General advice sought--where to dive after visiting Laos?

[n9643750]

hello folks,

Thanks in advice for any advice you might offer.

I am going to be in Laos Feb/Mar and am considering taking a dive detour for two weeks mid March. I am looking for reccomendations on where might be the best option. I had been considering Vietnam. but am open to thailand as well. I dove on koh tao years ago, so probably wont make a return trip to that particular island. I'm pretty open other than that though and am really just thinking of what might be the most economical option. I've also never gone solo on this type of trip. Is it usually pretty easy to find dive partners through shops? Finally, I was vaguely considering doing a rescue diver course somewhere. I realize that this information is not very specific, but if anyone has any ideas or advice I would appreciate it.

Brandon

 

[Scuba Cat Diving]

In Feb and March the best diving in Thailand is on the Andaman side, so it would not be the Koh Tao area. You can dive the Similans, Richelieu or the sites from Phuket and Phi Phi. There are both liveaboard and daytrip options.
Dive centers here will have no problem to find a buddy for you, all dives are guided and you are usually in a group on no more than 4 to a guide, you are grouped according to certification and experience. Traveling solo in Thailand is pretty easy and the country is well set up for this with regular bus and flights to connect all area's.
If you have not done so before consider a liveaboard, they are ideal if you are traveling solo as you would immediately have at least one thing in common with everyone else on the boat.
Rescue courses can be done pretty much on demand, but be aware there is not much 'fun' diving in the course, you are mainly learning the skills you need for the course and then putting it into practice.
I dont know much about diving Vietnam so cannot help with that area.

happy diving wherever you end up

 

[Quero]

From Laos, your closest destination, as you've discovered, would be Vietnam. But the diving there and in neighboring Cambodia is not remarkable in any way. If you are looking for something better than Koh Tao, Vietnam diving won't deliver what you want. I agree with Scuba Cat above--come to Thailand, maybe do a liveaboard or some island-based diving in the Andaman Sea.

 

[Luko]

Very few flights from Vientiane or Luang Prabang to Vietnam. Plus it needs another flight from HCM to Nha Trang, VN's diving resort.
I woudl rather go to Phuket, which is quite easy to go to through BKK.

 

[n9643750]

Thanks for the advice! This site is really helpful. I think I've narrowed down the search a little. I'm considering heading down to Phuket to do a liveaboard trip to the Similans and perhaps a few more days of diving. I have about 75 dives, and although I have done deep dives, lots of underwater navigation, and night dives, I have not completed an AOW cert. I know this is a prerequisite to a rescue course, but would not having it affect where I can dive? Should I do the course out of Phuket before the liveaboard? On the liveaboard? What operators/ scuba schools should I take a look at? Also, where can one stay to do these sorts of trips? I'd be happy to find myself in a quieter environment, but will go where I can get the best diving experience. After that I thought I'd spend a week or so travelling south to Kuala Lumpur and then jump over to Borneo for a week of diving around sipadan. Any thoughts or advice would again be very appreciated. Also, I see that using rental equipment generally only costs around $15 US a day. Do backpacker types typically not carry their own gear for that reason? Considering leaving most of my equipment at home and lightening the load a bit.

Brandon

 

[Quero]

Wow, Brandon, lots of questions!

First, for a quieter place and for easy access to the liveaboards, make your way to Khao Lak rather than to Phuket. How do you plan to travel? Overland or by air? If you are traveling overland as many backpackers do, Khao Lak is closer anyway. It's a pretty quiet little town that functions largely in service to the scuba industry--it's not a party town in any sense.

Next, you can do your AOW right on the liveaboard. I think it's one of the most enjoyable ways to do it anyway. With your dive history, including dives that were deep, ones that required navigation, ones at night, the course should be straightforward for you. But even if you decide not to do it at all, you can still enjoy the dives from a liveaboard with just your OW cert, especially since you're quite experienced.

Backpackers don't carry their own gear (when they even own it) because it's bulky and heavy, and they're typically trying to keep their packs down to a manageable size. Because we do get a lot of backpackers and given that you seem to prefer not to carry your equipment with you, you will find it easy to get rentals, and in the case of several liveaboards whose main market is backpackers, equipment rental comes bundled into the cruise rate, just to make it easier.

Finally, it's a long way to Borneo, but yeah, go do some dives around Sipadan. My advice would be to stay on Mabul Island rather than at the grotty little town of Semporna on Borneo proper, even though Semporna is cheaper in many ways. In this case, it pays to spend a little more money for a much, much better experience.

 

[Scuba Cat Diving]

If you are thinking of a liveaboard then doing the advanced on board is the way to go, this work out less expensive than by daytrips as you ahve paid for the boat anyway. This usually includes equipment rental with the course too.
If you wanted to do the liveaboard and then some daytrips I would choose Phuket, just because Khao Lak has the advantage of being closer to the Similans, but they do not really have any other option for daytrips, so you would repeat the dives you have done on the liveaboard trip. They do have some local wreck dives though which are great.
Phuket can offer diving at Phi Phi, Shark Point etc which is very different to the Similan area. You could also do a combination liveaboard of both the Similan and The south dives including Hin daeng and Muang, this allows you to see the best of the north and south Andaman.