Checkout Dives on A Cruise? (Belize City and Roatan)

[Spy23714]

I’ve recently logged 2 of the 5 dives for my AOW. With the nitrox and PPB out of the way, I was hoping to find a dive agency in Belize City and/or Roatan that would be willing to sign off on a few of the other dives, probably the boat dive and the deep water dive.

Any recommendations on dive shops in these two cities that will sign off on PADI dives?

 

[Outbound]

There are tons of great dive shops on Roatan. I went with West Bay Divers when I was there, and they were fantastic. Very quick to respond to emails. I did my OWD cert dives with them and then ended up doing my deep and navigation AOW dives too, so they will for sure sign off on AOW dives.

Home - West Bay Divers

 

[yle]

Any recommendations on dive shops in these two cities that will sign off on PADI dives?

You might run into some difficulty in trying to get someone to agree to your plan. This is because most shops will want to sign you up for the full AOW course, so they can ensure the course is done correctly and they can then certify you as an AOW diver.

There is more to the AOW course than simply "do a dive, sign me off, repeat." There are performance requirements for each dive that are preceeded by classroom (or online) work with your instructor.

Any PADI shop can arrange for you to work with an instructor. How willing they are to do so just for one or two of the five AOW dives, and how much they will want to charge you for it, just depends on the shop.

As for shops... as the previous reply mentions above, there are a lot of shops on Roatan. I think the closest one to the cruise ship docks is probably Barefoot Divers. Most shops are on the west end of the island, which is a little further from the cruise ship docks. Just search online for Roatan dive shops and you'll see what pops up.

In Belize City... just the opposite. I've been there on a cruise ship stop and from what I understand there is only one dive shop in the city, Sea Sports Belize. We dove with them. Nice people, but definitely not concerned with keeping a schedule. Very laid back. Maybe not the kind of shop that handles special requests well.

Is there a particular reason that you want to do your AOW this way? If it's just to get the AOW card as quickly as possible, then I would agree you're going about it the right way. If you're actually interested in quality training... you might want to reconsider taking the entire course with one instructor that can integrate all five dives into a cohesive course and really give you something worth paying for.

 

[diversteve]

I'd start with Barefoot also. They have a cruise program, are located between the 2 cruise ports on the south side.

All the West Ebd/West Bay suggestions will add 30-45mins drive time plus some of the boats leave just after 8am so you may not be able to get to them in time. Even though they're "West - they're actually North West.

Barefoot is located on a small island with about 12 villas that supply most of their dive guests. Some don't even dive.
The morning we were there - my group of 10 was their entire business for the morning - we got to select the sites. And they have a DM program so will have the resources to provide a guide/instructor for you independent of any other divers on your boat.

They have nice gear also if you're renting anything - newish Scubapro. Barefoot also includes lunch - they have tables by the dive shop and bring it over from the Cay restaurant 100 yds. across the marina channel. Good food, we had braakfast there.

Anthohny's Key is the main cruise operator - we were there one morning when the cruise diver excursion returned, - they had done two local dives - partly picked for closeness, then spent about 15 mins. at the gift shop b4 loading onto the shuttle back to the port.

Also contact Subway Watersports - they have a cruise program and will pick you up. Their main shop is at Turquoise Bay which is sort of due north of Mahogany Bay and I might;ve read they have a south side location for one of their boats also.

It's really going to be a matter of your port time that dictates what you do. Many of the shops return to the dock between dives so there's usually 2 in the morning then 1 or 2 in the afternoon. If you sail around 5PM - I wouldn't book any dive that ends later than 3PM - and have them setup a cab for you both ways.

 

[Dogbowl]

FWIW, I got my OW certification on a cruise. I did PADI classroom/pool skills locally, got a referral, went on a cruise, did checkout dives #1 and 2 in Grand Cayman, and checkout dives #3 & 4 in Roatan at West End Divers. A cruise was my next warm water vacation and I wanted to get the certification over with so I did it that way. It works, but would I recommend doing it this way in hindsight? No. Awfully rushed and no instructor continuity. I highly suspect you could do AOW this way as well.

If you decide this is what you want to do, I have no hesitation recommending West End Divers. I liked them enough that I dived with them a second time on a subsequent cruise. They can arrange transport to and from the cruise ship pier, and both times I dived with them, it was a private dive because we were on our cruise schedule. Their boats are directly in front of the shop, with showers and rinse tanks right there. Their service is top notch - they changed out the battery on my Perdix for me free of charge!

