Roatan, West End

[DougA]

Hi Folks,
Looking for thoughts on West End-based dive operators.

Going in May. Staying in West End at Cocolobo w/ my wife. (first time to Roatan!) Looking for a good dive operator near there. My wife- snorkel only. Me - At least five dives, maybe more, and maybe go for the advanced certification. I probably have about 60-80 dives total.
Currently looking at Coconut Tree Divers and Sun Divers. I am sure there are many good operators. Just read the very good review of Island Dive Center (IDC).
And one last question - about doing the advanced certification... I believe (and have read here) that the instructor is the thing, not the shop and certainly not the agency. But how one finds a skilled instructor without being there and meeting, etc - I have no idea. (Other than ask here ) I know I can probably do the tests, do the dives, check the boxes and get the card. But would prefer to get more out of it if possible.
Any and all ideas and recommendations are welcome!

 

[KatieMac]

I dive with Island all the time. And I would recommend it highly if you weren't staying at the exact opposite end of the village. Not a big deal - if you don't mine a 1.5km walk to and from where you are staying daily.

There are lots of good shops in West End closer to where you are. Native Sons is very close to Cocolobo. I haven't dived with them but I know plenty who have and haven't heard a bad review.

 

[Doc]

I know I can probably do the tests, do the dives, check the boxes and get the card. But would prefer to get more out of it if possible.

Any shop will get you an AOW card. The two mentioned are fine. By planning “5 dives”, that is not the true path to becoming an advanced diver.

Roatan is your oyster. Use it for all you can. West End visitors usually do 8-10 dives a week, shoot for 12, grab for 15.

“Advanced Diving” (not the card) is being exposed to varying dive conditions, boats, entries, challenges. Roatan is essentially a ‘confined wafter environment’, not much more, by most Agency standards. Flop in, paddle around, fair viz, get out, repeat. The compass training? Kind of a waste of a good dive, otherwise. An instructor has to try really hard to contrive situational challenges to provide AOW type elements/modules. Roatan diving is easy in every respect.

A good idea? UNDERWATER NATURALIST after you do Peak Performance Buoyancy. That’s what Roatan is really for.

Experience is what you really want, not the plastic card. Roatan can give you some of that. Dive more.

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

A good idea? UNDERWATER NATURALIST after you do Peak Performance Buoyancy. That’s what Roatan is really for.

I googleated "naturalist" and it returned entries on nudist culture. So "underwater naturalist" means you get certified to scuba naked? What kind of certs will they think up next?

OMMOHY

 

[arew+4]

You can do one specialty dive and have it applied to your AOW at a later date, I would recommend the peak performance buoyancy, as much for your own improvement as an instructor assessment, if you work well together and they are teaching you well consider completing the AOW. Assuming you have good buoyancy, I would recommend getting a Bay Islands Lionfish license and popping some pointy bastards while you are there.

 

[Doc]

I googleated "naturalist" and it returned entries on nudist culture. So "underwater naturalist" means you get certified to scuba naked? What kind of certs will they think up next?

OMMOHY

It’s the dead opposite from the Lionfish Hunting thing. It teaches how to locate critters, observe and note behaviors.

I guess that Spellcheck changed “naturalist to naturist”, that’s when the clothes come off.

Then there’s the the etymological Texican discussion in re the diff between “nekkid” vs. “naked”, but that’s a whole other thread.


Fun fact: the very first cruise ship that came to Roatan was a German Sun Your Buns Cruise.,,as all the guests arrived off the bus at West End. They stepped onto the sand, butt naked!

Quite an uproar caused among the local very conservative population.

They believed that every next cruise ship was a bunch of naked people…

if only.

 

[Hugh2004a]

My first SB post! I use Moana Divers when I’m on Roatan. 3 trips last year. I met Mao (owner) and Olman (boat captain) at Sun Divers just before Sun Divers changed owners.

 

[Seaweed Doc]

I dove a lot with Coconut Tree. They're good people and will keep you safe and show you interesting sites.


That said, you might think of doing more diving. It's an inexpensive place to dive tropically, and you could easily get 4 dives in during a day.

Do you dive at home, or just on vacation? If you dive at home, I'd recommend doing Advanced there. You have to do underwater navigation, and that's just not a fun training dive to also enjoy the fish. Might as well do it in Puget Sound or Hood Canal (or wherever you dive around Portland). Other dives may be similar, depending on what's offered and what you want. But if it were me, I wouldn't want to do the Nav dive on vacation in a cool place....

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

.

 

[FezUSA]

My first SB post! I use Moana Divers when I’m on Roatan. 3 trips last year. I met Mao (owner) and Olman (boat captain) at Sun Divers just before Sun Divers changed owners.

That would be Mau, but pretty close!! They're a decent and newer op and he is good with UW photographers too.

We are one of the owners of a lodge at Cocolobo, so if you have questions about the place, or any issues, please DM me. We've gone through some management changes and we're now back on track and providing the service we were renowned for and making it even better! You should experience a great stay there.

There are many good dive ops to choose from in West End, our personal choice is Sun Divers, but as others have mentioned there are other good ones too. My wife and I, plus our 5 kids have all been certified OW with Sun Divers. 3 of us also did AOW, and 1 rescue.