While the thought of diving the clear waters of the Caribbean may sound appealing, if you don't already have your PADI certified scuba diving license, becoming certified may be rather expensive this close to home, with prices ranging from $500 to $1,000 for a four-day course (plus the cost of accommodation and transportation). But venture further south and west into the warm waters of the South China Sea and the Andaman Sea surrounding the Kingdom of Thailand and you will find superb diving, international dive instructors, and budget prices.
Diving in Koh Tao, off the eastern coastline of Thailand is an outstanding experience and learning here means expert guidance from mainly European, Australian, and Japanese dive masters and a chance to get up close and personal with a wide variety of marine life including
the island's namesake giant sea turtles (Koh Tao is Thai for Turtle Island). Koh Tao is my personal favorite dive spot and having dived here on a number of occasions, I can strongly recommend it as one of the most affordable and inviting locations. Rather than base yourself on a large resort island, Koh Tao offers small-scale accommodation options in B&Bs and bungalows or the chance to do your certification while staying on a live-aboard boat. You'll be sharing the island or your boat with other dive enthusiasts who come to this marine national park for some R and R, exceptional diving conditions and traditional Thai hospitality.
The island features more than 20 established dive sites and is a short distance from the famed Sail Rock and a couple of notable shipwreck sites. With clear blue waters, outstanding visibility and perfect weather for diving all year (with the possible exception of the rainy season in November and December), the island's abundance of shallow coral reefs and abundant marine life (Spanish Mackerel, Filefish, Coral shrimpfish, Batfish, Trevally and of course, turtles) will be welcome sights for novice divers. There are over 30 dive schools and operators here so even if you arrive on the island without a reservation or a fixed game plan, you are sure to be able to find a course that suits your budget and schedule. In general, pricing remains constant so a PADI Open Water dive certification will almost always cost in the vicinity of 9,000 Thai Baht, the equivalent of $266. For this price, accommodation or meals are sometimes thrown in, or will be discounted.
Big Blue Diving (tel. +66/77-456-415; www.bigbluediving.com) located at the northern end of Sairee Beach offers a four day PADI Open Water Dive certification for $266. For that price you will take part in an orientation program, five academic sessions (video and lecture), shallow water sessions off the island's sheltered beaches, and four open water dives in the ocean. Big Blue provides all resources, equipment and boat transportation for the duration of the course but the PADI Manuals must be bought for an additional $24. On the third day of the program, you'll visit some of Koh Tao's best dive sites to dive to depths of as 50 feet to see schools of Barracuda, Trevally, Groupers, Batfish and possibly sharks. After successfully completing the Open Water Diver program, you'll be issued with an internationally recognized Open Water Diver certification card, allowing you to dive throughout the world. You can stay in comfortable beachfront bungalows at Big Blue Resort with prices starting at only $6 for mosquito netted fan rooms with bathrooms (no hot water) or $15 for air-conditioned rooms with ensuites with hot water. That price isn't even per person -- it's per room and the air-conditioned rooms can sleep three people. There is also a restaurant serving a selection of Thai and international cuisine plus a bar on the premises.
For extreme privacy and your own little piece of paradise, you can venture out to the private island of Nangyuan and the Nangyuan Island Dive Resort (tel. +66/77-4560-8893; www.nangyuan.com) a short boat ride just off the coast of Koh Tao. The island itself features two small promontories joined together by a crescent beach that disappears at high tide and splits the island in two. An open water course here still costs $266 but your accommodation in a standard fan-cooled bungalow for four nights is included (based on double occupancy; three nights if you are traveling solo). You can upgrade to an air-conditioned room for as little as $17 extra per room per night or really splash on a deluxe suite for around $120 extra per night for two. The Nangyuan Island Dive Resort is accessible by twice daily by high speed catamaran from Bangkok (plus bus), Koh Phangan, Koh Samui, Hua Hin and Chumporn for prices ranging from $10 to $25 one-way. After completing your open water certification, you can continue and do further courses including the two-day Advanced open water for $230 with five dives or the three-day rescue diver course for $260. There is an intimate island restaurant, a beach bar and a coffee shop accessible by short walk, or a short swim, depending on the tide.
Still in the Gulf of Thailand, Koh Chang (Elephant Island) in the country's north sits close to the Cambodia border and offers smaller crowds than the Koh Tao/Koh Samui diver area. It is a marine national park and the largest of a group of 50 or so undeveloped and relatively tourist-free islands with lush virgin rain forests, pristine beaches and a selection of dive sites including rock walls, pinnacles and ship wrecks. Accommodation here is in larger resorts and more upmarket properties than in Koh Tao, but even so, resort rooms are priced from around $40 and the island still retains that small island feel. Moray eels, stingrays, parrotfish, snappers, fusiliers, big groupers, butterfly fish, banner fish, barracuda and angelfish are in abundance in these waters. PADI Open Water dive courses here cost in the vicinity of $350 to $450 per person.
Seahorse Dive Center (tel. +66/1-996-7147; www.ede.ch/seahorse/seahorse_education.html) located on Kai Bae Beach is a Swiss-run operation (hence the Swiss URL) that offers a PADI course for $375 that includes all equipment, resources, lunches and transportation over the course of the four-day course. Also Swiss owned, Dolphin Divers (tel. +66/870-281-627; www.scubadivingkohchang.com) operates four-day PADI courses out of its dive center school and from the Amari Emerald Cove Resort for $430. Prices for dive trips and courses include boat transport, accommodation transfers, equipment, tanks, weights, food and drinks. They can also arrange accommodation in mid-range hotels from $44 per room per night, a deluxe room from $74 or for larger groups, a house that sleeps six people for $207 per night. If you book a dive course and accommodation package, the hotel rates are further discounted. Transfers from Bangkok Airport to the hotel on Koh Chang can be arranged via luxury mini-buses with air-conditioning, movies, TV and other mod-cons. The transfer fee of $177 includes the ferry fee from the mainland to the island
Over the other side of the Thai Peninsula, off the west coast on the islands of Koh Lanta and Koh Phi Phi, prices are a little higher with the standard price of Open Water certification courses set at around $450 to $500, which is still very affordable. There are dozens of dive shops and schools operating in the area, taking advantage of some of the country's best dive sites at Hin Daeng, Hin Muang and the Similan islands, home to a host of interesting sea creatures including bountiful Whale sharks and Manta rays. In general, more advanced divers tend to gravitate towards these deep-water drop-off dive sites so you'll likely not be sharing the water with large groups of dive students.