Thailand Nov advanced open water

Hi guys, new to this forum so pls bear with the blonde bird

Heading for Thailand first 2 weeks of Nov - no fixed plans but want to do our advanced open water(how long does it take, what sort of coat are we looking at) , spending 5-6 days by/in the sea hopefully in a beachfront bungalow.

Thinking of Andaman coast or possibly Ko Chang/Samet area due to monsoons but open to any suggestions and recomendations.

Can we stay on any of the Similians and dive? Hubby dosen't fancy a livaboard.
I want some time chilling on the beach and he needs to be kept ammused by shore snorkelling both what a relaxed atmosphere.

Cheers
X
May the winds be with you

Hi there,

The diving in Koh Chang is not the best in the area, if you are looking for the best diving in Thailand in November you need to go to the Similan Islands. You can stay on one of the islands in the Similan,s and a good company to stay with is MV Jazz a British company. Here is the link to there site.MV Jazz

If you are looking at coming to Phuket then we can do the advanced open water course here. It takes 2 days with 5 open water dives, 2 of which must be a deep dive and underwater navigation, the cost is £170 and this includes everything you need for the 2 days. If you want to do the theory before you come to Thailand then we offer a free manual delivery service so less time studying and more time diving. Have a look at this link for more information on the PADI Advanced open water course.

I hope the above helps and please drop me a line if you need any more information.

Stephen.

Thailand Diving

You're right, Andaman Coast offers the best diving in Thailand, and that time of year also the weather is statistically better than in the Gulf.

To do the advanced course you have 2 options: either on daytrips or on a liveaboard. Can you really not convince hubby to go on a liveaboard, not even a 2 days/1 night trip? This is really the nicest option for diving at the Similans.

Advanced course on Phuket (including equipment rental, certification and manual) should be something like 11,000 Baht (315 US$ or 160 GBP) and offers good diving. In November you can also do it a bit cheaper by including some shoredives in your course, which is also very nice diving, IMO quite often even better than some of the other boat diving sites.

Am I mistaken in thinking that when you say 'stay on any of the Similans and dive' you mean find a bungalow on one of the islands and do your diving from a land-based op located in the park? There was one Khao Lak op that took divers and had them stay in tents on one of the islands overnight. I'm not sure they're offering that option this season, but I'd be happy to check. Otherwise, you can snorkel from the campgrounds on the islands, but there aren't any dive ops located there at all. The dive ops are located on the mainland or on the island of Phuket, for the most part.

As mentioned in #2, it's no problem to find a LOB that will keep you aboard for just one night and two days--enough time for you to complete your AOW and do a night dive as one of the optional adventure dives. If an LOB is out of the question, there are also 2d/1n options that allow you to sleep on 'terre firme' to the Phi Phi island group, with the overnight on Phi Phi Don.

Siam Adventure Divers is doing the tent option this year - overnight trip with 6 dives. Probably the liveaboard is more comfortable, but camping does give you that back to nature thing - Island 4 has some wildlife on it such as big lizards, squirrels, bats, snakes and tigers.

Well, maybe not tigers.

you should check out the weather in the gulf because it should be bad but last couple of years there hasn't really been a monsoon. its a lot less busy so the sites will bel ess crowded, Chumphon pinnacles should not be missed. I'm going back to simple life to do my divemasters course, last time I completed my res and efr, and the time before it was my advanced course(loads and loads of sharks) deep dive at chumphon and an awesome night dive at white rock.
The last time i was there they included accommodation with the course so maybe email them first to see what the craic is??!!!
They are located right on the beach in sai ree and their email is info@simplelifedivers.com
Rough prices i think are about 8000 baht for the advanced and two to three days for the course.

Wherever you go your gonna luv it!!

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<hr>Well, maybe not tigers. <hr></blockquote>

LOL, you crack me up!