Thailand SEPT-DECEMBER HELP!

[lord khram]

I agree entirely with a lot you are saying there funrecdiver. I myself learned to dive in the UK and initially dived there almost exclusively for many years. Where generally conditions are far from perfect.
When I go to dive I go to see things and the clearer the water the more you can see, yes as you point out on a wreck endless visibility is not so important as it is on a reef dive, because when you are exploring a wreck the immediate few metres around you are what matters.
But speaking as a diver that years ago was doing almost all of my diving in dark cold conditions, as many people do, I simply wanted something different when I went on holiday to a 'tropical' dive location. So under such circumstances good visibility is certainly a very important factor, as I had travelled there to see the coral and tropical marine life that I was unable to see in my own country. Maybe this is why over the years at times I have become so annoyed when DC's lie about or exagerate about such conditions.
To put it simply, when I was still living in the UK, why would I want to travel thousands of miles to dive in the same conditions as I had on my doorstep?

 

[funrecdiver]

... To put it simply, when I was still living in the UK, why would I want to travel thousands of miles to dive in the same conditions as I had on my doorstep?

Hey LK,

With the exception of a small minority (caveat - this is not proven by market research), most tourists visit Thailand for reasons not directly related to diving, and then a subset of those take up diving while here.

Most people I know from the UK (and elsewhere) come to Thailand for the sun, fun, and cheap(er) prices. If Thailand was in some cold (not tropical) place, instead of a lush tropical climate, and considerably more expensive (on par with the UK for example), Thailand would see a significant drop in tourism. People come here for the hot and sunny weather, recreational activities and cheap prices (for the most part)!

IMHO, you really can't compare diving in the UK to the diving in Thailand (or Pattaya) based mostly on a criteria like "visibility" because the reasons people visit Thailand, for the most part, are not based solely on diving conditions here. For example, the first time I came here was in 1982 (on vacation from contract work in the Middle East) and I did my first dive off Koh Larn because I met a guy from Norway on the bus down from Bangkok and he invited me to dive (we became good friends). I ended up getting OW certified when I returned to work. Many people get their first cert on vacation here in the Kingdom (and are mostly here regardless of diving).

This leads me to what I have learned over the years is the most important factor in diving... the people you dive with (integrity, honor, trustworthiness, fun, friendly, etc.) !! I think most people would agree that diving with your good friend(s) on a sometimes murky coral or wreck dive "beats the hell" out of diving with some insta-buddy in a "better viz place" or with some commando-style apprentice DMT, even if the dive site is in the best place possible! Diving is mostly about people, not fish and coral (for most people I know).

So, people make diving fun (make or break diving), often more than the water conditions. I've been on murky drift dives in Pattaya with rising 50 rippin' current dives with low viz conditions that were much more fun than a brilliant "walk in the park" dive in much better conditions. The reason was the people I was diving with on that day. The same is true for a group of good friends diving shipwrecks, even if visibility is low or one buddy accidentally silts out a confined passage. It is something to laugh about when having a brew on the way back to land!

You are right, giving all things are mostly equal, it would be odd to travel from the UK to Thailand if the ocean conditions are murky or otherwise not the best, and your only goal was diving. However, Thailand is much more than "only diving" for most people I know here. Most love the climate, the food, the friendly people, the relatively low crime rate (against tourists), the quality of service (in hotels, etc.), the "tourist friendly" infrastructure, the myriad opportunities for recreation, including diving related activities and classes, and the tolerance (freedom) here, relatively speaking (some of these have been changing/degrading over the years, but that is another story of course).

There is some great diving in the US as well , but I'm not on a plane headed back there anytime soon to go diving

 

[SaltySpit]

There is some great diving in the US as well , but I'm not on a plane headed back there anytime soon to go diving

Eeeeeexactly.