Mermaids or Aquanauts?

[lord khram]

I would agree with you on both accounts you mention, as a DMT should never lead alone. Especially if the dive group is led to believe the dive guide is a qualified DM. I have not seen this personally, but then again I never checked.

As for a DM conducting a course, that would be shameful. Even PADI assistant instructors are extremely limited. Again, not something I would expect in shops like Mermaid's especially as they have two Course Directors on staff. On which dive outfit did you see this occur?

You are also correct, as having so many people training on one boat is not for everyone. A large selection of OW students for example could put off some more experienced divers. Some newer divers like the extra supervision. It all depends what you are looking for. Even without students the option to dive in a smaller group is always afforded. As a certified diver you can elect to lead and go in first or last with a buddy.

My main point is some such as Penguin Tom claim bad experiences, luckily this is not the case for all. Having a nice larger boat, reliable and well filled tanks, good briefings and adequate safety kit are worth some extra students taking various courses. Thankfully such choice exist.

Great to have open conversation without trying to silence anyone.

Yes agreed here, As regard to a DMT leading, he is a certified diver and can legitimately be my buddy, but I feel I should be made aware of this at point of sale. But with regard to a DMT leading a large group of divers this is definitely not acceptable in my mind.

And generally speaking if I go to dive with an experienced buddy I would elect to dive on our own without the restrictions of a group situation following one leader.

With regard to a DM doing courses I saw this at Dive South East Asia (of course in Pattaya) on several occasions. I dont have a problem with this everyone has to learn, a good DM should be quite capable of doing some tuition. But when the supervising instructor is not even on the boat, let alone supervising the underwater activities, it is not acceptable.

And yes agreed on your last point, nice to be able to discuss things even when our opinions and experiences differ, this is how we all can learn from others experiences both good and bad. Too many seem unable to deal with opinions that differ to their own.

 

[h90]

Pattaya diving is demanding??
Very warm water
Everything shallow, deepest 32 meter.
Visibility still OK

If you compare that with Croatia, 15 degree C water temp, wetsuit, wrack at 47 meter with deco stops. No one there is thinking that this is something special.
(Well the owner there is an old CMAS)

 

[lord khram]

Pattaya diving is not demanding at all, agreed it is not 50m viz and you do get some currents.
But what you do have is a lot of people that have convinced themselves this is true. Maybe they have listened too much to the dodgy sales pitches that are used in the area. When I hear such statements I ask myself where have these people dived? And the only logical answer to that I can think of, is that predominantly they have dived mainly in Pattaya. In some cases I know this to be true.
They need to try some diving in UK waters, I have recently been on a trip to the Scilly Isles (SW England), every day we were doing a dive in excess of 50m, the deepest being the wreck of the U boat (U681) which Is at a depth around 68m.
Some of them need to leave their little world in Pattaya once in a while to realise that wreck diving goes beyond two small Thai navy ships (man made dive sites) that were sunk in around 30m.

 

[scuba Harry]

If you go to Aquanauts they are located in soi 6 which is full of filthy lady boys and low life *****s not the sort of place you would find a dive shop is it ?????????

 

[h90]

Pattaya diving is not demanding at all, agreed it is not 50m viz and you do get some currents.
But what you do have is a lot of people that have convinced themselves this is true. Maybe they have listened too much to the dodgy sales pitches that are used in the area. When I hear such statements I ask myself where have these people dived? And the only logical answer to that I can think of, is that predominantly they have dived mainly in Pattaya. In some cases I know this to be true.
They need to try some diving in UK waters, I have recently been on a trip to the Scilly Isles (SW England), every day we were doing a dive in excess of 50m, the deepest being the wreck of the U boat (U681) which Is at a depth around 68m.
Some of them need to leave their little world in Pattaya once in a while to realise that wreck diving goes beyond two small Thai navy ships (man made dive sites) that were sunk in around 30m.

And I guess UK is not that warm as Pat....
The problem are the DM and Instructor who make the "from zero to hero" courses. They have all the exams and the minimum amount of dives PADI wants, but all dives at the same 3-4 sites in Pattaya.
They are true believer of the Pattaya books (over 40 m you immediately die, deco dives are terrible dangerous, etc etc)

 

[lord khram]

And I guess UK is not that warm as Pat....
The problem are the DM and Instructor who make the "from zero to hero" courses. They have all the exams and the minimum amount of dives PADI wants, but all dives at the same 3-4 sites in Pattaya.
They are true believer of the Pattaya books (over 40 m you immediately die, deco dives are terrible dangerous, etc etc)

I am so glad it is not only me that has made such observations.
Just one point I have made before about the Zero to hero instructors that have dived only in Pattaya, (and some other places) one diving skill that comes to mind that we use frequently in the UK is a shore entry/exit in quite often rough seas, how are they qualified to teach this skill when chances are they have only ever entered the water using a giant stride from a boat platform. I could continue with other points.
In my mind this system of training has so many limitations and I would not recommend this as the best way of becoming an instructor.

 

[lord khram]

If you go to Aquanauts they are located in soi 6 which is full of filthy lady boys and low life *****s not the sort of place you would find a dive shop is it ?????????

Yes their location does not exactly give potential customers the first impression of it being a serious proffesional business.

But then again maybe the impression created by their shops local environment could be the right one??? Is the low life just on the outside??? You will all need to make your own minds up on that one.

 

[Ex-Aquanaut]

For the record, Aquanauts was established 14 years ago and, at that time, there were only 3 bars on that street. Also, for the ill-informed, Soi 6 is also home to 3 British pubs/inn, travel agencies, certified massage schools, a (soon to be) city run health clinic, hotel, gem store and restaurants. Funny Harry didn't characterize it that way.

From Scuba Harry's 6 comments it seems he is taking up where Lord Khram leaves off, though with more self-rightous vigor. I'd like to see him call some of the people working on Soi 6 "filthy" and "dirty" to their faces. As LK has proved again and again, it's easy to be an anonymous keyboard warrior saying what you want without regard to its actual truth. It would be interesting to see if either had the guts to do it in person.

Harry, if you're so offended, I'm sure he can find other places in Thailand to fit his morals and tastes.

Obviously, we at Aquanauts would prefer Soi 6 to be tamer. But, honestly, it's not much different than the neighborhood around any other dive shop. We're not unique in having bars full of working girls (or boys) near us. Pattaya Dive Centre, Seafari, Mermaids, Seaduction, and Mask & Finns are either directly next to stragiht or gay bars or within a stone's throw of one.

How a shop is run has nothing to do with who's doing business the next shop over. I'd have assumed even LK was smart enough to realize that.

 

[Arizona]

For what its worth Aquanauts or Mermaid's, how do you pair or team up veteran instructors with your newly minted instructors? I think this is being portrayed in a bad light as well. For a student the supervision is very good IMO as a senior instructor trainer or a course director is generally directly involved.

 

[Ex-Aquanaut]

A good example, AZ, is a young Canadian MSDT who joined us Friday. He's doing 2 months with us, working up to IDC Staff. Has about 30 certs to his name.We have no idea how good he is and have no intention of just tossing him into the work flow.

He'll be assigned a student and will have one of our full-time IDC Staff instructors working with him. He'll teach. She'll supervise. Along the way she'll suggest ways to do things better as well as give him some tips into what our interns have coined the "Aquanauts Way' to do things.