Carribean, Australia, Indonesia or Thailand?

I have decided to take a year of from my studies to embrace my love for diving and take it to the next step! I have decided to get my divemaster degree and work as one until next october. my plan was to do it in thailand, but recent events have caused me to look into other locations. I am unsure what criteria i should consider when choosing my location.

This is my situation:
-i have about 10.000 US dollars im gonna use on this experience
-I speak English, Norwegian, Swedish and Danish 100% fluently, i also studied the german language for 5 years, but altho i understand most of it, i can hardly speak it myself.
- i currently have 23 dives under my belt and they were all in Thailand where i got my OW, AOW and Rescue certificates.

Any suggestions?

 

you can always cut on the flight fare and accommodation & think about the red sea

 

not a bad idea, but im keeping that spot as a future vacation spot. living in israel or egypt dont appeal to me

 

If your goal is to get in the best diving you can, forget the Caribbean and forget Thailand. The Caribbean is not in the same league as the others and the best diving in Thailand is not as good as that of Australia and Indonesia. I can't generalize further than that. There are so many sites in Indonesia and Australia that it depends on where you go. The Coral Sea and Ningaloo would be on my list in Australia, and most of the Indonesian archipelago has some great diving nearby. Budget-wise, a dollar goes a lot further in Indonesia.

 

I disagree - South Thailand has some awesome diving and in some cases better than Australia - certainly the day boats out on the great barrier reef anyway!

Thailand will be your cheapest option simply because it has the cheapest living costs. Australia and the Caribbean are ridiculously expensive. This information is based on the fact that I lived and worked for three years in Thailand until April last year (I did my own internship there) and then lived in Oz for a few months then 8 months in the caribbean! I think your budget will spread furthest there.

Look around carefully - if you need advice PM me and I'll try to answer as best I can. Thailand has some big schools but this does not necessarily mean your training will be substandard.

Hope that helps,

C.

 

also with your languages you are guranteed a job almost anywhere in the world, fresh out of the IE. We are crying out for german and scandinavian speakers here at the moment!

C.

 

I have never been, but most of the instructors where I have been spent some time in Thailand, and they say that will give you the steepest career growth. So many students pass through, you can progress from Divemaster to Master Instructor in a couple of years. I'd double check that was true before booking flights based on hearsay, but I had a similar life plan that is what I would look into.

 

Well, we can agree on that. Of course it's always hard to make general statements--there are some great dives in the Caribbean too. But I'll make one more: don't take day boats out to the Great Barrier Reef.

I enjoy the diving in southern Thailand--I have about a hundred dives there myself, mostly day boats out of Phuket, but also one liveaboard trip on the MV Fantasea to the Similan Islands, the Surin Islands, and Richelieu Rock. Almost all of the dives on a Mike Ball itinerary to the Coral Sea would be better, in my opinion. As far as budget goes, no doubt a dollar goes further in Thailand than in Australia or the Caribbean, but how about in Indonesia?

 

What about Philippines? Philippines has many fantastic dive sites and slightly cheaper than Thailand. You should also consider the fact that most Filipinos speaks English unlike Thailand or Indonesia. I hope this helps.

 

Why does everything always think Australia, and miss out New Zealand!?

Morgan, if it's not a personal question.... how old are you? Both Australia and New Zealand offer working holiday visas that would be perfect for you. In NZ, you can work for 12 months out of a 24 month stay.

Water a bit cooler here, but the diving is way better than you get in Aus.

You'd get a kick-a$$ DM programme from Dive! Tutukaka, Dive Poor Knights Islands. Diving Poor Knights Islands and shipwrecks HMNZS Tui and Waikato with Dive! Tutukaka New Zealand. / Dive! Tutukaka, Poor Knights Diving.