I did my divemaster training with Sawasdee in 2017. I did not write anything before now as I know many of the dive operations in Ao Nang and was conflicted about airing grievances in public. Instruction was good but minimal. The boat is expensive and Sawasdee don't have their own, nor do they ever visit the local islands, so I was only taken on a few dives. One day, I was asked to come out and told, once I had got on the boat with my gear, that I was instead babysitting a client's children while the parents dived. I was told this was part of my course. It is not. There was no chance I would be diving that day and no reason to allow your DMT to bring her gear unless you are tricking her into free labour. I'm a teacher by the way. This brings me to the main issue: the owner, Jann, is a slippery liar who will remember to tell clients he has a teacher on staff who can mind their children, but forget to mention this to the teacher. The issue I'm still sore about today though is an actual THEFT. Jann offered to service my regulator unprompted. Stupidly, I gave my Apeks regulator to him and it came back sporting gauges from some cheap Thai brand. He gave me a story about them not having the right rubber housing or something.
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I did my divemaster training with Sawasdee in 2017. I did not write anything before now as I know many of the dive operations in Ao Nang and was conflicted about airing grievances in public. Instruction was good but minimal. The boat is expensive and Sawasdee don't have their own, nor do they ever visit the local islands, so I was only taken on a few dives. One day, I was asked to come out and told, once I had got on the boat with my gear, that I was instead babysitting a client's children while the parents dived. I was told this was part of my course. It is not. There was no chance I would be diving that day and no reason to allow your DMT to bring her gear unless you are tricking her into free labour. I'm a teacher by the way. This brings me to the main issue: the owner, Jann, is a slippery liar who will remember to tell clients he has a teacher on staff who can mind their children, but forget to mention this to the teacher. The issue I'm still sore about today though is an actual THEFT. Jann offered to service my regulator unprompted. Stupidly, I gave my Apeks regulator to him and it came back sporting gauges from some cheap Thai brand. He gave me a story about them not having the right rubber housing or something.