Koh Tao or Pattaya. Thinking of doing it for a year and get the best qualifications that I can. Where are the best places at the moment, i know they change over time. Basically any one have any advice. Plus no shameless plugs if possible just some help thanks
Hello IrishRebel -- Thanks for your question and congratulations on considering "going pro."
As you've discovered there are a number of centers out there advertising "internships," but in fact there are really only a handful of centers worldwide offering a completely all-inclusive, immersive, end-to-end experience that truly can be considered an internship.
Aquanauts is one of the pioneers of the 3-7 month training program and has the best pass rate of an instructor training facility in Thailand. We are the only center with a 100% pass rate since JUNE 2007 and, in fact, offer a written guarantee that you will pass the IE your first time through or we pay for you to resit the exam.
Our dedication to quality and our aggressive pricing is the reason Aquanauts has become the choice of so many people over the years, including three interns who are now PADI Course Directors, as well as numerous Master Instructors, some of whom are now working in Koh Tao.
We also are unique in the market in that we offer two internship packages: our all-inclusive, full-featured Aquanauts COMPLETE and budget-minded Aquanauts VALUE package that, compared apples to apples, costs less than instructor packages in Koh Tao or Utila, Honduras.
As for training in Pattaya, we are the first to admit the seas here are not as popular for holiday divers as elsewhere in Thailand. But our lower visibility and stronger currents are actually huge positives when training to be a professional. Diving with us for a few months you'll get wildly variable conditions. Serious interns turn that to their advantage, making every dive a "productive" dive, rather than an empty "fun" dive. They work on skills on particular parts of their training, which explains why so many people who leave here are experts on navigation, do some of the best rescues you'll ever see and can literally walk into jobs throughout Thailand by simply mentioning their did their IDCs at Aquanauts in Pattaya. PM me and I can provide references and examples of just those cases.
One commenter below seemed to think the that fact fewer people train in Pattaya internship programs is a negative. For starters, that's not really true: Mermaids CDC has at 2 or 3 times in the past few years had in excess of 100 interns at any one time.
WE, however, limit our enrollment intentionally. Aquanauts' entire regimen is built on the concept of "Personalized Training," with all interns getting assigned a personal instructor who oversees their training. All courses offer individual instruction with the largest class size maxing out at 4 people.
Compare this to Koh Tao. One of our excellent grads and former instructors now is an MI at one of Koh Tao's biggest centers. Last week she told me she currently has 80 Divemaster Trainees doing their course with her.
Do you want a class of 80 or a class of 1?
I encourage you to visit our website at the link below and use our worldwide free telephone numbers to talk to me in person with any questions.
Bob James
