Certification Dives While in Roatan

[davehartz]

My Wife and I are currently working on our PADI certification. We will have all of the pool dives complete, and our book work finished prior to a trip on April 6, 2011 to Roatan. Our instructor has said we can do our certificiation dives in Roatan and they will provide a letter showing proof of completion. I am looking for a dive shop able to accomidate our Dive certification? We are on the Carnival Valor Cruise ship which arrives in Roatan at 12:00pm and leaves at 7:00pm.

We were able to find somone in Belieze to do this for 2 dives, but we also wanted to get our other 2 dives done while on vacation and in warm weather!

Thanks for your help!

 

[LynnB]

Try Coconut Tree Divers or find out if Anthony Key Resort will do it if you dive with them. They are usually what the cruise ships use....

 

[lsorenson]

I don't really know why you would do it this way even though your in IN. IF I was going to dive while on a cruise and I have, I would sure want my OW at the very least... I would not be trying to get x amount of Cert dives to get the OW...

First off, the time is very limited and you have to get your skills in, Second, there is already enough stress involved in getting off the ship, finding where you need to get to, then remembering what it is your there for... It should be enjoying the dive not working on your OW...

At least to me I would try and get it done some other way such as... What Port are you leaving from...? FL, LA, AL, NC, SC, TX...? IF so, get there two or three days early and get a local shop to do your dives with... The dives are easy but you still need to preform the skills properly... Leave the cruise for enjoying your dives...

Again, just my opinion...!

Good luck and enjoy your diving, lee

 

[DeputyDan]

Personal opinion this is a bad ideal.....

 

[davehartz]

I have spoken to a number of Dive shops and they have indicated that this is fairly common. Our Belieze tour actually picks us up on the ship and drops us back up. It is booked through the cruise excursion. It does require 75 additional dollars per person, but I think it would be worthwhile. Unfortunatly we dont get into Miami until Saturday and the cruise leaves on Sunday

 

[Bill Parker]

Your call whether you do it that way or not as long
as they work with you and issue a cert in the end
but I would stick with the same instructor if
possible throughout the same course.

 

[silvernotch]

why not finish before you leave? I'd rather do fun dives on my trip than fin pivots and mask drills in the Caribbean

 

[caillin]

Our first dive after our OW certification was off a carnival boat in belize (june 2010). The dive op there (Hugh Parkey) was great. And we were very comfortable with them.

There was one guy who was doing a referral dive on the boat with the rest of us. They got him his own instructor, and they did their 'own thing' for his check out dives while the rest of us followed the divemaster around seeing the sites.

I think the guy was satisfied with his experience, but I think he didn't see nearly the stuff that the rest of us did, as he was concentrating on some skill stuff and not siteseeing as much as the rest of us.

Just my (inexperienced) 2 cents....

 

[Peter_C]

why not finish before you leave? I'd rather do fun dives on my trip than fin pivots and mask drills in the Caribbean

Agreed!

If I am spending that much money, I would rather enjoy myself instead of being tormented doing drills and performing skills the entire time. The suggestion of doing it in Florida before leaving leaving is something you might want to look into, or do them at home.

 

[lsorenson]

I have spoken to a number of Dive shops and they have indicated that this is fairly common. Our Belieze tour actually picks us up on the ship and drops us back up. It is booked through the cruise excursion. It does require 75 additional dollars per person, but I think it would be worthwhile. Unfortunatly we dont get into Miami until Saturday and the cruise leaves on Sunday

Funny... I was pretty much on this same trip but it was Belize, Roatan, and Cozumel...

We spent time booking the dive shops prior to this trip and we were very happy with our plans... The only caveat was Belize, time was to short to book with a local dive shop (we only had 6 or so hours) so we decided to book with the ship (tenders take time and your right, they do pick at the ship)... Did not want to but sometimes its just the way it goes... Second day out at Sea the captain made an announcement; "Due to XYZ, we will no longer be heading to Belize... Instead, we will have a new port of call, Grand Cayman...!"

Some were happy and some, like our self were very unhappy as it was one of the two places we were trying out just to see if we would return... Cozumel being the other and we will be heading back to Coz...

Sometimes things work out but we had been to the Caymans and we did scramble to locate a dive shop but the ship (Carnival) would not even give us one hour internet service so we spent another 55.00 to line up the dive at Grand Cayman... Oh, the cost of the dives were twice as much as we were expecting... But this is just how life goes sometimes...!

Hope it works out well for you and you will have a good time doing your certs... it JUST would be so much better exploring with your new found skills... Good luck and I hope you and your wife have a blast and please come back and let us know if you would recommend doing your certs while out on a cruise....!

Best to you and yours... lee