Recommendations for Dive Centres in SE Asia?

[applepiedelight]

Hi All. I'll be doing some travelling from around April onwards to parts of SE Asia & I want to do expand on my diving qualifications & experience with a view to becoming a professional diver in the future. I have logged 60+ dives & in addition to my AOW,EANx,EFR, I would like to do some specialty courses & rescue. I have come across 2 sites, Thresher shark Divers Malapascua Phillippines & Downbelow Marine & wildlife Adventure Kota Kinabalu (can't post urls yet), that seem to stand out from the crowd so if anyone has any experience with these operators or if anyone has any other recommendations I would greatly appreciate your advice. I have looked into doing an internship but I'm still unsure if this is the best way to go for different reasons which I won't go into. Thanks for your help!

 

[Elvistheking]

Have you considered these guys? DIVEIndia - PADI, SSI & NAUI Scuba Diving Centre in the Andamans, India

 

[Searcaigh]

Check out Borneo Divers at Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, and Asia Divers at Puerto Galera in the Philippines.

 

[Quero]

Is there a reason you are looking only at Malaysia and the Philippines?
Regarding DownBelow, they are a good shop, for sure, but the diving in that area isn't all that. If you are looking at Malaysia from April onwards, why not go to an area where the diving is more interesting? You could also consider coming to Thailand for some nice diving and great learning opportunities.

 

[applepiedelight]

Hey thanks for the replies. I guess I'm looking for somewhere that is a bit more quiet. I just want to immerse myself into learning the knowledge & gaining more experience (& of course enjoy the diving). I'd love to visit Thailand more for recreational diving. I don't want to do a crash course & then jump right into a job as a DM, which is why I'd prefer to avoid the 'dive factory' places, rather just take my time with it & go at my own pace. I've contacted a couple of places enquiring about course packages & so far Thresher shark divers in Malapascua seem to be what I'm looking for. If anyone has dived with them before I'd love to hear about your experience(s), good or bad.

I've got about 2 months before looking for a job in teaching english so thats why I'd like to get some courses & experience under my belt beforehand.

Thanks again for the replies!

 

[Centrals]

You can't go wrong with Malapascua and it is indeed very quiet but the diving is top notch.
Dive Evolution and Exotic are other highly recommended operators on the island.
If you want to sample more Pinoy's diving:
Bohol, Dumaguette, Moalboal and Southern Leyte are pretty near.

 

[Nudie Dreamer]

Hi applepiedelight,

Just so you know, I work for a dive center (Borneo Dream)based in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

There are plenty of dive centres within the KK city itself. Most provide scuba diving courses from beginners up to divemaster. Some, like ourselves also provide Divemaster internships for divers who wish to take the next step and be a dive professional. The diving within the West Coast is nice but of course isn't as great as the East Coast (Sipadan).

Lodges and hostels are also affordable and decent within the city center.

Hope that helps!