My experience diving from Phuket was interesting. We were on nondiving holiday, brought only very basic gear and decided to sneak one day of diving with my 17 yo son. We called Russian speaking company and they provided a Russian guide. We went on a rather large boat. Rental equipment was basic but seemed relatevely well taken care of. Probably 30-40 people on the boat. As far as I could tell, my son and I were the only customers with any kinda timing and depth device (my son had a computer, I had a bottom timer). Generally speaking, instructor/guide to customer ratio would be 1:2 or less. Most of customers were not certified and were diving as DSD. Some of them have done 30-40 lifetime dives (all as DSD). Some commented that we were obviously very advanced divers because we had fancy computers and few have said that they might get certified in the future. Dive functions are fully delegated to the guide. Divers have an attitude "I'm on vacation, I pay you, you take care of me and show me good times".
