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Print this page| News Updates | |
|---|---|
| Bottom Time is Back! | 2008-07-17 |
| Website Version 3.5 | 2008-06-29 |
| Facelift upstairs | 2008-05-27 |
| Kiwi snorkel test | 2008-05-20 |
| Great Dive | 2008-05-14 |
| Coconut Trees first IDC | 2008-05-10 |
| Good Luck Tim | 2008-04-12 |
| Clair's next chapter | 2008-03-28 |
| Sea Horse | 2008-03-23 |
| We're Now West End's Only PADI Gold Palm Instructor Development Center! | 2008-03-20 |
| They found me! | 2008-03-14 |
| We're Tanked! | 2008-03-11 |
| Five hundred divers strong | 2008-03-04 |
| Thanks Michelle | 2008-02-29 |
| Bottom Time is in dry dock | 2008-02-28 |
| MISSING: Chucky | 2008-02-27 |
| Bugs | 2008-02-26 |
| Eeeewwwwww!! | 2008-02-24 |
| We're live! | 2008-02-19 |
by Steve Craig
She's baaaaaack!
After many long weeks in the La Ceiba shipyard, our beloved "floating classroom" Bottom Time returned to her home on Coconut Tree Diver's dock in Half Moon Bay late last night.
It was quite the ordeal: six hours and forty miles of protecting Will's new scooter and Kirk's bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken from the relentless spray of pounding waves proved that Bottom Time is definitely ready for action. Exhausted but exhilarated, the crew toasted her arrival with ice cold Salva Vidas and a few moon-lit loops around Half Moon Bay.
With our fleet back in full, Coconut Tree Divers is ready to take our status as Roatan's #1 PADI training facility to the next level!
by Steve Craig
If you're noticing some small changes around the site, you're not narced.
CoconutTreeDivers.com has been upgraded to version 3.5 with several much-needed cosmetic and structural changes. More than just a bunch of pretty pictures, this update has some pretty sweet new features, including PADI eLearning, where you can now take the knowledge development section of the Open Water course online!
Want some more incentive to routinely visit the site? How about free diving?
That's right, now you can win free dives with Coconut Tree Divers in our Photo of the Month Contest. Send us your best shots and you could end up scoring some free dives!
by Marco Alvarado
The classroom is undergoing some serious plastic surgery. Phil is the local expert and he's helping us transform the functional classroom into something worth mentioning. This is all being done under Gay's supervision. It's been a bit difficult to teach upstairs during the afternoons for the last two days. Luckily we have plenty of things we can do in the water. It is about diving. I'll get you a during the construction shot and an after one as well.
Not to get too crazy and all, but Bottom Time is likely to head back to Roatan soon. What about you?
by Marco Alvarado
After completing his Divemaster course, James (aka Kiwi) completes the final step.... the snorkel test. He did an excellent job. We wish him the best in the IDC and whatever he sets his sight on.
by Marco Alvarado
Drifted from Divemaster's Choice to Hole in the Wall. As soon as we jumped in we saw a Hawkbill turtle. Going along the wall with all the usual little critters (i.e. Neck Crabs) we saw a couple of Ocean Trigger fish. As we reached Grape Escape we saw a Nurse Shark just hanging out. After a while of watching it, we continued. We ran into a couple other turtles and a spotted drum. Wish you were here...
On a separate note, rumor has it that Bottom Time is headed back West End soon.
by Will Welbourn
On May 1st and 2nd Coconut Trees first 5 IDC candidates passed their IE with flying colours. Congratulations to Instructors Adam, Dan, Gemma, Kirk and Rob. Way to go guys.
by PJ Rowntree
Good Luck Tim we are all going to miss the Dude we all hope to have you back in the fall
by Marco Alvarado
Well our latest Coconut Tree Divemaster, Clair Flynn leaves this coming Sunday. We will miss her as she has turned into a super star. It is however her time to move one, b/c she chooses to. We wish her the best. A picture of her last Friday will be posted here, guaranteed or your money back...
It will be Steve or myself who will add it.
Marc say bye Clair, Jungsil says she is going to miss you, and Christine says she'll see you when you get back. Didn't make dinner b/c tables of six or larger are a thing of confusion to restaurants around here.
Bye for now.
by Marco Alvarado
This afternoon we dove at Dixies for the 2:30 dive. Max depth was 60 feet. We've been real busy these days, with plenty of courses going on. I have a class with six Advanced Open Water students starting tomorrow. We are still in the business of fun diving and today was no exception. We jumped in the water and when everyone was ready to go we descended. Right off the wall at a distance was the little guy. I spotted him from a ways out and crossed my fingers. There he was and I made sure everyone came to see the seahorse. Viv took some spectacular pictures, as she always does. They'll be posted soon. We also saw a turtle and a big moray eel. It was a fantastic dive. Upon return to the shop we had Will and Loren back from their trip. It's great to have all the folks back.
See you soon.
-marco
by Steve Craig
Coconut Tree Divers is proud to announce that we have just been approved as a PADI Gold Palm Instructor Development Center! It's amazing to think that in less than six years come from a start-up "mom and pop shop" to the #1 dive shop on Roatan for diver education.
