Dive Courses in the West End of Roatan
 All the dive centers in West End (and the rest of the island for that matter) teach PADI courses. PADI is the most widey recognised diving organisation in the world and we have yet to visit a country where their certifications are not recognised. All the dive centers offer the same core certifications, from entry level through to divemaster training. Many of the operators also offer "specialties" such as deep diver, drift diver, wreck diver and underwater photography, to name but a few.
In this section we will provide you with information on the following topics:
Firstly, about your instuctor
OK, so you want to learn how to dive, or take your diving to the next level. How do you decide which dive shop to choose? Expericence of instuctors? Condition of equipment? How seriously they take your safety? All of these are important factors in making a decision, but when it comes down to it you will just get a "nice feel" about one of the dive shops and you should go with that instinct. Nearly all the dive operations in West End are excellent so it really comes down to a matter of personal preference. We have given brief descriptions of the dive operators in West End on another page.
 "I've certified over 300 divers" you'll hear some instuctors say. So what! Does this mean that they are a good instructor? Not necessarily! Remember at school - it was often the younger or less experienced teacher that did the best job. Why? Its simple - they are still excited about the fact that they are a teacher and want to do the best job they possibly can. They still take great pride in their chosen profession and have not become jaded over the years. Sure they may not have as much experience teaching, but that does not mean to say they are not as good. Some people are naturally more gifted at teaching than others, irrespective of age, qualifications etc.
 All of the above applies to your instructor. Don't be mislead into believing that you are going to get a lower standard of instuction by choosing someone who has, for example, only certified 20 divers. That is not to say that experience counts for nothing - of course it does! But our experience is that instuctors can often become arrogant over time and think that they know it all. Good instuctors are always willing to listen to new ideas and learn from others. Unfortunately not all of them realise this. If the instructor you are thinking of going with says ANYTHING disparaging about another instructor and dive operation then walk away. It is this kind of unprofessional behaviour that can give the dive industry a bad name. Your instuctor should focus on his or her dive operation when explaining why to do the course with them, not the (often misleading) negative comments about the others. We spent over 15 minutes with one of the smaller dive shops a few weeks ago when deciding whom to dive with for the day. They were very intelligent in their sales pitch and summed up by saying "all the dive operators in West End are excellent and, whomever you ultimately choose, you will be in safe hands". We signed up with them as soon as they made that comment as it showed a professional behaviour and a willingness to work with other dive centers not against them.
 One of the best instuctors we know on Roatan has only certified about 100 students. He was a divemaster for a few years before he became an instructor. He is very unassuming and polite and there is not an ounce of arrogance in him. He is a born natural at teaching even though this was not his profession before he got into diving. One of us was there when he certified his first student and we have been around for quite a few more of his certifications. We have never heard a student have a single bad thing to say about him. If you talk to him he does not brag about how experienced he is, or how many dives he has. He simply talks to you in that calm, relaxing manner he has and you immediately want to sign up for the course. We are not going to say his name as he would be embarrased, but we will say that he works for one of the smaller dive operations in West End. Big is denfinitely not always better!
So how do you choose? Once you have a few dive shops in mind, go and visit them all. Speak to the instuctors there and see whether you feel a connection with them. If the dive shop already comes with a good reputation then you can assume that the instuctor is a good one, irrespective of whether they've certified 50 students or 500 students. There are LOTS of instuctors in Roatan so a bad one will not keep their job very long at a good shop.
Now a bit about PADI courses
PADI Open Water course
Most people come to Roatan to learn to dive - this means taking the PADI Open Water course. This course typically take 3 1/2 days (if done properly) and consists of watching a series of videos, reading the Open Water manual and completing the knowledge reviews at the  end of each section, 5 confined water sessions, 4 open water dives and a final exam. Most dive centers follow very similar formats when instructing the course but there is room for some variation. The confined water sessions are usually taken as 2 large training sessions. In the first session you will complete confined water 1-3 and in the second session 4 and 5. We've witnesses instructors from a couple of dive centers which shall remain unamed get through sessions 1-5 in a little over 2 hours. If your isntructor gets you through it this quick it is because a) you are the best student EVER, or b) your instuctor is not doing a very thorough job.
During confined sessions you will start in shallow water (nearly all the dive centers use Half Moon Bay when the weather is good) practicing simple skills such as clearing your regulator, removing and replacing your regulator, exchanging your regulator and snorkel etc. Over the course of the sessions the skills get more advanced until you will eventually be able to remove and replace your BCD (Bouyancy Control Device) underwater, swim without the use of a mask and learn how to deal with an out of air situation.
 The first open water dive consists of practicing your bouyancy control. This means trying to go in a horizontal line underwater rather than up and down all the time. The remainer of the open water dives consist of repeating the skills you learnt in the confined training sessions and then always going for a tour around the reefs.
Once you are qualified you will be able to dive anywhere in the world with a buddy (you should never dive by yourself) to a maximum depth of 60ft/18m. If you want to go deeper than this then you should continue your diving education either with the Advanced Open Water course, or an Adventure Deep training dive (this is the Deep Dive from the Advanced course).
