I am going to pattaya which are the best places to get trained and then go scuba diving?
I am going to Pattaya please tell me which are the best places to go scuba diving.
I need to be trained first as i have no formal experience or training in scuba diving.
Please quote from your own experiences.
Please also tell me the prices and things I should watch out for.
Thanks.
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Tags: Best, diving, Going, Pattaya, Places, scuba, trained
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Thailand’s a great place to learn SCUBA diving, and at this time of year, Pattaya has a more reliable climate for dive training than the more southerly locations in the Bay of Siam (fewer/no cyclones!). I have no specific info about dive centres in Pattaya itself, but here are a few general pointers when choosing a dive centre, anywhere:
(1) Make sure that the dive centre is actually registered with the training agency (PADI, NAUI, SSI, etc.) whose courses it offers.
(2) Make sure your instructor is registered and renewed (in ‘teaching status’) with the agency they claim to represent.
(3) Make sure that the dive centre and its instructors hold professional liability insurance.
(4) Make sure that you’ll get a copy of the course manual to keep after you finish the course (this is a requirement for all PADI courses, don’t know about the other agencies)
If (1)-(4) check out, then your prospective centre is more likely to be a professional enterprise, in business for the long term, from whom you will get a course taught to the correct standards laid down by the training agency. It would also be nice to know:
(5) Is the quoted course price ‘all-inclusive’, or will you have to pay extra for e.g. gear rental, boat fees, national park fees, certification fee, course materials (and if so, how much extra)?
(NB It’s not unusual for the certification fee to be charged extra–after all, when someone signs up for a dive course, there’s no guarantee that they’ll finish it, so it doesn’t always make sense to include the certification in the course price.)
(6) How long will the course take to complete (how many days/hours)?
(On the PADI OWD course, the 5 theory modules–including videos, knowledge reviews, quizzes and final exam–take around 6-7 hours to complete, and the 5 pool training sections and 4 qualifying dives should be around 1-2 hours each, from predive briefing to post-dive debriefing. Obviously, larger groups will need more time for everyone to master each required skill. At least 4 days x 5-7 hours per day is about right, especially for a larger group–anything less than about 20 hours total tuition might mean being rushed through without being given the time to properly master the skills+theory.)
(6b) Similarly, how much time is spent underwater on a typical qualifying dive?
(PADI’s definition of a training dive includes at least two of the following: min. depth 5 m, and/or min. time of 15 mins and/or min. 50 bar used [from a standard 80 cu.ft. aluminium cylinder]; but this is an absolutely bare minimum standard. Trainee diver competence is primarily related to in-water training time, so longer dives will make you a better diver at the end of your course. I always used to try and give my [warmwater] students at least 45-60 mins per logged dive, subject to air consumption limits.)
(7) How many students per instructor?
(PADI allows up to 8 OWD students per instructor in open water under IDEAL CONDITIONS–but fewer students per instructor is better for everyone)
(8) Does the centre use QUALIFIED instructional assistants (i.e. divemasters or above) on their courses?
(If they do, larger group sizes are acceptable but beware: According to PADI, only Divemaster candidates who have completed the appropriate theory and practical portions of the Divemaster course should be doing skill demonstrations or leading students underwater. ‘Divemaster-in-training’ [or similar] is not a qualification, it’s a vague description–which could mean anything from ‘got his Open Water Diver license last week and intends to progress to his Divemaster license over the next three months’ to ‘has completed all the requirements for his Divemaster course, but is not yet registered with the training agency’. Make sure you know who’s diving with you, and what they’re allowed to do.)
(9) What happens if you get sick/ drop out partway through the course–what is the centre’s policy regarding refunds/referrals?
(All PADI centres should allow you either to postpone further training until you’ve recovered–if you have time to do so–or issue you with a referral form for the parts of the course you’ve completed to date. The REALLY good ones will also give you a discount/refund on the uncompleted course components.)
Remember, whichever centre you go for, those people are going to be responsible for your safe and comfortable introduction to an alien environment, where you will be totally dependent on mechanical life-support equipment. So don’t necessarily go for the cheapest offer. If you pay peanuts, you might get monkeys.
Personally I would recommend Mermaid’s Dive CDC, as it is the first 5 Star Career Development Centre to gain this rating in Thailand. They certify people up to and including Course Director (the highest level in PADI) and have been awarded over and over again for their amazing adherence to standards and ability to offer courses to divers. They have also expanded and now have about 4 locations throughout Pattaya. They’re very well equipped and will cover all your needs.
I can’t give you a definitive price but you can check out http://www.mermaiddive.com or http://www.learn-in-asia.com.
I also give you this place as a recommendation as I did a 5 month internship with them in 2008 and thus have seen it over time and know the quality of service and training they provide. I’ve been employed as a scuba instructor consistently for 2.5 years and I owe it all to them, so I will vouch greatly for this dive operation.