Under the guidance of Course Director Will Welbourn, we will offer our first PADI Instructor Development Course on the 16th of April, 2008. If you are already certified as a PADI Divemaster or Assistant Instructor and would like to take your professional career to the level of Open Water Scuba Instructor, please reserve your place on the PADI Instructor Development Course today, as spaces are limited!
by Chucky
Congratulations to our newly certified Rescue students they found me. Well done guys what a great fun course. Watch out for Steve
by Steve Craig
We're pleased to announce the arrival of thirty new aluminum 80 tanks! As part of our commitment to your safety, we are retiring some of our older tanks and restocking our supply with these new ones. Join us soon to breathe the fresh air off our new tanks!
by Steve Craig
Oh yeah! We're barely in our third month of 2008 and we've already had a whopping FIVE HUNDRED divers come through our dive shop this year. Thanks to everyone who's come by so far... you guys are the reason the Cult of Coconut continues to grow. We can't wait to meet the next five hundred of you!
by PJ Rowntree
Message: Just thought I\'d drop a note to commend you on your website. \"Steve whatever his name was\" that felt the need to slam your shop sight unseen is obviously too uptight to enjoy the idea of a \"relaxed atmosphere\" anyway. After looking through the sites, my friends and I have decided that your shop is the only one we\'ll give a shot during our cruise! Kudoz to you and your \"coconuts\" for not bowing down to the over politically correct white collars!!!
by PJ Rowntree
Bottom Time has gone to La Ceiba for a refit. Back in 6 weeks yeeee
by Steve Craig
HELP!! I've gone missing again! I went out for a dive with Steve Craig and didn't make it back to the boat! Now I'm stuck down here thirty feet under the Caribbean Sea (which, come to think of it, ain't such a bad place to get stuck...).
Will Rob and Gemma, our heroic Rescue-Divers-in-training, find me before it's too late? Stay tuned...
[the adventures of Chucky will have to wait until 1PM tomorrow for their conclusion due to rough seas]
by Marco Alvarado
As viewed from the following computer, whom I call Penny. Mac OS X 10.4.11 through a Safari browser.
- Can't update crew pictures
- Can't add pictures to gallery
- On the Advanced Open Water Page - font disparity and line breaks after the section that reads:
Tell me more about the Enriched Air Nitrox option.
- Same font issue on the Rescue Page
Finally, all of these skills are reviewed during the challenging and entertaining open water rescue scenarios. You will also independently complete an Emergency Assistance Plan for the West End community.
How long will it take?
- Banner image on Go Pro page
- Spacing Issues between Headers and Content for
- Bio can't be updated
by Steve Craig
This week was going great. Coconut Tree Diver's new website was generating a lot of new positive buzz for the shop and I was finally able to kick back and witness the fruits of my months of labor. I could finally relax (being stressed in paradise is a terrible ailment). Life was good.
That all came to an abrupt halt when PJ showed me this thread on ScubaDiving.com. (To find the part I'm referencing, scroll about halfway down the page to a post by gsteventucker). I had to read it twice just to fully get my head around the allegations being levied at our staff based on first impressions of my website. I don't like to engage in Internet flame wars— and we at Coconut Tree Divers sincerely hope this is the last time we have to address this issue— but the unsavory comments made by a certain Steven Tucker warrant an official response.
Dear Mr. Steven Tucker,
We at Coconut Tree Divers believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion. However, as the web site creator and a member of the Coconut Tree Divers staff for over three years, I take tremendous personal offense at the near-libelous comments you posted on this thread on ScubaDiving.com.
Had you taken the time to actually come in and meet our staff, sip some Honduran coffee, strap on a tanks, blow some bubbles, and relax on our deck in the evenings you would have realized that we are anything but misogynistic creeps. We approach our business with utmost concern for safety— we are dead serious about being dive professionals. But this is the Caribbean. Being a professional here does not entail wearing white socks, collared shirts, and quipped politically-correct phrases, but rather delivering the greatest diving experience of your customers' lives whilst keeping them safe. The fact that we can do so and maintain a relaxed, tongue-in-cheek attitude about all the other details is just one of the reasons we enjoy the greatest job in the world.
That playful, tongue-in-cheek manner is what defines our dive shop's character and keeps our loyal Cult of Coconut returning year after year. We would never be able to sustain such a following were we populated with staff who were, in your wife's words— and I quote— "eeeewwwwww!!" Yes, Monty enjoys the occasional cigar; he also enjoys being the only dive instructor in West End with years of commercial diving experience. PJ, our shop owner, enjoys going to work barechested; he also enjoys providing a laid-back atmosphere in which customers can grow as divers. Personally, I enjoy a rum and pineapple (or two) whilst watching the sunset after work, but not as much as I enjoy working with the greatest dive crew of my professional career at a dive shop that encourages tolerance of all lifestyles.
If such an environment strikes you as unprofessional, then Coconut Tree Divers is not the shop for you. However, if you qualify professionalism as providing customers with phenomenal scuba diving, adhering to strict safety standards, and fostering a relaxed atmosphere in which to learn more about the underwater world, then I'd say we deliver. Giving our customers a laugh or two along the way is just an added perk of the job.
Mr. Tucker, we sincerely hope you enjoyed your stay on Roatan, If you ever fancy a return holiday, we hope that you'll stop in and give us a chance. We won't hold your posts against you.
To the rest of the Cult of Coconut: we would love to hear more from you about your experiences diving with Coconut Tree Divers.
by Steve Craig
The website is finally live, so let me be the first to welcome you to the new look of Coconut Tree Divers. It's taken three months, thousands of lines of code, hundreds of pictures, tons of Honduran coffee, and a fair bit of pulling my hair out. Needless to say, I'm exhausted, but at least I'm passing out with a smile on my face.
Enjoy the site, and keep checking back for more updates in the near future!
