almitywife
Vegemite Mod
but i have seen plenty of divers taught in Thailand who show up here and expect the DM to put their fins on, they dont understand surge and some didnt even known how to put their gear together
totally agree
cheers
Divemaster course
- Thread starter mikeemike1982
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
cheers
Well almity,
How do you expect students to remember something you mentioned about surge and they never experienced it? Doesn't matter where the student had his or her training. Unfortunately retention of knowledge is very low, so that is a fairly moot point you make.
I fully agree with bubble junky that in my 9 years in Thailand I haven't seen anyone just pay and get the cert card. :no
From the equipment set up point of view, there are plenty of students that either expect the 'staff' to set up their equipment or back to basics, after a period of non diving, people who don't dive a lot will have no clue how to set up their equipment, regardless of where they have been trained. As if we never experience the same problems in Thailand with students who have been trained down under.
How do you expect students to remember something you mentioned about surge and they never experienced it? Doesn't matter where the student had his or her training. Unfortunately retention of knowledge is very low, so that is a fairly moot point you make.
I fully agree with bubble junky that in my 9 years in Thailand I haven't seen anyone just pay and get the cert card. :no
From the equipment set up point of view, there are plenty of students that either expect the 'staff' to set up their equipment or back to basics, after a period of non diving, people who don't dive a lot will have no clue how to set up their equipment, regardless of where they have been trained. As if we never experience the same problems in Thailand with students who have been trained down under.
almitywife
Vegemite Mod
and the bit where the students are at the water holding out their fins and foot to the DM, expecting them to be placed on their feet? i wonder how they leave the house every morning with shoes on if their knowledge retention is that bad!
im not pointing a bone at Thailand instructors - maybe the tourist that fly there, get their OW ticket and move on with the attitude that they are divers that can dive anywhere. same goes with DMs & Instructors (inc aussies) that fly somewhere cheap and warm for their courses/IDC. im glad that these "pro's" usually end up in queensland where their backpacking travels continue
and the bit where the students are at the water holding out their fins and foot to the DM, expecting them to be placed on their feet? i wonder how they leave the house every morning with shoes on if their knowledge retention is that bad!
That's hilarious! I wish I could see their training
im not pointing a bone at Thailand instructors - maybe the tourist that fly there, get their OW ticket and move on with the attitude that they are divers that can dive anywhere. same goes with DMs & Instructors (inc aussies) that fly somewhere cheap and warm for their courses/IDC. im glad that these "pro's" usually end up in queensland where their backpacking travels continue
A lot can be said about training in tropical environments but speaking out of my own experience, I can only say that my IDC candidates are well aware that there's more diving outside of Thailand. What the respective candidates do with the information provided boils down to their individual attitude. Once their attitude is fine, it really doesn't matter that much where they had their training.
Have you ever noticed how many people say they are divers when asked, but in reality they were certified many years ago and dive extremely infrequently. I think of a diver as someone who dives with some regularity. Getting OW 1-4 done with no other dives is a concern for DMs encountering these holiday type "divers" after their certifications world wide. Imagine not diving after getting your cert for sometime. Think about how "wet" all divers are in the beginning.
As Thailand certifies over 70,000 annually many novice divers will have been certified here. No wonder you encounter so many Almighty. Price, cultural diversity, food, warm waters, quality of instruction and competition make Thailand a diving mecca. I don't mean to sound like a travel agent, just making a point
If a newbie leaves and does not continue to dive, issues are likely to surface. As for student divers' expecting DMs to put their fins on, I've never seen that. Having your tank turned the wrong way when looking to attach your reg is not uncommon with visitors from other countries when kitting up on our Thai boats. Checking to see how long ago and often a person dives should reveal a lot IMO.
This relates to issues brought up earlier in this thread. Do people check cert cards and logbooks or at least ask the last time a person went diving?
Arizona
As Thailand certifies over 70,000 annually many novice divers will have been certified here. No wonder you encounter so many Almighty. Price, cultural diversity, food, warm waters, quality of instruction and competition make Thailand a diving mecca. I don't mean to sound like a travel agent, just making a point
If a newbie leaves and does not continue to dive, issues are likely to surface. As for student divers' expecting DMs to put their fins on, I've never seen that. Having your tank turned the wrong way when looking to attach your reg is not uncommon with visitors from other countries when kitting up on our Thai boats. Checking to see how long ago and often a person dives should reveal a lot IMO.
This relates to issues brought up earlier in this thread. Do people check cert cards and logbooks or at least ask the last time a person went diving?
