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Scuba Forum / Scuba Locations / December 2004Phuket - Best organisations to dive with?
Hi All, I am off to Phuket after Xmas. Just wondering which organisations/shops you can recommend? Thanks in advance. > Hi All, > > I am off to Phuket after Xmas. Just wondering which organisations/shops you > can recommend? > > Thanks in advance. Be aware (and I am sure you are anyway) that southern Thailand, which is predominantly Muslim, is becoming dangerously active right now. I love Thailand and was planning on making it a stop during our forthcoming trip to Wakatobi, but the activity in the south has made me reconsider, since it was the south I had planned on visiting. >>Hi All, >> [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > Wakatobi, but the activity in the south has made me reconsider, since it was > the south I had planned on visiting. Was there a week or two ago, actually during the time the deaths happened near the borded. Bit of increased airport security and heard of some "issues" in NW of Phuket. Personally if you are worried then avoid Patong and maybe even Laguna (that was where the rumour related to although find it hard to give much credence to really). Based on what I saw I would not be remotely worried and would happily return tomorrow (but wouldn't hang out at Bangla Rd/Soi Katoey much). Would assume if anything is likely to happen it would be based around westerner hangouts like Sari club in Bali. I also would avoid walking around much elsewhere late at night - heard months ago of the odd moped group hassling people on quiet roads. This is highly unlikely to be an issue, more likely a problem of local living expats. May also have just been petty theft rather than due to issues on Thai/Malay border, just be sensible. > >>Hi All, > >> [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > Based on what I saw I would not be remotely worried and would happily > return tomorrow You have no more idea what will happen in Thailand than do I. But I know it has become and area of activity and am able to discern that a higher probability exists. In southern Thailand both separatists and Islamic terrorists (sometimes these are the same) have been active. I consider it wise to relate this info to those traveling there...after all, my level of risk may not be acceptable to anyone else. My neighborhood has proven safe right for now, but if bombs were going off every once in awhile, even though it didn't happen today I believe I could safely conclude my neighborhood had become dangerous. > > >>Hi All, > > >> [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > > You have no more idea what will happen in Thailand than do I. Actually, it sounds like he does. And for that matter, so do I. If you're going to live your life as a paranoid tourist, then you'd be better off staying home. Yes, there is Islamic unerest in south Thailand. It's been going on since before 9/11, and is somewhat increased at the moment. But it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out where attacks are likely to happen (hint - western hedonism) and avoiding those areas is very easy. In general, Phuket is probably one of the safer places to be in south Thailand at the moment. But if you're really worried, stay out of Patong (which is actually good advice anyways) People who don't know much about a country should really keep their uninformed opinions to themselves. So tell me, can you recommend a good dive operation based on personal experience? Even better, can you suggest one to avoid (based on the same criteria)? Recommended: Kata Beach Divers. Marina Divers. Scuba Kat. Not Recommended: See Bees (bad rental equipment, smoke infested dive boat). Alan >>>>Hi All, >>>> [quoted text clipped - 37 lines] > every once in awhile, even though it didn't happen today I believe I could > safely conclude my neighborhood had become dangerous. Fair enough, but I think my post was of a similar gist. No-one has any idea when a bomb wll go off other than those who plant them. I live in Singapore (apparently was a target after 9/11). I have been to Bali about half a dozen times since the bomb and Phuket many times. I am also a Brit and was in a high tower at london bridge when the docklands bomb went off so actually saw it (to those outside the US, most of western europe has lived with terrorism for a long time let alone those in Asia, red army, IRA, basque separatists etc). Be careful but if you worry that much you will never leave home. Have also been to NY since Bin Laden's effort, suppose I shouldn't have done that either? > Fair enough, but I think my post was of a similar gist. No-one has any > idea when a bomb wll go off other than those who plant them. Of course not, but you do have an idea of what areas in what countries have been active and are likely to remain active. Southern Thailand is definately one of those places. > I live in > Singapore (apparently was a target after 9/11). Which would be relevant if a terror attack had killed 7 people as late as Nov. 4, 2004. > I have been to Bali > about half a dozen times since the bomb and Phuket many times. Don't you get it? That doesn't mean anything. I'm heading to Bali for a week before my Wakatobi trip. I was in Phuket to board Ocean Rover in February of this year. Big deal. I can't, and shouldn't, tell anyone those places are