It's called PADI Discover
Scuba Diving and is for experience only and does not carry a
diving licence
This is how it works. You
go out on the boat to the nearby coral islands and on the way
you will be briefed on how you use the equipment and also taught
some basic rules. After that you go into shallow water by the
beach and learn some skills that will allow you to have fun.
Then you go off for a dive
on the beautiful fringing reef. After lunch on the boat you can
go for a second dive with no further training required. Through
the course you will be under the close supervision of a PADI
professional instructor and you will go no deeper than 12metres.
Cost of DSD course: 4,000baht. Time
required: One day
If you
have no doubts about wanting to learn to dive you can go
straight into the PADI Open Water
course.Most
people start this way. This course takes four days and the schedule can be
arranged to suit your timetable. You will self-learn learn the basic
knowledge required and you can do this by e-leaning or reading the
manual.
Then
you can start classes with the instructor to ensure that you
have correctly acquired all the knowledge. After that you go in the pool to be trained in the
skills you need to know to keep you safe, build your confidence
and allow you to relax while diving.
Then you're off on the boat for four dives over
two days on the nearby coral islands where you rehearse what you have
learned in the pool - and you can explore the reefs and have fun.
As
a PADI Open Water diver you will be trained to go down 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....but 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 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 more diving theory and you will
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. We will be happy
to discuss all the options with you and design the course to
your requirements. At that point we can give an exact cost
Turning pro
- Dive Master
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.
There are two different options
to complete this course. One is the ten day normal training
method and the other is to take an internship. This route is
very handy for DM trainees who have not yet logged the 60 dives
required in order to be certified. Not only do they gain real
"hands on" working experience but get the dives free. They can
also log the total of 100 dives required to take the next step
which is an IDC (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 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
Ascend
