PADI Advanced Open Water Diver

The PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course at Ko Lanta Diving Center covers five dives over two days. Equipment is included in the THB 12,500 price; the PADI certification card is not included and is an additional cost.

Five dives in two days means a full day on the boat each day, working through the adventure dive modules in actual southern Andaman conditions. The ChockSomBoon 1 heads daily to the region's sites, and the standard daytrip package — pickup, breakfast, lunch, soft drinks and fruit — is included on boat days.

Doing the Advanced course at a centre that has been running these specific sites since 1992 is a practical advantage. The guides know where to take adventure dive modules — deep, navigation, underwater naturalist — in conditions that are representative of real diving rather than a quarry. The southern Andaman's coral variety and the possibility of pelagic encounters on certain sites add context that textbook training cannot replicate.

Students who complete Advanced here and want to continue can progress to Rescue Diver or Nitrox, both of which the centre offers from the same operation.