Best Place and easiest to get to in Malaysia?

[Batfish]

The downside was the Divemaster (Instructor) we had, who was one of the worst I ever had. He couldn’t really care less, almost no briefing (This is the dive site, reef on your left. Finished). Obviously, with 12 divers it s not so easy to lead a group.
Nobody checked how experienced we were and the group consisted of poor divers (ran out of air, shot up like a rocket) to extremely good ones.

Can you maybe PM me with any more details you have such as the DM's name. We are in daily contact with SMART and I would like to bring this thread to their attention.

 

[Strapongzh3]

Quero,

yes, they had 6 to 7 boats (on our side of the resorts, a few more on the Water Village Side of the Resort), most of them had more than 10 divers and only one DM or Instructor.
When we complained about that fact, we were told with a smile that sorry, we are very busy now. Not enough DM's..... No split. Was a bit messy....

 

[Quero]

Quero,

yes, they had 6 to 7 boats (on our side of the resorts, a few more on the Water Village Side of the Resort), most of them had more than 10 divers and only one DM or Instructor.
When we complained about that fact, we were told with a smile that sorry, we are very busy now. Not enough DM's..... No split. Was a bit messy....

Thanks for that info. It makes a difference to me when divers ask for recommendations. If people know this is likely to happen before they go, and they accept it, that's fine. But if they're uncomfortable with it, they can look at alternatives.

 

[Strapongzh3]

Agree Quero,

and if you have experienced buddy teams, it should be OK. But, for the DM/Guide it is extremely stressful.... I guess in Sipadan (or Mabul...) one will always have big groups....
That is why I usually prefer the smaller shops... More personal...

 

[Batfish]

Thanks for the info.

Of course its OK for experienced buddy teams who don't want to dive with a DM. I did some work at a small Caribbean resort and the norm there was 1 DM per boat. Sometimes the DM stayed on the boat and just counted people out and back. Of course the diving there was much easier - hardly any current, normal vis of 40m...

 

[June]

I was in Mabul early March and stayed with Bornea Diver. We have 13 divers with one main DM and an assistant on one boat. However, we have two qualified instructors among us.