Roatan and new divers

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Uppa

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Location
Toronto
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Hey folks,

My girlfriend and I are planning a trip to Roatan in late Feb - early March of '09. We've both tried diving before (and loved it) but don't have our open water certifications.

Our plan for this trip is to:

A. Have a great time
B. Get the open water certification
C. Get in a lot of diving

I have a few questions for those of you in the know:

Is it pretty much a given we should do a 'package' deal like those offered at FI or CCV? My research on Roatan has put Cocolobo at the top of my "to stay at" list, but they don't offer packages. Would that make diving and getting our certifications a lot harder / more expensive? If you think a package place is the way to go, what would you recommend? Anyone have any first-hand knowledge staying at Cocolobo?

Who should we go through for our certification process? Ideally it would be small class sizes without a lot of wasted time (that doesn't mean they skimp on the training). I'm sure everyone has skilled instructors, but I'd rather pay a bit more for a more personalized approach than experience the phrase "cattle boat" I keep seeing on these boards.
I've seen that PADI allows you to do the "written" part of the OW certification online - would that save us any appreciable amount of time when we're actually in Roatan?

Any other tips for beginners in Roatan would be greatly appreciated!
 
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Get your class and pool work done before you go. You get a chance to practice all the skills in a pool over a few sessions and you have more time to formulate questions and to absorb the answers.

Once you have passed the exam your instructor can refer you to a resort where you will only be a few dives away from certification. I know that CocoView's diveshop is a PADI shop!

My wife and I got certified via a 4 day course in Hawaii and it wasn't any fun to be sitting in our hotel room with dive tables etc. We took a refresher course the next year before diving again and learned much more.
 
Hello

It is a common misconception that by buying the Hotel and Diving together you save money. SOMETIMES that is the case, often t is not. I have seen some amazing deal being advertised which are occasionally what they appear, they are often a real con by the time you are a captive customer being nickel and dimed at every turn!

Here are a few things to check to be aure that so called 'All Inclusive package' really is a bargain:
1) Is equipment Included
2) What will you be charged for drinks
3) Are there any surcharges or resort fees
4) Are there any certification costs
5) What is the price of a manual

I think Cocolobo is a great place. They do a package with COconut Tree Divers for 7 nights plus ten dives and a night dive for $625, or 14 nights plus 20 dives and 2 nightdives for $1200. Extra dives cost $25.

If you want to do a course you can easily exchange the 10 dives for a course - they cost the same!

Regards

Will
 
HI
You might want to consider getting an AI at Henry Morgan Resort. I did my OWD training there last year with TGI. If you are flying out of Toronto you can get a 2 week AI package for about $2300 per person with the diving extra. I paid $478 for the complete PADI OWD course and 3 more dives and equipment rental and a couple of snorkel tours. I thought the shop was well run.
You really can save a lot of time doing your class work and pool dives here and then have more time for real diving when you get to the best place in the world. We have already booked for Feb 13-Feb 27 at Henry Morgan and I plan to do my Advanced PADI this time.
Send me an e-mail if you want more info.
 
On the north side, BIBR would be real nice, Bob, Patty,Ted or Cameron are all super nice people but remember that's winter time & that's the 2 months when the north side could be 'rough'....Another option, ie calmer then, is some place on West End--I would check with Ray(Lopez) @ Sueno del Mar--very nice guy & used to run a very good operation...Our son got his DM's & worked there years ago & I gained a lot of respect for Ray 'watching over' our 19 Y.O. when he 1st moved there.....I'm telling you this from friendships my wife & I developed over many years of visiting the island....these 2 places would serve you well IMO.....We've also gotten to know others who live there fulltime but these 2 I put @ the top.......Out of these 2, BIBR would be a little 'higher' but the weather may come into play again @ that time of the year.....any questions, feel free to PM me....good luck, IMO, Roatan has some GREAT diving--most sites within a few minutes boat ride from the north side resorts..........
 
I recommend the Cocolobo/Coconut Tree combo that Will mentioned. Cocolobo is in a great location; I stayed right next door for a while doing my DM. It's a few minutes walking to Coconut tree, right along Half Moon bay. Coconut tree certifies ALOT of divers, in small groups, with good instructors and a fun attitude. It's possible that you and your girlfriend could be the only two in your class. It's worth asking about.

The cool thing about cocolobo is that you're kind of in the west end, but definitely out in nature. Same for seagrape and a few other spots in the immediate area.
 
I was impressed with the instruction at both Coconut tree and if you would consider an AI, Anthony's Key. I don't think you would go wrong with either of them to do your OW. One of the things we liked as newer divers at AKR was the free fish id class they do at the beginning of the week. It helped our appreciation of what we saw diving all week and made it easier to communicate as well.

I concur with those that said to do as much as you can at home and do a referral. That will allow you to minimize your class time and increase your pool time.
 
Is it pretty much a given we should do a 'package' deal like those offered at FI or CCV?

I've seen that PADI allows you to do the "written" part of the OW certification online - would that save us any appreciable amount of time when we're actually in Roatan?

Do all the pre-study back home- like others have said.

There are other reasons to consider CCV other than the fact that it is an AI.

You will likely be the only beginner certification that week.

The biggest consideration is the physical layout of the place- the fact that the "confined water" portion of your classes is an easy, walk-in shore dive on sand. It will occur amidst coral heads and quite likely a curious squidlet or two- they are known to hang around the place that these sessions occur.

Here's your "confined water" area, an open aquarium, and your room...

BENZSD283966-021.jpg


There are any number of great instructors on Roatan, but no other place offers great easy diving just right out of your room- just what you are seeing above.
 
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Do all the pre-study back home- like others have said.

There are other reasons to consider CCV other than the fact that it is an AI.

You will likely be the only beginner certification that week.

The biggest consideration is the physical layout of the place- the fact that the "confined water" portion of your classes is an easy, walk-in shore dive on sand. It will occur amidst coral heads and quite likely a curious squidlet or two- they are known to hang around the place that these sessions occur.

Here's your "confined water" area, an open aquarium, and your room...

BENZSD283966-021.jpg


There are any number of great instructors on Roatan, but no place offers great easy diving just right out of your room- just what you are seeing above.

I agree with the others about doing the classroom and pool at home. You don't want to spend 2 full days of your vacation sitting in a classroom.

I just returned from a week at CoCoView and there were several couples who were doing their first ocean dives that week. All of them had great experiences and love diving now. Roatan is a great place for a new diver as there is very little current and very lush reefs. :D

Personally, we like smaller resorts and CCV fit our needs perfectly. If you aren't planning to do 4 dives per day then you might want to consider another place. If you just want to do 2-3 dives and then spend time on beach or shopping, etc. I think you would prefer another resort. For us, real hard-core divers, CCV was perfect. And as RoatanMan said, it is so easy there to just walk out into the water and be greeted by the squid and octopus and garden eels etc which are right there in 10' deep water!

robin:D
 

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