Best PADI course providers - latest info please

[Argus Tuft]

Phuketians..

 

Would like to send a local friend on her first dive course - PADI Open Water preferred
Won't be until around Feb-March as we are busy now.

 

Figure there are a lot of divers/dive operators on the forum

Please PM me with course details and costs or post below (without breaking forum rules so they don't disappear)

 

I want a safe, well supervised and professionally recognized course for her.

Many thanks

[quandow]

Most PADI 5 Star dive shops will be fine. I would HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend "Discover Scuba" first. It's a mini-lesson, an introduction usually done on the boat while going out to the dive site, then an Instructor or certified Divemaster will take them out for two dives. IF your friend likes it, these dives count toward her overall Open Water course. I had a student one time who just could NOT put on a mask and put her head under the water. We refunded her money. Most shops will NOT refund if you invest in an open Water Course.

[stevenl]

Some shops will refund, others not.

 

But regarding the discover scuba diving, for quite a few people a quiet experience in the pool as a start is better than directly on the boat.

 

I would recommend to also look at SSI, cheaper than PADI, virtually the same course and same worldwide recognition.

 

Where on the island are you located?

[Argus Tuft]

Thanks to both of you

Phuket Town is the location

As per my first post - I want something safe and recognised as this potentially will be something for her CV when she starts to work on commercial pleasure yachts later next year

@quandow - many thanks for this advice and well noted

 

@stevenl - again many thanks, and noted on pool dives first and the SSI option, much appreciated

I am a former commercial diver and long time PADI diver, but that was many years ago  -hence the query

Again, my thanks 

[stevenl]

Will send you an PM.

[Jimi007]

I'm pretty old school. I was certified by the County of Los Angeles, California on 3 September 1969! Dive and Surf in Redondo Beach, home of Body Glove now I guess, I still have my card. But yes, start out in a pool, get used to the gear before you think about going into the ocean! To pass my certification, the open water dive included a full ditch and recovery of all your gear, including face mask at 10 meters! Good luck passing that these days! My instructor was an ex US Navy frogman. We used their training books and dive timetables before there were dive computers. A bit different now!

[Argus Tuft]

 

Will send you an PM.

Replied, cheers

[Argus Tuft]

 

I'm pretty old school. I was certified by the County of Los Angeles, California on 3 September 1969! Dive and Surf in Redondo Beach, home of Body Glove now I guess, I still have my card. But yes, start out in a pool, get used to the gear before you think about going into the ocean! To pass my certification, the open water dive included a full ditch and recovery of all your gear, including face mask at 10 meters! Good luck passing that these days! My instructor was an ex US Navy frogman. We used their training books and dive timetables before there were dive computers. A bit different now!

Jimi007 - I recall you saying something about this on the forum in the past few years - love this info and anecdotes

I did my first course before dive computers and remember the tables well!
cheers for the post

Edited December 3, 2018 by Argus Tuft

[LivinginKata]

 

Jimi007 - I recall you saying something about this on the forum in the past few years - love this info and anecdotes

I did my first course before dive computers and remember the tables well!
cheers for the post

 

Yes - I memorised the US Navy Diving tables also in the early North Sea days,

[Old Croc]

I didn't get certified until I was older than average, and did train with computers. Learning tables was still very much part of the course. Started the course in a deep pool specifically designed for this training We also had to do a ditch all gear test, swim a circle around the class and don the gear again. This was made more difficult by the fact that this part of the training was in a harbor open to the ocean (Rous Harbor, Fremantle). At the time it was silted up by days of south westerlies. Visibility was virtually nil, you couldn't see your own hand in front of your face. We were at about 7 metres on an old sunken barge. The swim was done by feel. 

I started snorkeling around 10yo and practically lived in the ocean for much of my life. I never travelled up or down the coast without snorkeling gear which included a gidgee (Hawaiian sling), and welding gloves (used for catching crabs by hand).    

[Argus Tuft]

On 12/4/2018 at 8:24 AM, Old Croc said:

I didn't get certified until I was older than average, and did train with computers. Learning tables was still very much part of the course. Started the course in a deep pool specifically designed for this training We also had to do a ditch all gear test, swim a circle around the class and don the gear again. This was made more difficult by the fact that this part of the training was in a harbor open to the ocean (Rous Harbor, Fremantle). At the time it was silted up by days of south westerlies. Visibility was virtually nil, you couldn't see your own hand in front of your face. We were at about 7 metres on an old sunken barge. The swim was done by feel. 

I started snorkeling around 10yo and practically lived in the ocean for much of my life. I never travelled up or down the coast without snorkeling gear which included a gidgee (Hawaiian sling), and welding gloves (used for catching crabs by hand).    

Old Croc, trying to remember my first Open Water dives now as part of my PADI course in Perth, circa 1988 (was in high school)

One off Freo South Mole, Mosman in the Swan River (there was a wreck there oddly enough), Hillarys, and then last one out of Rous Head Freo - think that was it

And yeah my younger years with a gidgee too catching dinner! (no scuba those days!)

[Old Croc]

On ‎12‎/‎6‎/‎2018 at 3:15 AM, Argus Tuft said:

Old Croc, trying to remember my first Open Water dives now as part of my PADI course in Perth, circa 1988 (was in high school)

One off Freo South Mole, Mosman in the Swan River (there was a wreck there oddly enough), Hillarys, and then last one out of Rous Head Freo - think that was it

And yeah my younger years with a gidgee too catching dinner! (no scuba those days!)

Didn't realize you were from Perth.

I did my course with the Perth Diving Academy in Balcatta. Self contained with a fully equipped shop in front and classrooms adjacent to the diving pool at the back. Last training dive at Rous Head, and 2 dives from their boat at Rottnest to finish. The system they used then was NASDS. I think they do PADI now.  I had previously done a try dive in Bali, and had used hooka  gear looking for crabs in the sea grass at Garden Island.

Not the Navy tables, but this is what I was trained with: