Steve- looking at the tormented and miriad posts that you have made in planning your first big outing (on your own) to the uncharted reaches of the Mar Caibe... you are worrying waaaaay to much. The route that you have been researching, going from this island inquiry to questions about the next- from Belize to PADI Week at Fantasy Island, to CoCoView then looking for small places where your non-diving friends can have fun... take a breath, throw down on your credit card number, and take a little risk.
Diving is not all about picking the single one best place ever. There isn't one. What is heaven for me may be dread for you- and vice versa.
Go- enjoy- there's so much available. But as you queries have morphed ever so rapidly, you have to decide- really- what you honestly want. I am afraid that there is no one place that's really going to fit your complete list of 'must haves'.
As far as dive boats,
only you can decide if you youself have the requisite skills to deal with conditions (boats and ocean, etc.). It is unfair of you to ask a dive op if "you are ok for this" or that dive.
Look it over, listen to the dive description, then decide. Are you capable of doing back rolls off of the gunnel of a rocking panga? Do youi understand drift diving and staying with a DM carrying a float? Familiar with Downwellings? Know how to shoot that safety sausage (you've been soaking in seawater for two years) from 25' depth? Oh- you don't have it rigged with 30 feet of cord? How about Upwellings? Surface recovery techniques- do you know how to slip out of your BC and hand your gear up to a DM in a heaving sea? Ever pre-visualize spending the night adrift?
There are situations that a "cream pie Dive" (Most any AI at Roatan, Cayman, or Belize or Bonaire, etc.)... then there are excellent dive ops that are waaaay out on the edge (such as those from Speyside in Tobago). Then there are absolutely frightening offerings with marginal safety provisions. Only your continued gathering of real life (not internet) experiences can be your guide to the difference. What you have so far is a surface checklist, applicable to a US Day dive op, but when you're looking South of the US....
Enough with they typing. Go dive.
Now for a
.....
Most often heard questions (anyway) are:
1) Will we see a Turtle?
They're gonna just my absolute favorite as soon as I see one!!
2) There aren't any Sharks, are there?
Like Jaws, right?
3) Is there a place for me to go potty? You know,
big potty?
4) Is it a three hour tour?
Gilligan?
5) How many Whale Sharks will there be?
Do you get the Hammerhead ones?
6) Is there an entertainment arcade on board?
Other than watching me feed the fish?
7) What time is the Midnight Buffet?
8) If I don't like it, can I get my money back?
9) Is there anything for my non-diving spouse to do? Can I bring my resort course pals? How deep can I go?
10) What's the Corporate Directive in the unlikely event of a Hurricane?
Cute DM's are a plus. Not laughing at my picture on the C-Card. Got Diet Dr. Pepper?
Really? A 15 foot Deco Bar with a spare second stage. Tag line float buoy always deployed aft. The rest I can deal with on my own.
Cabin boys. Well, them, too.
