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scuba diving courses - Central America

Hey guys,

I've never made my own travel thread before so here we go!

Basically a friend and I are wanting to go to Central America this summer and doing a PADI diving courses. Has anyone done one before that they'd reccomend? Most people seem to do them in the Red Sea area or South East Asia.

We're looking at the Caribean coast area. Probably northern Central America, so Belize, Guatemala, Honduras simply because we've both already been to the southern countries. But we'd be open to going back there again if this area was better for diving, although I've heard from friends that Belize is pretty good. We're fine with Mexico although we're not looking to go to the really touristy areas. But I'm thinking that the diving courses are more than likely to be in the tourist areas! So we'd want to be able to get away and onto the backpacking routes as soon as our course has finished.

At the moment we haven't booked any flights so we're fine location wise. I think we'd probably fly to somewhere in Mexico, or fly to Miami then get a connecting flight. Or bus from southern Mexico depending on where we were going etc. We don't have a budget as such because I've got no idea how much a diving course will cost, but obviously cheap is good! We can't really afford a lot of money so it'll be a fairly short trip at 2 months max in July and August. I speak Spanish but my friend only speaks a little, so we'd want to have the lessons in English.

Also if anyone has been to the Galapogos Islands... please do share! We're also toying with the idea of going to Equador (I have friends in Quito we can stay with) and then heading to the Galapogos but I think it might be a bit too expensive given the things I've read online. Or alternatively Bolivia, where again, I have a friend in La Paz who can accommodate us. We just don't really know yet!

This is probably a huge long shot, but there we go!

Also if anyone has any general advice on the diving front for what we should or shouldn't be looking for with courses that'd be good, as I have no idea what so ever. As I said we've both already been to Central America and we've both travelled a lot around the world so we're not doing it alone for the first time or anything like that! :smile:

Reply 1

AndiPeters

See you there big guy

Reply 2

JemSevenV

I am a diver and I would say that PADI is purely for so-called 'holiday divers' which is what you aspire to be, i suppose. PADI courses are basically a crash-course in diving. They teach you to dive in 5 days. If you want to be more serious with diving, the British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC) is a sensible choice because 1) diving in British water (particularly the Solent) will prepare you for almost anything, the swell and temperature is a lot worse than other diveable places in the world and 2) because they teach you better, making diving safer and therefore more enjoyable. The courses are longer and you have to do your homework and learn everything.

The PADI course that I went on worried me, since there were 3 kids in my class who failed the final test, but were still given their diving card and were permitted to dive, which is life threatening, especially if they haven't a clue what to do if their arms start locking up or if they are separated from their buddy...

Basically... PADI is a good idea for holiday diving at 5 metres below the surface, but anything more serious and 20+ metres (where all the good stuff is) I would go with BSAC.

Reply 3

oxymoronic

JemSevenV

Hmm okay, thanks! ... I almost joined my local group once at home, and then at university. But I never got around to it, although looking online at my uni group it might be worth joining them next academic year and then doing training with them, then normal travelling this summer, and going back again for diving the year after. I'm not really sure what we're wanting out of it to be honest - I'm a huge advocate of 'doing it properly' in life as apposed to being a tourist about it though, meaning it might be better to wait until we can do it in the UK. Or maybe it'd be better to do a short thing abroad, then come home having already had the experience once before getting involved at university. I'd be doing it in Scotland.

The problem is neither of us are living in the UK right now (we're both on years abroad) meaning we can't do anything in the UK before this summer. I'm looking at the website for the international links... what would you suggest I looked for? If we were to do it abroad, how long would you suggest we went for, number of dives etc? How did you get into doing it properly?

As I said we're still in the very early planning stages, open to suggestion and might not even end up doing it yet, so this is really good to hear! Thanks.

Reply 4

Llamaaa

I've been to the Galapagos islands- it's really beautiful, nice wildlife, but when I was there scuba diving was banned for reasons of conservation. Apparently this happens sometimes (I don't think it is a permanent measure) without warning, so beware. You may spend all that money travelling out there only to be told that you can't dive. But if you do go there, I'd recommend going on holiday to Ecuador or somewhere else in South American and making arrangements from there as it is a whole lot cheaper. I arranged to go from Peru and I paid US$300 for one week, staying in an eco-friendly cabin thing, including a couple of boat excursions and some hands-on stuff.

We were ok snorkelling around there, just no actual diving. But like I say, that is subject to change- they change their minds all the time! Devil's crown (volcanic crater) is great for snorkelling. Not good diving though :p:

I've been diving in Belize- it was amazing. Lots to see, good variety of dives etc. Not for beginners though. If you're the touristy sort, then Turneffe resort is supposed to be good, but I'd recommend just getting there and finding a lodge on your own- much cheaper and you get a much better experience.

Personally, the best experience diving I've had in Central America was the Bay islands, honduras. Again, I organised my trip by arriving in Guate, travelling down to Honduras and then organising everything from there. So instead of paying some US$500 just for permission to dive I paid US$30 for a room and all the diving I wanted, including organised diving with a guide. Otherwise, I'd recommend the corn islands of Nicaragua. Was pretty cool there too.

