newbie looking for DM internship advice. Roatan or Utila??

[scubadavey]

Hey there ,

Im currently 22 years old and looking to do my DM cert in an internship format that im sure many of you are familiar with. As of now I do not plan on going into the scuba industry, rather, ive dove maybe 10 times and fell in love from the first time. I Plan on working in the financial sector upon return so im not too concerned about getting the most transferable skills, just something to consider. However im an animal lover and would like to incorporate some conservation efforts that some shops offer. Barefoot divers on Roatan offers shark and coral conservation seminars with marine biologists so they are at the top of my list at the moment. Im also looking for some fun night life, nothing too crazy would love meeting new people and preferably a younger crowd as well. I was fairly set on Roatan but have been reading good things about Utila and it seems they have a younger and more international crowd as well.

Just looking for any advice/ things to consider from anyone who knows the area or is familiar with the programs. Also if anyone has done their DM at barefoot, or if you would specifically recommend any shops. Also if i choose Utila, will I get bored in 10 weeks? Thanks in advance for the input

 

[robint]

check out CocoView Resort, Roatan. There were 3 DM interns on our last trip there and they all RAVED about it.

 

[flots am]

Hey there ,

Im currently 22 years old and looking to do my DM cert in an internship format that im sure many of you are familiar with. As of now I do not plan on going into the scuba industry, rather, ive dove maybe 10 times and fell in love from the first time. I Plan on working in the financial sector upon return so im not too concerned about getting the most transferable skills, just something to consider. However im an animal lover and would like to incorporate some conservation efforts that some shops offer. Barefoot divers on Roatan offers shark and coral conservation seminars with marine biologists so they are at the top of my list at the moment. Im also looking for some fun night life, nothing too crazy would love meeting new people and preferably a younger crowd as well. I was fairly set on Roatan but have been reading good things about Utila and it seems they have a younger and more international crowd as well.

Just looking for any advice/ things to consider from anyone who knows the area or is familiar with the programs. Also if anyone has done their DM at barefoot, or if you would specifically recommend any shops. Also if i choose Utila, will I get bored in 10 weeks? Thanks in advance for the input

You need about another 30 dives before you can even start the class.

If you're not going to work in SCUBA, I'd suggest skipping it completely, since all it's good for is paying annual dues and carrying liability insurance.

 

[laurenceh]

much more fun on utila for a 22 year old, lots of young people from all over the world, fun atmosphere and some great dm programs (i like udc).
i did my dm on utila a few years ago and it was a blast, hard work but tons of fun. my group of interns were from aussie, israel, sweden, norway and england, what a fun group.
you'll be too busy to get bored, you'll be busy 6 days a week from 7.30am until 6pm.
i'm sure there are some great dm programs on roatan as well but the visitors there are a very different demographic, mostly middle aged americans and canadians and of course during the middle of the day, the dreaded cruise ship passengers.
both islands can provide good instruction and plenty of hands on experience but as a twenty two year old do you want to be surrounded by mostly middle aged north americans looking for a sunset view from a bar that plays jimmy buffet (roatan) or a mostly young international crowd, all looking to have the absolute time of their lives?
the choice is yours my friend!

 

[Lorenzoid]

check out CocoView Resort, Roatan. There were 3 DM interns on our last trip there and they all RAVED about it.

Yes, but:

. . . I was fairly set on Roatan but have been reading good things about Utila and it seems they have a younger and more international crowd as well.

I spent two months on Utila and a couple of weeks on Roatan and though I'm a geezer relative to you I partied with the best of them. Although West End on Roatan has plenty of young people, including some doing DM internships, and has a vibrant evening scene, Utila is all that times two. It's Utila you're looking for. There will be loads of others doing the same thing as you.

I'm partial to Utila Dive Center (UDC), but there are certainly other options. Make inquiries with a few of them, and see which seems to be a good fit, given your "conservation" interest.

 

[kathydee]

Another vote for Utilia! It's great fun for a 22 year old & there are plenty of dive shops to train with. Just show up, visit a bunch of shops, get to know some DMT's on the island & take it from there ;-). Do not settle in Roatan till you've experienced Utilia - it's the hot spot for young divers.

Edit: I lived there 5 weeks. Many dive shops there are happy to train DM's. By the time you complete AOW, Rescue you will most likely have logged more dives. If you commit to all at one shop some will even offer free dives to make the minimum amount. Don't set any deals till you get there & shop around. Don't settle on one shop till you talk to several. Find what's best for you. Affordable housing, perks and lots of fun will emerge once you show up and catch on to the lay of the land ! Have fun!

 

[chillyinCanada]

If you don't need your DM, then why not just go and dive, dive, dive? That way you could spend some time on both islands, then you'll become the latest authority here on Scubaboard for your original question. Take your AOW, take rescue, find out who will give you some conservation, I'm sure you can get all that without having to take your DM. Barefoot is a little out of the way for any partying, IMNSHO.

