FRANCE PLONGEE Dive Center
moo1, 2/92, moo1, Tambon Bo Put, Amphoe Ko Samui, Chang Wat Surat Thani 84320, Thaïlande, Koh Samui, Amphoe Ko Samui, THA
Over het Centrum
FRANCE PLONGEE Dive Center, located in Koh Samui, Thailand, is an SSI-certified dive center offering a diverse range of aquatic experiences. Established in 2011, the team comprising Eric, Laurent, Pascal, and Sebastien has cultivated a warm and welcoming atmosphere for divers of all levels. The center organizes dives to the most stunning sites around Koh Samui and Koh Phangan, including the renowned Sail Rock, celebrated for its abundant marine life and the potential to encounter whale sharks.
FRANCE PLONGEE provides SSI training courses, encompassing Discover Scuba Diving, Open Water Diver, and specialties such as Wreck Diver. It also caters to certified divers from any federation, offering rental of high-end equipment, including wetsuits, regulators, and dive computers.
The center's facilities include lockers, a bar for post-dive relaxation, equipment rental, air fills (nitrox), and boat diving excursions. The center also offers night diving and airport transfer services to facilitate client arrivals.
FRANCE PLONGEE's philosophy extends beyond mere underwater exploration; they aim to share local addresses and information, offering a deeper insight into the islands' culture. With a commitment to safety, divers are encouraged to bring their certification cards and personal gear, although primary equipment is provided free of charge. The minimum age to embark on a diving adventure is 10 years, with parental authorization required.
Beschikbare Cursussen
6 cursosCurso Open Water Diver
The Open Water at France Plongée is a 3-day programme that certifies you to dive to 18 metres with a buddy anywhere in the world. On Koh Samui, the natural dive sessions happen at the same sites the guided groups use — Koh Tao and Sail Rock — so the course doesn't lock you into a training lagoon while everyone else heads out on the boat. Minimum age is 15 (10–14 follows the Junior Open Water track). Theory covers the essentials: underwater physics and physiology, gear setup, dive planning, introduction to tables and dive computers, and emergency procedures. The team runs it flexibly — the beach is the suggested classroom. The final written exam is multiple choice and the instructors review the material with you throughout the three days, not just at the end. In the water you'll work through a set of practical skills: towing a diver in distress over 100 metres, compass navigation, controlled emergency swimming ascent, buoyancy control, and breathing regulation. These are the foundations that let you manage a real dive situation rather than just follow someone else around. Four open-water dives complete the programme, all in the Gulf of Thailand. The certification comes from PADI or SSI depending on which stream you choose — the team treats them as equivalent and will advise you based on your situation. All equipment is provided, and the course price follows the same structure as guided dives: Aqualung gear, French-speaking instruction, and the same boat and sites the whole centre uses daily.
Baptême
The DSD at France Plongée works across both bases but the Samui version puts you on a speedboat heading 70 km across the Gulf to Koh Tao or Sail Rock — not a pool session against a tiled wall. The minimum age is 10, and the ratio the team keeps is 1 instructor per 4 adults or 1 per 2 children, which means you're not getting lost in a crowd. Before the boat leaves, your instructor runs through the basics on board during the crossing: gear functions, equalisation, what to do if something doesn't feel right. The briefing is in French, which for many clients is exactly the point of choosing this centre. By the time you drop anchor at the site, you already know the plan. The first part of the dive happens in shallow water where the instructor runs you through the exercises that build confidence before you go anywhere interesting. Then you head out together. Depth is capped at 12 metres for non-certified divers — standard practice across the industry, and enough depth to see most of what Koh Tao's reefs offer. If you've already done a few baptêmes and have the confidence, the team can take you to Sail Rock instead. The day includes hotel pickup from most Samui areas, breakfast and lunch on board, all equipment (Aqualung BC, Legend regulator, computer, shorty), and the guided dive itself. The water is between 29°C and 31°C so no thick wetsuit needed. When you're back on the boat there's time to fill your dive log and ask questions before the return to Samui between 14h and 16h.
Advanced Open Water
The Advanced Open Water extends your certified depth to 30 metres and introduces you to five specialties over five dives. Two are mandatory — deep diving and underwater navigation — and you choose the remaining three from a list that includes night diving, multi-level, drysuit, buoyancy, search and recovery, navigation, photography, fish identification, and video. With wrecks at 20 metres, Chumphon Pinnacle dropping to 40, and Sail Rock as the playground, the Advanced dives here are done in genuinely interesting water. The deep dive specialty isn't a descent into blue nothingness — it's likely done at a real site with something to see at depth. The navigation dive gets done in conditions that teach you something rather than in a pool. The prerequisite is an Open Water certification and a confirmed natural water dive history. If you completed your Open Water here, the transition is direct. If you come from another centre, the team will check your log and card before enrolling you. Five dives spread across roughly two days, with the same equipment package and French-speaking instruction as the rest of the programme. The certification you finish with opens the door to dive sites and liveaboards that require an Advanced card, and the specialties completed count toward further ratings.
