Bay Islands dive shop recommendations?

[angelfire13]

My boyfriend and I are brand-new divers (we will be starting our certification course next week) and will be traveling to Roatan and Utila in March.

We are looking for recommendations for specific dive shops on both islands that would be particularly good for people with little to no experience. We are not interested in staying at a dive resort (would not be cost-effective for us), but we would not rule out diving with one.

We are most concerned with making sure that we go out on a smaller boat, with a DM that will be willing to help us a bit along the way if necessary, and VERY good rental equipment, as we will only be bringing along a mask, fins and snorkel.

Thanks for any help you may offer! We're very excited.

EDIT ***I wouldn't mind hearing anyone's recommendations on clean, cheap places to stay, either. Thanks!

 

[Squashie]

First, try getting the mods to move this to the "South American Destinations" forum.

Second, check out the Reef House Resort on Roatan, they have excellent rental equipment (some of it is less than a 6 months old), very nice and attentive dive masters, and only run up to a maximum of 10 to 12 on a dive boat. Go to their site; www.reefhouseresort.com and look for yourself. You could also e-mail the owners Larry and Carol Stevenson directly and make your enquiries.

Depending on where you decide to stay, treking out to the Reef House may be impossible but, in my humble opinion would be worth investigating.

I think regardless of your experience level that you will have a wonderful time diving in Roatan. I can't speak for Utila since I've never been there. Enjoy, and right now I really wish I was going...dag-frag-nag-a-magget...back to work now.

 

[angelfire13]

Why would I have the mods move this to the South America forum? (Honduras is in Central America.) I've noticed most people post Bay Islands inquiries here.

The Reef House Resort looks very nice, but it is probably too far away for us. Thank you very much for the rec!

 

[divetraveler]

Utila lodge is a great little place, clean and good food. We were the only people there during our stay and had the boat to ourselves. Some of the dives may be a little much for a new diver as we went through some pretty tight spots. . best to tell the dm that you are new and I'm sure they'll keep that in mind and try to take you to sites better suited for your skill level. I got the feeling that the dm's changed reguarly but a nice girl from New Zealand was our DM when we stayed there a few years back.

 

[Damselfish]

Why would I have the mods move this to the South America forum? (Honduras is in Central America.) I've noticed most people post Bay Islands inquiries here.

The Reef House Resort looks very nice, but it is probably too far away for us. Thank you very much for the rec!

The forum is actually called "Central and South America." I think you will find most of the threads primarily about Utila in here (actually I just searched out of curiosity and that's what I saw.) It is nice to get things in the right place and sometimes it will help get better responses. Even more it will also help people searching for the same information later.

 

[angelfire13]

Thanks for the tip! I wasn't properly navigating that forum, I didn't notice the subforum and thought that there weren't any current posts there. I see now that I'm wrong.

Thanks again!

 

[diverdenise]

I plan to do a Utila trip in April, am hooked up with Deep Blue www.DeepBlueUtila.com
Actually going with a LDS in Texas, zendiving.com prices weren't too bad.

 

[champ]

I'd strongly recomend Tyll's dive shop on the west end of Roatan. Dorte and Uwe run the shop. It's a small shop that will give you great personal attention. Have a drink and play cards with them at the shop at night .... great group