3-Day PADI Open Water Diver Course, Koh Samui

Posted By : Fracas0404
Just want to give a MASSIVE SHOUT OUT to Discovery Divers in Koh Samui and especially Margaux.

The dive school is top notch, incredibly professional and the instructors are knowledgable, couldn’t be more approachable, helpful and patient.

They helped my 12 year old to pass his Padi Junior Open water with confidence and after 13 years and in spite of the fact I have a disability they were so helpful and supportive which is what allowed me to return to diving after such a long time.

Ive clocked up a large number of dives over the years qnd know a good dive school and genuinely couldn’t recommend these guys enough.

Huge thanks again to Ritchie and his team🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼 — at Discovery Divers.
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Posted On : 2024-07-27 08:32:36

Posted By : Matthew_H
Had a very good experience, and I would say everyone with other dive leaders was too. New/ fast boats, fluent English and other languages, good lunch and well organised from pick up to drop off.
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Posted On : 2024-07-12 07:48:01

Posted By : Sue S
Discovery Dive Centre is a professional, friendly and welcoming place to dive in Koh Samui.
My 18 year old son and I signed up for the Open Water PADI course which allows you to dive to 18 metres. We were sent the information online and were able to complete the course before we pulled on our wetsuits. It took about 7 hours and was a good mix of videos and reading, quizzes and tests.
Before we left the UK we also needed to complete the PADI health questionnaire and had to see a doctor to sign off our forms as we had prior medical conditions (asthma etc). The communication from Discovery Dive centre was excellent - they responded really quickly to emails etc.
Day one we were picked up at our hotel and taken to the dive centre where we tried on wetsuits, fins, BCDs etc. I don’t see brilliantly and took a prescription mask with me but they did have some available too. We met our instructor Pierre who was a great mix of patience, fun and professionalism and we always felt completely safe with him.
We were then taken by taxi to a nearby hotel where we learned how to assemble and dissemble our equipment - it seemed like a lot to remember but under Pierre’s careful supervision we were soon kitting up with confidence.
We then got in the pool and practised a variety of skills such as mask clearance, inflating and deflating our jackets, towing each other, and communicating underwater. Pierre was always very clear about what we were doing both on the surface and underwater. Day one was finished by 1:30 and after prepping our kit for the morning we were driven back to our hotels.
Day 2 we went to Mango Bay Koh Tao. The taxi collected us at 8am again, we signed in at the centre, had a briefing for the day and got on the dive boat. It was 90 minutes to Koh Tao and on the boat were the 4 leaners from our course and some other groups. Probably about 16 of us in total. It was a windy morning and i would recommend sea sickness meds if you are that way inclined. The dive team ran in a professional way on the boat. Registers were taken every time we left somewhere, Pierre had all our kit lined up beautifully and we all had a boat briefing about what was happening timetable wise and the rules of the boat. There’s a clean toilet on the boat, a fresh water hose and a dry cupboard for belongings to keep them safe. They carry emergency oxygen and all staff are fully trained to deal with any emergencies.The briefing was in English but some of the instructors spoke fluent French, Spanish, Chinese, Thai etc. the boat crew were helpful aiding us with our fins and hauling us out of water with our kit when we’d finished diving.
After we’d set up out kit on the boat, we spent our first dive getting used to equalising our ears and practising a number of pool skills from day 1 in the open water. We then went back to the boat for lunch - crispy chicken drumsticks, rice, veggie or chicken curry. There were cokes and sprites chilling in a cool box and a water cooler with plastic bottles on loan for those who had forgotten a water bottle. There was an option to eat lunch on the beach of Mango Bay.
After lunch we went on a second dive to 12m. Pierre was extremely patient and reassuring with our group …I was struggling with my ears and another person with mask clearance but even without a word,he was super calm and kept us feeling relaxed. We saw some lovely coral gardens and reef fish which was most enjoyable. We were then back to the pier, filled in our dive log books with all the details of our dives and then taxied home.
Day 3 (last day) we were off for a double dive at Sail Rock. We went through the same processes as the day before and then set off for the 50 minute journey to Sail Rock. The different diving groups on the boat all worked together very smoothly and Pierre always was very clear about what was happening, both before we left and on the boat. We did 2 dives to 18 metres with a lunch break in between. Sail Rock was a beautiful site to dive with shoals of fish everywhere we looked. As a group of 4 we paid 1000 Baht (about £24 so £6 each) to borrow a camera and Pierre got some great pics and video clips which we enjoyed looking at and sharing later on. We were much better divers on day 3 than day 2 and really took pleasure in all the marine life around us as we were all so much more confident in the water. The dive team were very helpful - a few divers felt queasy on deck during lunch and got in the water with life jackets on to relax instead on being on board. After our final dive we were back on boat, register taken and headed back to Koh Samui. Pierre helped us fill out our dive log books and then as we travelled home he completed our PADI e cards for us straightaway.
Bit of long review but I hope it gives an insight into the pleasurable and safe experience that Discovery Dive Centre offers to divers of different levels. They are so good at what they do that as a customer you almost don’t realise how good they are! Everything just seems to happen super smoothly by itself (which of course it doesn’t!)
Thanks to all the great dive staff and especially Pierre for making our intro to diving such a memorable experience and keeping us safe!
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Posted On : 2023-08-05 07:09:55

