Scuba Diving Certification in Thailand
If you’ve ever wondered where the cheapest place to scuba dive in the world is, Thailand is definitely high on the list. Travelling through South-East Asia I met so many people raving about their time in Koh Tao. Cheap courses, great dives, great island vibes; it all sounded too good to be true. But I quickly realised they were right - Koh Tao was my favourite place in Thailand!
It can be quite overwhelming when you see how many dive centres there are on the island. You can choose from PADI vs SSI centres, hostel vs hotel accomodation, the full package vs just the course. For myself I knew I wanted a dive centre hostel with the full package included, good social vibes, and closer to town as opposed to the dock. After a lot of HostelWorld searching I landed on Taco Shack Diving Hostel!
They were selling their open water course for 10,995THB ($475AUD/$312USD), which includes all the training and gear, transport to/from the dock, 3 nights dorm accomodation, 2 lunches, and a free t-shirt (which is now my favourite PJ shirt). This price is pretty standard for Koh Tao, but what made Taco Divers stand out for me was the close location to town, the vibes in the restaurant/bar area everyday, and we only had to get up early on the last day. The food included local Thai cuisine and some great Mexican bites, and as a vegetarian I was very satisfied.
All the staff were nothing short of amazing, but special shout out to my instructor, Guada. Bubbly, encouraging and very on top of her shit in the water. I had some trouble on my last day with my ears; it felt like my head was gonna explode and admittedly I started to doubt I could finish. But she had the perfect balance of patience and tough love, and got me to pull it together and get back down to the group. And just like that I had found my new favourite thing to do. It felt like I’d finally opened myself up to a whole new world to discover from here on out.
Many people from my group chose to extend their stay and complete the Advanced Open Water with Taco Divers. At the time I had made some plans after and chose not to, but honestly I do regret not staying on for the advanced. Not just because of the cheap price and amazing water conditions, but I could have stayed on Koh Tao for much longer. Couldn’t recommend the island, and in particular Taco Shack Diving Hostel more. You can book your stay here !
