Hello,

My boyfriend and I will be in Belize 12/28-1/1 and are going to complete our PADI certification referral open water dives in Belize. I have heard different things about different dive shop/centers. Does anyone have any suggestions on where to complete our certification or where NOT to complete it. I was looking into Blue Hole Dive center or Patojo's Scuba Center. Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you, M & D

I've waited for others to answer you, but I guess everyone is busy this time of year.
There are a number of dive instructors in San Pedro. I don't know who is PADI certified but I do know that Billy Leslie with Hustlers is SSI and very good. I think you can do crossovers but you may want to stick with PADI (fondly called "Put Another Dollar In".
You can always wait until you get there, meet the instructors face to face and see whom you connect with.
Another option is, since you have done your entire classroom and confined water classes to just do "Resort Diving".
Whatever you do, it will spoil you for anything but warm water diving.
Harriette

My suggestion is to meet the Instructor face to face and choose the one you feel most comfortable with.

There are many good Instructors on the island and the best scenario is to take the time to walk into the shops and meet the Instructor.

Harriete resort dives would be an extremely expensive option as resort dives are $125-$175 each and there is no certification involved.

The Refferal is anywhere from $200-$275 depending on the shop and includes 4 dives and the certification paperwork so its the best option in this case.

All the best

Gaz Cooper
Gaz Cooper's DIVE BELIZE www.divebelize.com