Dive Master
The Divemaster programme at France Plongée is the first professional rating in the PADI system, and the Koh Phangan base is a practical place to do it — the centre runs daily boat operations, courses at multiple levels, and shore dives at Haad Salad, which means there's actual work to participate in rather than manufactured scenarios. The prerequisite is a minimum of 40 logged dives before starting; you need at least 60 before the programme is complete. The rating certifies you to dive to 40 metres and to lead groups of certified, adult divers — not to teach, but to guide and supervise in open water. The team positions it as a step toward a professional career in diving. Given that the centre has been operating since 2011 with a stable French-speaking team, candidates who finish here have a reference in a recognised operation. The centre's PADI 5-star status and FFESSM affiliation on the Koh Phangan side adds weight to the training record. Contact France Plongée directly for pricing and scheduling — Divemaster programmes are typically planned individually based on the candidate's entry level and the centre's operational calendar.
Nitrox
France Plongée runs a nitrox blending station at the Koh Phangan centre — two Coltri MCH16 compressors that fill tanks with air or nitrox blends up to 40%. The specialty course that lets you use those fills takes less than a day to complete, which makes it a practical add-on to any multi-day stay. Nitrox replaces a portion of the nitrogen in a standard air mix with additional oxygen. The effect in practice is a longer no-decompression limit at a given depth and reduced nitrogen loading over repeated dives — useful when you're doing two dives a day across several days, which is the normal rhythm here. The prerequisite is an open-water certification in a natural water environment, with a minimum age of 15. The theory component covers gas physics, oxygen toxicity limits, planning tools, and how to analyse a blend before diving it. The practical side is done in the water at Haad Salad or on a scheduled boat trip. For divers staying multiple days in the Phangan area and planning to dive Sail Rock repeatedly or push depth at Chumphon, picking up the nitrox card early in the trip is worth considering.
Rescue Diver
The Rescue Diver course at France Plongée shifts the focus from exploring the reef to managing problems on it. It's described as a step change in how a diver sees the water around them — moving from self-management to looking after the safety and wellbeing of the group. The team runs it as a genuinely challenging programme, not a box-ticking exercise. The skills covered include recognising diver stress both above and below the surface, managing unresponsive divers in the water, underwater search patterns, and applying rescue techniques under real conditions. The Gulf of Thailand sites — Sail Rock's open-water exposure, the Koh Tao wrecks, the reef at Haad Salad — give you different environments to work in. Prerequisite is an Advanced Open Water rating and a current Emergency First Response (EFR) certification. If you haven't done EFR, France Plongée runs that course too — it takes a full day and is open to non-divers as well. The EFR licence is valid for two years. Contact the centre for current pricing and scheduling. The course is typically positioned as the natural step before Divemaster for anyone considering the professional track.
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Frequently asked
What people ask before booking
Yes — free pickup from hotels in Chaweng, Bophut, Maenam, Bangrak and Lamai between 7h40 and 8h20. For the south of the island you'll need a taxi to the departure point (roughly 800–1200 baht, 45 minutes). You can also drive yourself to the dive centre at the entrance to Fisherman's Village.
10 years old. Between 10 and 14, children follow the Open Water Junior programme. Adults need to be 15+ for the standard Open Water certification.
Absolutely. All recognised certification cards are accepted. The team will ask you to show your card and confirm a recent dive history; if it's been more than a year, they'll suggest a pool refresh session first.
Nitrox up to 40% is available from the compressors at the Koh Phangan centre. You do need a nitrox specialty certification to use it — France Plongée runs that course, and it takes less than a day.
Bookings can be taken until 19h00 the day before. Cancellations must be made before 16h00 the previous afternoon; after that, 2,500 baht per cancelled diver applies.
At least 18 hours must pass between your last dive and boarding — they recommend not diving the day before departure for full safety margin.
Yes. The Koh Phangan centre has its own 10-metre pool at 3 metres depth, used for confined water sessions during courses and DSD baptêmes, right next to the classroom.
Cash or Revolut transfer only — no credit cards. Payment is made the morning of the dive.
How to get there
moo1, 2/92, moo1, Tambon Bo Put, Amphoe Ko Samui, Chang Wat Surat Thani 84320, Thaïlande, Koh Samui, Amphoe Ko Samui, THA