Tight itinerary and need certification - any advice?

[MJG2112]

A friend and I are traveling to Belize next week but for many reason have only just now booked travel plans. We're trying in very quick order to figure out our plan. We'd be very, very grateful for any advice!

We are arriving separately May 27, Thursday morning (9:30am), Belize City. We're planning to leave Belize Sunday morning (or possibly afternoon) via bus to Flores/Tikal, to see the ruins, before flying home Monday. That gives us part of the day Thursday, all of Friday, all of Saturday, and hopefully Sunday morning for diving and travel inside Belize. We haven't decided where in Belize we would like to set ourselves up or picked a dive op yet.

This is a tight time frame, but to further complicate it, my friend is not dive certified yet. She is very excited to get in the water and get her certification, and we're wondering if -- given our cramped time -- there is any way we can do this. Since we're not fixed on being in any particular part of Belize during the trip, we're happy to go wherever we can find a center that can help us make this work without blowing our budget.

My friend has done some research and was specifically wondering if there are any instructors who would accept PADI's e-learning referral system. I think this lets her do a lot of the coursework in advance and have most of that done prior to showing up at the center. Meaning more dive time and hopefully a more relaxed trip.

Thanks very, VERY much for any advice. I've begged for help with other trips before and this community has always been incredibly generous with their expertise and helpful and I'm grateful for that!

 

[peterbj7]

PADI's eLearning system will be virtually universally accepted, assuming she's finished it and has the completion certificate.

With two full days and one or two part days she should be able to complete the course, weather permitting (it isn't fantastic at the moment). It'll be quite intensive though, and she must be prepared to give it priority.

I don't think you're allowing nearly enough time to get to Tikal. If you only leave the coast on Sunday, even the morning, you'll only get to Tikal late that day. Are you flying home from Flores, and if so what time? I strongly recommend you rethink this part of the trip, and either shorten the dive part (which means no certification) or abandon Tikal altogether and go to one of the superb Belizean Mayan sites instead, and fly back from Belize.

I should have asked - where are you intending to do the "dive" part of your trip? With such a short timescale you'd best contact a dive shop beforehand and ensure they'll be able to take you.

 

[hpbelize]

It can definitely be done out of Belize City though it will be tight but dedication on her part will get it going. Once she's got all the paperwork complete and the weather cooperates like Peter said we can have her on her way to Tikal Sunday morning. Another option is to do a Discover Scuba Diving program and dive a couple days with her instructor. Credits are valid for a year toward Open Water or a better option is to do a Scuba Diver course and continue on to Open Water later.

We are also on Facebook and on the cover of this month's Dive Training Magazine.

 

[MJG2112]

Thank you both for your suggestions! HP, I'll send you an e-mail separately if you don't mind and maybe we can work that out.

Peter, you could be right about Tikal. It's true we would only have half a day there. I do hear, however, that it's incredible, even compared to the many amazing ruins in Belize. Do you disagree, though? We're definitely open to cancelling the Tikal leg, and if you have other recommendations I'd be grateful to hear them.

I should have asked - where are you intending to do the "dive" part of your trip? With such a short timescale you'd best contact a dive shop beforehand and ensure they'll be able to take you.

We're still figuring that out! We're a little bit agnostic as long as the diving is great, but the priority is finding a place that is able to accomodate a slightly tight budget and--most importantly--has the availabilty to get one of us certified! We're reaching out to dive centers in various areas of the country, and definitely aim to have something reserved in advance.

I'm going to keep reading through this forum and the older threads for referrals and advice on centers and cities!

 

[Tortuga68]

eLearning & other pre-study (eg reading the manual) is a good idea no matter how much time you have - the less time you spend in a classroom when you could be diving, the better

But either way you're going to be cutting it pretty fine in terms of getting a quality outcome and enjoying your trip

Other options would be for your friend to do DSD or SD instead of OW - they can both be credited towards OW in the future so long as she completes it within the defined timeframes

edit: duh I just noticed hpbelize already said that, but if she can do another trip within 12 months that's probably the way to go IMO

 

[peterbj7]

I'm happy to give information, but first I really need to know what the fixed points of your trip are. The two main ways of getting to Belize are (1) to fly into Belize itself, to the Belize International Airport near Belize City, or (2) to fly into Cancun in Mexico and then take an express bus down. The two main ways of returning are the reverse of these two options, but there is a third option which is to fly direct from Flores (Guatemala) to Cancun. Given your short timescale your arrangements make a considerable difference to your options in-country.

