Best Caribbean location for beginning diving + solo female

Utila Bay Islands Honduras. Most dive outfits here include lodging with courses.

Flights can be direct to Roatan and then you take a catamaran to Utila of a puddle jumper. Or it tends to be cheaper to fly into San Pedro Sula, bus to La Cieba and ferry to Islands.

2nd longest reef in the world, excellent and professional outfits, cheap lodging and nightlife. Good fun for all ages.

But it all depends on where you are flying from, what month, and best to avoid rainy season, which varies greatly in the caribe area.

I flew from Chicago to SPS via Houston, in May for $299 on Continental, flew to Roatan $115, had a refresher course and dove 3 days, at $32 (6) for a two tank dive, then catamaran to Utila 4 hours $55, then took my Advanced OW for 3 days and 9 dives for $450, then ferry to La Cieba and 1 night in SPS and flew back to Chicago via Houston.

TTL trip for everything $1400 for 9 days of excellent diving and fun times. I splurged on private cabins/w breakfast for $60 night.

I used Utila Dive Center (UDC) the biggest in the world, had no idea they were until after the fact, excellent all around. I normally prefer small dive operators too...

Awesome, thanks for the tips! Utila moved up to #1 today after reading more about it. Seems quieter and calmer than Belize or Roatan. I was concerned a bit at the fact that the low costs are such a huge draw for backpackers. I don't want to skimp on costs when it comes to safety and individual attention. But, it seems like that concern would be misplaced after reading about a few of the dive outfits there. It seems like everyone always tends to recommend spending the first day down there meeting the companies to decide the best fit...

Still curious if anyone else has any strong opinions on the best place for a single, female traveler to learn to dive...

I was in Caye Caulker in February this year for a week, and I loved it (extended a planned 3 night stay to 7). I went diving a couple of times with Big Fish Diving but I didn't do a course with them so can't comment on instruction. I have heard that Belize Diving Services is recommended for courses. I loved the laid back, welcoming atmosphere, it is perfectly safe for a single female traveller to walk about by herself. There are lots of budget places to stay and eat. I'm hoping to go back in March, fingers crossed.

Edited by: wanderlustcoz

I did my Divemaster training course on Roatan and my IDC (instructor training course) on Utila and don't agree that Utila is quieter than Roatan. In fact the large numbers of backpackers meant that Utila had a much bigger, more active party scene than Roatan. Utila is also much smaller so the people who are there are smushed into a much smaller area, whereas Roatan's visitors and inhabitants are spread out and it's less densely populated.

If you were looking to party I would definitely recommend Utila but since you specifically mentioned that you're not, then I would recommend Roatan instead. To me, Utila felt like a town that happened to be on an island (but that had also taken over the whole island), whereas larger Roatan still felt to me like an island, with pockets of towns and villages on it. Roatan has beautiful beaches and Utila has none. Don't get me wrong, I'm not the type of person who likes to lie around on beaches and fry myself but aesthetically and psychologically being able to walk along a lovely beach at sunset if I want to is pretty much a must for me if I'm going to be in the tropics!

West end Roatan has a villagey, backpacker feel to it, lots of dive shops to choose from (I can also recommend one small and great shop there if you like, I can also recommend a wonderful (female) instructor there, just PM me), beautiful beaches and is safe if you use common sense and normal precautions.

I've never been to Bonaire but I've heard great things about the shore diving. Not sure what kind of clientele and social scene it attracts in terms of age group and so on...