Career Development Loan for Internship At Mermaids

[Arizona]

Toodkeng,

The original post is quite old. Did you start already? If so, what do you think and what advice would you offer others. If you have not made up your mind, find some suggestions below. Hope it helps

You might want to add more to your profile so that others can help a bit more with advice. Do you speak other languages than English? This will greatly help your marketability once certified as a DM or OWSI. If you can save the money and forgo the loan that would be ideal. Develop a budget and take the loan as a last resort. Lodging can be very reasonable as well as food if your are careful. Do you have your own kit? Mermaid's would be fine IMO, but other areas such as Koh Tao for example may be cheaper and offer less temptations to spend your money outside of diving. I am not sure if many offer loans, so this may weight your decision if you go the loan route. What will the interest cost you?

Contact a few Course Directors and get a feel for price including lodging if you still have time.

Good luck,

AZ

 

[ToodKeng]

i forgot i posted this , but thought i better update it now ive seen it

The story so far ... i never bothered with the loan , instead my mother decided to lend me the money , interest free hehe .. so i went ahead and organised a flight to bkk .. 3 days after booking i arrived , i already had a thai gf so i met up with her ( which helped tremendously on saving money for everything from transport, food ,clothing, etc and avoiding the well known thai over charge for farangs aswell as being my personal tour guide..lol)
i made a bank account (green kasikorn bank) and drew all the money out for the course that way as i got better exchange rates and avoided any credit card charges etc
i must say .. i took my time in learning to dive .. for two reasons ..one . i wanted to make sure i was happy with each step before moving on to the next .. but two .. i had an extremely accident prone year while in thailand (the 1st time) which meant i had a fair bit of ill time between each course... the 3 month zero to divemaster course took me about 8 months to complete..haha .. but all good fun .. im now qualified as a divemaster .. ive gained a tremendous amount of knowledge, experience and confidence .. done things i never thought i could , been places i never knew existed .. scuba diving is a whole other world .. watching it on tv makes no comparison to the real thing ..my only wish now is that i can develop gills to stay down longer

although im qualified and i do feel that if i could continue working for free to gain more experience i would get better , i know that its not reality ,and so ive decided to make money another way and just continue living in thailand while i do so , and just dive whenever i can as a hobby .. for now

after completing everything, my recommendations to anyone in the same boat as me are :

1)if you need money - try to borrow it from your family .. it cheaper than a loan
2)if your not a very confident person around others - the hardest part is just getting on the plane alone , once your at the shop (mermaids in this case) you will wonder why you was worried in the 1st place and from then on .. things will only get easier
3)if your like me and hopeless at maths and physics .. again .. dont worry atall about the exams .. i was going green with fear that i'd never pass them .. but they show you everything .. explain it a thousand times if you need them too .. all the other divers are more than happy to help too .. especially if you buy them a beer
4)you may see photos showing how crazy most divers are .. always drinking and partying .. im not a party animal atall and hardly drink .. infact im quite straight laced compared to most of the divers on my course .. but if your the same .. dont worry , you don't have to be a sheep and follow them all , infact you may even suprise yourself and put them to shame with your hidden animal , either way .. there were some very serious people on my course .. and even i felt crazy compared to how boring they were..lol
5)dont bother with packing many clothes .. seriously .. everytime i go on holiday i usually take some shorts , t-shirts, and some nice clothes for going out for a meal .. forget the nice clothes in thailand .. there isnt a restaurant in sight that wont let you wear shorts and flip flops..lol.. nothing fancy here .. i could have travelled in luxury with just a small back pack of shorts and t-shirts ... but instead i lugged a giant suitcase behind me all the way .. never again.. even when its raining its still hot .. all year .. its only cooler around december .. and even then thats only if you go north in thailand .. around pattaya its never cold
6)forget about bringing mosquio repellants .. thailand has all you need in one little bottle that you can carry with you everywhere you go .. its called ''pim saen'' ( you might pronounce it pim sen ) its amazing .. smells a bit like tiger balm, but it stops itching , keeps mosquitos away if you already have it on , if you feel dizzy just sniff it , if you have an aching muscle , rub a bit on , feel sick? then just rub it on your belly and you'll feel better .. fantastic stuff .. and its only 30 baht ( around 60 pence in uk)
7)i upgraded some of my scuba kit on the mermaids package .. glad i did .. and i wish i had chosen a few different things in the choices i kept standard .. like the choice of two reels .. one was metal and blue the other bright yellow and black plastic .. i thought bright must be good so others can see you etc .. but the thing fell apart after a while .. so .. always go woth the toughest stuff .. sea salt kills everything that doesnt live in it ..lol

