It’s still summer! Time for a family holiday to Koh Tao, where the whole family can get involved in Scuba Diving and make memories to last a lifetime. Envisage encounters with underwater creatures you never believed in your wildest dreams you would ever witness. Experience environments you never knew possible and witness history, resting at the bottom of the ocean in its transitional state to a natural reef home to millions of creatures of all shapes and forms. Visit sunken villages, hideaway caves, mid ocean feeding frenzies, and beauty beholden to most human eyes other than through a television set. Start now. Enroll in something the whole family can enjoy. Start your Open Water Course today. Send us your email & we’ll get you started on your first steps to unimaginable experiences by getting you started on your online Open Water Course. Complete the theory at home and leave all the fun of the water work for your next family holiday to Koh Tao.
First thing we need to do before your family holiday to Koh Tao.
From a laptop click through to here and enter your details. Then type in Big Blue Diving Koh Tao 766075. Submit.
Next you need to download the MySSI App from the App Store. You will then get an email to your email address from SSI with a login and password and follow that link, which will direct you to the App on your mobile phone or tablet.
Then go to the menu at the top and click “program & cards” option and then programs from the drop down tab.
Scroll down the page till you get to Scuba Diver and you then will have the first 3 sections of the course.
Once you have done that go onto our website www.bigbluediving.com and select Book Now. Complete the booking form and pay a deposit- (when you get to the course section on the booking form, the course you need select is Open Water Course).
We can then issue the full course materials.
Now for the water work.
The water work of the Open Water course is all about introducing you to your equipment, the environment and the changing conditions around the world, and making you feel at ease and more comfortable and relaxed in the water thereby maximising your enjoyment and reducing your stress factors.
Confined Water Scuba Diving
On our first day together we are going to do what is called a Confined Water session which basically means a swimming pool or at least swimming pool like conditions, in order for you the student to feel relaxed enough in calm shallow waters. On your Open Water Course with us at Big Blue Diving we like to take you out to one of Koh Tao’s many breathtakingly beautiful bays or beaches for your confined water session. We’ll go to a shallow and sheltered bay or beach around the island and find an area deep enough for us to all stand in, upto about our chest levels, so if you do for any reason need to stand up while doing the skills underwater, then you can.
First we are going to drop down on our knees and just get relaxed with the idea of breathing underwater and get comfortable and learn to trust your equipment. We’re just going to sit and relax and breathe for a minute or two before your Instructor is going to begin the session by demonstrating a series of skills to do with how to react in situations that may occur while you are underwater at depth. For example, your mask may leak and fill with water? Or your regulator mouthpiece is uncomfortable and you want to change it or what to do in the unlikely even tyou or your buddy were to run out of air. Your Instructor will spend the time showing you what to do in each and every event and have you the student repeat the skill so you know what to do if….
As we get more comfortable with our equipment and our confidence while underwater your Instructor is going to start taking you slightly deeper to a maximum depth of about a 1 storey building, so too deep in which to stand up in and we’re going to practice a few more skills like buoyancy control and then also have a look at our beautiful surroundings or coral, sand and little tropical reef fish. So much more to see here than in a pool which is why we definitely recommend choosing Big Blue Diving as your first choice dive school with whom to learn to dive with.
Day 2 of your Open Water Course
…we are going to all get together with your Instructor who is just going to remind you of what you learnt yesterday in confined water and how it all applies to what you learned with us online. By connecting any missing dots or answering any questions you may still have we are going to give out a 50 question quizz to remind you of all the important points. This quizz is multiple guess and has not been designed to fail so please don’t worry.
Come the afternoon we are going back out on the boat and this time we are going to go for 2 dives at 2 different dive sites. We’re going to go down look at fish and coral and try and put into practice the skills we learnt yesterday when and if the need arises. But basically relax, soak it in and enjoy your first real experience of the underwater world. Today, we are going to reach a maximum depth of 12 meters, four times deeper than we went yesterday.
Day 3- The Final Day.
Its certification day today. We’re going straight out on the boat and we’re going to take you to 2 of Koh Tao’s more adventurous divesites where the depth reaches 30+ meters and the fish are bigger and more numerous. Today we’re going to hit a maximum depth of 18 meters. Whereas yesterday we were at the bottom of the sea at 12 meters today we are going to be diving in midwater, flying over the Pinnacles below and swimming past some huge schools of fish that we are so lucky to have here on Koh Tao.
We’ll do 2 dives at 2 more divesites bringing our total tally to 5 dives in total and having completed all the skills necessary to show you are a competent diver you will be certified as an Open Water Diver who can dive throughout the world to a maximum depth of 18 meters with a buddy and only in conditions you are trained to, so in other words don’t go penetrating any wrecks just yet you need more training for that kind of diving.
Which is why the Advanced Course exists.
Get trained up to dive deeper than 18 meters on your family holiday to Koh Tao. Go to a maximum depth of a 10 storey building or 30 meters. Dive at night, or dive a wreck. So many choices and so worth doing. Find out more about your Advanced Course here.
OR get in touch with our Tech Team at Big Blue Tech or our Eco Team at Big Blue Conservation
The Open Water takes just 3 days to complete and costs 11000Bt. You must be able to swim and are medically fit to dive.
Find out more about the Open Water Course right here.