PADI Advanced Open Water
This is the next level on the experience ladder for divers. The course consists of 5 dives, each of which comes with a corresonding theory session and knowledge review. There are 2 compulsory dives - the deep and navigation dives. You are then able to choose 3 more from a range of options depending upon the dive center you do the course with. The most popular choices on Roatan are:
- Peak Performance Bouyancy
- Drift Dive
- Underwater Photography
- Wreck Dive
- Underwater Naturalist
- Night Dive
- Fish I.D. Dive
 It is worth noting that it is not the advanced course itself that allows you to increase your depth range to 100ft/30m, but the deep dive from the course. In other words, if you don't want to do the full advanced course, or simply don't have the time or money, then consider doing the deep dive alone. Each of the above dives from the advanced course can be taken as a single Adventure Dive. You will get your logbook signed by the instuctor so that, if you do decide to do the advanced course at a later dater, you do not need to repeat dives you have already taken.
PADI Discover Scuba Diving
 The Discover Scuba Diving course (also known as the DSD, or a Resort Course) is the quickest method of getting you to experience a dive on the reef without compromising on safety. The course can be completed in less than haf a day and consists of a short theory session (and maybe a DVD), a confined water skills session in shallow water where you will learn some of the basic skills taught on the Open Water course, and finally a dive on the reef itself accompanied by an instructor.
The DSD course allows people who are not quite ready to commit to a full Open Water course to see if they will like diving without paying too much money. All the dive centers seem to charge the same price ($100) and, if you decide to go on and take the Open Water course, what you have already covered in the DSD can be counted towards that course.
Rescue Diver/Emergency First Response course
We have included the Emergency First Response Course and the Rescue Diver under the same section as they are mostly done together. In order to take the Rescue Diver course you must either already hold a recognised certificate of first aid, or complete the 3/4 day EFR course.
 The EFR course itself teached the participant about basic first aid, including topics such as how to give rescue breaths and chest compressions and how to deal lwith severe bleeding, shock, hypotheria and heatstroke. The course is purely classroom based. Once you have achieved the EFR certificate you must do a refresher every year if you wish to go on and become a PADI Professional.
After the EFR course you are ready to start the Rescue Diver course. Make no doubt about it, this is a tough course and can be physically demanding. A good dive center will not make this course too easy for its students as it is the first course where you start to learn about looking after the safety of other divers and not just yourself.
The course consists of 5 theory sessions and 5 rescue training sessions. These sessions increase in complexity as the course progresses. The sessions will cover the following topics
- Self-rescue review
- Tired Diver
- Panicked Diver
- Response from shore, boat or dock
- Distressed diver underwater
- Missing diver
- Surfacing the unresponsive diver
- Unresponsive diver at the surface
- Exiting the unresponsive diver
- First aid for pressure related injuries and oxygen administration
- Response from shore/boat - unresponsive diver
Divemaster Internships
The Divemaster course is for those people who wish to make a career out of diving. Some people just want to be able to make a bit of money during a year off whilst doing some travelling, whilst others are planning to become instructors and make a more permanent career choice.
 It is the DM course where you will learn the most about diving. To put it into perpsective, it usually takes a MINIMUM of 6 weeks at the operations with good DM internships to become a divemaster. Once you are a divemaster it only takes another 2 weeks on an Instructor Development Course to become a qualified instructor. The divemaster internship teaches yuou how to dive and be responsible for people's safety, how to deal with underwater emergencies, how to fill tanks, deal with customers, maintain equipment etc. - the IDC just teaches you how to teach PADI courses.
The DM course can vary from dive center to dive center so it is worth doing your research beforehand. Don't just go for the one that looks like a laugh, or has a pretty instuctor, if you are serious about this course. You should expect the following (in addition to the PADI minimum requirements) from a good divemaster internship in West End:
- Free dives to ensure you reach the minimum PADI requirement of 60 logged dives by the end of the internship. Dive centers should not charge you for diving during the course as you are effectively paying them to work there - they get labour and get paid for having it!
- No limit on how long the course lasts. If you need more than 6-8 weeks then the dive center should happily oblige. Of course, if you just drag it on and are not pulling your weight so that you can take advantage of the free dives that most operations offer to their DM trainees, you should expect
 some kind of reprucussions.
- Equipment maintenance and servicing training. These are useful (if not essential) skills in many countries where you may be looking to work.
- Discounted specialty courses (e.g. Nitrox, Deep Diver, Wreck Diver etc.)
- Assistance with CV writing and job search assistance. Please be aware that no dive center can guarantee you work at the end of your internship. If it is a busy time of the year and they need more staff, then great! You have a good chance of being hired. If they are already fully staffed (and the one's that are organised usually are) then you should expect to have to look for work at the end of the internship.
- Compressor operations, i.e. how to fill tanks. You may be doing a lot of this during internships are certain dive centers!
- Learning about how to deal with customer paperwork - a necessary part of any dive center operations.
- Some dive centers may teach you the basics of how to drive a boat - particularly the smaller operations. This is also a very useful skill to have.
From what we have been able to discover through our research, the dive centers with the DM internships which receive the best feedback by their trainees are (in alphabetical order):
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