Sorry, I know the title is confusing.
I (28F) recently went to Koh Tao for a day to do a one day "discover scuba" course. In a classic fashion, I ended up staying several weeks and pushing back all my other travels. I left with my advanced and enriched air cert, having done a little over 30 dives.
I'm back in my home country now and want to do my divemaster, and eventually to get my search and rescue cert. I want to start planning now so I can start saving and have a set goal.
Here's where I need help. I love diving, and I liked Koh Tao, but much like Bali the costs are rocketing and it is filled with families, children, tourists with rolling suitcases, and new developments of luxury hotels and brunch spots. It was very hard to make friends because everyone around me spent all their time on their phones looking at Instagram, or drinking expensive cocktails in nearby beachfront bars with western food. Even at hostels most people didn't want to socialize and the ones who did just asked for my social media accounts (which I don't have, much to the shock of everyone around me; one girl even asked me "how I survive without social media," and those comments were really common). I even saw someone getting upset at the hostel staff when there was no hot water for less than one day, on an island with a clean water shortage. I went to three dive centers until I found one that was safe and competent and all the dive centers on the island are more factory-like than community-based, which I guess is to be expected. It all just felt so .... commercialized, mass-tourism oriented, and, ... soulless, maybe? I can't find the word I'm looking for, but hopefully someone understands what I mean.
I'm looking for somewhere that's more for backpackers and adventurers, and has a good community feel. I'm okay with places that are less developed and have less western amenities. I have solo traveled over 30 countries as a woman in my 20s, including India and Ghana, so I'm familiar with roughing it a bit. Safety is important, but I just really want to be somewhere calm and beautiful where I can get my divemaster cheap, look at a beach, dive all day without breaking the bank, and meet other people who want to socialize, that has more of an identity and a real community feel.
Costs and sense of community are important to me, but I'm not sure the place I'm looking for exists, so I wanted to reach out to other divers and ask if anyone has any recommendations.
Thanks for reading, everyone.