Koh Tao SSI Advanced Adventurer Course, 2 to 3 Days

Koh Tao Scuba Club’s SSI Advanced Adventurer is the step after your Open Water certificate: five dives over two to three days that take your depth limit from 18 metres to 30. It’s SSI’s version of the PADI Advanced Open Water, and the two are accepted interchangeably by dive shops.

The five dives are a sampler of specialty skills. The club recommends a set: perfect buoyancy, underwater navigation, a deep dive (the one that raises your limit to 30 metres), a wreck dive on the HTMS Sattakut, and a night dive when the reef’s nocturnal life comes out. You can swap some of these depending on conditions and what interests you. The theory is done online, so the time on Koh Tao goes into the water rather than a classroom.

Equipment, a logbook, lunch, tea and coffee, and the digital certificate are included. The course runs in small groups of up to four divers. The club rates the island’s dive sites as calm and clear enough for training most of the year.

Insider Tip: Do the course straight after your Open Water, while the skills are fresh. The club’s Open Water course leads directly into it, and fun dive packages are there once you’re certified.

Safety Tip: Don’t fly within 24 hours of your last dive, and tell the instructors about any heart or lung condition. The operator doesn’t recommend the course for pregnant travellers or anyone with poor cardiovascular health.

Watch out: Two to three days depends on the weather. Leave a spare day before your ferry off the island.