Bocas Water Sports

Bocas del Toro, the Best Place in the World to Learn to Dive!

Utila, Honduras has long been known as “the” location in the Caribbean to get certified for scuba diving. Each year thousands of backpackers make their way to Utila to learn to dive in the beautiful Caribbean waters. The primary reason that Utila has been designated as the best place to get scuba certified is cost. Utila has billed itself as the cheapest place in the world to earn scuba certification. Backpackers, having limited budgets, flock by the thousands to this small island off the coast of mainland Honduras. If cost is the major factor for getting certified, backpackers should strongly consider coming to Bocas del Toro.  There are also a plethora of other reasons to consider Bocas over our neighbors to the north.

Scuba certification is not an inexpensive proposition in most areas of the world. In the United States, Europe and most of the Caribbean scuba certification often runs over $500 for the PADI certification class. This is one of the reasons backpackers flock to Utila to get certified. An examination of the web sites for various dive shops on Utila show that the average price for a PADI Open Water Certification class is $260, substantially below most places in the world. Interestingly, Bocas del Toro is significantly less expensive than Utila for dive certification classes. The average price for getting certified in Bocas del Toro is $225, and during the off season certification classes can found for as low as $195. It is time that the rest of the world learns that Bocas del Toro is, in fact, the cheapest place in the world to get certified.

There are certainly other factors to consider besides “cost” when getting scuba certified. One of those is the quality of the diving. Unfortunately, Bocas is not known as a dive destination. Having dived in over a dozen Caribbean locations and logging over 3600 dives in the Caribbean and the Bahamas, I can say the diving in Bocas is wonderful. The water temperature stays a balmy 84 degrees all year round. We are blessed with having excellent dive sites on the leeward sides of our islands so the seas are usually flat calm. Contrast that with other Caribbean locales that frequently experience high seas which often lead to cancelled dive trips and it is easy to see why Bocas diving is an excellent place to learn to dive. Many places in the Caribbean experience strong currents which make certification extremely challenging, but here in Bocas most of our dive sites have little, if any, current. We are out of the hurricane belt, so tropical storm activity never results in cancelled dive trips or certification classes. I have taught diving for close to 20 years and I can honestly say that Bocas del Toro is the easiest place I have ever experienced to learn to dive.

The diving itself is actually very good. The waters of Bocas del Toro are very diverse and contain over 90 species of coral, over 140 species of tropical reef fish, and over 200 species of non-coral invertebrates (crab, lobster, shrimp, octopus, squid, nudibranchs, anemones, seastars, crinoids, sponges, etc.). Bocas is also the home to some very unusual fish. While it took me over 2000 dives to spot my first seahorse in the Caribbean, the local Bocas divemasters point out seahorses to divers regularly. Other unusual fish such as soapfish, toadfish, flying gunards, chain morays, and goldspot eels are spotted frequently. It is not just the marine life which makes Bocas diving so special, but also the diversity of its diving. Bocas boasts vertical reefs (like Hospital Point), caverns and swim thrus (Polo Beach), wreck dives, pinnacles (Tiger Rock), and some of the best night dives anywhere in the Caribbean.

In addition to diving, there are other reasons to consider Bocas del Toro as a place to learn to dive. To meet the budget of backpackers, there are a multitude of hostels, offering accommodations for about $10/night. For those looking for more private accommodations there are budget hotels which charge approximately $20-$25/night. We offer restaurants that cater to all palates and include great pizza, Indian, Chinese, Italian, Thai, Panamanian, Mexican, and American cuisine. Some of the local restaurants only charge $3.50 for a complete meal that includes salad, beans and rice, and a choice of chicken, beef or pork. Excellent empanadas can be purchased from street vendors for $.25/each. Sodas and beers are usually $1-$1.50.

While taking a certification class requires studying and practice, most divers enjoy experiencing the night life once the sun goes down. While Utila offers a few bars on their very small island, Bocas has many bars, discos, and nightclubs and a very active nightlife. All of them are excellent places to unwind after a nice day on the water.

Bocas Water Sports has qualified instructors who can certify divers from the Open Water level all the way through the professional ranks of divemaster and instructor. Bocas Water Sports has been around since the early 1990s and is a PADI IDC Gold Palm Resort, the highest level of PADI dive center in the world.

Come check out and see why Bocas is the best place in the world to learn to dive!

I am frequently asked by visitors why after diving all over the Caribbean we decide to open a dive shop in Bocas? There are numerous answers to this question, but perhaps it is best to begin answering with my own personal experience with Bocas del Toro.

