Thailand: first ever dive info/advice

rc <rconnors@its.leeds.ac.uk> wrote:

> I realise I'll need to have some training before diving in the sea (and
> that even then this will be with a guide) but if this is only e.g. an
> hour in a pool or in the shallows, before I can go out for a "proper"
> dive in the sea with a guide, that's great.

You have just described exactly the "Discover Scuba Diving (DSD)"
procedure except that you would be doing your "proper" dive with an
instructor.

The cost on for this on Koh Tao is 26 UKP
But if you go to do the Open Water course most shops will not charge you
for the DSD

> If I am going to have to go through a full day (or more) in a pool
> before I get out to swim with the fish, this sounds worth doing in the
> UK beforehand.

Although the referal procedure works you will spend much more doing it
that way. The Open Water course is sold at a really low price, so you
will pay almost the full price. You will save time only.

The usual schedule for a 4 day course is
arrive in your resort check in chill out and watch the The Open Water
movie.

Day 1
morning in the Pool or class room (about 2 hours) afternoon class room
or pool (about 2 hours)

Day 2
Morning in the classroom (about 2 hours) afternoon in confined water
(about 1 hour)

Day 3
Morning Final exam (45 mins) afternoon Dive 1 and 2

Day 4
Morning dive 3 and 4

The usual price for this on Koh-Tao is 115 UKP with an accomidation
discount of about 10 UKP
Accomidation ranges from 4 pounds to 30 pounds per night
http://www.asia-divers.com/home.htm

On Phuket the price is about 122 UKP for the course
Accomidation ranges from 8 pounds to 50 pounds per night
http://www.marinadivers.com/

On Kao Lak currently you can get rooms in world class hotels at a 75
percent discount. Most of the the dive centers and hotels back from the
beach have not been touched by the Tsunami. But there are still few
people going there so the prices are wonderful now
http://www.mythaivacation.com/khao-lak.html

> Doing a 'try dive' locally sounds like it could be worthwhile anyway,
> so I have the first clue what I am doing!
>
> As to where I'll be - it is totally flexible. I'll have to fly to the
> coast from Bangkok anyway so can head wherever is good.

For Koh Tao you would take a bus and boat.
For Phuket and Kao Lak you can fly to Phuket airport then take a
taxi/mini bus about 90 Km to either Phuket beaches or Kao Lak

>
> Thanks. rc


--
>replace spamblock with my family name to e-mail me

Evening All,

I am looking at going out to Thailand in November / December as well. I
have found a great looking site and dive boat that I will probably book
up with.

Have a look at www.UnderSeaDiving.com and look at the Thailand page.
You can get all the training, relaxation and even a massage thrown in
aswell.

Makes me wonder what the hell I'm doing sitting in an office like this
when there are people living the life of luxury onboard in Thailand


Anyone else agree?

Richard.

Sure - you don't want to try and get a qualification - just to have a
go. You can handle it. You know when to stop. You just wanted to know
what it was like. Maybe just another before you go home. And a third
because you won't get another chance to see morays and lion fish and
turtles...

There's good stuff in all the posts here. A Discover Scuba Diving
session combining a session in a pool and trip out to the reef is the
best way to have a go.

Just let us all know when you come back if you are the only person on
the planet who did a DSD and then didn't immediately get the credit
card out for the full course while they were still towelling dry. But
as one of the posts says - if you do this the dive operators will
normally waive the DSD charge and you've already picked up a couple of
the skills for the OWD course.

Referrals are fine, but personally I really enjoyed doing the whole
thing on holiday without the distractions of fitting evening sessions
around work and commitments. If you're having to do a little text book
reading, you may as well do it in a hammock on the beach.

Where to go? You might not think of Phi Phi in view of the news
coverage, but that was misleading. The Holiday Inn on the north end of
Phi Phi is a great resort with 60 bungalows, good food, a nice beach,
and a stupid name that sounds like it's next to the motorway services.
It was completely unaffected by the tsunami. There's a small friendly
dive operation there offering a good variety of local dive sites that
will do a DSD (which is all you want - you just want to have a go
remember) but would take you through a OWD course in the unlikely (Ha!)
event that you want to do that too.

Check it out on the net. The hotel will set up a speedboat transfer
from Phuket if you want, which is only an hour - much better than the
scheduled ferry. I've heard good things from anyone who had dived in
Thailand in resorts in Krabi or Phuket so it looks as if its hard to go
wrong, but if you want something a bit more special, take yourself
offshore to an island. And from my limited experience take yourself to
this one. I went there in 2003 and straight back in 2004.

There's a lot on the net to research this - try this for starters
(which has a link to Phi Phi) http://www.diving.phuket.com/

The odd thing about Thai tourist sites is that you can come back with
lots of the same pictures without trying. It really does look like it
does on the net.

Didn't go this year - I was diving in Indonesia (and Curacao in
February). But I am in control. OK - It's true that I went to the Red
Sea in 2002, but I might have gone there for a beach holiday anyway.
It's just that with a dive centre in the resort and a possibility that
I might want to have an odd dive it made sense to pre-book a dive
package for the whole of time we were there at the same time. I mean -
we saved money doing this, so that's a good thing isn't it?

Prior to that I'd only had a couple of diving holidays - admittedly
that was the previous two holidays, one of which was for OWD
qualification and the other for AOWD. And admittedly I had actually
only got round to learning to swim a couple of years before that, but I
cannot stress too highly that I (and my wife, and daughter) are totally
in control and we can stop diving at any time we want. Though we are
thinking of a live-aboard in the Red Sea next year for something a bit
different, and it would be nice to see Saba in the Netherland Antilles.
And it has to be said that Red Sea, Maldives, Thailand and Indonesia
forms a natural progession leading to the Western Pacific.


--
jaques
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"jaques" <jaques.1rhuqy@forums.deeperblue.net> wrote in message
news:jaques.1rhuqy@forums.deeperblue.net...


> Referrals are fine, but personally I really enjoyed doing the whole
> thing on holiday without the distractions of fitting evening sessions
> around work and commitments. If you're having to do a little text book
> reading, you may as well do it in a hammock on the beach.
>

The book has got 260 pages, if thats a little bit of reading then OK. Add in
5 knowledge reviews to fill out, 4 quizzes, an exam and 5 swimming pool
lessons and you've just done 2 hard days work on your holiday when you could
have been diving. I know that courses in the far east are cheaper than here,
but add in 2 days holiday costs and I'll bet that they are not.

Keith