Certification in Belize

[bennyscuba]

Thanks for all the great tips...We decided to go with ecologic...we leave in two days and we're excited and we'll give a full update when we get back...hopefully she'll become as addicted as i am!

thank,

bg

 

[Yobubba]

I'm going with my fiance to belize over x-mas (my second trip her first). She tried out diving last year in PDC and plans to do a referral class before we head down.
bg

ELearning has been big i highly suggest it before coming down to get certified.
In my twenty years of experience certifying tourists for SCUBA Diving in Belize IÃ×e learned that the difficult part is not getting my students to jump into the warm, clear Caribbean water with a tank on their back, ItÃÔ getting them to read and study the manual or sit and watch a DVD in the classroom while they are distracted by being on vacation near that warm, clear Caribbean water.

 

[peterbj7]

I agree entirely - do the classwork before you come down. PADI's elearning system isn't the only way to do it, however, and IMO isn't the best.

 

[bennyscuba]

Just wanted to say that we went with ecologic and the instruction was great. The instructors name was Junior. Ecologic gave a discount since there was more than one person in the group - always good to ask! Even being the busy season it didn't actually seem necessary to book ahead of time.

However one thing we didn't like was that they did pack a lot of people onto a boat. For one local dives we had 11 people in one group with one DM. There also seems to be an assumption that most divers are experienced - which doesn't seem very safe. There was no effort to make sure everyone had a buddy, and everyone was basically diving their own profile, while not everyone had a computer. While I hate dive shops that hold your hands too much this seemed a bit cavalier - perhaps I noticed because I was diving with a newbie...

At the end of the day though the diving was great (though a bit rocky one day), we went out to Turneffe, saw some dolphins at the Elbow and now the fiance is hooked - so I'm not complaining

Cheers to all,

bg

 

[peterbj7]

Unfortunately you can't have both small groups and low prices - somehow the bills have to be paid. People must remember this when booking diving. Glad you enjoyed it overall though.

 

[Ecologic Divers]

Benny
thanks for the nice review, I am sorry if we had 11 divers in one group, I have never seen us do that as our groups are no more that 6 to 7 people per divemaster. If we have a large group sometimes it is by request and we always send a back up DM at the back. I will look at the manifest to see what happened on that dive.
We try our best to group people as to then experience level as much as possible, this if for there enjoyment whether a newbie or a experienced diver.
This Christmas season was a hectic one so i apologize if you felt you were on a cattle boat this is NOT the was we do business.

 

[petermichelle]

I agree with the comments on Chuck & Robbie's. Robbie and Enriquez were both great -- had a great time with them and its all very laid back. Go night diving with Enriquez -- it was a real treat. He finds all the good stuff.