Best place to learn in SEA

Have you thought about East Timor? Its a great country which is kinda quirky at the moment with the UN presence.

The diving is great coz its unspoilt, no mass fishing, dynamite or cyanide fishing. The coral is pristine and we have very few divers during the week so you are likely to have one to one instruction or max one to four.

The country is also beautiful, imagine Indonesia 20 years ago!

Check out www.divetimor.com, we are the longest established PADI dive centre and we are owned and managed by PADI Master Scuba Dive Instructors. Any info on the diving or the country please email me on marianne@divetimor.com

PS: I had a dugong playing with me for 15 mins today, very happy!

Sorry just to Add December. Rainy season starts in jan until march

TimorDiver

Of course I'm gonna push for diving here in the Philippines ;) We had our open water certification in December, and the water's fine while being cooler. March would be much warmer, but the water should be just as nice. Visibility would be better in summer though, so that's March :) Either way, it's fine.

Should you decide to come over, don't hesitate to get in touch with me. I'd be happy to introduce you to fellow divers and a good instructor :)

Hi,

One of my all time best places to dive would be Sipodan. It's a very clean 5 star Padi lodge off of Malaysia. Google it. i hope that helps.

Regards

Dave

Thanks for all the info everyone. Dave, is Malaysia good to dive in March?

With all due respect to Dave, it sounds to me as if he visited Sipadan quite some time ago and is basing his advice on outdated information. To begin with, there are no longer any dive ops on Sipadan island proper as it has been designated a protected area by the Malaysian government and all commercial establishments were made to move off the island. Secondly, at one time there was just one op out there--Borneo Divers--whereas now there are many ops that dive the area, located on Mabul island, on Kapalai sand banks and at the town of Semporna on the main island of Borneo.

IMO, Sipadan is a wonderful place to go dive, but it may be a bit too "rich" for a beginning student. It's an expensive place to go to dive, and student divers don't get to dive the really interesting sites. Because a certification course takes about 4 days to complete, you would be spending a great deal of money to dive just the sandy house reef.

Malaysia is home to many other, more appropriate, dive destinations for beginning divers, but these are mostly found on the east coast of the peninsular mainland, and they begin to open for business in March after the annual northeast monsoon season ends. For a new diver wanting to go to Malaysia at that time of year, I'd recommend one of the islands of the Terengganu Marine Park, such as Redang or Perhentians. The water is warm, the people are friendly, and the landscape is lovely.

I have to agree with quero. Sipidan is a fantastic place to dive and I went with Borneo Divers when they were still on the island, but to learn to dive there wouldn't be my recommendation. It is expensive to get to and much more appreciated as an experienced diver so you can really get to see the wonderful dive sights.

No reflection whatsoever on Borneo Divers training as my friend did her advanced course there and was very pleased with them.

TimorDiver

Quero----- timordiver

Yes it was Borneo Divers with the turtle logo 1996. I was in Truk for a week then went there. Sorry jhyum that was one of my favorite spots. When did you guys last dive Borneo? I know when i was there the fisherman where using dynamite instead of fishing nets the must of made sand out of the reefs.....Bummer. March would have been fine!

Regards

Dave

You could also think about souther Japan. Okinawa is a great place to dive and very safe for a single female traveler. Dec the water is still warm and the diving is quite good. March is a bit more chilly water temp down to 22 -23 or so but still great diving. We have awesome coral, sharks, mantas and crystal clear water.