Need Advice- continuing dive education with my son April

[RyanT]

Scubadada- not a helpful response

No, actually @scubadada response was a good question.

f your son is excited and enthusiastic about the sport, my suggestion would be to find some time to put in repetitive dives with him, mentor and support him, put in the time to log dives practicing skills and just enjoying the experience it self, and worry about the course and training later.

Likewise, Ricardo's response was really good. At 15, your son has plenty of time to gain experience and decide what he wants. Just go dive and then let your son figure out what he wants to do after he gains more experience.

 

[MichaelMc]

+1 lots of diving.
+1 diving with Mom/Dad, relaxed fun, enjoying it, drills in shallows.
+1 easy access of shore dives.

What is your own dive experience? If you are diving with him or not could affect peoples recommendations. One on one training with a guide for a week would be awesome. It might be pricy. I think most adults would saturate from a week of class.

I enjoyed White Sands in Belize San Pedro, good folk. It is not an all inclusive resort if that is what you mean. But, Belize is boat diving. You could do 2 am, 1 pm, 1 night, but it depends on other divers to partially fill the boat. And gets pricy. Nice place and country. In town might get him more dives and more likely night dive options, just from more people.

Report on my trip with brothers family and 3 15 year olds. Trip report - Ambergris Caye, White Sands - April 2017

Edit: Mom/Dad

 

[Cali_diver]

Also if you have time do the ATM cave on the mainland. My son still talks about how much fun he had there.

 

[Ricardo V.]

Belize or Honduras, You are likely going to depend on boats to get to and from dive sites. Roatan has good resorts, and diving is really good. Belize would be more of a challenge, unless you stay at one of the resorts out on the water.

Where do you live? In Florida we have some pretty good diving opportunities too. Consider Key Largo. There are several dive operators that will do a fine job taking care of you and your son, with nice dive sites and lots of fun.

I've found shore diving to be one of the best ways to put in quality dive time without boats and other restrictions. This site may help: Be Alive... ShoreDive!

Ricardo

 

[MichaelMc]

At 15 he is no longer limited on depth, but restraint is likely smart. He is only a year older than a 60' limit. There are only a few shallow dives in San Pedro, inside the reef (Hon Choe, Mexican Rocks, Shark Alley), nice dives still. Most of the local boat dives are to the outside of the local reef, which is the 50-60+ foot range. The atols have the resorts, I do not know about them. As a 15 year old, a week of a few dives a day inside the reef, plus a few outside the reef would be cool and great experience. The boat I was on the outside of the local reef had a youngish women finishing her AOW, so the dive was limited to 60'. I think he would get more training on shallow dives though, I saw some doing that at Hon Choe while snorkeling there). Those might be OW classes, but would be great spot for perfect buoyancy and nav class.

My understanding is Belize is boat dive only, at least from the main Islands. If you had tanks you could kayak out to the reef, but not something for a new to diving team with a 15yr old. Near shore is also a boat channel, for the main islands, San Pedro, Cay Calker.

 

[wdjpvaz]

Thanks I think I am leaning toward Ambergis- What is the best dive outfit to provide private dive instruction? Also what is the best resort on the caye? thanks all

 

[Trailboss123]

Based on your stated criteria so far (Belize or Roatan), I would opt for Roatan and look into Coco View Resort or Anthony's Key Resort. Plenty of diving from both boat and shore. Reasonably priced and if he wants to advance his education, they both will accommodate. Belize holds no interest for me, except via liveaboard, and it appears that is not a suitable or viable option for what you want to accomplish.

 

[MichaelMc]

I would read through a few of the posts in the Belize forum on San Pedro. That forum may also get more responses on dive ops for kids/15 year olds. There are hotels that have associated Dive ops in San Pedro, Ramon's is one. But really San Pedro (From airport on south to small bridge on north) is really small and golf carts are the main transport. Google satellite view will give you a good feel. With a golf cart you should be in easy reach of several dive ops in downtown. So where you stay and where you dive do not have to be very linked. I saw you dive, so presumably you may be going to the dive op as well anyway. San Pedro is a nice laid back place. My only hesitation would be needing more shallow dives, but I'm sure they have many OW students as well, so it should be something they can handle.

