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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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jlb
Joined: 18 Sep 2003
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 Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 11:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Just a quick warning about Deep Blue Quest. I had an extremely bad experience with them, as did 2 other people on my same Advanced Open Water Course. I have a coworker who did a rescue course with them and wasn't happy. If you need more details or convincing as to why you shouldn't dive with them, please PM me. |
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Suwon Fish
Joined: 11 Nov 2008
Location: Hongdae
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| Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 8:23 am Post subject: |
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| jlb wrote: |
| Just a quick warning about Deep Blue Quest. I had an extremely bad experience with them, as did 2 other people on my same Advanced Open Water Course. I have a coworker who did a rescue course with them and wasn't happy. If you need more details or convincing as to why you shouldn't dive with them, please PM me. |
Hi JLB...
I would be very interested to hear about the problems you had. I run a different scuba club in Korea.
I can't PM you (don't have 25 mails yet..)
My email is [email protected]
Please get me up to speed |
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LCFrigon
Joined: 25 May 2008
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| Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 11:40 pm Post subject: |
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Hi Everyone,
I have been diving with Deep Blue Quest since May, and am now helping out on tours and volunteering my time as a divemaster. Since May Deep Blue Quest has done over 80 certifications on all different levels and have had positive reviews on 99% of them. Can never please everyone.
As for the experience Jackie had, I was also there for the first day of that weekend, and heard all about the second day. And yes from what I was told by all parties involved it was not a rewarding day and could have been handled better. Everyone has admitted that and learned from it.
By all means, PM her and get her story, and at the same time ask around. You will find many others that, like me, have had nothing but great experiences with DBQ and will continue diving with them and helping out as long as I remain in Korea.
Also feel free to contact me at [email protected] if you wish to know more about diving in Korea or about DBQ
Cheers,
Lorne
www.scubainkorea.com is a great place to find out more about diving in korea. www.deepbluequest.com also has useful infomation on its message board. |
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toowise
Joined: 27 Nov 2008
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| Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 12:49 am Post subject: |
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| save your money and go somewhere that has decent visibility and superior wildlife. Korea sucks as far as scuba goes! |
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diver
Joined: 16 Jun 2003
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Suwon Fish
Joined: 11 Nov 2008
Location: Hongdae
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| Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 9:41 pm Post subject: Suwon Scuba Club |
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I totally second what diver has to say on this! I guess I should throw in my shameless plug for Suwon Scuba Club ^^
www.suwon-scuba.com
I have run over 4 years approaching a hundred dive tours and never had anyone complain about the unique nature of Korean diving. It is MUCH more of and adventure than rolling of a liveaboard in the Bay of Bangkok.
It is a different adventure, but an adventure none the less. Korea is a challenging dive environment, but so far all my divers have stepped up to the plate and enjoyed the it hugely!! |
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chachee99
Joined: 20 Oct 2004
Location: Seoul Korea
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| Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 4:14 am Post subject: |
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Great post.
I went divingin Korea a couple of times. I would have gone more, but the price to do it is very expensive. About 80 dollars a dive. I've finally invested in my own equipment. The price drops a bit in you have your own gear.
I know scuba diving is not a popular here in Korea considering it is surrounded by ocean. However the diving here is actually fairly decent. Remember that Korea is not in a tropical area such as Thailand or the Philippines so the aqautic life is different. However, over all decent. The visiblilty is not quite as good either, but for an open water certificatioon level experience people will not be disappointed.
Right now I want to do my dive master certificate and finding a master instructor with English to train me is difficult. Any suggestions? |
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diver
Joined: 16 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 4:33 am Post subject: |
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| chachee99 wrote: |
Great post.
I went divingin Korea a couple of times. I would have gone more, but the price to do it is very expensive. About 80 dollars a dive. I've finally invested in my own equipment. The price drops a bit in you have your own gear.
I know scuba diving is not a popular here in Korea considering it is surrounded by ocean. However the diving here is actually fairly decent. Remember that Korea is not in a tropical area such as Thailand or the Philippines so the aqautic life is different. However, over all decent. The visiblilty is not quite as good either, but for an open water certificatioon level experience people will not be disappointed.
Right now I want to do my dive master certificate and finding a master instructor with English to train me is difficult. Any suggestions? |
You can do your DM with Deep Blue Quest or Big Blue 33.
Re: the price of diving in Korea. It's just a different economy. There's not too much you can do about that,unfortunately. 
Jeju is "sub-tropical", so you get a good mix of cold water and warm water marine life. I've seen stingrays, lionfish, frog fish, clown fish, groupers, nudibranchs...all stuff I've seen in the Philippines, Thailand or the Great Barrier Reef. You'll also get octopi, squid, HUGE (and I mean huge) schools of anchovies, damselfish, butterfly fish, angelfish. Turtles and sharks have been spotted (but they are rare). Little Munseom (just off of Seogwipo) is as colorful as anything I've seen in the Philippines, Thailand or Australia.
I've done some nice dives off the East coast. Not as colorful as Jeju, but still a lot of soft corals. The wrecks off the East coast are interesting as well.
