DevonDiver
N/A
A better place to do an internship would be Phi Phi, where the diving is better, and generally they have a higher standard. Which is why the courses are more expensive - an Open Water Course is 13800 thai baht. At this price operators can afford to have well maintained equipment, boats and run courses in smaller groups.
That is a very poorly informed reply.
On Tao, intense inter-school competition has led to repeated price lowering. This is great for customers.
To imply that the schools on Tao have badly maintained equipment, boats and big courses is disgraceful.
Obviously, the quality of schools vary anywhere in the world - some are excellent, others terrible. This is true of east or west coast Thailand or anywhere else.
If the schools on Tao were so bad...then why do they feature so highly in the national PADI awards? Crystal Dive, Buddha View and Bans have both been awarded as IDC centers and as Dive Centers.
The dive center I used to work at had maximum groups of 4...and was run by a very professional instructor (IDC Staff) who was also a fully qualified Dive Medic Technician and regulator/compressor service technician. There was a lot of expertise and professionalism there...and it was as good as any center I worked or dived at anywhere in Asia.
Another center I worked at...partnered the most prestigious and successful technical diving liveaboard in Asia (MV Trident). They had cheap rates for recreational diving also........
go figure.....