Scuba Diving Qualifications

[strocube]

I'm loving this thread.
I've been a PADI instructor since 91, and I've taught in Mexico and Costa Rica.
Also did a bit of diving when I was in the LOS last year. So it's great to get some inside info on the dive scene in Thailand.
I'd love to see any pics from your dive trips, guys.
Cheers

[Rick Shaw]

I dived in Pattaya and was surprised how murky the water was - visibility between 5 and 10 metres, This was in August and the dive people told me that this was pretty typical vis due mainly to a ridge running under the Gulf of Thailand somewhere north of Samui which prevented large volumes of clear water from entering the top of the Gulf. This meant that the crap from the Eastern Seaboard and the literal crap from Bangkok and Pattaya plus the drainage from various river systems had difficulty escaping.

With that in mind, I would be reticent about recommending learning to be a diver at Jomtien because in my experience, poor visibility increases the stress on learner divers as well as stopping them seeing stuff that can give them a buzz and thus the motivation to continue to dive.

Having said that, Samui / Koh Tao area during the rainy season can have vis less than a metre and I am told that the Western part of the country (Phuket etc) is pretty bad during their rainy season (which of course is a different time to the Easten side), so maybe the answer, should you want clear water in which to learn, would be to avoid the top of the Gulf of Thailand and to stay away from the rainy season.

[Snick]

Phuket still has decent vis during the rainy season.
Agreed Pattaya/Jomtien is poor vis, Koh Chang was pretty bad too.