Our Local FriendSSI certification2 days5 adventure divesTo 30mMax 4 per instructor
SSI Advanced Open Water Course
Mae Haad, Koh Tao · Starts daily
$367
per person · everything included ฿11,000
About this course
Five dives that turn a certified diver into a confident one.
Open Water teaches you to dive. This is where you get good at it. Five dives across two days, two of them fixed — deep, and underwater navigation — and three you pick from a long list.
The honest reason most people do it: the first four dives after certification are where confidence either builds or quietly doesn't. Doing them with an instructor beside you, each with a specific job, is the difference.
The night dive is the one people talk about afterwards. Torchlight on the reef, plankton lighting up in your wake, and a completely different set of animals awake.
Course structure
Your day-by-day journey
Day 1 — Your deep dive to 30 metres at one of the island's signature sites — where you find out that colour and gas both behave differently down there. Then navigation: compass work and natural references, until you can get back to the boat on purpose.
Skills you'll earn
What you'll be able to do
Diving safely to 30 metres and managing gas at depth Compass and natural navigation, and getting back on purpose Refined buoyancy and trim Recognising and managing narcosis Planning multi-level and repetitive dives
Certification
What you take home
SSI Advanced Open Water Diver
A lifetime certification that takes your depth limit to 30 metres and opens up advanced sites worldwide. It's also the prerequisite that unlocks most specialty courses and the professional track. Ages 12–14 certify as Junior Advanced.
Lifetime validGlobally recognisedMax depth 30m5 logged dives
What's included
What the price covers
- All dive equipment for the length of the course
- A dive computer to use, free
- Digital learning materials and your certification
- Boat trips, with drinks and snacks aboard
- 30 days of dive accident insurance
- A free T-shirt, and 10% off anything you book afterwards
Honest Corner
— real talk before you enrolYou'll love this if…
- Five real dives, each with a purpose, rather than five fun dives
- The night dive genuinely is the highlight
- Each adventure dive counts towards a full specialty later
Worth knowing before you enrol
- You need Open Water first, and a dive logged in the last six months
- The DPV and photo/video options carry a ฿1,500 equipment fee per trip
- It's called Advanced, but it comes straight after Open Water — the name oversells it slightly
Student fit
Who's this course for?
Great fit
🤿
Newly certified
Just finished Open Water? This is the natural next four dives, with someone watching.
Great fit
🌙
Night dive curious
The dark reef is a different planet. This is the easiest way to see it for the first time.
Great fit
📈
Future professionals
It's a hard prerequisite for Divemaster, so you'll need it eventually anyway.
Maybe
🐢
Rusty divers
If your last dive was years ago, do a refresher first — you'll get far more out of these five.
Not for you
Common questions
