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PLEASE Caxy Diver......................you are involved in this business. i am sorry but what makes you a proper school? Many operations offer training that meets all relevent standards. Your attitude really stinks.
 
Slerdereff
i agree there are several dive centers that follow the proper methods of teaching from the various agencies.
What I ment is we are the only one registered as a proper school registered with the ministry of education
this makes our instructors not only be certified by the agencies but also vetted by the gov of Belize.
i was not trying to mislead you or anyone elce. As I mentioned there are sever grat other dive centers that teach padi, sdi,ssi
 
Caxy, is Scuba School Belize registered as a PADI dive resort or do you just have PADI certified instructors?
What does being registered by MoE mean with respect to scuba diving - I am unaware this is a requirement or that they even do this?[
Regards
Ralph
QUOTE=Caxy Diver;6550775]Slerdereff
i agree there are several dive centers that follow the proper methods of teaching from the various agencies.
What I ment is we are the only one registered as a proper school registered with the ministry of education
this makes our instructors not only be certified by the agencies but also vetted by the gov of Belize.
i was not trying to mislead you or anyone elce. As I mentioned there are sever grat other dive centers that teach padi, sdi,ssi[/QUOTE]
 
PLEASE Caxy Diver......................you are involved in this business. i am sorry but what makes you a proper school? Many operations offer training that meets all relevent standards. Your attitude really stinks.

Agreed!
A while back I made some comments regarding Scuba School Belize:

"The last thing Ambergris needs is another opportunistic dive shop that prevents well run local shops from generating a profit. Outside investment can be good, but not when it contributes to the downfall of an industry. I wish Steve and Jr the best of luck. I just hope their intentions are genuine."

Come on Guys- You can't edify yourself and it doesn't do any good to toot your own horn. A good friend told me once, "There's no such thing as "Business Ethics", you either have ethics or you don't." I guess time will tell.
 
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My wife and I went to Hugh Parkey's Dive Connection in June of 2011, and had a great experience. My wife is a bit skittish when it comes to getting back in the water after awhile of not diving and she felt comfortable with Israel Israel was the Instructor for us that did our Advanced Course and we felt so comfortable with the dive operation and the personnel we brought our son down in June 2012 and got him his OW certification. He loved working with Israel I don't know who else on their team are instructors but everyone of them are at least DM's. They are a smaller operation than say Amigo's Del Mar. I can't say for the other dive ops there since we only used Amigo's and Hugh Parkey. I liked the team of guys at Hugh Parkey better for general diving also and liked their rental gear which was all Scuba Pro. Friendly, professional, they tell you the prices up front and what each includes, detailed dive briefs, tubs for both water and cameras, food and drink on the boats. Overall Kevin and Tina have a great setup at least for us. Who ever you go with, do your research and ask for advice. If your renting gear, make sure you inspect the condition of the gear, O rings, corrosion, ect.. Good luck and welcome to the world of underwater relaxation :)

Hello,

My friend and I are going to Belize in January 2013 and we're looking to get Open Water Certified when we're down there. I've been researching what our best options are and wanted some advice. We want to find a safe place with a reasonable price. Hoping to get away from any resort-type locations.

So far I've heard good things about these places:
Little Daddy's Dive Shop on Ambergris Caye
Chuck and Robbies on Ambergris Caye
Splash Dive Centre in Placencia

Can anyone please give me some further advice/guidance?

Any and all tips are appreciated.

Thanks!
 
I too would support doing your training locally. The advantage of this is that most people pay a fair amount of money to go on vacation. Why spend your time there learning what you could learn at home??? This leaves more time for you to complete your certification by referral and go diving! Isn't that why you are learning in the first place? :)
 
I too would support doing your training locally. The advantage of this is that most people pay a fair amount of money to go on vacation. Why spend your time there learning what you could learn at home??? This leaves more time for you to complete your certification by referral and go diving! Isn't that why you are learning in the first place? :)

We like people to do the PADI e-learning on line (Like DCBC says, why do this on vacation?). We also prefer that they doing the confined water as well as the open water dives with us so that we know them before we do the open water dives. Students seem to really like this approach particularly when we do the confined water off the beach at Laughing Bird Caye (national park and a world heritage site) - we try to do it this way unless the weather is such that we have to use our pool.
Regards
Ralph
 
I took PADI Rescue Diver and several other specialty courses with Splash in Placencia the first time I was there. In fact, Ralph (above) was my instructor for several of the specialties and signed off on my Master Scuba Diver application afterwards. Did all the written course material work here at home before I left, then went over the Knowledge Reviews and took the written exams while I was there with each instructor. I learned a lot, became a better diver and had a blast doing it.

It was a great way to spend a vacation.
 
Hello,

My friend and I are going to Belize in January 2013 and we're looking to get Open Water Certified when we're down there. I've been researching what our best options are and wanted some advice. We want to find a safe place with a reasonable price. Hoping to get away from any resort-type locations.

So far I've heard good things about these places:
Little Daddy's Dive Shop on Ambergris Caye
Chuck and Robbies on Ambergris Caye
Splash Dive Centre in Placencia

Can anyone please give me some further advice/guidance?

Any and all tips are appreciated.

Thanks!


I have not dived in Belize...yet. I have done a fair amount of training all over the world.

Like others before me have stated, "Do as much before your leave home". Do not waste your valuable vaction time reading text books.

If you go through PADI, find a local shop and do the first two parts of the Open Water Training locally; the on-line and confined water (A.K.A. pool training). After you have finished these you will be signed off and be qualified for a "Referral Dive" (at least 4 open water, in your case ocean, dives). I did my classroom sessions (before on-line was available) and confined dive sessions on a Saturday. I then did my open water dives in Mexico on my next vacation. My brother did the same, except his open water dives were in Thailand and he had time to do his AOW.


Point being...the more fun you have on vacation the better it will be.


Good luck and Happy Bubbles...

~Oldbear~
 
What Old Bear suggests is one of the ways of becoming certified. I am co-owner of a dive center in Belize and what we prefer is that people do e-learning at home (so they can get into the water asap when they arrive here rather than the classroom). Our prefered method is for the student to do the confined water sessions here. We prefer to do them at Laughing Bird Caye (a national park and a World Heritage Site) but can do them in our pool. That way the student and the instructor are very comfortable with each other before we start the open water dives. We normally complete the confined water sessions in a half day session and then continue right onto the open water dives. For people who are interested to do that, we ask them to sign onto e-learning through our website so that we establish a good relationship right from the getgo. The PADI e-learning lets the student work at the theory at his/her own speed and at times convenient to the student.
Regards
Ralph Capeling
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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