Diving expensive in Central/South America?

[watersprite]

Perhaps a "silly" question, but is scuba diving expensive in Central/South America?

I plan to travel around Central and South America for at least 6 months next year. One of the things I'd like to do there is doing a LOT of scuba diving. Since I should work really hard before I can go on this trip, I kind of want to make some calculations of how much all this is going to cost me and for how long I should work until I have made this money for travelling.

I consider one dive that costs 40 US dollars/40 Euro's as "expensive" (this is even the cheapest dive I ever made - I'm a student so can't afford much these days!).

How much approximately would diving cost in Central/South America - if you rent ALL the gear - per dive?

I haven't made up my mind yet about where exactly I want to go. I am currently thinking of Ecuador, Peru, Costa Rica and some countries bordering these countries.

Perhaps people who have been in Central/South America can let me know where they dove (or dived?) and what they approx. paid for it?

Thanks a lot for any info!

Watersprite

PS. any travel suggestions are very welcome too!

 

[drbill]

with interest as I'll be down there traveling and diviong in about 6 months.

Have you looked for dive operator web sites in those areas? I know I did some research a few months ago that way. Can't remember the prices, but I think they were fairly reasonable if you weren't tied into some exclusive hotel/resort.

Dr. Bill

 

[Oreo cookie]

Dude you cant just say central/south america, The area is so big that you can get dives from 15 USD to more than 40USD you should be more specific in the area you are going to travel to, maybe I can help you. I live in south america

 

[watersprite]

hey Dude (Oreo Cookie),

I know I was asking a hard question to answer, that why I asked people to state the region they travelled to as well.

Ok... well, to pick a country: what about Ecquador? Can I make a dive there that cost me around 20 US dollars? Or even below that? I'll be travelling on a low budget... so definitely won't stick around expensive resorts.

Dr Bill, I haven't started searching the web yet as I don't speak Spanish yet (I hope I will in some weeks time!). I will do some searches on it as soon as I understand a bit!

Thanks!

Watersprite

 

[Oreo cookie]

Ecuador is not an expensive place, I speak spanish. if u need some help just mail me.... (mr_linky@hotmail.com)

 

[drbill]

Most of the sites I visited had English translations in addition to Spanish (which I don't speak myself but wish I did).

Dr. Bill

 

[watersprite]

Cool! Ecuador will be on my list then.

Thanks for your help, Oreo Cookie. The prices of scuba diving will seriously determine my choice for countries I'll go to because I want to do a LOT of scuba diving there!

In some weeks time I'd like to start searching the web for nice places to travel to. I was very discouraged in the beginning to even look for information as I am currently planning a trip to Spain and hardly anything on the web is in English... usually the "menu's" are translated into English, but the contents just isn't! I kind of expected it to be the same for websites of places in South America. Glad to hear it isn't always the case, Mr Bill!

Anyhow.. I may e-mail you when I can't understand what I'm reading, Oreo Cookie! Muchos Gracias!!!

Watersprite

 

[Gaz]

Hi

I have a dutch diving package which is promoted in holland and includes

7 nights in beach accomodations
Air from Belize city to Ambergris
boat transfers to the resort
10 scubadives along the Belize barrier reef
free shark ray alley visit
breakfast and dinner daily
all taxes and service

cost 899 Euros only 799 without the air to the island if you decided to take the ferry

with whats included like food diving etc its a great value although still might be expensive for a backpacker thats really watching there euro cents.

tot zeins

Gaz

 

[tschehr]

I think the cheepest (and some of the best) diving is from the backpacker islands.
I am most familiar with Utila (Honduras) where a two tank dive with equipment is ~$40-50US and
Caye Caulker (Belize) where the same is ~$50-60US.
If you dive with the same op for a while you can generally get a discount for 10 or more dives (5+ days of 2 tank dives).
There are plenty of cheap accomodations on both islands (with Honduras being a bit less expensive in all ways).

 

[DIR Tec Diver]

Honduras is extremely reasonable. Utila - 25-30$ for 2 tank dives

Belize is expensive, especially around Ambergis Caye, Caye Caulker etc. The issue is the fuel prices, they are ridiculous in Belize and unfortunately the prices represent that. (50 - 80$ for 2 tank dives (local vs. long boat trip) Blue hole was 80$ when I went, but that was a 3 tank dive trip

Costa Rica was quite reasonable and so was Panama (20 - 30$)