absolutely safe just because nothing happened when I was there. I can tell them southern Thailand, outside of Iraq, has the highest incident of terror/separatist attacks in 2003/2004 in the world. That's pertinen. And I can tell them to consider the possibilties. That's humane. > also a Brit and was in a high tower at london bridge when the docklands > bomb went off so actually saw it (to those outside the US, most of > western europe has lived with terrorism for a long time let alone those > in Asia, red army, IRA, basque separatists etc). Much of western Europe has not lived with terrorism, some areas of Europe has. All of Britain hasn't lived with terrorism, only some areas. Same in the US. We all get to live with the ramifications, but it would be an abolsute lie for me, a Denver resident, to say I have lived with terrorism because 9/11 happened in my country. The notion that all of Europe has experienced terror is as skewed as the notion that since Europe is old and historical the residents are much wiser in the ways of the world and war than us in the US. This is particulalry curious in light of the fact that two World Wars found their allowed genesis in Europe in the last 90 years. > Be careful but if you > worry that much you will never leave home. Apprently you didn't read my comments. I never suggested not leaving home, I said be aware of what areas of a country have terrorist activity and give thought to the possibilities. How you turned that into a suggestion to never leave home is stupifying. > Have also been to NY since > Bin Laden's effort, suppose I shouldn't have done that either? Well, you'd have been damn thoughtless to visit certain areas of New York two weeks after 9/11. New York is a large place, I doubt the Bronx was a target, I suspect Canarsie was safe, Staten Island was unlikely to be hit, uptown was probably as safe as Humbolt, Nebraska, but I have no doubt Wall Street was a place one should have considered dangerous immediately after the towers fell. >>Fair enough, but I think my post was of a similar gist. No-one has any >>idea when a bomb wll go off other than those who plant them. [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > Which would be relevant if a terror attack had killed 7 people as late as > Nov. 4, 2004. It is relevant for two reasons. First - there was a very specific threat here. Several terrorists were arrested and a reccy tape of probable targets was recovered. As I advised people who were worried to do in an earlier post most people started avoiding certain areas as would be prudent in parts of Thailand at the moment. Secondly living in South East Asia it is just possible I may see more local/regional news than someone living in, say, Denver. It is therefore just possible I may be better placed to comment on certain matters relating to South East Asia. >>I have been to Bali >>about half a dozen times since the bomb and Phuket many times. [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > terror/separatist attacks in 2003/2004 in the world. That's pertinen. And I > can tell them to consider the possibilties. That's humane. I get it fine - you either don't or didn't read very carefully. People should be aware of risks and act accordingly. The Bali point was similar although I didn't spell it out. I went there a month after the bomb. I would not have stayed in Kuta but was actually in Tulamben. Tulamben is a lot closer to Kuta than Phuket is to Malaysia by the way. You however don't appear to know anything about the siutation in Thailand at all. Yes - avoid the border and in Phuket stay away from Bangla Rd if you are worried. This is currently however largely civil in nature and it is expected the most likely target is Bangkok in response to the govt troops killing loads of Muslims. While there may be terror attacks aimed at Westerners that is not the main likelihood and not necessarily related to current problem. Also bear in mind Phuket has a very large Muslim minority - why not go for Pattaya instead. Also you may like to know there was some terrorist activity in Kendari just North of Wakatobi last month. There are issues in Sulawesi in general relating to the some Muslim fanatics wanting an Islamic state and the Christians kicked out of the North. Never know they may decide kidnapping a bunch of divers off an island as a leverage point/ransom is a good idea (a la Sipadan - it has happened before). Personally I wouldn't worry about it and you should enjoy your holiday but based on your conservative approach you may want to consider going somewhere else..... >>also a Brit and was in a high tower at london bridge when the docklands >>bomb went off so actually saw it (to those outside the US, most of [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > curious in light of the fact that two World Wars found their allowed genesis > in Europe in the last 90 years. Most of Britain - certainly most of England. Then again being from Denver you would know more about that than someone who lived in the UK through the mainland bombings. Regardless to get as far from London/Manchester (notable large bombing incidents among others) as Phuket is from Malaysia you would need to be somewhere around Aberdeen. >>Be careful but if you >>worry that much you will never leave home. