ScubaLuuke
Guest
Has anybody gone through the Mermaid's Internship in Thailand, Learn-in-Asia? If so Please write back I am very interested in this adventure!
Mermaids Internship in Thailand?
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Luuke,
Lots of people have and although they offer a good service/package, there's more options available in Thailand.
Lots of people have and although they offer a good service/package, there's more options available in Thailand.
There's a similar thread running right now that has more replies.
Island Hoppa
Guest
great decision on moving over to thailand for awhile. as for mermaids i have never been to there shop but do be aware that i did spend a great deal of time in thailand and most of the people i was with and myself stayed clear away from pattaya. the diving there does not even come close to other diving in thailand. if ur looking for a bust city-like scene head for pattaya. if ur looking for the beach bummed sitting in a hammock on the beach-like scene head to koh tao or almost anywhere on the west coast except for phuket. its a little more busier there. but still a great place to have fun and dive. there are probably over a thousand dive shops in thailand and everyone offers internships. i did mine on koh tao and enjoyed every second. for the about $500 usd price tag it costed i logged hundreds of dives. broken down the dives were each under a dollar close to 50 cents i dont think there is anywhere else on earth where you can dive so long and so much for that price besides thailand. even renting a tank with your own gear costs more than that. so choose your location wisely. i used coral grand in tao about 2 years ago and dont regret it. i ended up working there when i was done for a while too. then got real smart and headed to the west coast (andaman side) and literally slapped myself on the face when i saw all the diving i missed over there. similian islands are wonderful at the right time of year. vis way over 100 ft and huge fish. i did happen to see some whale sharks in tao though. but then again i saw them at richelieu rock as well. i would do your internship in either phuket, phi phi, or koh lanta. just my input, but if you want good diving dont even bother with pattaya it is nothing special. if you have time try to get down to malaysia too. diving there is wonderful as well. in thailand though shoot for the similan islands (including richelieu rock, koh bon koh tachai) phi phi diving around phi phi leh, koh lanta (mantas), and hin muang and hin daeng. and try to get there during the winter because thats when conditions are best on the west coast. good luck!
As I've mentioned in another post, Whilst the Andaman side is idyllic, you can still have some excellent diving in Pattaya waters. It's not perfect, but I don't think it should be rubbished out of hand.
Some points for people reading this thread. In Pattaya we are sheltered from the SW monsoon which makes the Andaman sea undivable for half the year, although you can still have some great diving out of Phuket. Viz. in Pattaya ranges from 25metres to 1 metre (very rarely) at the extreme ends of the spectrum with an average for most of the year of about 7 - 10 metres.
Another point to note if you are thinking about doing ANY diving in Koh Tao: Whilst there are some reputable dive shops down there, there are a bunch of cowboys and an increasing number of Dive Centres (particuarly in Australia) will not accept job applicants who did an IDC in Koh Tao, regardless of whom they did it with.
Island Hopper is dead right about the similans though - wherever you end up, make sure you get out to the Similan islands. Season is late September to early May with the best diving between November and February.
Some points for people reading this thread. In Pattaya we are sheltered from the SW monsoon which makes the Andaman sea undivable for half the year, although you can still have some great diving out of Phuket. Viz. in Pattaya ranges from 25metres to 1 metre (very rarely) at the extreme ends of the spectrum with an average for most of the year of about 7 - 10 metres.
Another point to note if you are thinking about doing ANY diving in Koh Tao: Whilst there are some reputable dive shops down there, there are a bunch of cowboys and an increasing number of Dive Centres (particuarly in Australia) will not accept job applicants who did an IDC in Koh Tao, regardless of whom they did it with.
Island Hopper is dead right about the similans though - wherever you end up, make sure you get out to the Similan islands. Season is late September to early May with the best diving between November and February.
Batfish
Contributor
Well, not quite...Season is late October to early May with the best from February - end of April (in my opinion). Pretty bloody good any time really!
Ex-Aquanaut
Contributor
It seems that Pattaya bashing is just about as popular as PADI bashing around here and it's just as unjustified. If you want to become a truly quality instructor who has experienced as many dives and conditions as possible in 4-6 months, then you should be diving in Pattaya. Full stop.
Yes, it's absolutely not the best diving in Thailand, let alone the world.
Yes, the viz is not great a lot of time.
Yes, there are some rippin' currents here.
But how good of an instructor are you going to be if all you ever dived were calm seas with great viz? Not a lot of rescue situations tend to happen in those conditions. So what happens the first time you get a job in a less-than-idyllic locale and you have a student get in trouble. You haven't even experienced those conditions yourself. How much help are you going to be?
The OP was not asking about fun diving. (Actually, this post is so old, the OP is long gone, but for our new readers.....) This post is about professional dive training. If you want to simply spout off about how lousy the fun diving is in Pattaya for a tourist, then please go elsewhere. If you have something credible and relevant to contribute to a topic about professional training, then carry on.
An internship as offered by Mermaid's or by ourselves at Aquanauts is not a $500 dive a bunch program. With our program at Aquanauts, you get unlimited diving for up to SIX MONTHS. That's 200-250 dives on 22 different dive sites with conditions that are just as varied. You get rippin currents and calm coral dives. You got tech dives to 92 meters, diving on 3 wrecks between 27-32 meters and totally fun dives on a sunken restaurant at 9 meters. The marine life ain't the Similans, but there's still plenty and, unlike down south, you can dive all year around.