Stacy and I first came to Bocas for a dive trip in 2007. We were not looking to buy a business and we just wanted an opportunity to enjoy Christmas break and get a few dives in while we checked out an area of the Caribbean that we had never seen before. I had dived extensively in the Bahamas and the caribbean, including Belize, Roatan, Utila, the Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Bonaire, Curacao, St. Lucia, Dominica, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, etc. I had never been to Panama, and while I heard the diving was just “so-so” I wanted to see for myself.

The minute Stacy and I stepped off the plane we were awed by the natural beauty of the place. Mountains, rainforests, beautiful beaches and funky Caribbean style architecture captured our imagination. I could not get over how much Bocas town reminded me of Key West forty years ago.

The diving was much better than I expected. While we never experienced the 100′ visibility I had become spoiled by in the Bahamas, the reefs were extremely healthy and very diverse. The seas were always flat calm and we never experienced any strong currents. Most of the dive sites we visited were no more than a 20 minute boat ride from the shop (a far cry from the 2.5 hour trips I experienced in North Carolina). The diving was easy and it provided an opportunity to see critters that I had rarely seen elsewhere in the Caribbean (sehorses, frogfish, toadfish, flying gurnards, etc.)  Both Stacy and I were smitten. On our last day of diving with Bocas Water Sports the previous owner mentioned that the shop was for sale. We went home, talked about it, and six months later we found ourselves moving to Panama for another adventure. We have not regretted it since.

So, why dive in Bocas?

Bocas del Toro is extremely cheap to visit. Hotels and hostels run from $10/night for hostels to $25/night for budget hotels. There are a number of great B&Bs here for $50/night, and we have some excellent all inclusice eco-resorts as well. Meals run from $3.50 for a “locals” lunch or dinner (beans and rice, salad, and either chicken, beef or pork all the way to six course gourmet meals at some of our more upscale dining locations.

The diving offers a plethora of marine life, including over 90 species of coral, 140 species of reef fish, and over 200 species of non-coral invertebrates (crab, lobster, shrimp, anemones, nudibranchs, seastars, etc.).

Sea conditions are another consideration. While most of the Caribbean can be affected by hurricane season, Bocas del Toro is well below the hurricane belt and rarely experiences these tropical disturbances. Because the majority of our dive sites are in protected waters on the lee sides of islands, the water surface is usually glass-like with no more than small wavelets. We also experience very little, if any current at most of our dive sites. The best part of all is that because we are so close to the equator, our water temperature is always in the low to mid-eighties, ALL YEAR ROUND!

Bocas del Toro is also an excellent place to learn to dive. While most people claim that Utilla (Honduras) is the cheapest place in the Caribbean to get certified, the prices at Bocas Water Sports are among the cheapest in the world. Our Open Water Course is normally $225 and includes 2 free dives after the course to give newly certified divers more experience and raise their comfort levels. During off season we offer the OW class for $195–you will not find it cheaper anywhere in the Caribbean. Similar savings can be found for our AOW, rescue, and DM courses.

We enjoy our own little slice of paradise and we hope that you will join us and check out the diving for yourselves.

Bocas Water Sports will be offering an Instructor Development Class (IDC) beginning on May 3rd, 2010. The class will prepare students to take the PADI Instructor Exam (IE) at the conclusion of the course.

Michel Lavoie, an experienced PADI Course Director (the highest level of certification in the PADI system) will be visiting from Costa Rica and will be teaching the course.

Michel is offering the IDC at an extremely low price (I have not seen an IDC offered this inexpensively ANYWHERE in the Caribbean). Contact Bocas Water Sports and reserve your spot in the class no later than April 15th.

A big thank you to Kristin Panke who put together a slide show of what we do here at Bocas Water Sports. Her video shows our tours, dive trips, dive instruction, and Kayak rental.

The link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIbA-1MAg8o

In a bid to offer the best diving experience in Bocas del Toro, we are striving to offer the best in service and individualized attention. Neither Stacy nor I like diving in huge groups (been there, done that), so we are trying to offer smaller charters with more personalized service. We endeavor to put no more than four divers with one divemaster guide. We may have eight divers on a boat, but we will make every attempt to insure that we send out two divemasters to accommodate the group.
Come see why Bocas Water Sports is the premiere dive shop in Bocas del Toro.

For a limited time, we are offering a discount on our already low priced Open Water Diver certification class. Get certified in three days for only $205. This special includes everything–books, equipment, training, certification card! No “hidden” costs. We also provide two free dives after you pass your class. These free dives give you additional experience and an opportunity to enjoy our beautiful underwater world. Some restrictions apply and this is a limited time offer so please contact us right away to reserve an instructor!