Putzing around South Asia, low-cost dive operators?

[whysocold]

You are on a very, very slippery slope here.

I wasn't trying to start a flamewar with this thread. Maybe I could rephrase and ask if for specific operations that people have used and would recommend? If they also happen to have a good price, that is a bonus? I feel like some of the prices I see online for the dive ops are on the higher side--more per tank that I pay in Monterey.

Can anyone suggest a location with good shore dives? The shore diving I did on the south end of Karon Beach was rather murky. Will I find shore diving with high visibility anywhere?

 

[TheWartHog]

I also think that Koh Tao is a lovely island - very much enjoyed my time there - admittedly it's not great diving but it's not that bad either. Perhaps I was lucky with my choice of dive operator, they were excellent and it's realistically priced diving in KT - IMO the Andaman Sea diving is over priced for what you get.

Seeing that you ask for recommendations outside of Thailand, Indonesia has much better quality diving and great value for money diving.

 

[lord khram]

In agreement with parts of this, but as for 'far from the nicest location', not really sure how you reach that conclusion? Have you ever been? Koh Tao is a tropical island, with several nice beaches, secluded coves and rocky bays. And in terms of development, it is much quieter, significantly less westernised, has less 'girly bars', and is generally less tacky on the whole than the other islands in the gulf (Samui & Phangan) and west coast destinations such as Phuket. However there is still with a wide variety of accommodation types, restaurants and bars to choose from. Its subjective of course, but as far as locations go, its actually very nice!

Dive location wise, we'd agree that Koh Tao is by no means the pinnacle of what is available in Thailand. But its not exactly bad diving either, and the low cost and pure variety of dive sites (around 50) means that there is still plenty of options for divers. Incidentally, the reason for the low costs of dives here has nothing to do with quality of the operators or diver safety, it is a direct reflection on our running costs. The vast majority of our dive sites (with the sole exception of Sail Rock) are in very close proximity to the island, with the longest boat journey to the next furthest dive site - even on one of the old wooden boats - is only about 30-40mins. To put that in perspective, we cover it in our speed boat in about 15 minutes. So fuel costs are much lower than in other locations, and this saving is passed on to the customer. Safety standards should not be in question at all. Standards in Koh Tao are actually incredibly high, especially compared to many other south east Asian destinations.

Agreed, some dive boats can definitely be crowded, and with many operators keeping their departure times virtually identical, dive sites can also be busy. But by doing a little research and shopping around, its not difficult to find companies like ourselves that offer small group diving on faster boats at off set dive times to avoid those crowds.

I'm not trying to start a pro Koh Tao campaign here, or convince 'whysocold' that this is the location for him. Just pointing out that some of your comments are misleading/inaccurate in their assumptions. No offence whatsoever intended in this response

Yes I have been To KT a few times, and don't like the place, for me there are far better places to go in Thailand, and not only for diving. Just my opinion, I appologise profusely if that offends. My points were never intended as criticism. Quite obviously many others have differing requirements and opinions to my own.

I was not questioning safety at all, I was simply refering to the cost, but since you brought that into the discussion, yes for instance, several boat trips I have been on in KT not only relating to diving. For instance appeared to have insufficient life jackets for the passengers on board, or if they had, I was certainly not made aware of their location. We can all see the risks also being taken by boat operators who overcrowd, just look at the news articles relating to the recent ferry sinking incident in Pattaya. Of course the owners deny the boat was overloaded, but all the passengers seem to have a different opinion? Personally regardless of safety, I simply do not like crowded dive boats, to the point I would rather not dive than go on one.

I agree entirely with your comments relating to cost / distance traveled. and am fully aware of that reason. However, the OP was asking for the cheapest diving, hence my comments, and without doubt in Thailand that is to be found in KT, regardless of reasons.