red_barbarian
Contributor
First off I come to Thailand to dive evry 2 months or so to get away from the country where I work, and I need a cleaner environment. I'm not a a PADI pro, but I have close to 300 logged dives, a few tech certs etc.I have looked into internships for when I'm not working. I frequently dive Pattaya due to it's easy weekend trip proximity to BKK airport. I have gone in the South as well. My advice for would be interns is to spend a month traveling in Thailand diving with the operators you're researched on the web. I'd do a dive day with them, write down in your log what you liked about the operation and what you didn't. Talk to the folks who are running the op, and the current DMT's. Then chose. Below are my impressions of some but not all of the dive areas.
Pattaya:
1) Pattaya offers quality training, mediocre conditions. Are there more challenging conditions to learn in? Absolutely.
2) Is Pattaya sleazy? Yes. Can it be avoided? Mostly. Does it have good infrastructure for living? Yes.
3) Is there only one good DM internship in Pattaya or Thailand in general, no there are many good ones each with slightly different approaches and cost structures.
4) I have friends who have worked/trained at Mermaids, Aquanuts, and Real Divers. They all seem to manage to get their respective trainees/interns through the certs in large numbers with high pass rates.
Koh Tao/ Koh Samui:
1) I'm going to get flamed for this, but in general the training standards here are lower, and the certs from this area are viewed in other parts of Asia as being very good. That said there are some good operators here. Conditions are mild. Diving is good.
2) Is it sleazy? Much less than Pattaya or Patong. Living infrastructure is not so good, comparatively with Phuket or Pattaya.
3) I have one friend who worked in this area that respected the dive op he worked for, he's a Tech instructor and felt it was possible to find good training there.
Phuket:
1) Offers some of the nicest diving in Thailand.
2) Does Phuket have a sleeze district, yup Patong.
3) Can't comment on the training quality there, but I'm sure it's fine based purely on hearsay.
4) Good infrastrucure, but not as good as Pattaya.
Koh Phi Phi:
1) Koh Phi Phi offers good+ diving, and it seems every third shop on the island is running a dive op.
2) Has very little sleaze factor, and very little to do.
3) Crap infrastructure. Food will also cost more here than other places.
4) Very much a license mill operation. If your goal is to learn to haul lots of people through OW water certs, you'll get it here.
Pattaya:
1) Pattaya offers quality training, mediocre conditions. Are there more challenging conditions to learn in? Absolutely.
2) Is Pattaya sleazy? Yes. Can it be avoided? Mostly. Does it have good infrastructure for living? Yes.
3) Is there only one good DM internship in Pattaya or Thailand in general, no there are many good ones each with slightly different approaches and cost structures.
4) I have friends who have worked/trained at Mermaids, Aquanuts, and Real Divers. They all seem to manage to get their respective trainees/interns through the certs in large numbers with high pass rates.
Koh Tao/ Koh Samui:
1) I'm going to get flamed for this, but in general the training standards here are lower, and the certs from this area are viewed in other parts of Asia as being very good. That said there are some good operators here. Conditions are mild. Diving is good.
2) Is it sleazy? Much less than Pattaya or Patong. Living infrastructure is not so good, comparatively with Phuket or Pattaya.
3) I have one friend who worked in this area that respected the dive op he worked for, he's a Tech instructor and felt it was possible to find good training there.
Phuket:
1) Offers some of the nicest diving in Thailand.
2) Does Phuket have a sleeze district, yup Patong.
3) Can't comment on the training quality there, but I'm sure it's fine based purely on hearsay.
4) Good infrastrucure, but not as good as Pattaya.
Koh Phi Phi:
1) Koh Phi Phi offers good+ diving, and it seems every third shop on the island is running a dive op.
2) Has very little sleaze factor, and very little to do.
3) Crap infrastructure. Food will also cost more here than other places.
4) Very much a license mill operation. If your goal is to learn to haul lots of people through OW water certs, you'll get it here.
It looks like its on! Time to move on IMO. LK has an opinion that appears to be in the minority so readers can take what they want from the discussion. The two people you are quarreling with, Bomouth and from another thread involving Batfish are long time SB and Thai veterans.