Arizona
I would HIGHLY recommend Sunrise Diving in Patong, Phuket - Most professional & Intense courses I have ever seen. I did my Divemaster there and IDC. Very personalized and a TON of customers coming through, so you get a great diversity of experience - not role-playing like at a lot of shops. They also wouldn't just sign off anyone because they paid - you have to be professional and ready to learn - EVERYDAY. The Course Director gets personally involved in the courses and his passion for diving really shows.
Long-story short, I had a stellar experience with these guys and will continue to dive with them when I am in Phuket. Check them out at Thailand Diving - Sunrise Diving - PADI IDC - Patong Beach, Phuket, Thailand - . or PM me and I'll fill you in on my experience.
Aloha
Long-story short, I had a stellar experience with these guys and will continue to dive with them when I am in Phuket. Check them out at Thailand Diving - Sunrise Diving - PADI IDC - Patong Beach, Phuket, Thailand - . or PM me and I'll fill you in on my experience.
Aloha
If you are going to Sunrise then would recommend a guy called Ryan who is now a Staff instructor, worked with him on the Chalong Day boats and know him to be a man of integrity
Ahh, Queensland - now I have seen divers pay and expect to get their card there. Even though a lot of them couldn't swim, but this didn't stop them getting certified......im glad that these "pro's" usually end up in queensland where their backpacking travels continue
Shocking !!
Hi....well its difficult to advise you on where to take your divemaster, it is really up to you and your Instructor for the course to be an success. First to have to fins the area in Thailand that you wanna spend the time for the time course. Pattaya doscent really have any good diving except a few wrecks, Koh Tao is a party Island for young people with only a couple of good dive sites, Phuket has some fantastic dive sites and it is where most liveboards to the Similan Isl. and Burma are based the down side is that its a bit more expensive to stay here. Phi Phi Isl. has some amazing diving and good dive shops and also lots of partying, but its not a cheap place to live....something to consider for the divemaster course. My advise is Phuket good diving and you can find farely cheap housing and very modern divecenters the to leading are Dive Asia and Sea Fun Divers. For more general info take a look at my website Dive Direct
Regards
Soren
Regards
Soren
DevonDiver
N/A
I'm currently teaching in Thailand and I run the same course as I taught in the UK. Agency standards remain constant regardless of location, so an entry-level course -taught by a competent instructor who follows standards- would be the same in Thailand and Australia and Norway and Argentina etc etc etc.
For a qualified professional diver to criticise courses run in another location because students are not able to experience a particular environmental condition (i.e. surge) is idiotic. Divers in Thailand get little experience of 'surge' because of the generally fine water conditions we have here. Similarly, divers trained in Oz would finish their courses with no experience of many of the conditions that I learnt in when I dived in the UK. As a UK instructor, would I devalue Australian instructors, schools and divers as a result of this? No, I would just understand that these divers have not yet had the opportunity to gain this experience and I would try my best to ensure that they were fully briefed and, if necessary, further trained for these conditions.
As for divers who cannot assemble equipment and/or fit their fins - well this isn't necessarily a sign of a badly trained diver. Most often, it is the sign of a diver without much experience past their entry level course, who have allowed a significant time period to elapse before diving again. In such cases, most agencies provide the option of refresher training (i.e. scuba review) to ensure that diver remain safe when re-entering the water.
Assessing and understanding the limitations of divers is an essential skill for any dive guide or instructor. Applying effective procedures to compensate for diver's limitations is also a critical skill that instructors develop with experience. Silly finger pointing and the 'blame game' by instructors only serves to illustrate that these two critical instructional skills are not fully developed by those concerned.
For a qualified professional diver to criticise courses run in another location because students are not able to experience a particular environmental condition (i.e. surge) is idiotic. Divers in Thailand get little experience of 'surge' because of the generally fine water conditions we have here. Similarly, divers trained in Oz would finish their courses with no experience of many of the conditions that I learnt in when I dived in the UK. As a UK instructor, would I devalue Australian instructors, schools and divers as a result of this? No, I would just understand that these divers have not yet had the opportunity to gain this experience and I would try my best to ensure that they were fully briefed and, if necessary, further trained for these conditions.
As for divers who cannot assemble equipment and/or fit their fins - well this isn't necessarily a sign of a badly trained diver. Most often, it is the sign of a diver without much experience past their entry level course, who have allowed a significant time period to elapse before diving again. In such cases, most agencies provide the option of refresher training (i.e. scuba review) to ensure that diver remain safe when re-entering the water.
Assessing and understanding the limitations of divers is an essential skill for any dive guide or instructor. Applying effective procedures to compensate for diver's limitations is also a critical skill that instructors develop with experience. Silly finger pointing and the 'blame game' by instructors only serves to illustrate that these two critical instructional skills are not fully developed by those concerned.
Similar threads
- Question
