PADI COURSES
PADI DISCOVER SCUBA DIVING 4,000baht minimum age 10 years old
How can you be sure you will enjoy diving?
The straight answer is that you can't be sure until you have tried it. But the good news is that because many people feel this way PADI has designed a special one-day course especially for them. It's called the PADI Discover Scuba Diving course.
And the beauty of it is that you don't have to sit for hours in a classroom and you don't have to spend time in the swimming pool learning fairly advanced skills.
Instead you go out on the boat to the coral island. Your instructor briefs you on the aspects of diving that you need to know and when you reach the island he will help you do your scuba equipment and swim with you on the surface into shallow water.
Once there you learn a few simple, but essential skills and then it's off for a dive under close supervision. Once you are looking comfortable and relaxed the instructor will take you to the beautiful coral reef and it's thousands of colorful tropical fish.
After a fresh-cooked lunch on the boat you will do a second dive, no extra training required and you should get around 45 minutes under water.
That's all there is to it. You will now know whether you wish to continue. If you do then we credit your learning experience by giving you a 2,000baht rebate when you sign up for the PADI Open Water course where you can earn the world's most recognized diving license in four days.
PADI OPENWATER COURSE (3-4 days) 16,000 baht OR 14,000Baht if you have completed the Discover Scuba Diving course (3 to 4 days)
This is the first PADI certification level. It is broken down into three parts: Diving Knowledge; Confined water skills training and sea dives.
Ideally students should read the Go Diving training manual which Real Divers includes in the course cost. There are five modules and each concludes with a multi-choice answer knowledge review. This allows the instructor to go over any points the student hasn't correctly understood, thus not wasting time re-teaching parts the student has learned correctly. We also show a video of each module as some students learn better from visual training.
The confined water sessions in the pool teach the skills you will need on most dives. Such as the correct finning action and how to get water out of your diving mask without the need to surface.
When you have become proficient you will go out on the dive boat to the offshore islands and start with a fun dive just to let you relax and enjoy the experience. After that you will rehearse the skills you learned in the confined water sessions in the pool.
You will do a total of four sea dives and on the second day will go down to 18m (60ft) which is the maximum depth to which a PADI Open Water diver should descend.
PADI SCUBA DIVER 9,000 baht (2days)
This certification level is a half-way point to becoming a PADI Open Water diver. Because it does not include the full training schedule for OW divers the PADI Scuba diver has two restrictions imposed. The first is a 12m (40ft) depth limit and the second is that he must always dive with a PADI professional - either a Dive Master or Instructor.
This course is helpful if a student is unable to finish the full four-day course due to health problems or other reasons that cause him to run out of time. However some students who know that they will not have the opportunity to dive regularly take this course as it ensures a buddy who can assist them if they have difficulties.
Students who are unable to complete the OW course due to time or other factors can be signed off as PADI Scuba Divers if they have completed the modules required and can get OW certification later by carrying out the other modules with Real Divers or at a PADI dive centre anywhere in the world within 12 months.
The instructor to go over any points the student hasn't correctly understood, thus not wasting time re-teaching parts the student has learned correctly. We also show a video of each module as some students learn better from visual training.
The confined water sessions in the pool teach the skills you will need on most dives. Such as the correct finning action and how to get water out of your diving mask without the need to surface.
When you have become proficient you will go out on the dive boat to the offshore islands and start with a fun dive just to let you relax and enjoy the experience. After that you will rehearse the skills you learned in the confined water sessions in the pool.
PADI ADVENTURE DIVER COURSE, 9,000baht, 1 day, minimum age 10 years
PADI ADVANCED OPEN WATER COURSE. 14,500baht, 2 days, minimum age 12 years
As a PADI Open Water diver you have just started out on an exciting new phase of your life. You can breathe, fly weightlessly, see clearly and explore a whole new underwater world that was previously denied to you.
But to make the most of this underwater world you need to actually experience some of the different activities that can be undertaken.
For example you might want to share the fund and excitement of one of your dives with your family and you can do this by taking photos to show them what you have seen or maybe have a video made of yourself while diving.
To make things more exciting you might want to learn how to take a video of a shipwreck and show how nature has taken a steel man-made object and turned it into a colorful coral garden.
The way you can achieve these aims is to sign up for the PADI Advanced Open Water course. You will have the chance to do five dives. Two of them are required for the certification to be attained - a deep dive to 30m and a navigation dive which will make diving more fun by being able to find your way around.
The other three dives are ones you choose from a list that includes: night diving, search and recovery, wreck diving, drift diving, under water scooters, photography and video …..
And the good news is that this course does not require classroom sessions or pool training. You will be given your personal copy of the Adventures in Diving manual and all you have to do is to read the sections that cover the type of dive you wish to experience.
Then there is a multi-choice, 15 question tests to complete. Your instructor will take you through any bits you didn't quite understand and give you some hands-on experience of any new type of equipment you will use.
Then you're off to do the dives with your instructor and depending on your choice of optional dives you should be able to earn your new advanced certification in two days.
But what if you really don't fancy deep diving or maybe you're a bit short of time or cash?
No problem. You can do a short version of the course called the PADI Adventure diver. This is a one-day course and you can do any three dives you wish. No obligatory deep dive or navigation.
If and when you decide you want to go another step up the PADI ladder you can gain the advanced certification by simply completing the two "core" dives.
Now you are eligible to go for the Rescue Diver course.
