Advanced Open Water Koh Tao: Cost, Dives & How to Choose

Featured image: Amada44, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Advanced Open Water on Koh Tao: The Short Answer

You make five adventure dives with an instructor, and each one lets you practice a different skill. In the PADI model, Deep and Underwater Navigation are required. You pick three more from a menu that includes photography, buoyancy, fish identification and wreck. Completing them lets you dive to 30 m. Open Water divers stop at 18 m. At Nava Scuba Diving, the listing on PADI Adventures shows a maximum of 4 students per instructor. Never dived before? Start with a Koh Tao Discover Scuba session instead.

• Depth limit: 30 m (100 ft), up from 18 m
• Dives: 5 adventure dives
• Time: about 2 days
• Prerequisite: Open Water certification

Are You Ready? Prerequisites, Medical Form and Logged Dives

You need an Open Water certification. At Nava Scuba Diving, the minimum age is 12 and 4 logged dives are required. Those are that operator's rules, so other shops may ask for fewer or more. No Open Water card yet? The PADI Open Water course on Koh Tao comes first. Every shop also asks for a medical form. At Dive In Koh Tao, any "Yes" answer on page 2 needs a signed and stamped doctor's letter. Download the form early and see a doctor at home if needed. Waiting until arrival can cost you a dive day. Low on dives and unsure about buoyancy? A few Koh Tao fun dives first make the course easier.

• Open Water card in hand, or an equivalent from another agency
• Comfortable with mask clearing and basic buoyancy
• Medical form completed before you arrive
• Dive count that meets your chosen shop's minimum

What You Actually Do: The 5 Adventure Dives

Each adventure dive is a practical session, not an exam. Expect short briefings, a guided dive, and a debrief. Deep teaches you to plan and manage a dive beyond 18 m. Navigation covers compass work and natural landmarks. Your three electives are the flexible part. Use the table as general guidance, because exact content varies by agency and instructor.

How to Choose Your Electives

Pick for the dives you want next, not for novelty. Buoyancy helps nearly everyone, because better control means lower air use and less reef contact. Choose wreck or night if you plan to book those fun dives soon. Pick photography if you will carry a camera, and see the underwater photography course for a deeper follow-up. Skip fish identification if you would rather build core skills first. At Dive In, the dives are chosen by interest and conditions, so ask what is realistic on your dates.

A Typical 2-Day Schedule

Treat this as one shop's example. At Dive In Koh Tao, Day 1 starts with a meeting at 11:30. A taxi to the pier follows around 12:00. You make two dives, then return between 17:00 and 18:00. A night dive falls on Day 1 or Day 2, depending on sunset. Day 2 meets at 06:20, with two dives including one to 30 m and a wreck. You are back around 12:00. Dive Sites and times can shift with weather, sea conditions and group preferences.

Cost, What's Included and What Isn't

Prices and hours checked November 2026. At Dive In Koh Tao, Advanced Open Water costs ฿9,500 with 5 sea dives, equipment and SSI fees included. Add the Deep specialty and 3 free hostel nights for ฿12,995, which includes 7 dives. A version with 2 free nights is ฿9,995. At Nava Scuba Diving, the PADI listing includes eLearning, equipment, local dive insurance, lunch and hotel pick-up. Nitrox is extra there. For scale, Koh Tao Divers charges ฿11,900 for a 3-day, 5-dive Open Water course and ฿3,800 for Try Scuba. Always ask whether nitrox, camera gear, card fees and insurance are inside the quoted price.

PADI vs SSI: Does It Matter on Koh Tao?

Both agencies run an Advanced level with similar content and the same 30 m limit. Dive In Koh Tao teaches SSI. Nava Scuba Diving and Black Turtle Dive teach PADI. For this course, the shop's instructor, group size and boat matter more than the logo. The elective menu and wording differ slightly between agencies. Read the PADI Advanced Open Water course page for the PADI structure. Ask SSI-teaching shops for their own list.

Koh Tao Dive Sites You Might Use

Shops name different sites, and most pick on the day. Dive In mentions the HTMS Sattakut wreck for the wreck dive. It also mentions Chumphon Pinnacle for deeper diving. Nava Scuba Diving lists Chumphon Pinnacle, Southwest Pinnacle and No Name Pinnacle among its sites. Nava notes that sites are determined on the dive day. Do not book expecting one specific site.

Where to Base Yourself and How to Get There

Koh Tao lies about 70 km from the mainland. Black Turtle Dive describes a 90-minute high-speed ferry from Koh Samui, Chumphon or Surat Thani, so check your operator's timetable. Shops cluster at Sairee, Mae Haad and Chalok Baan Kao. Nava Scuba Diving is at Chalok Baan Kao and picks up from the main road in Sairee, Mae Haad and Chalok. Boats leave early, so sleep close to your pick-up point. Weather matters too. Monsoon periods can reshuffle boat times, so build in a spare day.

Safety, Insurance and Dive-Then-Fly

Thirty meters is a ceiling, not a target. Deeper dives bring faster air use and a higher risk of nitrogen narcosis, so plan gas carefully and stay with your buddy. Koh Tao Divers includes basic accident cover for 30 days. It lists up to ฿1,000,000 for accidents and ฿500,000 for medical expenses, including hyperbaric treatment. Evacuation is not covered, and you pay treatment costs upfront. Consider a standalone dive plan that adds evacuation. For flights, follow Divers Alert Network guidance on waiting after your last dive. Keep a buffer day before departure.

How to Choose a Dive Shop: Checklist and Mistakes to Avoid

Ask each shop a few direct questions before paying. Compare answers rather than headline prices.

• Group size: Nava Scuba Diving and Koh Tao Divers both cap groups at 4 per instructor
• Inclusions: nitrox, camera gear, insurance, card fees
• Dive count: confirm 5 sea dives, not 4 plus theory
• Boat: own boat or shared
• Medical form and cancellation policy: Nava lists free cancellation with 24 hours' notice
• Mistake: booking on price alone without checking nitrox or insurance
• Mistake: choosing electives for novelty
• Mistake: booking a flight too soon after the last dive

What to Do After Advanced

Log dives at your new depth limit before chasing more certificates. After that, the Rescue Diver course is the usual next step. Dive In also offers a Deep specialty that it says unlocks 40 m. Thinking about a career? Pro-level options include the Divemaster course and the PADI instructor development course.