I may not have been diving for long, in fact less than a year, but I know I want to take it further than just a recreational diver.. I may not want to go down the professional path because I really want to dive for the fun of diving..
I have dived in Bali and Phuket in recent months, and these are diving trips, meaning to say the entire trip is for diving only, and taking into account arrival (and enough time to rest) and post-day for buffer.. Do you know you are NOT ALLOWED to fly within the first 24 hours after diving?
No, seriously.. You must allow at least 24 hours after diving before you can get on a plane.. This is all due to the altitude, pressure and the nitrogen in your body.. I won't go so much into the explanation as to this though..
Anyway, how do I choose who to dive with?
LICENSED AND RECOGNISED
First of all, it is imperative they are licensed and recognised dive centers.. It can be a PADI center, a SSI center, the two most popular ones and many others, but it must be one that is recognised.. I double-checked the dive center's registration with the certification agencies to verify that..
REPUTATION
Next, I turn to reviews like TripAdvisor as I always do.. I don't take all reviews on the face value, but rather a percentage of times when they do well vs not so well.. An average sum number tells me more if I should proceed..
OFFERINGS AND COSTS
After narrowing to like a few centers, I then check out their website.. If they don't have a website or one that is professionally built, I'll skip.. It's 2020, and it's not ok not to have a website, or even one that isn't informative enough..
Offerings and costs must be transparent - what is included and what is not.. expectations of a dive, and dive sites..
I learnt that in South East Asia (like Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines), a divemaster or diveguide is usually included and comes diving with you.. However that is not always the case, such as in Australia or even the US, so do check..
One advise that I carry with me, if it sounds too good to be true, dig deeper.
If after comparing a few different operators and one is particularly cheaper, I will dig deeper where is the difference..
Once I have established all that, I proceed to contact the operator.. I never use the online booking tool, because I want to see how they reply to my email, from there it tells me a lot about their business..
So far I have been okay..
The operators I chose to dive with in Phuket and Bali were great.. I have no doubt on recommending them to others, and I have no hesitation to go back to dive with them again..
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| Bali - Manta-Manta Diving Bali, run by Stuart and Simon. |
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| Phuket - Sirolo Dive. They have their own vessel and a big team. |
I'm sure there are plenty others which are recommended as well, but without me having tried them, I can't personally vouch for them..
As for diving center in Malaysia, I would recommend B&J Dive Tioman, located in Kampung ABC Air Batang, Tioman.. They are a 5-Star PADI IDC (Instructor Development Center) with their own pool in Tioman for confined pool..
Also equipped with a dorm and some more luxury hotel rooms..Also have their own bar..
Others are Scuba Dobedo, Mobitek, among others I know from friends..
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