Thailand and Vietnam in mid July to August

[IceBergSlim]

I will be in Thailand and Vietnam from mid July to mid August and was looking for any recomendations regarding hotels and dive operators.


I had heard it was monsoon season at that time and was also wondering if that would spoil my plans?

thanks in advance.

 

[red_barbarian]

In Vietnam there are 2 quality op's. Rainbow divers and Sailing Club divers. Rainbow operates shops in several locations, see their website for details. Sailing Club is really just in Nha Trang. You will run across other op's in Vn. From what I have seen on my trips there, they range from really dodgy, to ok. I prefer Sailing Club, but I have freinds who work there so there's my full disclosure. In Pattaya, Thailand there are a lot of choices. I like to recomend Real Divers, but again I know them outside of diving. Memaids, and Aquanuts seem to run fine operations there as well. You're sure to get a lot of dive shop op's here soon each touting their own op and why all the others are crap. PM me if you want contact info for the above places or want a dive buddy as I'm over there every month or so.

 

[stevenl]

In Thailand, the best diving you will find at the Andaman Side. Even in the low season there (like July-August), the diving is much nicer than in the Gulf of Thailand.
The best chances of good weather you will have on the islands in the Gulf of Thailand BTW, with Koh Tao being the center of diving activities there.

 

[Ex-Aquanaut]

Duplicate post....

 

[Ex-Aquanaut]

Heya Iceberg,

If you're into wreck diving and you don't want to risk the bad weather that is common in the low season on the Andaman side, visit us in Pattaya! We are Thaialnd's recreational wreck diving capital, with three ships at 27-32m. Plus, as you can find out in many posts here on SB, there really is plenty of good and fun diving here all-year around.

Here at Aquanauts, we also help take care of your hotel arrangements. We are the only center in Pattaya to offer complete diving / accommodations packages that offer discounts on both the rooms and the dives. If you don't want a package, we also have a list of recommended hotels at which we can book you a discounted room.

See our offerings at PATTAYA HOTELS: Aquanauts Dive Travel Holiday Vacation Packages Discounts Scuba Diving & Accommodations There's also a booking form online for both diving and accommodations.

Hope to see you on the wrecks!

 

[jdfmail]

I would recommend looking at all the posts in the Thailand section for good advice. I think that if you are coming here from abroad you would be highly disappointed in Pattaya.

 

[Eryk]

I agree with Red_Barbarian. In vietnam your ONLY choices should be Rainbow Divers or Sailing Club.

Sailing Club are only based in Nha Trang, whereas Rainbow operate from Nha Trang, Con Dao, Phu Quoc, Whale Island & Hoi An. All of their centres will be open and offering excellent diving with the exception of Phu Quoc, where it's rainy season.

Daily dive trips from both companies go to pretty much the same place, but Rainbow have more experienced dive guides and Instructors. For training, Rainbow is the only PADI CDC & IDC in the country.

Have a look at Dive Vietnam - Scuba Diving, Rainbow Divers PADI Diving, Underwater Photos - dive Vietnam with the best! & sailingclub.com

Enjoy.....

 

[stevenl]

Eryk,

It would be more honest if you were to state you are involved with rainbow Divers, in stead of pretending to be independent.

 

[bcdannymalone]

Not 100% sure that I would agree with stevenl that the best diving in June/July is on the Andaman side. Monsoon can be very bad over there at that time of the year. Oct.-May the Andaman Sea is without doubt the best diving in Thailand. But summertime is the best time of the year for the Gulf.

I'd recommend Koh Tao, but you didn't mention if you would be fun diving or taking a course, how long you are staying etc... KT is very laid back with some very nice resorts and excellent food. Nightlife is also pretty good. There are some great dive sites such as Chumpon Pinnacle, Southwest, Green Rock... You can also do day trips to Sail Rock with many of the shops. Bigger shops to check out are Ban's and Crystal Divers. For something more chilled, maybe Davy Jones Locker. Also some good wreck/tech dives if that's your bag. Best of luck.

 

[stevenl]

Not 100% sure that I would agree with stevenl that the best diving in June/July is on the Andaman side. Monsoon can be very bad over there at that time of the year. Oct.-May the Andaman Sea is without doubt the best diving in Thailand. But summertime is the best time of the year for the Gulf.

Well, we don't have to agree on everything. Do agree with you though that the summertime is the best time of the year for the Gulf.