Can you guys tell me where might be the best place on earth to learn to dive with the potential for seeing the best marine life? I am not too bothered about cost and would rather do it somewhere safe than a cheap country with little regard for safety.
Somewhere in Asia would be good location wise or even Australia? Thanks
Hi Jasper,
My name is Michael i am a divemaster in thailand on a little island called Koh Samed, or Samet depends who you talk to. Its just 4 hours from bangkok the closest island to the capital. The diving here is very good for first time divers and gives a great oppertunity to learn. Very often we have people come to train as PADI Open Water Divers and very often those people are lucky enough to have a one on one training experience with the dive instructor Mr Mong. This gives you a safer and more in depth diving experience than most dive centres where you can dive with anywhere from 4 to 10 students per instructor. This also makes your training far more personal and allows Mr Mong to specify your training to you and your weaker areas, instead of just doing whats best for the group (4-10 people). For any more info please email me at luurts@hotmail.co.uk or follow links for scuba diving on www.samedresorts.com. Any questions at all just send them my way,
thank you,
michael
Samed Scuba has been running in its present location since 2000 and holds a 100% safety record, a record the team at Samed Scuba are very proud of.
hi there,
I would go to puerto galera in the philippines...great place, loads of fun, superb diving and easy to get to...and cheap. If you´re coming from europe, oasis hong kong have return flights outta london for about 550e return...then its just a short and cheap hop to manila...
if you want more info let me know...
cheers,
Ferg
There are probably lots of places that would fit the bill, jasper007, but I would agree with fergaldo that Puerto Galera is an excellent choice. It's amazingly cheap, but there are several very reputable dive shops there and the area is perfect for a beginner, with plenty of very easy, but excellent dives. I spent a week diving there shortly after I was certified and it was a great place to get a bunch of dives under my belt.
I don't know if Central America/the Carribbean is up your alley, but the Bay Islands of Honduras are a great place to learn to dive. The island of Utila was once the cheapest place in the world to learn to dive. With all the attention drawn to the island, I know that it's no longer the+ cheapest but definitely +amongst the cheapest. But don't worry... the price you pay does not reflect the quality of instruction at all. Utila is accessed by ferry from the port town of La Ceiba (I think around 3 hours from the main international airport in San Pedro Sula). I think you can fly directly there too.
The island is quite a bit of fun too... a real "diving island"... everyone there works for a dive shop or is there taking dive classes. Lots of cool restaurants and bars... mostly English spoken. Most of the dive shops include free accomodations (dorm style) while you're taking classes. You can upgrade quite cheaply to private rooms or even luxurious accomodations.
We went with Utila Dive Centre. We had a great experience and loved our instructor. The dive shops are so large that they can basically run courses to suit your schedule. Utila Dive Centre had fun bbq nights and provided free accomodations at a really nice hotel that had a great pool. I heard from many others that they were also really impressed with other dive shops.
Utila is home to migrating whale sharks (harder to spot these days... but they were seen while we were there). There are lots of other great things to see too. I would highly recommend it.
just don't go to Thailand. it is over dived by inexperienced, careless divers. I was certified in S Africa for about US$100 and got to swim with a grip of ragged tooth sharks. mozambique's conditions for diving are much much easier to learn on and the water is crystal and you're nearly guaranteed to see mantas and whale sharks. tofo beach is easy to get to from S africa. enjoy yourself!
"just don't go to Thailand. it is over dived by inexperienced, careless divers."
Really depends on where in Thailand you are referring to.
The OP is a bit confusing. The title asks for the cheapest place on earth whilst the thread content asks for precisely the opposite.
Anyway I reckon Puerto Galera, Philippines.
Great place, plenty of diveshops to choose from, cheap dives. Plus there it's very convenient in that PG is very close to Manila where you would probably fly into and almost all of PG's dive sites are within a few minutes boat ride.
There is plenty of fish diversity plus nudis and pygmy seahorses. You're very unlikely to see any sharks/rays though (except the odd shark in 1 particular cave) so it depends what floats your boat.
PM me if you need any recommendations for diving/accomodation in PG.
There is good training,
good diving,
and cheap diving.
You can have the first in combination with either good or cheap diving.
Good training and cheap diving: You learn from the weekend instructor at your local varsity or club. Your instructor has done this countless times with other newbies and has all the time you need. The course is cheap.
Downside: You will do your OW dives in the local quarry.
Highlights will be the telephone booth, the bicycle, three shopping trolleys and a gum boot and the flask with hot chocolate after the dive.
Then you get good training and stunning diving in countless locations all around the globe. Not cheap to get to and to stay there :(
Exceptions are possible if you happen to live in or very close to a place that has good diving (like me).