As with a lot of travellers I met I did a bit of SCUBA diving, and became hooked. I've dived in the Gili Islands, Thailand (Phi Phi and Koh Tao) and Malaysia. My first experience of SCUBA diving was years ago in the Dominican Republic and loved it then, but didn't have the time or money to continue with it. I believe that everyone needs to give SCUBA diving a go even if they don't like it, at least you'll have tried as there is more to see under the water (in this blogger's opinion) than there is above it. So here are the places I've dived and details of the courses I did and with who:
The Gili Islands
The Gili Islands are just off the north west coast of Lombok, the next island east of Bali. They are 3 tropical paradises, with Gili T being the biggest and full of dive centres. All the centres will offer dive course and room packages and it's worth shopping around on the island for a good deal. I did my Padi Open Water course here with a company called Big Bubble who have multi lingual staff and are excellent teachers. The dive sites they visit are beautiful and the visibility of the water is like crystal.
The Perhentian Islands
The Perhentian Islands are 2 islands off the north east coast of Malaysia and are know for being a diving mecca by locals and tourists alike. I made a beeline for here when I was away and found a great little place called Matahari Divers. The islands are named in Malay and translate as Big Island and Little Island and you'll want to head for Long Beach on the little one if you want to save money. Matahari are the ones that offer the best dive and room package in relation to the quality of the rooms (which is good). This is where I did my PADI Advanced Open Water course and it has some of the best dive sites in the world. The Advanced Open Water course is a lot more fun that the first Open Water course and just lets you pick 5 types of dive you would like to do, ie underwater photography, buoyancy, wreck diving etc.
Koh Tao
Koh Tao is a beautiful island, but where SCUBA diving is concerned it's basically a factory churning out divers in huge numbers. I did my PADI Rescue Diver course with a company called Big Blue and I was lucky as it's not a course a great many people do so it was just myself and one girl with the instructor. But if you're thinking about doing your Open Water or Advanced Open Water here you will be in a crowded group. Saying that, Koh tao is known as being the cheapest place in the world to dive if you can haggle the right bargain and has some amazing beautiful sites to see. My Rescue Diver course involved a lot of role play and was great fun, but is very hard work as well both physically and mentally, but by the time you finish the course this leaves you with a great sense of accomplishment.
Koh Phi Phi
Phi Phi is a place where people go to party so I had to stay in on my first night to make sure I got to the dive shop for 7:30am the next morning to go diving. I'm so glad I did as this was my favourite place of all to dive, visibility was clear, we saw turtles, sharks and did a really good deep dive. On Phi Phi all the dive shops have thier prices fixed by the local maffia which is great for a tourist as you just need to decide which bunch of staff you like the best and book up there. I went with Viking Divers and it was just myself and the Dive Master which meant I got to decide on all the places we went. Also the boats were in good condition and the staff were friendly which made it a really enjoyable dive. We even went and sat in Maya Bay (where they filmed The Beach) and got to see if before all the tourists arrived and swamped the view.
I love diving and will always look for a dive shop now when ever I'm in a tropical destination. Most people I've met have done their PADI Open Water Course and stopped there, but I always try and ecourage people to try the next step up, the PADI Advanced Open Water. If you think you can see things that are amazing at 18 meters, just wait until you get down to 30 meters, it's a completely different place under the water and is another adventurous world to go traveling in, after all that's what we're all looking for right?
--
The above guest post was written by Philip Green. You can view Philip's blog here or visit his Facebook Fan Page!
6 comments:
wow, but better u go to indonesia. there are alot of diving spot. Try it. Karimun jawa, BUnaken, Raja Ampat, Komodo island. No offence. XoXo
Howdy
I love this work in your forum,I do not know if you are into Poker Online, I wrote this topic to see if there is somebody that can give me a hand, cause I found a free poker money bonus on http://www.betraiser5freenodepositbonus.pokersemdeposito.com/ with 5 free for Betraiser the thing is I do not know where to start playing ! cash game or tournments? wath should I Play and wath stakes?Cause I don´t understand much Pokerstrategy!
stay well
Terrific work! This is the type of information that should be shared around the web. Shame on the search engines for not positioning this post higher!
It’s really a nice and helpful piece of information. I’m glad that you shared this helpful info with us. Please keep us informed like this. Thanks for sharing.
This is such a great resource that you are providing and you give it away for free. I enjoy seeing websites that understand the value of providing a prime resource for free. I truly loved reading your post. Thanks!
Beneficial info and excellent design you got here! I want to thank you for sharing your ideas and putting the time into the stuff you publish! Great work!
Post a Comment