I haven't been to Geumon-do or Goje-do off of the South coast, but I have heard very good things. I have been diving off of Sangju (Namhae City). While it wasn't very colorful, the ottom as covered with huge boulders that made for lots of interesting canyons and swim-throughs. It was a lot of fun.
BTW, re: Deep Blue Quest - I've dealt with them for several years now. I know the guy that runs it, and we have worked together several times on a professional level. I've always found him to be switched on, professional and courteous. I have also gone along on a Deep Blue Quest tour as a customer and had a blast. Everything was taken care of; transportation, hotels, food. The food was great, the hotel was decent as well, and the price was pretty good.
What some people might not know is that when dive shops/clubs in Korea organize tours, a lot of them have to use shops that are based at the dive site. You may book with a club in Seoul (Korean or foreign) and then travel to the coast for the diving. Even though you may get your equipment from your club/shop in Seoul, usually things like tanks (and fills), weight belts, boats and all on-site" logistics are handled by the shop at the dive site. Sometimes these shops are great, and sometimes they are not-so-great. Problems that occur are not always the fault of the club or shop that you booked with. |
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sojusucks
Joined: 31 May 2008
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| Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 11:42 pm Post subject: |
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I have seen some descent sites in Korea but nothing that you would find in tropical locations. It's not bad for training though.
I have emailed Deep Blue Quest several times only to be answered once. I guess they have enough customers that they don't want more. Most people would consider that unprofessional.
I have also tried Aquatic Frontier. The individuals that I've talked to were fairly dissapointed and said that they were overcharged.
I have heard descent things about wetROKsdiving and BigBlue33 in Jeju. I haven't heard anything about the place in Suwon yet.
I hope this helps everyone. |
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diver
Joined: 16 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 12:02 am Post subject: |
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| sojusucks wrote: |
| I have seen some descent sites in Korea but nothing that you would find in tropical locations. It's not bad for training though. |
And you find things here that you don't find in tropical locations. Again, the wall at Little Munseom is the most colorful thing I've seen underwater (this includes the Philippines -where I worked as a pro diver, Thailand, Great Barrier Reef).
Not bad for training? Korea is great for training. Once again, the conditions here are more challenging than say Thailand or the Philippines, which means that Korea trained divers are more prepared for different dive conditions upon certification.
In my experience, the people who say "Korea sucks for scuba" tend to be Thai (or similar)-trained divers that have maybe ten (if they're lucky) dives under their belts and think they know it all. Then they get to Korea, find that *they* aren't prepared for the conditions here and conclude that it must be *Korea* that sucks. It's like picking up a Gibson Les Paul, trying to play the solo from Rock 'n'Roll and upon flubbing it conclude that Gibson Les Pauls are horrible guitars. I hate to be harsh, but when I am guiding divers in Korea that were trained in tropical locations, I find that quite often they have to be treated almost as student divers. And that's fine. Anyone who has taken an open water course knows that the course stresses that upon completion you are certified to dive in conditions similar to those you trained in, and are encouraged to seek additional training if attempting to dive in more challenging conditions - or AT LEAST get a check-out dive with a professional dive instructor.
Now, the diving in Korea may not be for everyone, and that's fair, but it doesn't suck. I don't really like cold water diving myself. If it's cold enough to wear a dry suit, then its hockey season anyway and the dive gear goes away and the hockey gear comes out  . But I think you have to make a distinction between personal preference and an honest assessment of the dive conditions here. As an analogy, I don't like opera, but that doesn't mean that Pavarotti sucked.
Soju Sucks and TooWise - just curious...whats your certification level, where have you dived in Korea, and how many logged dives do you have? |
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toowise
Joined: 27 Nov 2008
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| Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 2:37 am Post subject: |
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over 100 dives under my belt, cold water arctic dives, tropical dives and I found Korea to be among the worst sites for dives. Poor visibility, cold water, limited wildlife, perhaps I had a poor guide?
did a dozen dives in Korea and wasnt impressed with any of them! |
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toowise
Joined: 27 Nov 2008
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| Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 2:38 am Post subject: |
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| rescue certification btw |
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diver
Joined: 16 Jun 2003
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Suwon Fish
Joined: 11 Nov 2008
Location: Hongdae
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| Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 8:00 am Post subject: |
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Some great pics Diver! Thanks for putting them up and taking my mind of this freezing weather ^^
Diving per se is not that expensive in Korea. What is expensive is that 90% of folks who want to dive live on the wrong side of the country (me included).
Most of the money is lost in transport, hotels (Western style is expensive) and a party on Saturday (some clubs do this). Equipment has to be bought, it can't be hired, and that is also a chunk of change.
For my guys, the road trip, swanky hotel and party add to the weekend. I kinda figure the WHOLE weekend is the adventure I provide, not just the dives.
But as Chachee said, diving plus all the admin does work out expensive...
If you love diving you bite the bullet. Not many folks in the real world can brag about having logged Korean dive time! |
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wylies99
Joined: 13 May 2006
Location: I'm one cool cat!
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| Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 4:03 pm Post subject: |
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What is expensive is that 90% of folks who want to dive live on the wrong side of the country (me included).
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Wrong side? |
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