Who to dive with in Roatan?? (honestly)

[Hagan34]

I have stayed and dived with Pura Vida (right in West End), and can happily recommend them. They have a small hotel with decent rooms, a restaurant on site, and a dive shop right next door. They take groups of six out on small boats from the dock right in front of their shop. I stayed and dived with them in 2004, but a friend just did the same last month (Jan. 2008), and from the sound of it, they're just as great as they were in 2004.

Was diving with Pura Vida in Jan also and im planing on going back and doing my DM course with them. great shop, very family feeling, think the largest dive i saw was 5:1 most being 2-4:1 the largest number i recall being on the boat was 12 with the Capt.

 

[Bay Island Diver]

All i can do is reiterate, look at this site:

Roatan's Sandy Bay and West End (West Bay) Marine Park, Honduras - Our Members

Choose a dive shop from the list, these are the ones that contributes to preserving the beautiful reef they make their money out of!

 

[Hagan34]

All i can do is reiterate, look at this site:

Roatan's Sandy Bay and West End (West Bay) Marine Park, Honduras - Our Members

Choose a dive shop from the list, these are the ones that contributes to preserving the beautiful reef they make their money out of!

Is that current, the reason I ask is I remember see the Donations for the Marine park at a few places taht are not listed?

 

[Bay Island Diver]

Yes it is current, with the exception of the the dive shops on the south side/ east end. There names will be added within the next couple of days. But all West End dive shops who cooperate are on the list.

Most dive shops agreed not to even give their customers a choice whether or not they make a $10 donation to the marine park - it is included in the price. You know $10 has been donated to the park on your behalf because you are given a silicone wrist band or plastic tag, if you are not given a tag/band, no money went to the park! This system has made it easy to highlight the shops not participating.

That way it ensured a good RELIABLE source of revenue for the park enabling them to employ the high calibre mangers they have. (three managers with master degrees in tropical coastal development of equivalent) If EVERY dive shop adopts this as a business policy then the Marine park donation never becomes a point of price competition. The moment one shop drops out of this voluntary scheme it puts pressure on the whole system. Basically the shop that drops out has effectively decided to undercut its competitors, not at the cost of the owners, but at the cost of conservation. Do you want to give a business like that your money?

Some businesses may give excuses for not supporting the park, but the bottom line is, they are doing it to undercut their more environmentally concerned competitors. If the marine park was not doing a great job why would the VAST MAJORITY OF DIVE OPERATIONS SUPPORT IT?

 

[zinfin]

Thanx again everyone!!!!!! stay well- matt

 

[Delphinus]

Some businesses may give excuses for not supporting the park, but the bottom line is, they are doing it to undercut their more environmentally concerned competitors. If the marine park was not doing a great job why would the VAST MAJORITY OF DIVE OPERATIONS SUPPORT IT?

Bay Island Diver does not name names, but as an unsatisfied visitor to the Inn of Last Resort, I will offer up this photo of how that dive operation treats the marine park. This is a photo that I shot of the oil slick surrounding the Inn of Last Resort's dive boat on a mooring in the marine park. I will leave it up to you whether or not to patronize this operation.

 

[Bay Island Diver]

Inn of Last does at least run inboard diesels, which when runnning well, (admittedly, this one isn't) are less polluting than 2 stroke outboards which are run by many dive operations.

So in the defense of ILR I would say that their boats are usually cleaner running than this!

A big pat on the back to Delphinus though, as it is trip reports highlighting things like this that really put the pressure on operators to clean up their acts. I am sure ILR will be working to fix this problem. They are basically good people there.

 

[DiverMikeK]

I was a big fan of Ocean Connections...a big yellow house in the middle of West End. I have used them on two seperate trips and my brother got his open water there. DM Kent is awesome. Anyway, most of the shops seem pretty professional and most keep the ratio down.

 

[zinfin]

Okay , (The answer on who to dive with)
I've been there!!! I got the scoop on which shop. All of the shops seem to cater to a specific consumer.Each shop had to draw from different nationalities and personalities. I visited all of them . Well, it rained heavily for three days straight when we were there. So what else is there to do besides drink rum and visit dive shops. Most of the shops had 1 or 2 people hanging out wating for clients. Now, I am not expecting a greating like at the Plaza, but a "may I help you is always appreciated." The shops that offered an inviting professional atmosphere were Coconut Tree, Pura Vida, and Sueno del Mar. All the others could be great , I can only relay our impression.We dove with Coconut Tree. They far exceeded our expectations. Marco,PJ , Tim, and the rest of the crew were dead on!! Left on time . Made sure everyone had gear. They watched out for everyone. No one got left. Pre/post dive talk etc. The dm pointed out all sorts of sealife large and small. They even moved the boats when the rain hit so we could dive in sheltered water on the other side of the island. Best of all they had a cooler of cold beers you pay for on HONOR at the end of the dive on their deck. Basically we blew alot of bubbles and our faces hurt from smiling so much!! stay well !! I hope everyone else has a poitive experience like we did!!

 

[scuba stan]

Tell me more about Bananarama. How are their boats and service? I am thinking of using them in two weeks. Is their site selection great?
I have been diving for a long time but my son will get his OW referral certification dives their. Did you notice good stuff about their instructors?