Reply 5

JemSevenV

To be honest, it is very much personal preference. I know lots of people that have changed from BSAC to PADI and vise versa.

I would say that it's important to know how far you want to go with it. PADI is very expensive - for my JR Open Water Course, which is the lowest one, my parents payed £500. The equivalent for a BSAC course would be £100 (or about that), which is what I have now. I am only qualified to go 25 metres because I am only 15.

If you want to be able to dive the best wrecks in the area, you will have to spend a lot more time and money to get enough dives and experience to be able to get to the next level. You need proof (i *think*) that you have done say 100 dives so you can progress to the next 'level' and are allowed to go deeper.

Dont take too much notice of what I say - I have been brain washed by my Dad's dive club to dislike PADI lol :smile:

You will probably find you like PADI very much. Just consider the cost, how far you want to follow up diving and also make sure that your teacher in foreign lands are actually qualified to teach, or even dive! Ive seen on programmes like Watchdog or Holidays from Hell where people have been taught by Juan who has no idea how to dive.

I just want to add this as well... In places like Spain, Egypt and sunny places alike, PADI centres tend to do brief diving lessons because it is mainly people who want to learn to dive to say they have been diving before, as opposed to taking it up as a serious hobby. That might not be a problem in America though :smile:

Sorry for going on for so long :wink:

I just like to make sure you know everything you can so you dont get ripped off and enjoy you diving!!

Reply 6

oxymoronic

Llamaaa

....

If we did Galapagos Islands we wouldn't be diving, simply because of the costs involved. Neither of us have ever done it before, we've both been snorkling a fair bit in Costa Rica and we've decided we want to go back and dive there, although it seems training might be better done in the UK. Its a one or the other situation. I'd really really love to go there, everything I've read sounds so beautiful. I'm fairly into my wildlife, and really into birding.

Making arrangements in SA - how easy is it to do? Where were you in Peru when you made the arrangements? Lima or further north? As I said I have a friend in Quito who will be able to help us if we need it. $300 for one week isn't bad at all, I've been looking online (lonley planet forum) and people tend to be quoting much higher than that, which is why I thought it was expensive. Was that excluding the flight out there, or including it? On LP people are saying cerca $400 for a flight. Do you know where the eco lodge was/name?

Nah, we're not touristy people at all! We're cool with turning up and arranging things there, have done it a lot in the past. I don't really want to book anything in advance, I'm trying to work out places and general feelings about stuff, then when we get there we'll know exactly what we should be looking out for and asking. Would you still reccomend going to that area and then arranging it once you got there or avoiding Turneffe completely?

I'll add those places to my list then! (Honduras) I've been to the corn islands before, a couple of years ago, wouldn't mind going back there though as we didn't really do Nicaragua justice at all.

Reply 7

stevemce

.
Just to chip in on this thread, not Central America but north coast of
Colombia has good diving, there are dive schools in Santa Marta & Taganga,
I am not a diver myself so I can't offer an opinion on how it compares to other dive areas.

I heard that Colombia is one of the cheaper places to dive,
I was over there last year, and that region of the country is safe for backpackers.

Steve

Reply 8

oxymoronic

JemSevenV

....

You've been really helpful, thanks. This is the kind of stuff I want to know. I'd much rather have constructive replies (like I've had) than have people be like 'yeah it was dead good cos my teacher was well fit, we were like swimming with fish and i got a wicked tan' sort of reply! Which is why I put it on gap years rather than travel.
Basically I'm not wanting to make a full time career out of this, but at the same time I'd like to spend enough money and do it properly so that I'll have a real qualification to use around the world. I travel a lot, and it'd be cool to be able to go diving in the different places where I go, and feel confident enough to do it all properly. From what you've said PADI is more for a recreational diver who maybe does it a couple of time, yes? From what you've said on the cost perspective it seems maybe it would be better to wait, go back to uni and then do it there. But I don't know. You've certainly given me something to think about which is what I was wanting!

stevemce

Just to chip in on this thread, not Central America but north coast of
Colombia has good diving, there are dive schools in Santa Marta & Taganga,
I am not a diver myself so I can't offer an opinion on how it compares to other dive areas.

I heard that Colombia is one of the cheaper places to dive,
I was over there last year, and that region of the country is safe for backpackers.

I'd not even considered Northern Southern America as a possiblity, I always forget that they border the Carribean basin area too! I'd like to go to Colombia... how did you get around? As in, where did you travel to and from etc to get to that area, as I know there are certain areas which aren't considered safe for tourists but haven't properly done my research yet. I'd assume that it's not too full of tourists though, which is good.

Reply 9

stevemce

oxymoronic

I flew London > Madrid > Bogota> Santa Marta (British Airways/Iberia), in one hit.
Then local buses to Cartegena, Minca, Parque Tayrona etc.
There were a small number of backpackers around, although no Brits,
which made me think that there is a view in Europe/USA that
Colombia is safer than it was a few years ago but in the UK, travellers aren't so sure.

Steve