Advanced Diver

Time Needed: 2 days

Cost: From 10,000THB

Maximum Depth: 30 metres

Looking to expand your diving skills, knowledge, and experience by taking your advanced course on Koh Tao? Good choice! With over 40 dive sites to choose from, there’s lots to be gained by continuing your dive education here.  You do need to be a certified Open Water Diver already to take part, but despite the name of the program you don’t have to be too advanced, and you can even enrol right after your certification course if you want to. In fact, many dive centres offer package deals for those wanting to take both their open water and advanced course on Koh Tao at the same time. 

Depending on what scuba diving agency your dive centre is affiliated to, you’ll find that advanced courses on Koh Tao will differ slightly in name, with program titles varying between Advanced Open Water Diver, Advanced Adventurer, Advanced Explorer, etc. But whichever variant you end up taking, what you get should be the same…

When you take your advanced course on Koh Tao, you’ll typically end up doing five dives over two days. There is a small amount of theory involved, but this is not always classroom-based. Sometimes it just comes in the form of more in-depth briefings and pre-dive orientations with your instructor. The beauty of the advanced course is that it allows you to explore many different areas of diving. The deep dive is usually mandatory, and other options include extra training in navigation, buoyancy control, wreck diving, night diving, fish identifications, search and recovery, and underwater photography. At the end of your advanced course, you’ll be certified to dive to 30 metres anywhere in the world!

Important things to know when you sign up for an Advanced Course on Koh Tao

• The minimum age for participation is 12, but additional depth limits apply to junior participants.  
• You must already be a certified Open Water Diver to enrol.
• You will be required to wait 18-24 hours after diving before you can fly. So do bear this in mind when you are planning your travel to and from Koh Tao. 
• Participation in any scuba diving activity requires you to fill in a medical checklist. Some medical conditions may prevent you from diving, while others require prior written approval from a physician. So be sure to discuss any medical conditions you have with your dive centre before you sign up for your advanced course on Koh Tao.