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > thought to the possibilities. How you turned that into a suggestion to never > leave home is stupifying. I wasn't the only one - read the other posts in the thread. Maybe you didn't intend that but you were scaremongering and that is how such things are interpreted. >>Have also been to NY since >>Bin Laden's effort, suppose I shouldn't have done that either? [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > Street was a place one should have considered dangerous immediately after > the towers fell. I was in mid-town, not that it matters much. Check a map. I think you will find the Malay/Thai border is a fair bit further from Phuket than the Bronx is from Wall Street. Anyway, what makes you think putting a bomb on the subway would't occur to someone, how about Yankee stadium. Also, you want to tar the entire South of a county with the same brush, by your own viewpoint Alaska should be avoided given it is North US yet strangely you seem to limit the danger there to a small area of a little island. This is clearly ridiculous (both the Alaska and small island parts) but so is labelling all of Southern Thailand the same. Finally - yes be aware of the risks and make your decisions accordingly and potentially decide to still go but avoid some places. However don't go round scaremongering based on something you clearly know nothing about (also observed by other posters). Enjoy Wakatobi, I'm sure it will be fantastic. <snip> > You however don't appear to know anything about the siutation in > Thailand at all. Yes - avoid the border and in Phuket stay away from > Bangla Rd if you are worried. It is not a matter of being "worried". It is a matter of being aware. As for the rest of your post about "scaremongering" and "not knowing" about Thailand: it's the same Euro-talk about Americans being unaware of the world at large. It's a shame some of you are so narrow minded. You will note that at no time during any of your replies to the OP did you mention some of the activities Thailand has experienced recently. He was entitled....not to your opinion of what is or what is not risky, but of the simple facts of recent violence in Thailand. So long.......... > <snip> > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > Thailand: it's the same Euro-talk about Americans being unaware of the world > at large. It's a shame some of you are so narrow minded. Kettle, black, pot - for a sentence. Many American's do have some idea, many don't. You unfortunately are one of the latter. You think on an island the size of Manhatten 90% is ok but a country the size of Thailand half is dangerous. BTW - look at the relative sizes of Phuket and Manhatten. I'm not narrow minded. The US suffered a tourist drop which was way beyond reasonable after 9/11, you are causing the same issues elsewhere. I didn't think the backlash againt US travel was fair and people like you don't help elsewhere. > You will note that at no time during any of your replies to the OP did you > mention some of the activities Thailand has experienced recently. He was > entitled....not to your opinion of what is or what is not risky, but of the > simple facts of recent violence in Thailand. > > So long.......... Errr - you can't read. Which bit of "avoid Bangla Road" did you miss. That was in reply to you. I tend to assume people are not stupid until proven otherwise. Maybe OP was aware of Thai issues and had made his own decision without idiots like you trying to scare him off. >> <snip> >> [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] >> world >> at large. It's a shame some of you are so narrow minded. Incidentally, I did't post at any time anthing specific to US citzens knowledge of outside affairs. If someone from Manchester was posting about Liverpool then I would defer to their knowledge. If they started posting about Bali I wouldn't. I live in SE Asia you don't, I wouldn't presume to know more than you about Colorado and it's surroundings, might be nice if you showed the same courtesy. > Kettle, black, pot - for a sentence. > [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > proven otherwise. Maybe OP was aware of Thai issues and had made his > own decision without idiots like you trying to scare him off. > Hi All, > > I am off to Phuket after Xmas. Just wondering which organisations/shops you > can recommend? > > Thanks in advance. Where are you staying. There are a number of good places which you pick may depend upon which hotel you are staying at (e.g. near Chalong or Phuket Marina - an extra hour and a half is a pain when doing day trips). If you are doing LOB then of course this doesn't matter much but then get down to budget/destination. On day trips also are you wanting to pay a premium for a speed boat - prob also smaller no of divers and could go to Similans - or good value but still good DMs. Personally I like smaller boats mainly as you avoid the tendency to have 20+ divers on the same site. Depends though, some boats will split up big groups anyway. In short Phuket has loads of operators, it is a very mature market with a lot of reputable firms and a few new ones of varying standards - the crap ones don't last long. Let us know where you are staying and the sort of diving you want to do and we can be a bit more specific. Cheers Simon Thanks for the recommendations so far. I will be staying at Patong Beach Resort and will be looking to do day trips. Similan Islands and Koh Racha