Putzing around South Asia, low-cost dive operators?

[whysocold]

I'm planning to travel around Southeast Asia in January and February. I would like to do a lot of diving and am looking for low cost, but high quality dives. I will be starting in Bangkok, going to Phuket, and then traveling to unknown destinations using airline miles and staying with hotel points so I'm not concerned with the cost of flights and lodging. I'll likely spend a few days with South Siam Divers in the Similans and I am open to other liveaboards. Can anyone suggest locations to visit and dive operators? The locations and operations don't need to be within Phuket or Thailand.

 

[limbo]

How does low cost with high quality rhyme with safety?

 

[lord khram]

Cheapest place in Thailand to dive is without Doubt Koh Tao. Having said that it is far from the best diving Thailand has to offer, and far from the nicest location. Boats can be crowded, and as Limbo raises the important point of customer safety often can come second to financial considerations.

 

[MichaelWallentin]

Hi Whysocold

One way to lower your cost is to book several days of diving with the same dive center. Most will give you 10% discount on a 3 days dive package and 15 % on a 5 days package. Some dive centers will let you use this offer at different location in Thailand, but most will not or can't. Prices are almost the same on each destination, but you'll find small differences. I guess that you have all your own equipment. If not, then that will add to the total cost.

Going with South Siam Divers is one way, but they are neither low cost or high class. Their liveaboards can take 28 over-night divers, but then you have between 20 - 40 day-tour divers coming to the liveaboard every day for dive 2 and 3. I'm not the greatest fan of this set-up. Some people likes it - most people don't. Depending on your dates you can find much better options that is both cheaper and better. (for your information, we run dive centers in Phuket, Khao Lak, Krabi and Koh Lanta - Feel free to PM me)

Are you planning going to Malaysia, Indonesia or other places?

 

[lord khram]

Prices are almost the same on each destination, but you'll find small differences.

I dare say your knowledge of diving in South Thailand would be greater than my own, but judging by my own experiences I do not agree.

Average costs for a days diving in Pattaya and Koh Chang are around 3000bt.

I have always found a days diving in the Andaman Sea to cost from around 3500bt up to around 6000bt depending on dive site location / mode of transport.

On Koh Tao you can quite easily get a days diving for well under 2000bt, a friend told me recently he had paid 1400bt for a 2 dive trip.

Having said that, without question the most expensive option I mentioned has always represented the best value for money.

 

[stevenl]

I'll likely spend a few days with South Siam Divers in the Similans and I am open to other liveaboards.

Not exactly low cost, there are trips for the same price (or even less) but with 1 day more diving available.

 

[DL44585]

There are many places to dive in Thailand. Some are more cheaper than others but most of the time when you pay a little bit extra you are paying for the quality. I am a Dive Control Specialist Instructor and have dived many places in Thailand and for the money that you pay I believe that Phi Phi or the Similans are the best place to dive for the price that you are paying. Phi Phi is small groups and a great choice of diving.

DL44585@googlemail.com

 

[whysocold]

How does low cost with high quality rhyme with safety?

I hope that a high quality operation is also a safe operation.

Koh Tao [...] is far from the best diving Thailand has to offer, and [...] safety often can come second to financial considerations.

I think that I would rather avoid Kah Tao for those reasons.

Most will give you 10% discount on a 3 days dive package and 15 % on a 5 days package.

That is a good idea. But, it still leaves the question of what operators to use and where to go.

I guess that you have all your own equipment.

Yes, I do.

Going with South Siam Divers is one way, but they are neither low cost or high class. Their liveaboards can take 28 over-night divers, but then you have between 20 - 40 day-tour divers coming to the liveaboard every day for dive 2 and 3. [...] Depending on your dates you can find much better options that is both cheaper and better. (for your information, we run dive centers in Phuket, Khao Lak, Krabi and Koh Lanta - Feel free to PM me)

I dived with South Siam Divers before. Maybe I lucked out, but the boat was never anywhere near capacity. The day-tour divers were usually 5-10 divers and on the lower end of that amount. I can see how the boat wouldn't be fun if it was packed though. One of the reason that I like liveaboards is that the lodging and meals are included (even though I said that I wasn't worried about lodging costs). For about $165 US per day, I get 4 dives. Looking at prices online from other operators ($30-40 US per dive), the cost per dive isn't too much more. I'm not set on South Siam Divers though and would love to know of other options. I'll send you a PM.

Are you planning going to Malaysia, Indonesia or other places?

I can. Where would you recommend?

I believe that Phi Phi or the Similans are the best place to dive for the price that you are paying. Phi Phi is small groups and a great choice of diving.

What dive op do you guys recommend for Phi Phi?

Thanks for all of the info everyone! Any suggestions are welcome!

 

[Goodtime Adventures]

Cheapest place in Thailand to dive is without Doubt Koh Tao. Having said that it is far from the best diving Thailand has to offer, and far from the nicest location. Boats can be crowded, and as Limbo raises the important point of customer safety often can come second to financial considerations.

In agreement with parts of this, but as for 'far from the nicest location', not really sure how you reach that conclusion? Have you ever been? Koh Tao is a tropical island, with several nice beaches, secluded coves and rocky bays. And in terms of development, it is much quieter, significantly less westernised, has less 'girly bars', and is generally less tacky on the whole than the other islands in the gulf (Samui & Phangan) and west coast destinations such as Phuket. However there is still with a wide variety of accommodation types, restaurants and bars to choose from. Its subjective of course, but as far as locations go, its actually very nice!

Dive location wise, we'd agree that Koh Tao is by no means the pinnacle of what is available in Thailand. But its not exactly bad diving either, and the low cost and pure variety of dive sites (around 50) means that there is still plenty of options for divers. Incidentally, the reason for the low costs of dives here has nothing to do with quality of the operators or diver safety, it is a direct reflection on our running costs. The vast majority of our dive sites (with the sole exception of Sail Rock) are in very close proximity to the island, with the longest boat journey to the next furthest dive site - even on one of the old wooden boats - is only about 30-40mins. To put that in perspective, we cover it in our speed boat in about 15 minutes. So fuel costs are much lower than in other locations, and this saving is passed on to the customer. Safety standards should not be in question at all. Standards in Koh Tao are actually incredibly high, especially compared to many other south east Asian destinations.

Agreed, some dive boats can definitely be crowded, and with many operators keeping their departure times virtually identical, dive sites can also be busy. But by doing a little research and shopping around, its not difficult to find companies like ourselves that offer small group diving on faster boats at off set dive times to avoid those crowds.

I'm not trying to start a pro Koh Tao campaign here, or convince 'whysocold' that this is the location for him. Just pointing out that some of your comments are misleading/inaccurate in their assumptions. No offence whatsoever intended in this response

 

[stevenl]

Incidentally, the reason for the low costs of dives here has nothing to do with quality of the operators or diver safety, it is a direct reflection on our running costs.

You are on a very, very slippery slope here.