My husband and I are thinking about getting scuba certified for our upcoming trip to Thailand (end of March).

Does anyone have any good information on reputable places that do that in Phuket?

How is the scuba diving in Phuket and PhiPhi currently (post tsunami)? I it worth it or is snorkeling good enough?

How long does it take to get certified? We will be in Phuket for 5 days and PhiPhi for 3-4 days, and then Krabi for 2-3 days.

Thanks a ton!

It is going to be much easier to at least do the class work and the pool dives before you go to Phuket,IMO. Then when you get there you can just do your check out open water dives with the instructor. Or if your resort offers it you could do a resort dive class, where you wouldnt get actually certified but would be able to dive with the Divemaster, some people did that when we were in Koh Chang last november. Since you are going at the end of March you still have time to get hooked up with a school near you and do the class stuff, becs if it was me i wouldnt want to be in class while im on vacation

good point on the class issue!

I wonder how different the dives are with the divemaster as opposed to doing your own thing once you are certified. This isn't a trip based on scuba diving, so we'd probably only go once maybe twice.

Any thoughts on that?

I agree with travelduo, do your class work and pool work at home and your open water dives when you get there. I have not dove in Thailand, but plan to in April, but have done a lot of travel diving. I think that unless you plan to dive quite a bit in a spot, its better to go with a divemaster since they typically know the cool spots, where the fun fish hang out, and things like that.

good call puck021 about the divemaster.
I will post an report of the diving (if we do it) hopefully before your trip there in April.
Have you heard of any good dive companies in Phuket?

If its not going to be a trip that is focused on diving, then i would do the resort dive with the divemaster. My wife and i have dove a lot of places and Thailand was not one of our favorites, that being said you are going to be far away from where we were so it might be different. You might want to post something and ask JamesA about diving in Phuket. Maybe a good idea would be to snorkel one day and dive another?

For what its worth, I am not a fan of resort courses for diving. I know a ton of people do them, but diving is inherantly a dangerous acticity and I think that you owe it to yourself to be as trained as possible, since you never know when something is going to go wrong. I can't imagine how much I would be kicking myself if I had to spend 3 days in a decompression chamber to save the two days of classes and $250 for full training before I left home. Also, your first open water dive is cool, but a little scary, having good training will let you enjoy it more.

Just my opinion. Also, I am still looking for a good dive center in Phuket, but have not nailed anything down yet.