I recommend either West End Divers or Coconut Tree Divers. West End Divers usually has lots of young people hanging about and they all seem to get together for parties and such. But Coconut Tree actually promotes social interaction between their divers and staff. Hang out at Sundowner's at happy hour and meet all kinds of people, follow the young ones down to . . erm, darn, can't remember the name of the bar. Perhaps it was Luna? Used to be packed every weekend.

Geez, sure wish I was in your shoes.

 

[diversteve]

While Robin is a die-hard Coconut - and I applaud her for it, Cocoview is 45mins. to an hour from any sort of nightlife except sitting around their bar after work. Lots of gray hair in that bar also. Barefoot is also in a really quiet area unless your idea of nightlife is AppleBee's in French Harbor - which closed also recently IIRC. They're both on the south side, the West End is north. So you can see the problem. The "bar" at Barefoot is around the pool.

No slam against Barefoot because we dove with them, I really like them and often recommend them but exactly what sharks are they using for research? The only ones likely to be seen are at the canned Waihuka shark dive off the airport - everyone books it. Nice dive, very minimal feeding but enough current at times that research would be out of the question - holding on is all you can manage. I don't know of anyone whose seen a shark on the north side of Roatan either - it's never mentioned here. Sometimes there's wild dolphins off the south side and of course there's Roatan Institute of Marine Sciences at Anthony's Key. http://www.anthonyskey.com/dolphins/dolphin-activities.htm Personally calling that research seems to be a stretch though.

It's all in the West End. As Chilly mentioned Coconut Tree seems to be one of the social hubs - we were just rec diving with them yet we started at Sundowners and went bar-hopping down the street more than once. Beers on the honor system on their deck before that. Friday night was DM graduation night, a funnel, a hose and a lot of rum were involved.

It's not all fun and games, though, they're serious about diving and training during the day. Their DM trainees shadowed our group all week. If you're not looking to spend a lot on decent lodging, they have a 12BR DM house with a pool and a restaurant next door. I think as long as you're taking classes with them you can rent there but check. Call them, ask for Gay, she's PJ's wife and seems to run things. Good people. About $350-500 month depending on share/solo - AC/not. You get full use of the kitchen etc.

If you want to spend very little - Chillies is the hostel next door - I looked in there - it's decent - just shared and no hot water. For a month or more, pick something out on vrbo.com and make a better deal. There's a couple of nicer properties in that area that do longer term rentals - 5-10min. walk from any of them. Won't need a car - everything is local except the big food stores in French Harbor. A cab there would be about $15 and they'll wait for you. But you could easily eat cheaply locally or off the food trucks. Fresh fish, really nice looking produce daily on the main street. Some options: http://www.coconuttreedivers.com/roatan.html

I believe the bar Chilly meant was Nova Bar. FuBar was another one. Fosters (is it still there?) was another over-water bar.

Another option for research is on Utila. Whale Shark Research is ran by Deep Blue Utila. We did one of their research weeks a few years ago, our expert was Jennifer - the DNA expert listed. We participated in one cell sampling - shark didn't like it much - he charged the DM - twice and they put us on 8 sharks over two days. Also the expert(s) give lectures on their work during the evening. Small resort so you eat/stay/dive with them all week. It's isolated from town by a lagoon channel so all access is by boat. You might be able to work something out and just come over for the dives/research - their staff gets there from town via boat so someone is always coming/going - it's a 5min ride.

Dr. Rachel Graham - another name listed - also runs a research program in South Belize. I believe there's some sort of public participation possibly with her also. The sharks typically show up there after Utila for the Cubera Snapper spawn off Gladden Spit. Only place in the Caribbean you can dive with them. Check Splash Divers website for details. Placencia is pretty quiet though, good for Mayan, Jungle, Preserve tours/treks but not a lot of nightlife. For that you want Ambergris but it's too far from there for whalesharks.

If you have no plans to go pro, get a Master Diver card instead if desired. It's the apex rec diver rating from PADI afaik. While DM is good, you'll also spend a lot of time moving tanks, gear and anything else they want you to do. Instead you could be diving - or being a tourist. Dives are pretty inexpensive in the West End also -10/$300. So you can do a lot of diving reasonably.

fwiw, Tropic Air now flies from Roatan to Belize City - and on to Placencia. So both countries are easily possible.

 

[laurenceh]

you can also volunteer at WORC the whale shark research research station on utila, they always have an intern or two working there. its in the same building as the bay islands college of diving on the main street in utila.

 

[robint]

Yes, I am a CCV coconut, but I was giving an honest answer about their DMC program.
As far as the age of visitors, I have been there twice and both times it was a nice mix of 20s-60s customers. No, there is not nightlife at CCV, other than sitting at the bar each night having drinks together with other guests and the staff (yes, the staff hang out there, too).

And as far as the DMC programs on Utila.... I have heard great things about them for many years. But I also know a local diver who went there and did his DM-Instructor course back to back. He came home a fully certified instructor. My husband is a local instructor at the same dive shop and the year before he refused to pass this same guy on his DM course because of incompetence. Yes, my husband is tough, but he didn't feel this guy was safe. Maybe being at Utila was good for this guy, and he was able to perform all the tasks required that he could not do here. Don't know, just sayin'.

robin