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Scuba Diving Internships FAQ's - Page 6 Scuba diving internship frequently asked questions continued. Please do also feel free to mail me personally any time for expansion on these answers and answer any further questions that you have. Dive Internship FAQ's - Page 1 - Page 2 - Page 3 - Page 4 - Page 5 - Page 6
Q. I only speak English - is this a problem? A. Mermaids dive center offers courses in the English, Thai, Dutch, German, French, Russian and Japanese languages above but in excess of 95% of our students are native English speakers. The majority of our dive staff are native English speaking also. Having more than one mainstream language will be an advantage as a dive professional but is not essential. It can be the stipulation for a few dive job postings but not the majority. Many divers including myself have built successful dive careers but only speak 1 language. It really comes down to professionalism.
Q. Are the study materials all in English or do you have other languages for the programs? A. We have Japanese, Dutch, English, Russian, German, French and Thai speaking dive instructors and the programs can be taken in any of these languages. Full materials such as the PADI manuals and training aids will be supplied in the language of your choice.
Q. What about Insurance, hospital facilities and the local recompression chamber? A. For health insurance I would suggest an international medical package through BUPA (Bupa.com) or any other reputable company. I know of many people that opt just for the travel insurance that gives you minimal accident insurance - that's their choice. Another good resource that I came across is Activesure.co.uk - they seem pretty good and all round. As for scuba diving insurance I would wait until you come here in order not to waste any of your policy time and also you'll have a better idea of what policy is best for you. Please note that diver insurance is not mandatory in Thailand as it is in many other countries. Dive insurance can be checked out at Horsell.com - this is PADI's official insurance broker but other diving insurance can be sought at Diversalertnetwork.org - or DAN for short. Many people find the DAN plans more comprehensive - DAN are very much an industry standard and their diving insurance policies need to be held to gain dive work in certain countries such as Australia. Please note that diving insurance is NOT expensive. Try the South East Asia-Pacific site - Danseap.org - a couple of other dive travel and dive equipment and general travel insurance companies to check are Dive-master.net & Scubasure.com & Buddyindepth.co.uk PLEASE NOTE: For insurance - if you are looking at independent dive insurance or personal accident insurance coverage then the insurance company will more than likely ask you how many dives you will be making below 30 meters. You might make a couple of dives below this depth for dive training but the majority (99%) of your diving will be 30 meters or less. Recently I came across Dogtag.co.uk which seem to have excellent travel insurance coverage with Scuba insurance all in one. Very reasonable rates also. For UK citizens only so I believe... Pattaya's hospital facilities are absolutely superb. The Bangkok Pattaya hospital is probably the most advanced around in general. You'd be amazed at the care here and the cleanliness of the facilities. Every time I have ever been for a scrape or knock etc the treatment has never been anything but superb. Many (most) of the doctors and nurses have had western education and foreign training. Check out Bangkok Pattaya Hospital to see the quality of service. The nearest facilities (re-compression chamber) are in Pattaya. This is a single chamber. Sattahip naval base which is 45 minutes from Pattaya by road has extensive facilities. During the Divemaster internship - interns are given an assignment to plan and ensure the fastest and safest emergency plan for recompression / decompression sickness. We have this plan and all necessary telephone and response numbers etc but it's the Dive masters job to clarify all data etc and add to it. Helicopter assistance can take 15 minutes to the re-compression chamber. Bare in mind that we run these courses daily - we've an awful lot of experience in "dummy runs" to the chamber - believe me we know the drills inside out and upside down. Mermaids makes visits to the diver Re-compression chamber in Sattahip on a regular basis. We like you to have a full understanding of as much as possible. Check one of our Recompression chambers trips here.
A. Yes indeed this is possible and sadly we see this quite often. Mermaids have been operating the scuba internships as a package since 1999 and believe me we had teething problems when we started. The logistics involved in running a 3 - 6 month++ program is not like running a 4 day PADI open water course. We held weekly intern open forums and listened to all suggestions and implemented all that were of use. We did have problems with logistics and this caused problems - I can now say that we have EVERYTHING in place to allow us to run the internships (our main business) VERY smoothly indeed (please ask for references). Unfortunately there are a fair few scuba dive companies offering the internships now that have literally just started this year. Promises of guaranteed dive jobs, free courses, lower prices, new equipment, un-limited diving etc are all there but when the intern attends there are a few "additional surprises" of payments etc. As the dive company is still in the teething stage - this is not good for the intern. In time they will get it right but for the time being the intern 10,000 kilometers away asking questions by email will never know about their dive operation. A good way to avoid being sold a package that is not all that it states is to request dive interns contact details so that you can speak with the divers directly. Please also check with PADI the status of the dive center that you are enquiring with. If you find that the dive program that you have enrolled in does not fulfill the promises that you have been made by email. Then please feel free to contact us. We cannot pay for their errors but you should have at least gleaned materials and equipment from them. We have had quite a number of guys and gals that have come to us from other operators that decided that they were to charge for air fills, offer 2nd hand equipment, have NO guaranteed dive job for them etc - we can continue the training from any point that you wish to switch. please do email me for details of discounts - i.e. if you have all of the manuals and equipment etc then our costs are lower. 25th September 2005 - By the way - we have just been contacted by an intern that specifically joined another company in Southern Thailand for the reason of the "guaranteed scuba job". On starting he realized that this was a sneaky marketing ploy - he is not able to get all of his funds refunded (He'll lose about $2000 sadly). Please do check all companies 100% but also as yourself why anyone would "GUARANTEE dive work" to someone that they have never met when there are plenty of already qualified good and hard working instructors here that can work. If you owned a dairy farm - I bet you'd not been offer a job to a milkman without seeing him first! Why would they offer these diver jobs and then not give them? Sales is the simple answer. Mermaids do not guarantee dive work but guarantee the very best opportunity from any program to gain scuba diving work with our exclusive partnership with Diversjobs.com. Divers jobs like any work will go to the best and the most pro-active and well trained applicants.
A. Having a mobile phone here in Pattaya, Thailand is a great idea for many reasons. Family can stay in touch, communicate with friends here and be ready for that call from a dive employer:) If you do not own a mobile phone then 'pay as you go' phones can be purchased here for 3000 baht (approx $75) upwards. There are two main Thai phone service providers of service being DTAC and AIS (Advanced Info Services). AIS have a good service called "One to Call" and this is very popular with all of our dive students. There are discounted international calls with a code that is entered prior to the international number that you are dialing. Top up credits come in 50,100,300 and 500 Thai baht packages and are very easy to enter into the phone. If you already own a mobile phone then the Thai SIM card for the 'Pay As You Go' phone system can be purchased here for approximately 200 - 500 baht. The phone coverage is very high and no matter where you are traveling in Pattaya, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Koh Kood, Bangkok or even Samui - you'll be able to stay in touch.
Q. I like to use the Gym - does Pattaya have fitness centers or a gymnasium? A. You need not worry - all of your fitness and health aspirations can be lived here. Pattaya and Jomtien have many local gyms of various quality. The best currently is the Tony's Gym. This has excellent cardio and weights. Tennis courts, squash and a pool. Sauna and steam rooms, aerobics and martial arts and much more. The cost of Gyms Pattaya are very inexpensive indeed. There are daily rates, weekly and monthly to most of the gymnasiums in Pattaya.
Dive Internship FAQ's - Page 1 - Page 2 - Page 3 - Page 4 - Page 5 - Page 6 |
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