Divemaster training near singapore??

[La Flaca]

I'm headed to Singapore in September for some work and then want to take 1-2 months to do a divemaster internship. Any recommendations for places that I can get to easily and cheaply from Singapore and where the weather should be ok in Oct-Nov?
My specialised interests are focused on search&rescue (emergency response) and equipment repair/maintenance, so a dive centre with instructors strong in those areas is my target.
This might be a long shot, but I'm a runner and would love to be somewhere where I can get out every now and then and stretch my legs and lungs.

 

[Cabbie]

Check out the Singapore / Malaysia threads in the Asia Travel & Dive Clubs forum - there's some information on dive shops and local diving.

 

[lord.harshil]

Great to hear that you're coming to Singapore! I live here and have done my Divemaster training here.

A bit of advice to share with you :

1: Diving in Singapore is limited to Pulau Hantu, a dive with with a fair amount of marine life but water visibility that isn't higher than 2m.

2: Malaysia is where most of the training is done, in Tioman and Dayang. It takes about 3-4 hours by bus and another 2 hours to tioman / 5 hours to dayang by ferry. The journey can be very very tiring.

3: Acommodation on the resorts is very basic and I can guarantee you that you will be too tired to run.

4: I'm not a fan of local instructors. So far, I have met only one that I liked. Stephen Beng PADI Course Director #99087 from Seahounds. SeaHounds &copy 2009 I look my DM with Waikiki Dive Centre and have only dived with Stephen 5 times, but he is one darn good instructor.

5: In Singapore, diving is only done on the weekends and the course can take anywhere from 2 months to 5 months. Mine took 5 months of on and off diving. Even if you are free every weekend to dive, the dive centre may not have enough space to take you along as crew because they like to limit the number of crew (something like 5-7 customers per crew member) in order to get the best prices from malaysian resorts. I know of people who started their course back in Jan this year and are still not certified.

6 : Go to phuket and dive. 3 weeks to be certified a DM and you'll be diving every day.