Diving in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras

[sytech]

I have been to Central America many times and have recently heard about 2 water filled volcanic craters, Lago de Apoyo in Nicaragua and Ilopango in El Salvador.

I have read that the waters are clear and warm and that people do dive there. I am very interested in diving one of these but I can't seem to locate any dive shops or if I do, I get no reply from them.

I am aware of El Salvador Divers which has a very nice website (www.elsalvadordivers.com) but they don't reply to my emails. For Nicaragua I found the email address diving@scubanica.com but it bounced back as undeliverable.

Bottom line: I can't seem to get any response from dive shops in those countries. I was in both of those countries this past February and experienced the same thing. If anyone can supply any information it will be GREATLY appreciated.

Regarding Honduras, I've been to Roatan (Fantasy Island Resort) and wasn't very impressed with either the hotel or especially the dive operators at that hotel. Talk about "cattle cars", lousy equipment and lackadaisical staff. I am interested though in hearing of any diving experiences on the mainland in the north of Honduras, near Puerto Cortes.

Once again, any comments will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Sy

 

[rexman24]

I believe there is a dive shop now open in Tela on the mainland, Honduras.

 

[Dark_Wolf]

I am currently living in Honduras and there is a dive shop at the Hotel Playa about 10 miles from Puerto Cortes on the road to Omoa. They are boat dives that don't actually dive in Honduras but rather in the last little chunk of reef in Belize. I haven't gone out with them yet but I plan to soon. The hotel is also rather nice.

 

[rexman24]

good call dark wolf, it is in Omoa not in Tela, my mistake

 

[stevsgarage]

I'm going to Nicaragua in March. Will be staying in San Juan Del Sur on the Pacific coast, in the state of Rivas that is on the west side of the lake.
I have heard many mixed messages about the lake diving and the guy I'm hoping to dive with suddenly has no e-mail. I'm a little nervous and very excited, hope to report back after the trip. But if any one has any info I'd love to hear it.

 

[Doc]

Regarding Honduras, I've been to Roatan (Fantasy Island Resort) and wasn't very impressed with either the hotel or especially the dive operators at that hotel. Talk about "cattle cars", lousy equipment and lackadaisical staff.

I think you missed by being about 100 yards too far West. Wrong resort, Sy.

As for the freshwater volcano diving, I have been "teased" by a tour operator pal of mine several times with accompanying him on trips there- that he hasn't managed to pull together~ as of yet. :shakehead

Here's some archived SCUBABoard stuff:

tracydr03-01-2005, 12:52 AM
We want to spend at least one day diving (we are both advanced divers). We'd like to pick the very best place from these two countries and will need a good dive operator as we'll need to rent our equipment. Would like any and all suggestions. Has anyone ever dived in Lake Nicauragua? I heard it's the only place in the world with freshwater sharks? Anyway, just wondering where the best place would be to make our plan to dive, we will be covering all of Costa Rica and just the tip of Nicauragua. Dr. Tracy

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Stirling03-07-2005, 08:50 PM
Nicaragua isn't the only place in the world with freshwater sharks, although I don't know of any other place that has landlocked freshwater sharks (as opposed to those who have ready access to the sea, like those in the Zambezi River and - I think - in Australia). But when I was living in Central America, the Lake Nicaragua sharks had a terrible reputation for being very aggressive. I don't know how much of that was the typical hype surrounding all kinds of sharks and how much was real, but they are a variety of bull shark. I have encountered small bull sharks in fresh / brackish water in a lagoon before, and they scared me because the visibility was terrible. They didn't keep me out of the water, but it was unnerving. And I would also expect the visibility in Lake Nicaragua to be lousy most of the time.

 

[sytech]

I have been to Nicaragua several times. Have read about a lake called "Lago de Apoyo"
which I´ve wanted to dive. Getting responses from the few Dive shops that exist can be difficult. There is a hotel called "Norome Resort" near the lake. You will find them on Google. Contact them and try a scuba outfit called "scubanica.com".

Sy

I'm going to Nicaragua in March. Will be staying in San Juan Del Sur on the Pacific coast, in the state of Rivas that is on the west side of the lake.
I have heard many mixed messages about the lake diving and the guy I'm hoping to dive with suddenly has no e-mail. I'm a little nervous and very excited, hope to report back after the trip. But if any one has any info I'd love to hear it.

 

[Rivermonkey]

Good surfing in Nicaragua and El Salvador.

 

[stevsgarage]

Has anyone dove on the west side of Nicaragua

 

[GSM3]

I've been looking for Nicaragua dive operations also. On the PADI website they had listed.

Scuba Shack Nicaragua S.A. S-20966
Apartado Postal #2
San Juan Del Sur, Rivas
NICARAGUA
Ph.: (505) 632-7892
glennc1961@gmail.com