learning in thailand in late july

[MoonWrasse]

Marina divers in Phuket is offering a deal of $1 a night accommodation while you take a course. Although it's low season in Phuket, you might consider it. I'm sure there's still a lot of good diving although the Similans are closed til November.


http://www.marinadivers.com/phuket_marina_divers_dive_trips.html

 

[tzeyap]

I have just returned from Perhentian Island and the diving is graet . Calm sea and good visibility. If you have 10 days , no problem.
By the way , how do I get to GILI Islands in Indonesia?

noordin,
We may be moving away from this thread ! Anyway, I believe you are refering to the gili's off Lombok. if so, you'll need to find a flight to Mataram, Lombok. Once there find your way to Sengiggi where most of the dive operators are . they will then arrange transfer to the gili's - probably gili Trewangan.
Silk Air used to fly to Matarram. you will have to check if they still fly there. otherwise try the local indonesian airlines.

 

[Batfish]

"Marina divers in Phuket is offering a deal of $1 a night accommodation"

Whoa! Desperate times for them.

 

[MoonWrasse]

"Marina divers in Phuket is offering a deal of $1 a night accommodation"

Whoa! Desperate times for them.

I'm sure there are many there struggling thru the off season this year, as the high season was thin this year due to the tsunami and subsequent media distortion.

But for Marina, hey if you can't fill the $150 per night rooms right now, the $1 deal doesn't cost them much. In fact it was due to a similar deal when the bhat collapsed 8 years back was when I first stayed there, and started using them for diving. So promotional deals do work

 

[penti]

Perhentians are excellent. Long beach on pulau Kecil is a very relaxed, backpacker's place. Courses and fundives are very cheap. Very good snorkelling as well, if you like it. Most dive ops seem good, I can recommend coralsky divers to you. They were just perfect, friendly and pro at the same time. (Spice divers and turtle bay divers also have a good reputation) (check coralskydivers and turtlebay divers websites). another advantage of the perhentians is that you can get very cheap flight tickets from KL to kohta baru (about $25 with air asia) and then be on the islands in 2 hours time.
I've also been to Koh Tao. Nice place, cheap diving too, but not as good as the perhentians though and more of a big diving industry (40-50 divers on a boat and 4 or 5 boats sometimes) and not as much to see. PM me if I can help you.
It's the dry season on the east coast from march to october, so if I were you I'd choose a place on the east coast. Last summer the weather was perfect in Koh Tao, as well as in the Perhentians 1 month ago. Definitely don't go to Koh Chang. Went there last August too and it was very cloudy, very bad viz. and most dive ops (all but one, actually) were closed for the low season.

 

[hapadiver]

Hapadiver

I've been diving most everywhere in Thailand. While the west coast is wonderful, particularly the diving off of Koh Lanta (Hin Daeng, Hin Muang), summer IS NOT the time to dive here.

The waves are rough, the visibility is poor, and the tourists are elsewhere. Many dive shops close down for the season.


Hi Hapadiver - apologies, with regards to the dive shops closed for the season - are you referring to Phuket?[/QUOTE]
Dive shops won't all close down in Phuket, though many liveaboards will sail elsewhere (Indonesia, Gulf of Thailand) until October/November. Some of the smaller shops in places such as Phra Ao Nang, Rai Lay, and Koh Lanta may shut down for the season, though bigger establishments will probably stay open.

This may have changed since the areas have become more developed in the past four years--particularly Ao Nang and Koh Lanta. But the waves are still rough and the vis is poor by May on Thailands east coast. Hin Daeng, Hin Muang, the Similans, and the Surins are the best things to see ... They all involve long boat rides, as in day trips from the mainland or larger islands.

 

[Ringo]

I've been diving most everywhere in Thailand. While the west coast is wonderful, particularly the diving off of Koh Lanta (Hin Daeng, Hin Muang), summer IS NOT the time to dive here.

The waves are rough, the visibility is poor, and the tourists are elsewhere. Many dive shops close down for the season.
[/COLOR]

Hi Hapadiver - apologies, with regards to the dive shops closed for the season - are you referring to Phuket?

Dive shops won't all close down in Phuket, though many liveaboards will sail elsewhere (Indonesia, Gulf of Thailand) until October/November. Some of the smaller shops in places such as Phra Ao Nang, Rai Lay, and Koh Lanta may shut down for the season, though bigger establishments will probably stay open.

This may have changed since the areas have become more developed in the past four years--particularly Ao Nang and Koh Lanta. But the waves are still rough and the vis is poor by May on Thailands east coast. Hin Daeng, Hin Muang, the Similans, and the Surins are the best things to see ... They all involve long boat rides, as in day trips from the mainland or larger islands.[/QUOTE]


Thanks Hapadiver I just wanted some clarification on this as the dive shops are open on Phuket all year round and I would hate to think that we are wasting our time if people think that we are closed! Agreeably some of the Liveaboard boats are operating in Indo etc but as we still offer daytrip diving as well as diving courses now there is still a need for us to operate. In fact over the year's some of our busiest months have been between May - October although unfortunately post Tsunami this is presently not the case. So we do need as much encouragement and support as we can get since the media certainly did not do Phuket any favours whilst reporting onthe Tsunami! Also for the record only 3 days ago the viz. at some of the daytrip sites was 30 meters+....the weather is great this week although last week it was rainy and windy for a couple of days. Personally I prefer the daytrip diving during these months as we tend to see more marine life - especially the bigger pelagics - than we do in the high season months (due to the many divers and surface boat traffic then).

