Hey folks,
My girlfriend and I are planning a trip to Roatan in late Feb - early March of '09. We've both tried diving before (and loved it) but don't have our open water certifications.
Our plan for this trip is to:
A. Have a great time
B. Get the open water certification
C. Get in a lot of diving
I have a few questions for those of you in the know:
Is it pretty much a given we should do a 'package' deal like those offered at FI or CCV? My research on Roatan has put Cocolobo at the top of my "to stay at" list, but they don't offer packages. Would that make diving and getting our certifications a lot harder / more expensive? If you think a package place is the way to go, what would you recommend? Anyone have any first-hand knowledge staying at Cocolobo?
Who should we go through for our certification process? Ideally it would be small class sizes without a lot of wasted time (that doesn't mean they skimp on the training). I'm sure everyone has skilled instructors, but I'd rather pay a bit more for a more personalized approach than experience the phrase "cattle boat" I keep seeing on these boards.
I've seen that PADI allows you to do the "written" part of the OW certification online - would that save us any appreciable amount of time when we're actually in Roatan?
Any other tips for beginners in Roatan would be greatly appreciated!
My girlfriend and I are planning a trip to Roatan in late Feb - early March of '09. We've both tried diving before (and loved it) but don't have our open water certifications.
Our plan for this trip is to:
A. Have a great time
B. Get the open water certification
C. Get in a lot of diving
I have a few questions for those of you in the know:
Is it pretty much a given we should do a 'package' deal like those offered at FI or CCV? My research on Roatan has put Cocolobo at the top of my "to stay at" list, but they don't offer packages. Would that make diving and getting our certifications a lot harder / more expensive? If you think a package place is the way to go, what would you recommend? Anyone have any first-hand knowledge staying at Cocolobo?
Who should we go through for our certification process? Ideally it would be small class sizes without a lot of wasted time (that doesn't mean they skimp on the training). I'm sure everyone has skilled instructors, but I'd rather pay a bit more for a more personalized approach than experience the phrase "cattle boat" I keep seeing on these boards.
I've seen that PADI allows you to do the "written" part of the OW certification online - would that save us any appreciable amount of time when we're actually in Roatan?
Any other tips for beginners in Roatan would be greatly appreciated!