Any experience with Tela (Honduras) Dive Center?

[handben]

I will be headed to Honduras for 2 weeks this summer. The first week will be as part of a medical mission to Atima and the second week I will split off from the group (who is heading back to the states) and go with my family out to Cayos Cochinos. We will be staying in Tela for about a day and a half at the end of the medical mission. I am not really a beach or pool person and the thought of doing either just doesn't inspire me. So I am doing a bit of research and see that there is a dive shop in Tela that goes to the Banco Capiro which is about 7 km offshore. The pics look like pretty healthy reef and I'd like to check it out. I'm just wondering if anyone on here has dove with them. If not, I suppose I'll have to be a guinea pig and post a report. Thanks. Ben

 

[laurenceh]

please post a report, i've visited tela a few times and was not impressed. would be interested in hearing if you can find a dive op to take you to banco capiro, anything closer to tela will be underwhelming most likely.

 

[handben]

The banco capiro is about 6-7 kilometers offshore and is apparently where the Tela Dive Center goes. I was able to find a bit of info on the internet: Travel Tourism Honduras: Tela?s Amazing Underwater Discovery

I'd be happy to post a trip report when I come back (assuming we are able to make it out with this operator).

 

[USdiver1]

Ben,

Having lived for several years in Honduras and been a commercial diver there, I would recommend that any stay in Tela include a visit to the Lancetilla Botanical Garden. It is the largest tropical botanical garden in the western hemisphere and was originally established by the United Fruit Company as a means to study the commercial possibilities of tropical plants from around the world. Stay at the Hotel Playa Bonita in Tela with the ecologists, botanists, and zoologists who come down to study the flora and fauna of this area. You are sure to have an interesting conversation or two with fellow guests, visiting scientists and the owner, himself a former United Fruit manager.

As for diving, well after a week on the Cayos Cochinos, Tela and its environs will be a MAJOR disappointment. Save your memories of Honduran waters for the spectacular, spend your time on land while in Tela: walk the beach, visit Lancetilla and also the Garifuna village of Triunfo de la Cruz. Dine at Las Luces del Norte in Tela for some great sopa de caracol and other seafoods.