Almost ready to book FI - Feb 14-21

[BettyfromToronto]

Gee I must be blind. I don't see a rate sheet.

I've always wanted to see the dive shop's prices for courses, etc and I see nothing

 

[Cajuncru Diver]

Betty: At the Fantasy Island Home page click Hotel Reservations--select dates you want to check rates for--select no. of people to a room and then click on check availability. When you get to that screen, select the box that says "book". It will then bring up a screen which will have a list of all the services available and the cost for each.....just exit at that point after checking on whatever you want to consider...you can do all of this without a problem, just don't check to finalize the booking. Hope this helps.

 

[BettyfromToronto]

Wow. So complicated. I never would have found that without your help. I've been to the reservation site to see what the room is going for now when we'll be there in February but didn't know about the extras if you hit "book".

We were interested in the Nitrox course but $160 US (+ exchange + 2.5% credit card charge) plus the 16% Honduros tax makes this a bit expensive especially when multipled by two. I will check it out up here in CDN $$ + only 13% tax.

Thanks for the tip tough Canjuncru!

 

[DandyDon]

Yeah get the cards at home and don't waste Roatan vacation time in a class. As much wreck diving as they do around you, it should be easy to find a competitive offer. ANY agency is fine; doesn't matter and it's kinda neat having C-cards from various agencies.

Yep, but it's just one evening class now, no dives required. I have seen it for $100 including materials and card but most will charge more than that. Still, a good tool to have for any serious diver.

Be sure you know how your dive computer reacts when you set it for Nitrox once. An Oceanic computer will lock you out if you don't reset the value every time or turn off Default.

I paid a lot more for my Padi Nx card back when I did it. By the time I got around to my Padi Rescue card, they had the combo card offer where one could get Rescue-Enhanced Air or other combinations, but they didn't want to issue new cards that way, only additional cards - a card selling scheme. I phoned 1-800-Pay-Padi to request they issue our new cards that way; she said no, but I stayed on the line arguing, she was not allowed to hang up on me, and after a while she finally gave in and did it my way.

 

[Cajuncru Diver]

Don is right. Do the coursework up there before you come down, because you don't have to make any actual dives to get your certification......glad to be able to help navigate the site....kind of freaked me out too until I just kept trying.

 

[BettyfromToronto]

Thanks everyone. LDS wants $199 for a 3-hr classroom course; no dives. Not sure if there is the standard 13% tax or not.

I think we`ll pass for now and concentrate on one thing at a time. Let hubby do his AOW at FI in February and then we`ll see how we did doing 3-4 dives a day. This is our first vacation where the focus is all on diving and we`ll be doing more than 2 dives per day. If we think it`s something we want to learn we can take the course over the summer and try it on our September trip.

As always...muchly appreciate all the great advice received here

 

[DandyDon]

Shop around! $199 is too high. Again, the agency doesn't matter as long as the course is competent.

This local course is $75: http://www.aquariusscuba.com/ Call to see what else might be required? It says Materials Included so you may have to pay $30 or so for the card. Class is Jan 14

 

[BettyfromToronto]

How do you do that

I looked at the few dive shops I know and it seemed $199 was the norm.

$75 is a great price. They are on the other side of town where we used to live so I will call them and see what the total cost would be. Jan 14th is also a Friday night so not so bad.

Thanks

 

[DandyDon]

How do you do that

I am very devious. I went to google.com and searched toronto nitrox course then opened a few links in tabs.

Let us know which agency and how much total, ok? In larger cities, there is no reason why this course, materials, and card cannot be offered to larger groups for little more tan $100 and those that charge twice that much are hurting the sport, as well as being too common.

Really, you might find a new LDS.

 

[herbdb]

We just finished a week of diving at Fantasy Island. Great diving! This was our first trip diving exclusively NITROX. We took advantage of a pre-arrival special for all NITROX for $100 each. I have to say that I am now a believer that you just feel better on NITROX when you are doing a lot of diving (23 dives in 6 days). I still feel great after 4 dives in a day. We were able to do an extra drop off dives with minimum SI. Load up an extra tank and have them drop you on the Prince Albert wreck or Newman's Wall and swim to the gazebo.

I highly recommend getting qualified and using the package.