Divemaster course

[lord khram]

I know Dive S.E.A., spent two days working there last year. NOT recommended! One week DM courses sound typical of him, he does Open Water courses in 2 days and doesn't even have a classroom, what you saw at the golf course is all there is except the boat.

Not only does he not have a clasroom, he doesn't do any pool/confined water training either.
But there again wouldn't be time I suppose when he only allows 2 days for the course.
I am glad you made this post as numerous people on here are disbelieving of my same observations that I posted on other threads in this forum in the past.
And this is not the only shop in the area that operates in such a shoddy fashion

 

[Ex-Aquanaut]

We at Aquanauts want to thank Tom for his review and have already privately conveyed our apologies for any bad time he had. While the problems at some of the shops he visited do appear to be chronic problems that would have been visible any day he went there, his experience at other shops are isolated incidents that could happen anywhere, not only Pattaya. It could have just as easily been a case where he found a 1, 2 or 3 shops where he had a good day's diving.

Pattaya has been satisfying divers for many years, as evidenced by our many, many return customers and, in some respects, Tom's report is just "one man's opinion." Nonetheless, we also see what happened to him as damning and damaging to the entire dive industry here and it has been sent, unabridged, to PADI's Thailand country manager in hopes he will show it to every dive shop owner in the city.

 

[lord khram]

Welcome back Aqua****s. You have been conspicuous by your absence the last few weeks. I trust eveything is OK in Soi 6? I for one have missed our discussions.
So you actually admit to being implicated here, nice to see your honesty in owning up without being named. What did you get wrong this time? Or was it the full catalogue that I experienced myself?
All we need now is to find out who the other shops were to prevent others in the future falling foul of their inept ways, as I and quite clearly others have done in the past.

 

[divingguru]

Hi,

I would have to agree with most that Pattaya, while being a fun place is not somewhere to take the Divemaster course. I'm sure there training facilities are good, but the quality of diving, and the experience you can gain there is not comparable to the likes of Phuket, Phi Phi or even Koh Tao.
As an instructor for many years, and from somebody who has taught a lot of DM courses, I always advise students to choose the instructor who will be teaching your course rather than the dive centre. It is the instructor who will make all of the difference to your course, not how many PADI stars the dive centre has paid for.
Ask the dive centres you are contacting for some more info on the instructor who will be taking your course, and even better talk to them directly.

I hope this information will be useful to you and good luck with the course, wherever you choose to do it.

 

[penguintom]

Hi,

I would have to agree with most that Pattaya, while being a fun place is not somewhere to take the Divemaster course. I'm sure there training facilities are good, but the quality of diving, and the experience you can gain there is not comparable to the likes of Phuket, Phi Phi or even Koh Tao.
As an instructor for many years, and from somebody who has taught a lot of DM courses, I always advise students to choose the instructor who will be teaching your course rather than the dive centre. It is the instructor who will make all of the difference to your course, not how many PADI stars the dive centre has paid for.
Ask the dive centres you are contacting for some more info on the instructor who will be taking your course, and even better talk to them directly.

I hope this information will be useful to you and good luck with the course, wherever you choose to do it.

Thanks divingguru, yes I agree from what I have seen the diving in Pattaya appears to be not too good compared to other places I have been, and other locations in Thailand I have read about.
And yes from what I can make out most of the shops in the area seem to use other customers to do thier instructing, interns I think they are refered as. Nice work if you can get it.
When this is the case, rather than just sitting back in the shops and bars I think a little better supervision on the boats from the shop owners seems to be what is called for, if they hope to provide a good diving service. And have happy customers.
The diving staff I came into contact with just didn't seem to care about the paying customers on board, I just seemed to be an inconvenience to their day out.
Or maybe actually employing proffesional experienced instructors and dive guides that might take a little more interest in what they are doing, rather than using the inexperienced that are still learning themselves.
Despite the not so good diving conditions, I think some of these shops around Pattaya could still provide their customers with a pleasant day on the boat if they wanted to make the effort to do so.
Unfortunately this time I was commited to staying in Pattaya, but I hope to return to Thailand next year and try some of the other dive locations. If you have any specific recomendations I would be very pleased to hear them.

 

[lord khram]

For those of you wanting to do courses quickly, there is ample information you may find interesting in this thread.

Best avoided if you ask me and look for reputable shops that will conduct courses professionally.

 

[scuba Harry]

Hi Divers ,I had a good look at many of the local dive shops in Pattaya and Koh Chang after diving with some of them i chose to start next month with Real Divers in Jomtien .I have meet their Divemasters who seem to know every thing about diving and i was very impressed with the diving knowledge also how they helped the students out .I was shocked when some of the local dive shops wanted to complete my course in 10 days thats CRAP or 1 month how can you learn to become a professional sounds like glory card hunters .Also i work in Iraq and the Real Divers Divemaster course is flexible so i can do some when am in country and not worry about losing any training .Well thats what am doing any way Happy days ...

 

[lord khram]

Hi Divers ,I had a good look at many of the local dive shops in Pattaya and Koh Chang after diving with some of them i chose to start next month with Real Divers in Jomtien .I have meet their Divemasters who seem to know every thing about diving and i was very impressed with the diving knowledge also how they helped the students out .I was shocked when some of the local dive shops wanted to complete my course in 10 days thats CRAP or 1 month how can you learn to become a professional sounds like glory card hunters .Also i work in Iraq and the Real Divers Divemaster course is flexible so i can do some when am in country and not worry about losing any training .Well thats what am doing any way Happy days ...

Sounds like a good choice to me. I dont know the owners there personally but I believe they are probably the most experienced instructors in the area.
I think the one week and 10 day DM courses are more about proffit than card hunters and as you have quite rightly done, best avoided.

 

[penguintom]

Hi Divers ,I had a good look at many of the local dive shops in Pattaya and Koh Chang after diving with some of them i chose to start next month with Real Divers in Jomtien .I have meet their Divemasters who seem to know every thing about diving and i was very impressed with the diving knowledge also how they helped the students out .I was shocked when some of the local dive shops wanted to complete my course in 10 days thats CRAP or 1 month how can you learn to become a professional sounds like glory card hunters .Also i work in Iraq and the Real Divers Divemaster course is flexible so i can do some when am in country and not worry about losing any training .Well thats what am doing any way Happy days ...

I was quoted 1 week to do the divemaster course at one shop.

Maybe after all on my next trip to Pattaya I will consider diving again, these guys at Real divers and Adventure divers are getting some positive feedback.

 

[lord khram]

I was quoted 1 week to do the divemaster course at one shop.

Maybe after all on my next trip to Pattaya I will consider diving again, these guys at Real divers and Adventure divers are getting some positive feedback.

1 Week is far too quick for a DM course even for the most experienced diver.
And yes I shall certainly be going to dive with Real divers when I get the time, lets hope what we are reading on here is all true.