 

[Straegen]

Discovery dives are an option. Can't dive as much obviously but she will be able to dive and it will count towards her cert with the proper paperwork.

Just my opinion, but she might want to take her time in the OW classes. She can bang through it most likely but if she wants that stuff to stick she will likely need to take her time and get an instructor who will teach rather than have her memorize for the test.

Good instructors impart way more than what is on the test. This is completely IMO and should be treated as such.

 

[Damselfish]

wow, you're going to need a vacation after that vacation. I wouldn't even consider flying to Belize to dive for a long weekend like that, never mind try to get someone certified and do Tikal. Remember, instead of a small Caribbean island where things don't move fast, you're talking about a much larger region where things don't move fast. Just getting crossing the Belize/Guatemala border can take some time.

From where and when is your flight back home? As said that makes a big difference.

I would stick to diving, and keep an open mind as to whether she gets in DSD, SD, or OW. Clearly she would have to have the e-learning done. It would have been nice if she had time to have the pool work done at home too. When will be her next chance to dive? Without more diving soon after OW to reinforce things, if it's too long she's probably going to forget a lot. I agree DSD or SD (with however many dives you can get in) might be a more practical thing to shoot for. OW would be better of course, but people with limited time is really what SD is good for.

If you really have to get in ruins, choose something more accessible in Belize for this trip. That's not a bad thing to do on your last day before flying. One of the "incredible" things about Tikal is simply the extent of it, and in a few hours you're not really going to be able to enjoy that anyway.

 

[MJG2112]

I'm happy to give information, but first I really need to know what the fixed points of your trip are.

Thanks again, I should have said! I'm coming in from Boston. I'm arriving to Belize City via plane on Wednesday the 26th in the morning, and may try to fit in an afternoon dive if I feel up for it and can find an operator. My friend is living in Guatemala this summer, and she's arriving to Belize City via Guatemala City (by way of Flores) on Thursday morning.

I'm leaving Monday late afternoon from Belize City via plane. B. is leaving early Monday morning from Flores back to Guate. So assuming we keep Tikal in the mix (and given B.'s travel plan back via Flores this makes some economic and logistical sense), we have Thursday afternoon, Friday, and Saturday for diving. B. will have done the course work but will still need to do her pool dives in addition. So.. I know this is tight

(I did my OW over three and a half days, including coursework, and that was a little tight. But it was done without afternoon dives; purely in theory, we could fit all four OW dives into a single day if we did an afternoon trip + morning?)

Looking around the threads here, I'm thinking either Belize City or Palencia might be the best options but I'm pretty ignorant (and consequently open minded!)

• Belize City: not a great place to spend a lot of time (?), but a serious plus for convenience. If we spent most of our time in the water, what does it matter? I understand we can do most of our diving out on Turneffe Atoll (?).
• Ambergris: Sounds like it might be crowded, and not as many opportunities for land excursions, assuming we have time for any. A nicer place to hang out vs. Belize City but maybe not worth giving up the convenience factor?
• Palencia: I keep seeing mixed reviews about the diving here! Some folks say its great, but the "stellar" stuff is all out on the atolls. I understand that we could reach Grover's from Palencia, but diving from here is generally more expensive (fuel costs?). The main draw for me of Palencia is the proximity to land excursions. Again this assumes that we will have time for that, though!
• Turneffe Atoll: For diving this place sounds ideal! My only worry is that given our short stay this will not be economically feasible. I haven't seen much about hotels/operators on the island other than the one very popular resort, which is likely outside of our budget for this particular trip (although I'm thinking about this for the future!).

 

[Damselfish]

purely in theory, we could fit all four OW dives into a single day if we did an afternoon trip + morning?)

assuming you're doing PADI, rules don't allow doing more than 2 OW training dives per day. I assume most agencies are similar.

As a new diver, your friend doesn't need to start with the most stellar stuff. It's all going to be neat. Can be argued it makes sense to save the better stuff for later.

As far as Turneffe Island Resort, I believe they only do transfers Saturday and Wednesday, so that doesn't work for you anyway.