What you'll do

Five short confined-water sessions to learn the core skills — mask clearing, regulator recovery, buoyancy, ascents, equipment handling. Then four open water training dives on Roatan's reef to put them into practice. Theory is completed online via PADI eLearning, either before you arrive or in the evenings during the course.

Course structure

• 5 knowledge development sections (PADI eLearning, completed online)
• 5 confined water training dives in 6 metres of sand directly off the dive shop's beach — no pool
• 4 open water training dives on the West End house reef and nearby boat sites
• Final knowledge review and exam
• Around 3 to 4 days end to end

What's included

• Course tuition with a qualified PADI Open Water Instructor
• PADI eLearning access — all theory and certification materials
• PADI Open Water Diver certification fee
• All scuba equipment rental for the duration of the course

What it looks like in Roatan

Water temperature sits between 27 and 30°C year-round. Visibility on the West End reefs typically runs 20 to 30 metres. There is no current to speak of inside the protected zone of the Roatan Marine Park. Confined water sessions happen in a sandy patch directly off the dive shop's beach — far more pleasant than a swimming pool. Open water dives begin on the house reef around 50 metres offshore, which drops into a coral wall starting at about 12 metres.

Requirements

• Minimum age 10 for Junior Open Water Diver, or 15 for the full rating
• Basic swimming ability — a 200 m surface swim and a 10-minute float
• PADI medical statement signed — physician's clearance required for any "yes" answers

What you'll do

Five guided "Adventure" dives, each introducing a different specialty area. Two are mandatory — Deep Diver and Underwater Navigation — and you choose the remaining three. Theory is delivered through PADI eLearning before or during the course.

Adventure dive options on Roatan

• Deep Diver — mandatory. The reef wall drops past 40 m; a single deep dive to around 30 m introduces no-stop limit awareness and gas planning at depth.
• Underwater Navigation — mandatory. Compass work and natural navigation practice on sand and reef.
• Wreck Diver — exterior survey of a sunken freighter on the north side of the island
• Night Diver — dusk descent on a shallow reef; octopus, lobsters and parrotfish in their reef pockets
• Peak Performance Buoyancy — fine-tunes trim and weighting in mid-water
• Drift Diver — the gentler north-shore current sites
• Underwater Photography, Fish Identification and Search & Recovery are also available

What's included

• Course tuition with a qualified PADI Instructor
• PADI eLearning access — Adventures in Diving materials
• PADI Advanced Open Water Diver certification fee
• All scuba equipment rental for the duration of the course
• All boat dives, tanks and weights

Requirements

• PADI (or recognised equivalent) Open Water Diver certification
• Minimum age 15, or 12 for Junior Advanced Open Water with reduced depth limits
• PADI medical statement signed

What you'll do

Theory through PADI eLearning, then practical skill exercises in confined water followed by ten open water rescue scenarios — tired divers, panicked divers, missing divers, surface and underwater emergencies. The course closes with a final two-scenario assessment that brings the skills together under realistic pressure.

Course structure

• 5 PADI eLearning knowledge development sections
• 10 rescue skill exercises in confined and open water
• 2 staged rescue scenarios as the final assessment
• Around 3 to 4 days end to end

What's included

• Course tuition with a qualified PADI Rescue Instructor
• PADI eLearning access — Rescue Diver materials
• PADI Rescue Diver certification fee
• All scuba equipment rental for the duration of the course

What it looks like in Roatan

The calm, protected water of West End suits scenario work well. There is no swell to fight, so instructors can stage realistic situations on the surface and at depth without weather complicating things. Most candidates spend their final scenario day on the same reef sites where they ran skills earlier in the week.

Requirements

• PADI (or recognised equivalent) Advanced Open Water Diver certification — or Adventure Diver with the Underwater Navigation Adventure Dive completed
• EFR Primary & Secondary Care current within the last 24 months
• Minimum age 12
• PADI medical statement signed

Day rates & packages

All dives include tank, weights, boat ride and divemaster guide. The Roatan Marine Park fee is payable separately to the Marine Park on arrival.

What you can expect

West End sits at the western tip of Roatan inside the Marine Park. Most dive sites are a 5 to 15-minute boat ride away. The reef structure runs as a near-continuous wall starting around 12 metres and dropping past recreational limits, so each dive is a wall dive with a shallow reef-top return. Visibility typically runs 20 to 30 metres; water temperature 27 to 30°C year-round.

Site variety

• Wall dives with sea fans, sponges and frequent turtle and eagle ray encounters
• Sandy chutes and swim-throughs
• Wreck dive options at additional cost
• Night dives can be arranged on request

Intro to scuba & entry-level

First aid & emergency response

Required for the Rescue Diver and Divemaster courses. Certification valid for 24 months.

PADI specialty courses

All specialty prices include tuition, materials and certification. PADI specialty application fees are paid directly to PADI on completion.

Technical diving

Technical training in Roatan — TDI and PADI Tec, side-mount, twinset and rebreather — is run by our long-standing colleagues at Roatan Tec Center, based a short walk from the dive shop.