The Aquanauts internship also gives you all your courses, all your books and slates, all your PADI cert and application fees, full, new private accomodations, a full set of Scubapro or Mares gear, plus individual instruction from our 2 in-house Course Directors, Master and IDC staff instructors.
With respect to Crowley, we also have a few advantages over other programs in that we have EXTREMELY small classes with IDCs that often have more instructors than students. We GUARANTEE in writing our students will pass the IE or they get a second exam at no charge and we offer early booking incentives valued at more than US$1200. All of these are unique to AQUANAUTS.
But perhaps the thing the Koh Tao groupies overlook is that there's more to a dive internship than simply diving. Our guys and gals are here for months at a time. When you do that, you need a sizable amount of infrastructure to support your students. Lounging around on a hammock for a week or two may be great. But for 4 months I'd be bored, bored, bored.
Pattaya is Thailand's 3rd largest city and offers all the amenities and creature comforts that come with that. We've got 8 cinemas, 2 bowling alleys, 2 world-class hospitals, two deco chambers if needed, 7 large, western-style supermarkets and restaurants with every cuisine in the world.
Basically, if you're serious about becoming the best instructor possible, then Pattaya is your BEST option in Thailand. It's not the best diving, no, but it is the country's best pro training ground.
And (shameless plug) if you really want small classes, more value and an internship environment that is personal and focuses on quality, not quantity, then please click the link in my footer and read up on the Aquanauts program.
Yes, it's absolutely not the best diving in Thailand, let alone the world.
Yes, the viz is not great a lot of time.
Yes, there are some rippin' currents here.
But how good of an instructor are you going to be if all you ever dived were calm seas with great viz? Not a lot of rescue situations tend to happen in those conditions. So what happens the first time you get a job in a less-than-idyllic locale and you have a student get in trouble. You haven't even experienced those conditions yourself. How much help are you going to be?
The OP was not asking about fun diving. (Actually, this post is so old, the OP is long gone, but for our new readers.....) This post is about professional dive training. If you want to simply spout off about how lousy the fun diving is in Pattaya for a tourist, then please go elsewhere. If you have something credible and relevant to contribute to a topic about professional training, then carry on.
An internship as offered by Mermaid's or by ourselves at Aquanauts is not a $500 dive a bunch program. With our program at Aquanauts, you get unlimited diving for up to SIX MONTHS. That's 200-250 dives on 22 different dive sites with conditions that are just as varied. You get rippin currents and calm coral dives. You got tech dives to 92 meters, diving on 3 wrecks between 27-32 meters and totally fun dives on a sunken restaurant at 9 meters. The marine life ain't the Similans, but there's still plenty and, unlike down south, you can dive all year around.
The Aquanauts internship also gives you all your courses, all your books and slates, all your PADI cert and application fees, full, new private accomodations, a full set of Scubapro or Mares gear, plus individual instruction from our 2 in-house Course Directors, Master and IDC staff instructors.
With respect to Crowley, we also have a few advantages over other programs in that we have EXTREMELY small classes with IDCs that often have more instructors than students. We GUARANTEE in writing our students will pass the IE or they get a second exam at no charge and we offer early booking incentives valued at more than US$1200. All of these are unique to AQUANAUTS.
But perhaps the thing the Koh Tao groupies overlook is that there's more to a dive internship than simply diving. Our guys and gals are here for months at a time. When you do that, you need a sizable amount of infrastructure to support your students. Lounging around on a hammock for a week or two may be great. But for 4 months I'd be bored, bored, bored.
Pattaya is Thailand's 3rd largest city and offers all the amenities and creature comforts that come with that. We've got 8 cinemas, 2 bowling alleys, 2 world-class hospitals, two deco chambers if needed, 7 large, western-style supermarkets and restaurants with every cuisine in the world.
Basically, if you're serious about becoming the best instructor possible, then Pattaya is your BEST option in Thailand. It's not the best diving, no, but it is the country's best pro training ground.
And (shameless plug) if you really want small classes, more value and an internship environment that is personal and focuses on quality, not quantity, then please click the link in my footer and read up on the Aquanauts program.
Island Hoppa
Guest
i didnt mean any harm to pattaya. diving there is just average. that is what i meant. and as far as saying that training is better there is completely baseless. yes nowadays if you are serious about becoming an instructor i would steer clear of koh tao. it is nothing more than a factory and you are not likely to be hired at some places due to the amount of students they try to push out of the programs to maximize profits. u might not get the dive training you really need to be a qualified good insructor. as far as training goes it all depends on who your instructors are. i had great instructors years ago and learned a whole hell of good info. plus am alot better diver because of the process. i was in tao in the off season and did the majority of my dives in horrid vis, and can navigate almost anything now. my dm took me 4 months to do and it was done completely to padi standards. that was also years ago though and from what i hear tao is horrible for dive training these days. do i plan on ever working as a dm. probably not so i dont care about where i got my card. all i care about is knowing that i did learn alot for my money. if push comes to shove ill just do the whole damn course somewhere else again. best of luck with your decision if there is still one. i know this post is old and i just saw you posting about joining the navy so i dont know if you are still interested in thailand. if your serious about joining give me a pm. its what i do now, and since you are a diver and have water skills aot of options can be available to you. ever thought of becoming a diver or a SEAL. both career paths are in extremely high demand. shoot me a pm if you have ay quesions. best of luck.
Ringo
Contributor
Aquanauts Pattaya:
So what are you implying? Other areas in Thailand offer shoddy diver education in comparison to what you offer in Pattaya? If so - measured against what and whom exactly?
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