your stay on Utila.

During your DM, you'll see the number of instructors graduating and you'll be able to compare that number to the amount of available jobs.

Bring money.

I've been to UDC. Very professional, thorough and organized. Great people as well. I'd definitely go with UDC again personally.

I agree a direct comparison by people who have certified with both will be challenging. I like the idea of interviewing the shops. Maybe take a dive with each?

i have dived with both operations and i think that the size of the operation at u.d.c. guarantees you a lot of experience working with new divers which is critical to becoming a good dm, not just someone with a dm card. bay islands college of diving is a very professional place and i'm sure your instruction would be excellent. however u.d.c is teaching dozens of new divers every week which means as you work through the dm course you will get a lot more chances to assist in open water courses and work with a larger amount of dm's and instructors, more brains to pick and teaching styles to observe.

I would make my decision on Island, but don't count out the other shops. Alton's dive Center (when I was there in 2010) was a great atmosphere, had good instructors and was well run top to bottom. Give them a try as well. They'll all take your business when you are there, so there's no reason to sign up beforehand.