Yai. I am a PADI DM but my girlfriend is OW with only a dozen dives. >> Hi All, >> [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > > Simon > Thanks for the recommendations so far. > [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] >> >>Simon No probs. The places Alan recommended should keep you going for local diving. Eurodivers also seemed ok but a lot on the boat. Blue and White have been recommended but haven't dived with them. Warm Water divers also. For Similans I would do a LOB. If you don't want to do that then H20Sportz based at Laguna Phuket have speedboats going from North East of Phuket. About 8 on a fast boat but not the cheapest and may not pick up from Patong. Anyway it may be worth getting a taxi to the Marina or pick up place as time saved compared to boat from Chalong/Patong could be quite a lot. Make sure you go to Elephant Head rock if you go there. Cheers Simon If that's the Thara Patong Beach Resort, you've made a good choice. The hotel is really nice and central and is right across the street from the beach. (Although they tried to make me pay baht 3.500 for a lamp my daughter broke. After a Major Discussion (to put it gently) with the manager, I ended up paying 1.700) I went with DiveAsia, which I think is the largest operator in Phuket. They have tours every day to all the south spots, and LOB to Similan. Guys in charge are all German, and their operation is In Ordnung. Their boats are pretty big, but not luxurious, but then again I didn't see any other fancy boats in the harbour either. If you haven't been there before, I think the Rachas are the best spots in the south. On the King Cruiser wreck, you have to be really lucky to get a good dive - it's in the middle of the open sea, at 30+ meters and most often with currents and resulting muddled water. If you have an OW diver with you, don't go there. (In fact, don't go there anyway.) What I'd really recommend is staying over at Phi Phi Island for a few days. Not only is it a nice place in itself, but being 1,5 hours into the sea from Phuket, you're already close to most of the dive sites. We stayed at the Princess resort, and right at the hotel were the Princess Divers, with their own boat, offering two-dive cruises starting at a comfortable 10am returning at 2pm. You can also reach the Hin Daeng/Muang on a day trip from Phi Phi, which are supposed to be Thailand's best sites outside of the Similan. Good luck. > Thanks for the recommendations so far. > [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > > > > Simon > If that's the Thara Patong Beach Resort, you've made a good choice. The > hotel is really nice and central and is right across the street from the [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > > Good luck. I'll second the recommendation for Phi-Phi. I've done two overnight trips there and wished I could spent three or four days instead of just one night. It's still kind of commercial, but much closer to many good dive sites and it takes a five minutes to get to the dive boat as opposed to the typical 30~60 minute drive from Patong/Karon/Kata to Chalong. >Hi All, > >I am off to Phuket after Xmas. Just wondering which organisations/shops you >can recommend? > >Thanks in advance. West Coast Divers > Hi All, > > I am off to Phuket after Xmas. Just wondering which organisations/shops you > can recommend? I have dived with many Phuket dive companies. There is not much to choose between the best ones which are IMHO:- KonTiki, SeaBees, South East Asia Divers and Dive Asia. Also the KingFisher catamarran for day trips to the Similans and Hin Muang. As Dive Masters move so much the Dive Master on the day will of course have a huge impact on your enjoyment. For teaching Dive Asia is hard to beat. For comfortable fast boat- South East Asia who sometimes have KonTiki sharing with them. The fast boat gives you a few extra precious minutes in bed before pick-up and returns you earlier at the end of the day. It is comfortable too. Sea Bees also have a good boat.E-mail them all for their best prices as you can't go wrong with them. Personally I'd avoid the King Cruiser day-dive which me and my buddies find very dull and often overcrowded while Anemone Reef is beautiful! Hope this helps. Mike Thanks everyone. >> Hi All, >> [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > Hope this helps. > Mike Hi Mike, I am just back from Phuket yesterday. South Siam Divers are the best and I think by far the cheapest, they are the company that run three of the liveaboards at the similans. Whatever you do stay away from Merlin Divers Scuba in Kamala on Phuket, everytime I went into the shop they tried to rip me off. Firstime they tried to charge me 5,900 Baht for a trip advertised in their brochure for 3,800 ( I paid the 3,800 but later found that they were only agents for the South Siam Divers boat which can charge as low as only 2,500 Baht for the same trip). They also shortchanged me when I finally did pay, they also shortchanged a friend of mine who rented some snorkelling gear from them...and they were generally very surly... there is plenty of choice but I would definitely avoid Merlin Divers...check these guys out (link below) http://www.southsiamdivers.com/ convex. > > Hi All, > > [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > Hope this helps. > Mike |
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