Phuket recommendations

[Buford of Arabia]

Just did two day trips with Thailand Divers and it was a mostly good experience.

I booked online and found the process simple and their 'internet manager' Charlie answered all of my questions promptly. I chose Thailand divers because they publish in advance what dives they do by day of the week. Additionally, they did three dives per trip where some of the other operators did only two.

The boat was pretty good. I did their Monday 'deep wreck diving' and then signed up for their Wednesday 'shark' day as well. On the Monday trip the boat had only 6 divers as the depths knocked out all the snorkellers and open water divers. We did Koh Doc Mai, King Cruiser wreck, and anemone reef. The King cruiser was my favorite dive of the whole holiday and anemone reef was pretty impressive as well. Our divemaster was pretty attentive, did good briefs, and generally was was what you are looking for. Breakfast on board was okay although I ate at the hotel before pickup and was glad I did. They food was fine but it was still 'boat' food. Lunch was served after the second dive and was mostly rice, a thai curry, and a few fried type things.

The Wednesday trip wasn't quite as good although still not a bad experience. My main complaint was that they changed the itinerary from 'shark' day to their Friday 'Phi Phi' trip. No explanation was given as to why the change in destinations from their sites stated on the internet. I could understand if it is to avoid currents, bad visisbility, etc., but they never explained their reasoning and the conspiracy theorist in me concluded it was to accommodate the large number of lesser experienced divers on the boat in search of shallow water. Our sites were Palong wall (Maya Bay), Koh Bida Nok, and back to Koh Doc Mai. I found Koh Doc Mai interesting as the visibility had dropped to around 8-10 meters where it had been 20+ two days earlier. The mysteries of mother nature...... Our dive master wasn't nearly as good as the one two days earlier. He provided no briefings and really didn't communicate with us at all. I traveled alone so I was paired up with a guy with a few thousand dives (I have around 35) so there was a pretty big experience differential. I didn't really mind, but I thought the dive master was a bit flippant in his oversight of the group. The boat was significantly busier on this day but not to the point of being crowded.

All in all Thailand divers was decent and I'd go with them again. I think they just need to work on their 'day of the dive' communication skills a little.

Enjoy- the diving was great.

 

[stevenl]

I'm sorry, but you call that 'mainly good'?

You did not get what you were promised, you did not receive an explanation about that, you were not happy with the DM for various reasons, there was a big experience difference with your buddy.

Still good to hear you enjoyed your diving.

The reason they changed the destination though is easy: Phi Phi is popular at the moment (this leaves Shark Point and Anemone Reef far less busy and vastly underrated), so they can make much more money by going to Phi Phi more frequently.

 

[aquamarin]

I'm sorry, but you call that 'mainly good'?

You did not get what you were promised, you did not receive an explanation about that, you were not happy with the DM for various reasons, there was a big experience difference with your buddy.
.

Must say I agree with this: I would definitely not have rated that experience as "mainly good" - but maybe I'm too demanding

Karin

 

[lord khram]

Yes all too often in my experience such things occur where destinations are changed for no apparent reason, without even the courtesy of advising pre booked customers prior to departure.
Certainly not acceptable to me.
I feel for the more experienced divers that a DM (or scuba nurse, as some have been refered to), in most cases is not necessary and indeed in many cases to me it is a negative, it takes something away from the experience of a new divesite having to follow around in a group rendering me unable to discover things myself and find my own way around.
A boat ride and a good briefing prior to the dive from someone that knows the site well, then leave me to my own devices is a far better option in my mind.