where? Perferably Taipei… Thanks!!
You should contact the poster “komododiver”.
[url]Want to be a scuba professional before summer? non-profit offer
thanks! Is he a poster here? I am new!
Sorry, my link doesn’t work.
komododiver made a couple of posts late last year. Go to the top right of the Forumosa page, click “Search” then type komododragon in the top right field just to the right of “search query”
cool! I see now, I will contact him. Thank
millions!
Can anyone recommend a company/instructor that gives lessons in English? I want to be certified/licensed, I mean. It can be anywhere in Taiwan.
I think I could handle things in Mandarin and written Chinese (there’s a test, right?), but I would definitely prefer for everything to be in English.
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Bump.
I guess there’s no written test. So Mandarin should be fine. I am now thinking of doing the course at a place affiliated with Nangang Sports Center where they have that 5m pool for the lessons. Then you head to ocean for the open water part of the course.
Can anybody recommend a place? Any comments would be appreciated as I’m new to this.
I’d also like to know if there are any English options that people know of, I’m going to go with a non-mandarin-speaking friend and get certified on orchid island, green island, or kenting.
I know it’s possible on Green Island. I’ll provide contact details later. When asking instructors during a chance encounter, they asked if we needed English or Mandarin. We answered Mandarin should be okay. So there’s some English certification available. Let me see if I can find their contact information.
You can also contact Eddie:
http://www.greenislandadventures.com/packages.htm
Maybe you can get the whole package through him, as a matter of fact. We got our travel (no scuba diving lessons) on our last visit to Green Island. Very good deal and he’s a great guy. From South Africa, I believe, and so communication is no problem.
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PADI does both in Taiwan. Most of it is now put online anyways.
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You mean English and Mandarin? But much of the instruction is with the guy/gal in or next to a pool explaining things, isn’t it? I wouldn’t want that in a language I didn’t understand.
I noticed that. I guess I’ll go to an actual PADI place, then, where I’m sure the fee includes access to their online material all in English. I saw two or three around Nangang Sports Center.
If you read the manuals and you watch the instructor carefully, watch videos online, much is pretty straight forward. The instructor with eventually an assistant will help you ‘hands-on’. It’s not like they just throw you in the deep. There are a few dual-language PADI instructors. I used to be one (PADI instructor) but haven’t paid my PADI instructor fees for some years now, so I can not certify.
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Pioneer dive shop is next to Long Dong Bay on the NE Coast.
Nice guy, Ken or one of his Dive Instructors can hook you up. The Bay is a good place to get started too…better than a pool. Most of them speak English.
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We did end up going to Long Dong. Different company but I was satisfied.
It was just spectacular. I just couldn’t get enough of it. Even got scolded by the instructor as I strayed a little from the group in my excitement looking at everything.
So I’ve got my padi open water certificate. Green Island next month.
I may try the guy you recommended. It would be nice going to a shop right there where you dive.
It’s great. LD Bay is small, but there’s enough there to build your skills.
As for Green Island…OK…it’s good. Orchid is better imho. Orchid will show you blue water like out of a movie.
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I recommend this person as a hugely qualified scuba instructor in Taiwan, from the uk
Andy Gray at divingintaiwan@yahoo.com.tw
or Line ID: divetaiwan
Hope this helps. Thanks.
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My wife did the try scuba diving without certification at 龍洞. An instructor takes you down so you can try it and see if you like it. It was good fun, but I’m happy whenever I get near the ocean. We used these guys:
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I got certified in January 1986. Since then I try to do a couple hundred dives a year. So many great diving spots in SEA. Philippines has very good diving and is quite cheap to stay and dive for a week or two.
Bali cheap to stay but dives cost nearly double what you pay in Philippines. I’m off to Maldives for some shark diving in November.
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I’ve read some of your posts on the topic. The next step is to get my son certified. My daughter and I got certified 4 years ago. She enjoys it but not overly so. My son loves the ocean like me. But he’s only 12. He’s old enough (I think you can start with a course when you’re 10, but you can only go down to around 12 meters). So next spring, we’ll get him certified, and then we can go to different spots together.
My son got certified after he finished his undergrad degree. We went on a father son vacation to Philippines and he did his course then another several days of diving with me. Since then he’s gone on to dive in Hawaii and several other nice places. I will go visit him in Sydney next year probably January and do some diving with him again there.
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