Divemaster work in C. America, Oct - Apr

[Tomferreira]

Hi All,

My girlfriend and i are looking at heading to Central America in October this year to work as Divemasters / Instructors for about 4 -6 months.

I was wondering if anyone had a recommendations for places to work at this time of year as we are unsure of the dive seasons in this part of the world.

We would like somewhere with great diving and a bit of an atmosphere but not somewhere too party orientated like Roatan that could tempt us into partying away our savings.

Any advice / suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


Tom.

 

[Warren Luck]

Beeeeeeee sure and have the job before you depart. Its another world down there.

 

[cappyjon431]

Consider Bocas del Toro, Panama. Our best diving is in September and October but we have good diving all year, incredible culture & diversity, great beaches, rainforests, howler monkeys, sloths, parrots...We get a huge surfer/backpacking crowd so it is a "young" town. Many cheap places to stay, meals at the local cantinas are cheaper than shopping and cooking. English is widely spoken (although I am enjoying learning Spanish), and the US dollar is the currency. Panama City is great place to escape to for a long weekend with movie theatres, great restaurants and modern malls.

Because this is a tourist town, we have many young people from abroad working in the restaurants, stores, hostels, dive shops, etc. The biggest drawback is that if you come with a tourist visa (90 days for Americans), you have to leave the country every 90 days for 72 hours. Since we are only 20 miles from the border with Costa Rica, many people actually enjoy their three day trips out of the country.
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[ScubabunnyCR]

Between October and April is good for either Honduras, Panama or Costa Rica. Its the best season for diving in Costa Rica at that time of year with good viz. You may find that its a little bit quieter than The Bay Islands but as Warren Luck suggested see if you can put some Cvs and make some contacts before you go.