 

[Streydog]

Have you considered getting the rest of your AOW dives locally? I did mine last September at Clear Springs scuba park. Sure the deep dive was not very deep but I had already been over 100' on a few occasions in clear warm water. This "deep" dive was dark and cold, much more of a learning experience for me. Also I got much more out of the navigation part due to the fact that I could not cheat, visibility was less than 10'.
Just my 2 cents but if you are only getting a couple dives at a location, spend that time taking in the scenery. Either way you go, I second the West End Divers recommendation. I spent a week with them last year and they run a good operation. They even let me do a couple "deep" dives without AOW at the time.

 

[Spy23714]

There are tons of great dive shops on Roatan. I went with West Bay Divers when I was there, and they were fantastic. Very quick to respond to emails. I did my OWD cert dives with them and then ended up doing my deep and navigation AOW dives too, so they will for sure sign off on AOW dives.

Home - West Bay Divers

Thanks for the recommendation, Outbound! I've corresponded with them via email today. As you said, very quick to reply.

You might run into some difficulty in trying to get someone to agree to your plan. This is because most shops will want to sign you up for the full AOW course, so they can ensure the course is done correctly and they can then certify you as an AOW diver.

At Outbound's recommendation, I've been in contact with West Bay Divers and they're willing to accommodate what I'm looking to do. It will just be my girlfriend and I along with the dive master. We will do any reading ahead of the dive date and do any classroom work prior to our diving. I've searched for dive shops in Roatan, and even emailed one that my local dive shop recommended (turns out it was a french dive shop and expected me to be speaking French), so I thought I would ask for recommendations in hopes that someone has been in my shoes in the past and had a successful experience. I'll go ahead and email Barefoot and Sea Sports Belize tonight. Thanks for these recommendations.

Is there a particular reason that you want to do your AOW this way?

We live in North Texas and pretty much only get the opportunity to dive when we're on vacation. Also, my girlfriend is deathly afraid of lakes. She did her open water certification in a local lake and has vowed to never dive in another lake if there is another option. Since we'll be on a cruise with three stops, we figured trying to knock them out in beautiful tropical water is a much better alternative than the local lakes with 5' visibility.

Also contact Subway Watersports

Will do, thanks!

If you decide this is what you want to do, I have no hesitation recommending West End Divers.

Thanks for the testimonial!

Have you considered getting the rest of your AOW dives locally? I did mine last September at Clear Springs scuba park.

I did my open water there, too. I definitely understand the concern about the continuity and being able to cheat on the navigation dives. I intend to give it an honest effort and hope for the best. Ultimately, we’re just vacation divers, so this is probably our best bet.

 

[diversteve]

There were cruise divers a ccuple days a week on our Coconut Tree Divers boat also - not doing AOW - just diving. On some of our dives the staff/diver ratio was less than 4 to 1 since they also do DM training so at times there were 3 or 4 instructots on the boat, 8 of us, 4 ladies from TX and the cruise diver. Really if you have the time in port - there's 1/2 dozen good options - besides what's been mentioned already - Reef Gliders, Native Sons, Bananarama in West Bay would all work. Google it, there's at least a dozen dive shops in the West End alone. All of them keep their boats tied up across the street - some have docks - some launch pangas off the beach.

You'll also find more lunch options in the West End - intermixed with the shops/diveshops and small resorts.

Try Hugh Parkey's in Belize also - they used to pick you up off the boat instead of having to tender into Sea Sports - only to have to go back out past your ship to dive - Belize is a tender port.

 

[Dogbowl]

There were cruise divers a ccuple days a week on our Coconut Tree Divers boat also - not doing AOW - just diving. On some of our dives the staff/diver ratio was less than 4 to 1 since they also do DM training so at times there were 3 or 4 instructots on the boat, 8 of us, 4 ladies from TX and the cruise diver. Really if you have the time in port - there's 1/2 dozen good options - besides what's been mentioned already - Reef Gliders, Native Sons, Bananarama in West Bay would all work. Google it, there's at least a dozen dive shops in the West End alone. All of them keep their boats tied up across the street - some have docks - some launch pangas off the beach.

You'll also find more lunch options in the West End - intermixed with the shops/diveshops and small resorts.

Try Hugh Parkey's in Belize also - they used to pick you up off the boat instead of having to tender into Sea Sports - only to have to go back out past your ship to dive - Belize is a tender port.

I think Hugh Parkey no longer operates. Been a long time now. Please correct me if I’m mistaken.

 

[diversteve]

You could be right - the HP Dive Connection website now links to something called Jaguar Tours and Travel?