 

[hapadiver]

Um. I know it's nice to support businesses--particularly after the tsunami. But I'm not going to tell someone to go to Phuket and dive during the off season. I think it's unfair. You may see more at this time of year, but you dive there ALL the time.

Someone who is traveling across the world to go diving should fully understand what it's like during monsoon. And shops DO close down in the smaller areas. My friends who are instructors DO go elsewhere. And though Phuket's terrible traffic thankfully goes down, it's not all sunshine and smooth sailing.

As for overcrowding, that's something that needs to be dealt with no matter what the season. Similan & Surin Islands are overrun.

Actually, I resent it when I contact businesses and they gloss over factors such as weather in hopes to keep busy during the down times. The reason I enjoy posting on Scubaboard is that I get answers from disinterested people. Besides my first message said "some" dive shops even close down. "Some" is not going to give anyone the impression that all of Phuket is gone until November.

 

[tzeyap]

Um. I know it's nice to support businesses--particularly after the tsunami. But I'm not going to tell someone to go to Phuket and dive during the off season. I think it's unfair. You may see more at this time of year, but you dive there ALL the time.

Someone who is traveling across the world to go diving should fully understand what it's like during monsoon. And shops DO close down in the smaller areas. My friends who are instructors DO go elsewhere. And though Phuket's terrible traffic thankfully goes down, it's not all sunshine and smooth sailing.

As for overcrowding, that's something that needs to be dealt with no matter what the season. Similan & Surin Islands are overrun.

Actually, I resent it when I contact businesses and they gloss over factors such as weather in hopes to keep busy during the down times. The reason I enjoy posting on Scubaboard is that I get answers from disinterested people. Besides my first message said "some" dive shops even close down. "Some" is not going to give anyone the impression that all of Phuket is gone until November.

I love diving off Phuket. The dive sites are very good even if they are not top ten and there are some excellent operators give very professional service and make diving off their LOB's a great diving experience.
However, I must agree with Hapadiver that summer is not the best time to experience what Phuket has to offer in terms of diving enjoyment. I have been out in June when the sea has been extremely unpreditatable - calm and suddenly very rough. Certainly not the ideal conditions for a new diver to experience diving and certainly not representative of what Phuket has to offer. Unless these conditions are made absolutely clear, it would not be fair to those who have only heard about diving in Phuket during high season. Monsoon conditions can be pretty scary and no one ought to be too gung-ho about going out to open sea during this time. there is a thread about the loss of a dive-boat over the last couple of weeks.
I am all for supporting the dive businesses of Phuket. I personally make at least a trip each year and tell all about how great the boats and crews are. I did a LOB trip to Similan 4 weeks after the tsunami and becos there were lots of cancellation's I brought my daughter along to help make up the numbers.
All said, it is important that queries about dive destinations and conditions be fully made clear as people are spending hard -earn money and limited time off work for what would be their 'big trip' for the year.

 

[Ringo]

I love diving off Phuket. The dive sites are very good even if they are not top ten and there are some excellent operators give very professional service and make diving off their LOB's a great diving experience.
However, I must agree with Hapadiver that summer is not the best time to experience what Phuket has to offer in terms of diving enjoyment. I have been out in June when the sea has been extremely unpreditatable - calm and suddenly very rough. Certainly not the ideal conditions for a new diver to experience diving and certainly not representative of what Phuket has to offer. Unless these conditions are made absolutely clear, it would not be fair to those who have only heard about diving in Phuket during high season. Monsoon conditions can be pretty scary and no one ought to be too gung-ho about going out to open sea during this time. there is a thread about the loss of a dive-boat over the last couple of weeks.
I am all for supporting the dive businesses of Phuket. I personally make at least a trip each year and tell all about how great the boats and crews are. I did a LOB trip to Similan 4 weeks after the tsunami and becos there were lots of cancellation's I brought my daughter along to help make up the numbers.
All said, it is important that queries about dive destinations and conditions be fully made clear as people are spending hard -earn money and limited time off work for what would be their 'big trip' for the year.

Many thanks Hapadiver and Tzeyap for your feed back. We are all entitled to our opinions - I think that it is quite clear that it all depends on what the individual is looking for. We have many divers who do prefer to come to Phuket and dive at these daytrip sites now rather than during the high season. Of course we also know many people who prefer not too, especially those who are wanting their "dive trip or liveaboard holiday of the year". Most of the people visiting now are here for short periods taking advantage of the cheaper accommodation costs, wanting to do some casual day trip dives or some diver education.

Obviously most of the reputable dive operators do not send staff and customers out to these sites during storms (no mention of that Liveaboard capsizing recently - this instance we all know that they had no business going out). As for ourselves (and I am sure that most other operators do as well) we most certainly do tell customers not to expect pristine diving conditions and we most definitely do not promote the months between May - October as the best time to dive on Phuket. Also we do warn our divers that the boat trip out can be a little rocky. Then again it is certainly not like diving off the rougher S.A. coast or the colder European areas for example.

However, as per my previous post, I personally do prefer diving at the daytrip sites now. Only 2 days ago our divers saw white tips and a leopard shark at Racha Yai which is highly unlikely to be seen in the high season months due to the many divers and boat surface traffic. Also, yesterday another dive operation - the lucky fishes - saw Mantas at Racha Noi. In a nutshell they were all very pleased with the diving and everybody was smiling. Some happy divers! I guess it all depends on different people's preferences.