Recommended Operators in Phuket for DM

[BermudaBlue]

Hi All,

My friend and I will be doing our DM in Phucket in the near future (we are currently OW advanced with 100+ dives) and I was wondering if anyone can recommend dive operators they have had good, or not so good experiences with.

We have chose Phuket (over Koh Tao or the Gulf) for seasonal reasons. We are 25-30 yr old males and as we will be spending 2+ months somewhere doing our DM we wanted a good mix of things to see and do when we are not under the water. Also, Phuket seems to offer us easy acess for a live aboard after we have done our course. Of course diving is coming first with other sights, entertainment and night life coming second so we are looking for quality instruction with good facilities/boat etc.

I have done a fair bit of research and have been in touch with a number of dive shops however I still have not been too convinced. Any packages including accomodation are welcomed as well. Any thoughts on Sea Fun, Dive The World, Dive Asia? I know calling shop names in the forum can be frowned upon, but I need the advice! Thanks for any advice and feel free to PM!

Carlos

 

[stevenl]

Of those, go with Seafun.

 

[OnTheSpot]

I would definitely choose Dive The World

 

[aquamarin]

...........and I'd do my DMT on a live-aboard

 

[lord khram]

...........and I'd do my DMT on a live-aboard

Personally I wouldn't entertain that idea, yes while you are doing the course you may well experience much better and varied divesites, but ask yourself why do you want to do the course?
If the reason is purely for getting the best diving or obtaining another card, why waste the money and do the course at all, simply go on a liveaboard and get the most from the diving without the distraction of training whilst on board?
If you wish to do the course to become a well rounded dive professional, then in my mind if all of your training is done on a liveaboard, how at the end of the course will you have any experience of customers requirements on dayboats, or shore diving.
The more varied the experiences while training generally make for more experienced and better dive professionals.

 

[Bubble Junky]

Check out Scuba Cat too. One of their Course Directors, Christophe, taught a lot of my DM course and is very good.

In Phuket you might get to do some liveaboard trips as part of the DM, but you need to do some land-based stuff too - i.e. assisting with OW courses.

 

[daveray]

I think places like Koh Tao you get much more opportunity to assisting courses, whihc is really important if your plans are to go through to instructor, but have heard consistenetly good things about Sea Fun Divers on Phuket, so would recommend them.

 

[DivingScool.com]

Check out Indepth Instruction ( Dive Community) from Chris Owen in Chalong! Top instruction in a very professional environment.

 

[Ringo]

All three of the DC's you mention have good reputations. However IMO Diveasia and Seafun divers specialize more in diver education.

If you decide to do your IDC later after the DM course then I highly recommend Course Director Bent Posejpal who is affiliated with Seafun divers.