You will experience the thrill of breathing (and surviving and
having fun!) in a different element, under the close supervision
of a PADI professional instructor.
The views aren't so
great - tiles, cracked tiles, wound plasters, hair, leaves and
the odd dead insect. But most people are amazed by the
experience of breathing and seeing under water and they want
some more.
You can go straight into the basic Open Water
course and earn your globally-accepted PADI licence, but if you
want to go a step at a time then you sign up for the Discover
Scuba Diving experience. You'll learn a few tricks of the trade,
practice a few simple underwater skills in shallow water, and
then you go off for two dives on the coral reefs - again under
the tight control of an instructor.
Cost of DSD course: 4,000baht. Time
required: One day
This is the first course where
you earn a diving licence and it's aimed at the person who is
still not quite sure, or who has only two days to spare. You
will learn some of the knowledge and some of the skills needed
to keep you safe and happy underwater and you will have two
day's of diving. Your licence certifies you to dive with a
professional to depths of 12m (40feet).
Cost of course: 7,000baht. Time required: Two days
If
you have no doubts about wanting to learn to dive, start here -
most people do. This course takes four days and the schedule can
be arranged to suit your timetable. You will learn the basic
knowledge required and then go in the pool, to be trained in the
skills of diving. Then you're off on the boat for four dives
over two days on the nearby coral islands to rehearse what you
have learned - and to explore the reefs and have fun.
A
PADI Open Water diver is trained to go to 18m
(60feet) and the licence also entitles you to purchase dive
equipment and air fills anywhere in the world.
Cost of course: 14,500baht, but if you started with the Discover
Scuba Diving course we reduce the price to 10,000baht.Time
required: Four days.
Looks like you've got
the bug and you want to expand your
skills. This two-day course will introduce you to deep diving -
down to 30m (100ft) and navigation to help find your way around.
Then there is a list of optional dives from which you can choose
another three types. You might want to take photos or videos;
learn about recovering objects from the seabed; visit a
shipwreck, find out more about marine life....please don't ask
us to teach you ice diving, our fridge isn't big enough!
Now your licence allows you to dive to 30m and this will open up
a much wider range of dives to you and is also the key that
enables you to progress further up the diving ladder.Cost of course: 12,000 baht.
Time required: Two days.
Many divers find this the most rewarding course yet. You learn
how to recognise and handle problems before they happen - and
also to safely deal with them if you can't prevent them. In
learning to help your dive buddy you also learn a lot about
taking care of yourself.
If you don't have a current
first aid certificate, which must include CPR, then you can take
the PADI Emergency First Response course. This is a general
first aid course which is also extremely useful to parents,
teachers and other people in supervisory roles. The course takes
one day and centres around a video presentation and hands-on
practice.
The Rescue course starts
with a classroom and pool session and is followed by two days at
sea learning basic rescue skills right though to managing an
accident scenario. It's a demanding course both mentally and
physically, but at the end of it you will have new confidence in
your diving ability.
Cost of course: 15,000baht (includes Emergency First Response course. Time
required: EFR one day. Rescue, three days.
This is the highest amateur rating on PADI's
ladder. You will learn a lot more diving theory and you will
also need to master five specialty courses before you are
entitled to wear this coveted badge.
Costs and time vary according to the
way the course is designed around your timetable.
After you qualify as a Rescue
diver you can opt to turn pro. The
first rung on this ladder is Dive Master. It's takes ten day's
of intensive learning in the classroom, pool and sea. There is a
great deal of emphasis on dive planning and supervision of both
divers and students. As this is the first step towards becoming
an instructor you are also introduced to some of the demands of
that job. Most dive masters go on to a working internship, to
polish their skills.
From DM you can go to an Assistant
Instructor and then on to an Instructor Development Course which
will prepare you for your Instructor Examination. But the
training doesn't stop there as there are four more instructor
levels before you reach the highest point as a Course Director!
Dive Master:
There are several different
options open on this course as most students are heading upwards
to become an instructor. In these cases we can offer special
terms which can allow them to get the necessary 100 logged dives
required to become eligible to take an instructor development
course.
Drop us an email and we will help you plan a
schedule that fits in with other demands on your time.
Instructor internship:
This fast-track,
intensive course can take you from Open Water diver through to
PADI professional instructor in just six months.
Several dive centres in
Pattaya now offer this course that was launched in 1999 by Peter
Chandler before he started his own dive shop, Real Divers.
But Real Divers, a sister
company of Diving Thailand, has one big difference. It is the
only PADI dive centre in Pattaya that doesn't demand full
payment of the course training costs, educational materials and
hotel accommodation upfront and non-refundable.
He believes that asking a
student to gamble on being able to complete such a demanding
course before he is even certain that he will enjoy scuba diving
is not a reasonable way to conduct business.
So Real Divers decided that
a better way would be to offer the internship as a "pay as you
go" course. If circumstances crop up that prevent you from
completing the course then you can stop immediately without a
big financial loss hanging over your head.
If you are planning to
become a PADI instructor then talk to us first about our
highly personalised courses where you won't become part of
an instructor production line.
For full details go to
