Divemaster (DM) course in Koh Lanta Thailand

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Princess Leah

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Hi all,

I have narrowed down my search for divemaster course in Thailand to Koh Lanta. Anyone have personal experiences/recommendations for dive shops there?

Lanta Divers, Blue Planet and Hidden Depths seem to be coming up a lot in forum discussions, and they all have good reviews. Are these shops larger operations or smaller and more personalized/flexible?

Any insight into this would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!
:)
 
I spent some time on Koh Lanta back in 2001 and enjoyed it. However, in getting one's professional certifications, one needs to consider how potential employers may view the certifying operator. I know some operators who consider professional certs from places like Thailand to be substandard. Of course that is highly dependent on the professionalism of the operator and can vary widely in any geographic location.
 
Another big dive center is Kon-Tiki Lanta. Contact Peter Abrahamsson on manager@kontiki-lanta.com for more information' about the DM program. They run their own boat and have a big retail shop in Saladan (as have Lanta Divers and Blue Planet).

Michael
 
I spent some time on Koh Lanta back in 2001 and enjoyed it. However, in getting one's professional certifications, one needs to consider how potential employers may view the certifying operator. I know some operators who consider professional certs from places like Thailand to be substandard. Of course that is highly dependent on the professionalism of the operator and can vary widely in any geographic location.

Exactly the same has been heard about places in Honduras, Mexico, Australia......where does this list stop?
 
There is also Scubafish and Antigravity divers on Koh Lanta. I don't know anything about the quality of their DM programs.
 
I spent some time on Koh Lanta back in 2001 and enjoyed it. However, in getting one's professional certifications, one needs to consider how potential employers may view the certifying operator. I know some operators who consider professional certs from places like Thailand to be substandard. Of course that is highly dependent on the professionalism of the operator and can vary widely in any geographic location.

I agree there are some ''dive factory'' type schools in Thailand, mainly on Koh Tao, who qualify people in mass numbers that some may be dubious of, as indeed there are in other countries around the world. But there are also lots of reputable and professional dive schools in Thailand and fail to see why they should be viewed differently to those in other countries.

My advice to anyone who is serious about a career in diving is simply to do different elements of their training at a number of different locations, that way they will benefit from a broader range of experiences, just doing a DM course on Koh Lanta that the OP is suggesting should not deter any future employers.

---------- Post added October 14th, 2014 at 05:48 PM ----------

Hi all,

I have narrowed down my search for divemaster course in Thailand to Koh Lanta. Anyone have personal experiences/recommendations for dive shops there?

Lanta Divers, Blue Planet and Hidden Depths seem to be coming up a lot in forum discussions, and they all have good reviews. Are these shops larger operations or smaller and more personalized/flexible?

Any insight into this would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!
:)

My advice if you are set on Koh Lanta would be to allow yourself a few days to go around and personally visit a few of the Dive Centres prior to making your selection. That way you can chat to them and be better placed to select one that suits your own requirements.

There would be nothing worse than committing yourself to a particular DC to then find out for what ever reason you don't like the place or the staff that you will have to spend quite a lot of time with. Most DC's in Thailand will be able to offer you a DM course at reasonably short notice without pre booking.
 
Island Divers on Phi Phi is an amazing shop, and extremely professional. They were a huge help when my girlfriend got DCS and our shop and DM (Hippo Divers) bailed on us. I'd give them a call/email and see if they have any recommendations.

Also, call around to shops that you'd like to partner with in the future and see if they had any suggestions, preferences, biases, etc.
 
I did my DMT in 2009 at Lanta Divers. Very happy with the experience, instructors were excellent with high standards. Nothing rushed about the program. I think whats great is that the shop trains to their own standards, that is, they would hire their own students. I know that sounds obvious, but the shop gets a lot of families and things like being presentable, friendly and helpful to customers is stressed. We had to show up every morning fresh and in clean clothes, not hung over and chain smoking on the front door like in Pattaya. They are not a DM/OW cert factory. I believe the dive staff is mostly the same, but Brendon the CD has moved to Indonesia. I don't think any of the operators on Koh Lanta run huge DM classes, where DMT's outnumber paying passengers; personalization shouldn't be an issue.
 
I did my DMT in 2009 at Lanta Divers. Very happy with the experience, instructors were excellent with high standards. Nothing rushed about the program. I think whats great is that the shop trains to their own standards, that is, they would hire their own students. I know that sounds obvious, but the shop gets a lot of families and things like being presentable, friendly and helpful to customers is stressed. We had to show up every morning fresh and in clean clothes, not hung over and chain smoking on the front door like in Pattaya. They are not a DM/OW cert factory. I believe the dive staff is mostly the same, but Brendon the CD has moved to Indonesia. I don't think any of the operators on Koh Lanta run huge DM classes, where DMT's outnumber paying passengers; personalization shouldn't be an issue.

:shocked: Really!!!! Things like that go on in Pattaya?
 
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