Vietnam

[red_barbarian]

Nha Trang will be a good place for you to go. The diving is shallow, the dive ops are used to taking care of new divers. The equipment at Rainbow and Sailing Club divers is well maintained from what I have seen.

 

[hmoffatt]

Thanks Red. Is October a good time in terms of conditions (wind/visibility)?

 

[SkBunny]

Oh and will equipment rental be safe and practical? I would only have my own mask and fins.

We just got certified in Nha Trang by Rainbow Divers. There can't be enough said about this dive shop, fun, professional and tailoring to customers' needs. They also provide technical diving classes.
As for rentals we did not have to buy anything, all the equipment was provided, included in the course price and it was in great shape. Instructors made sure of good fit. Contact them at info@divevietnam.com or call 058-526-351. If you are lucky you'll be working with Grant - great instructor, very knowledgeable and fun.
Good luck.

 

[drbill]

Wow... certified in Nha Trang. Awesome. Congratulations.

 

[RussR]

I dove with Rainbow divers out of Hoi An in April and had a fun time. The conditions we had were not what I see here though. The water was cold, the visibility minimal and the currents really strong, probably the most challenging conditions I have experienced to date. The guides said that these conditions were normal and good visibility was the exception.

Loved Vietnam though - we traveled the entire length of the country and had a blast but not in my opinion a dive destination

 

[Xizang]

finally went to HCM city.. looks like limited diving that is at least 4 hours away and definitely no triathlons there hehe.. but Im off in december for 2 years in the country

 

[Honeybuck]

I would recommend Angel Dive from Nha Trang to anyone. It's a small and very personal shop, that takes good care of their customers. Their equipment is good, they take out small groups and also the staff is just amazing.
You won't regret diving with these guys for sure.

I hope you have great dives in Vietnam!

 

[ambertiger]

I dived all around the Nha Trang area back in the early 90's when there were no foreign dive operators there only local Vietnamese. I was thinking about opening a dive shop. The diving there absolutely sucks, it is almost totally fished out of any edible fish larger than 6 inches and the only stuff left to really see is macro and muck diving. The locals sell dyed hard corals and shells at the side of the road that they have ripped out of the ocean. There are a couple of decent wrecks that I dove on and probably a lot more. What sustains the dive busineess there is that Vietnam is a fantastic place to visit , it is a very beautiful and photogenic country. The beaches are awesome. But the diving, like the diving in Cambodia, is aweful and I would not waste my money on it. Go to Thailand.

 

[hmoffatt]

I visited Nha Trang and dived with Rainbow Divers two weeks ago. I did four dives over two days. They were very professional. On both days I was diving with one buddy and a guide (Vietnamese one day, foreigner the other). I've only done a few dives so the guide (a PADI instructor) was very helpful with some advice.

The diving itself was reasonable, though I don't have much experience to compare it with. Coral was generally not great but there was some interesting fish, eels, nudibranch etc to see.

Most of the foreigner-run dive shops seemed to be offering US$50 for two dives. I didn't look for any cheaper ones.

Hamish

 

[jtko59]

hi guys, planning to dive in nga trang in aug 2009, besides rainbow divers and sailing club divers are there any other dive operators. What is a reasonable hotel in the area...how's the diving ( compare to?) thanks