Learn to dive in the Similan Islands

Learning to dive

In previous posts I've talked about the availability of continuing education courses on Thailand liveaboards, both PADI and SSI courses but I noted that most boats do not offer dive certification courses on board. It is more common for people to first learn to dive and then join a liveaboard as a certified diver. However if you want to do the PADI Open Water certification on a liveaboard we do have some boats that can teach you. 

You can do the full PADI Open Water course in the Similan Islands or you can do your theory and pool training at your local dive centre first, then complete the open water dives at the Similan Islands (this is called an Open Water referral).

Usually an Open Water course consists of training in a swimming pool first. But as there is no swimming pool in the Similan Islands you will instead do confined water training in a shallow bay in "swimming pool like conditions." The beauty of this is you have more space to practice and you'll even see fish on your confined water sessions.

Liveaboards that offer the PADI Open Water course in the Similan Islands are:

• Scuba Adventure. Departing from Phuket
• Similan Explorer. Departing from Khao Lak
• Oktavia. Departing from Khao Lak with transfers available from Khao Lak

You can do the PADI Open Water course on Oktavia for just 10,000 baht on one of their 4 day or 5 day trips.

Not sure if you want to do the full dive certification? You can join Oktavia as a snorkeler and do a Discover Scuba Dive for 1,500 baht. A Discover Scuba Dive (DSD) is not a certification course, it's just a fun experience under PADI instructor supervision. If you enjoy it you can go on and get certified. Or you can just do more DSD's at 1,000 baht each. 

If you want to learn to dive in the Similan Islands but don't fancy a liveaboard you can do the PADI Open Water course in Khao Lak with day trip diving to the Similans.

Need more info? Please ask us

PADI Dive Courses on Thailand liveaboards

Virtually all Thailand liveaboards have PADI Instructors on board to teach PADI dive courses. Most boats do not teach beginner divers as it's considered too disruptive to the schedule. (Some will teach the PADI Open Water Course and will even take non divers on Discover Scuba Dives. I'll post about these boats later).

The most common courses taught on the liveaboards are the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course and the PADI Enriched Air Nitrox Specialty. Both these courses can be integrated easily into the regular dive schedule. Both courses are very worthwhile taking for several reasons.

• The courses are cheaper when integrated with the liveaboard.
• If you are joining the liveaboard with limited experience of diving below 18 metres or if you haven't dived for a while you can gain confidence under instructor supervision.
• Many liveaboards around the World require PADI Advanced cert as a minimum to join the trips.
• Joining a boat with an Advanced cert card means you are buddied with other more experienced divers, not with the novices who could suck their air down quickly and shorten your dive time.
• Being Nitrox certified allows you to stay down longer at greater depths.
• Or diving your normal profile with nitrox adds an extra margin of safety. This is especially beneficial on multiple day dive trips or in remote areas where re-compression chambers are not with in easy reach. Older divers should also consider the safety benefits of absorbing less nitrogen.
• Many divers find diving with nitrox less fatiguing than diving with air.
• A Nitrox cert can lead on to more technical dive training.

Advanced and nitrox are not the only courses available on liveaboards in Thailand. Other popular courses are the PADI underwater digital photography specialty and the  PADI Deep Diver specialty. These and other specialty courses should be booked in advance to assure that a qualified instructor is aboard with all the necessary materials.

Please ask us about on board dive courses when you book your Thailand Liveaboard