There appeared to be several vacation resorts north of town, and one next to WhiteSands dive shop. All the shops advertise picking you up at your dock. So getting junior to the shop in the morning may be even simpler. Wave good by after early breakfast, come back by lunch is likely an option most places. (I have nothing to do with anyone in Belize, I just spend a nice week there and liked it.)

Edit: add the below.
White Sands chose to use Amigos del Mar (in down town) for their Atoll trips.
In prep for my trip I found the posts of peterbj7 most informative,
Ambergris Caye dive operators.
Below are some of my notes, listing dive ops I found. Note that one had a pool, could be very useful for private class.

“Most of the diving off Ambergris Caye takes place in the AOW region, between 60ft and 100ft.” - quote from some post, likely by peterbj7, which means at least the dive sites, it might not mean the dives.

Island Divers (San Pedro bit south of airport south end)
Rudy belizeislanddivers.com/ was IslandDiversBelize.com
by Grand Colony Island Villas 5012264800 south of airport rudyislanddivers@gmail.com
Learn: OW 450, elearn 350, referral (2 days, 4 dives) 280
AOW (5 dives) 380

Ramons (San Pedro airport north end)
Scuba Diving info@ramons.com Rate Schedule
Rick Sutherland
Local reef: 9:00 11:30 2:00 SI at dock

White Sands (4 miles north of San Pedro)
Elbert Greer (Yobubba on scubaboard) elbertgreer@fastmail.fm

2008 list: by peter of ProTeck
Patojo's Scuba Center | Dive Resort Reviews | Belize | Undercurrent

Action Divers - Portofino Beach Resort (6.5 miles north)
Reef, Hol Chan/Shark, Mex Rocks, Mata Cut, Cypress Garden. 9:00 1:00 no prices.

Chuck and Robbie’s - (San Pedro North ) CHUCK & ROBBIE'S SCUBA DIVING+INSTRUCTION 9:00 2:00
Discover 150, Scuba 375, OW 400, OW referral 275

Ambergris Divers (San Pedro south of ferry) ambergrisdivers.com/

Premier Divers (San Pedro South) www.premierdivers.com
Dive pool. 1 tank 80, Night 80, Snorkel 64, Discover 180 all included.

Pro Dive (San Pedro South) Belize Pro Dive Center | Scuba Diving, Snorkeling, PADI Courses, Blue Hole, Barrier Reef, Belize
1 tank 45 2 tank 75 Night 60
Turneffe 3 tank 235

Scuba School Belize (0.5 miles South) www.scubaschoolbelize.com/

Hugh Parkey's (defunct? San Pedro) www.hpbelizeadventures.com

Ecologic Divers ecologicdivers.com (defunct?)

Amigos del Mar http://amigosdivebelize.com/rates.html IBM of Belize Diving
Local 4 divers, atol 10 divers

Patojo’s http://ambergriscaye.com/patojos/

Belize Academy of Diving - up north

Belize Diving Adventures - S.P north husband an wife, padi staff instructors

Bottom Time

Aqua Scuba (was as Aqua Dives??) Home

Caye Caulker
Go Caye Caulker.Com - Caye Caulker, Belize - Go Caye Caulker
Belize Diving Services (BDS)
Belize Diving Services - Belize Scuba Diving - Great Blue Hole
technical dive training, and sidemount, might be good for teaching as well.

 

[diversteve]

He will want to dive dive dive. Hard to do better than Bonaire. Buddy Dive would work.

A nice resort ( 4 or 5 star) with other features and things to do nearby

Buddy's? In their dreams maybe...

 

[DeputyDan]

At 10 dives - you son just needs to dive.
At some point - Nitrox - AOW and Rescue.
Then he will have enough experience under his belt to make a more informed decision.