even if you complete the course and dont decide to make a career of it .. you wont regret the money youve spent .. as you will have made some fantastic friends along the way , gained a wealth of knowledge, seen some truely amazing places and creatures , and above all had one of the most EPIC times of your life .. you havent lived until you've scuba dived

just a few tips .. i have a thousand more .. if anyone wants more details either ask here or send me a pm .. id be happy to help

 

[DivinRich]

So what are you doing to support yourself in Thailand now ?

Great report, thanks for posting

 

[ToodKeng]

i'm currently living with my thai gf and we are starting a business together , unfortunatley its nothing to do with scuba diving . but is much cheaper and easier to start up with low funds .. hopefully this will develop enough to both support me living in thailand full time and allow me to scuba dive as much as i like .. at the moment though .. its no scuba diving .. only cheap or free activities like hiking etc which is also great fun in thailand

 

[ilookold]

I did my DM internship at mermaids and thought it was great. The owner has since passed on, and i don't know if anything has changed. He was a great guy, and although there were 100 interns, everyone felt connected to him. Hopefully, mermaids is still a wonderful place.

Mermaids is where i dive and take courses. it is still a great place. in fact i was just there about a week ago but sadly im back at work now. the instructors are great and staff is friendly. im ready for may to get here so i can start my DM.

 

[jamiemac]

I wasn't to keen on Zero to hero initially.

However with the right attitude maturity and a basic level of experience it can work quite well.

I have meet some pretty good well rounded Dive pros from this way of training.

Its all about attitude and knowing what they are capable of....teaching diving isn't rocket science.

It was hard enough trying to teach you!

 

[limbo]

I really like your positive reinforcement Jamie (can't get the bloody smilies to work but it's rotflma)

 

[Gdaaym8z]

I've been researching Mermaids and their IDC/IE and am very interested.

From what I've read it's quality training.

I am wondering about the Mermaids Talay Hotel, have any of you stayed there? I've tried to find reviews but have had no luck. I want to make sure it's someplace I won't mind staying for 3 to 4 months. The only info i have found so far has been on the Mermaid's website.

Any info is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[stiggy]

Yup having 100% confidence in my navigation as I swim off towards the blue and away from the dive site is a skill I thank you for teaching so well Jamie...

How was scapa did you actually find any of the wrecks ?

 

[ToodKeng]

I've been researching Mermaids and their IDC/IE and am very interested.

From what I've read it's quality training.

I am wondering about the Mermaids Talay Hotel, have any of you stayed there? I've tried to find reviews but have had no luck. I want to make sure it's someplace I won't mind staying for 3 to 4 months. The only info i have found so far has been on the Mermaid's website.

Any info is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

well i never actually slept in any of the rooms at the talay .. so i can only give a review from what ive seen and heard .. but i did spend most of my time in the bar there .. as it was the easiest place for me to relax and use the internet for free , the rooms are nice .. they look reasonably clean etc ..i dont think you'd be uncomfortable in one of the rooms unless your extremely fussy .. its been a year since i was there now so things may be a little different .. but the food was pretty good .. prices were reasonable for both food , drink and rent of a room .. though you can find cheaper if you want to look around ..they have a pool table there and theres plenty of bars with girls around if thats your thing .. the talay is spitting distance from the mermaids shop and a 7-11 (small convenience store)

all in all id say the talay was about average ..roughly a 3 star hotel (by european standards) though by thai standards id say its a 4 as most 3 stars you will probably be glad to get out of ..lol