Another Choice - Feb in Cozumel or Roatan

[ReefHound]

If the OP is on Medicare, they know they're not covered overseas.

Thus the question as to whether they know for a fact or "know" based on assumptions of common knowledge.

 

[Doc Harry]

Roatan
MOSQUITO HELL
Reefs are wonderful
Diving is easy
Travel is longer
It would be nice to experience somewhere new
Poor country, resorts are somewhat isolated, not much else to see, not entirely safe outside of the resorts.
Worth the trip at least once just to see.
"You don't know unless you go."
Personally I won't ever go back to Roatan again, too many other great places to dive.
I try not to dive in the same place more than once, but Little Cayman and Coz are my two exceptions.

 

[ccannon707]

I always get DAN coverage, mainly because of the Chamber costs if I should need one. Those costs make my eyes bleed. Having to be flown home (med evacuated) could bankrupt a person. I've never had to use it but was always glad it was there. Several years ago my (now) late husband was hospitalized for a few days and had to pay to get out. Luckily with documentation Kaiser, his HMO, reimbursed everything minus meds. He was on Medicare at the time.

 

[scubadada]

My wife and I went to Turquoise Bay in August of 2017 and had a very good time. The diving was good, there were few insects.

Trip Report Thread 'Turquoise Bay Resort/Subway Watersports August 2017'

Aug 20, 2017

Undercurrent narrative from our August 5-12 visit:

Reservations: I was the high bidder on an auction to support Sea Save Foundation for this trip. Reservations were handled expertly by Caradonna Adventures. I had several changes in the base vacation that were handled perfectly by Cammie. Communication was flawless.


Travel: My wife and I decided to leave from our home in Florida as there is a nonstop to Roatan on American Airlines from Miami. We would have had a connection if we would have left from Philadelphia. The flight was perfect in both directions. We were picked...

• scubadada

• 

 

[DandyDon]

My wife and I went to Turquoise Bay in August of 2017 and had a very good time. The diving was good, there were few insects.

I went there with a group a few years ago. I thought it was a wonderful dive resort with a horrible housefly problem in the dining room and that they needed to get rid of the horses. Has that changed?

 

[nldunn]

You "know" because you checked with your insurer or because you assume that is the case? Some insurers will cover emergency care outside the US but it will be on reimbursement basis not direct billing. Which American Health Insurers Provide Overseas Coverage

I guess I don't actually know. I know that most divers say you must have DAN because health insurance doesn't cover accidents in other coutries and I guess I assumed they knew!!

 

[nldunn]

You actually have choices much closer than driving to dive shops further south. North of Playa Azul, less than a mile, is El Cozumeleno - Pepe Scuba operates out of there and they have fast boats. Going south, less than 2 miles, is the the Coral Princess with Island Divers, Puerto Abrigo that has some dive ops that leave from there, and Villa Aldora that has Aldora Divers leaving from there, also with fast boats. At Playa Azul is Blue Dream Cozumel - don't know much about them but they surely offer something - maybe shore dives right out front of the hotel. I would check with any of the dive ops close to Playa Azul to see if they offer shore dives. I've done them in front of Villa Aldora and Coral Princess.

Attaching link to my spreadsheet on Cozumel Dive ops - has some location information that might help you plan if you go back to Cozumel.
Cozumel Dive Ops

WOW!!! Thank you for all that information. Much appreciated!

 

[nldunn]

If the OP is on Medicare, they know they're not covered overseas.

Hey, I'm not THAT old!!! (Slinking away to hide my wrinkles.)

 

[jonhall]

Trying to think back, it seems I had a $50,000 lifetime benefit on emergency care if in other countries on health plans, pre-Medicare, that I had. It seems I shopped around for that benefit specifically after I retired. Do plans not do that anymore?

Of course now into Medicare for....cough, cough....5 years, I have to do a little more planning.

Besides DAN dive insurance, my wife (non-diver) and I tend to get the cheaper Allianz trip insurance plan at the same time we are purchasing airfare. Depending on where we go it adds emergency medical and transportation benefits - nice when we are out of the U.S. We paid $42 for an Allianz plan for a trip in January to St. Thomas - although Medicare will cover us there, this gives us a $50,000 emergency medical and $50,000 emergency transportation benefit per insured - we also get other trip insurance benefits as well.

you both should be DAN members with the extra add-on Dive Insurance already, and don't pick the cheapest plan.

Great suggestion - what the more expensive DAN dive insurance plan (for me, it's Guardian) does is cover medical expenses for non-diving accidents as well as diving accidents.