Advice for Thailand.RE Depths/Advanced Course

[reyzor]

Hi there... Long time reader, first time poster...

I am going to Phi Phi island next week for (hopefully) a good 5 days of diving. I've only done my OW cert and was supposed to do my advanced cert for the last 3 weekends, only for it to be rained/blown out each time.

I was looking forward to diving a few of the local Phi Phi dive sites + shark point/anemone reef/king cruiser, and anything else that the islanders recommended.

Now that I won't be certified to go past 18m, I am looking for advice on what to do..

1. Just go and not worry about the course, there is plently to see <18m and/or the divemasters will supervise you to go deeper if appropriate.

2. Do my Adanced course the first 2 days, then enjoy the depths/sights on other day trips. (Have seen some deals for adventure dives + Hin Daeng, but wary of that because of the advanced rating and currents of the site.)

3. Do an adventure dive the 1st day - Deep water, and then not have to worry about depths and the certification for it for all future dives in the area.

Can you just do the Deep water adventure dive (ie 1/5 of the advanced course), get certified in that, study the book and then the boats/DM's will let you go deeper than 18m on other trips as shown in your logs? All in the supervision of a DM that is.. in no way would I would looking to go that deep by ourselves.


The original plan was to do the advanced course at home in Brisbane, AUS then be able to do all the dives without worrying about certs, depth limits, etc. Unfortunately we have been cursed with the weather and unable to do that. We have the ADV books already and studied the guides. Any advice would be much appreciated. Price is not a concern, as both are about the same due to the deal I can get. Unfortunately I was not able to dive the HMAS Brisbane as I was hoping for

Thanks in advance...

 

[Batfish]

Do the Advanced Open Water course. You'll do the same dives as you would do anyway on day trips, get the proper supervsion of an instructor on your first deep dive, and the price in Phi Phi is very reasonable, about 9500 Baht (= 320 AU$). You can also include a night dive in the course - DO IT!

Some idea of diving in Phi Phi:

Advanced Course (covers several locations)

Phi Phi Dive Sites

Have fun!

 

[Quero]

I say do Option 4! Do your AOW on Phi-Phi at the same time that you enjoy your fun dives.

The AOW course requires almost no study and furthermore requires no confined water sessions (though UW Navigation recommends a shallow dive often done from shore). All it takes is a bit of planning on the part of your instructor to match the Adventure Dives with the dives you'll probably be doing anyway (for example, Boat Diver, Night Diver, Wreck Diver). So there's no need to even consider options 1, 2 and 3. Have fun on Phi-Phi!

 

[reyzor]

Thanks for the advice. I was a bit worried that doing the AOW course would distract me from enjoying the sights, but from the sounds of it, it should be ok.

 

[Traminer]

Things I did during my AOW dives in Phuket recently:
- swam with my first turtle during my Deep Dive
- went through the King Cruiser wreck for my Wreck Dive
- spotted a school of puffer fish during my Navigational Dive (is that normal?)
- caught two starfish having a go at each other during my Underwater Photography
- swam through a school of friendly barracuda during my Underwater Naturalist

AOW is FUN!!!

 

[Batfish]

Things I did during my AOW dives in Phuket recently:
- swam with my first turtle during my Deep Dive
- went through the King Cruiser wreck for my Wreck Dive
- spotted a school of puffer fish during my Navigational Dive (is that normal?)
- caught two starfish having a go at each other during my Underwater Photography
- swam through a school of friendly barracuda during my Underwater Naturalist

AOW is FUN!!!

Dude, you should work for PADI doing continuing education promotions!

 

[Traminer]

Dude, you should work for PADI doing continuing education promotions!

I offered but they still insisted on charging me that silly Bh 2000 for "certification + dive book" fee..

Besides, I think its depends on your instructor and not just the organisation. And it helps that it was a 1:1 course.

 

[stevenl]

Dude, you should work for PADI doing continuing education promotions!

Well, I don't think PADI would be happy with penetration during an AOW Course. But Traminer is right of course, AOW is fun.

- went through the King Cruiser wreck for my Wreck Dive