Posted By : 963lucianm
Discovery Dive is a very professionally run diving outfit with two locations on Koh Samui. They have a pool that is used for initial diving instruction and then launch from a pier in Bophut.

My son wanted to do his PADI (3 Day) course and my wife and daughter wanted a Discover Diving day. I went along to snorkel.

Initial communication with Richie was excellent and really put my mind at ease. The whole experience was very professionally run and the team all know their roles and execute as one team. They are also lots of fun to be around.

A great experience across all three sets of experiences.
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Posted On : 2023-07-16 09:24:28

Posted By : abr30
What an experience! I would recommend Discovery Dive Centre to anyone wanting to Dive in Koh Samui / Koh Phag Nan / Koh Tao. I did my Open Water with them and it was a small group of only three of us, led / taught by Samira, who is a wonderful asset to Discovery. She is patient and friendly and takes time to explain the technique, whilst also making for a fun experience pointing out various fish / sealife. The other dive instructors / dive masters / captains on the boat were also very friendly, making the experience feel like you were with one big group of friends / family: from Pierre to Eshan, Josh to Gita, each of them were kind and chatty. Eric - the owner - runs a great Centre and I would never hesitate to highly recommend Discovery Dive Centre to anyone going to Samui.
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Posted On : 2023-06-03 06:47:47

Posted By : liser122907
I did my Padi Open water course and it was truly an amazing experience. Josh was my dive instructor and he was clear and very professional. After finishing my 3 day PADI open water course, we went diving for the rest of the week with Josh and we saw amazing things during our experience. We went to many different dive sites which were beautiful and fun. Josh always gave a briefing of the dive in the morning telling us how deep the dive could be and possible marine life that could be there. Josh always made sure that everything was okay under water and that at any moment if we had a slight discomfort, he was there to help and assist us. This week being the first week i ever went diving, i was quite nervous and stressed but Josh helped me learn the course well which ended up being very fun. He took his time explaining and going through the steps which really was great.
All the équipement was in perfect condition and everything was always ready on time. If we ever needed assistance, the dive instructors were always happy to help. The staff always made sure that everything was okay before going in the water to start the dive which was very reassuring.
We were even lucky to see a turtle, many huge barracudas and luckily a whale shark which was absolutely stunning.
From my experience, I think that Discovery was very organised in everything and it was a wonderful trip with them.
I highly recommend this dive centre in Koh Samui (they are very professional) and make sure to ask for Josh as he is the best!
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Posted On : 2023-04-24 02:37:20

Posted By : Miniwheels70
I signed up for the 3-day PADI Open Water course in July 2022 at quite short notice. This includes an online PADI course that you need to complete before the end of your diver course. I didn't leave enough time to do this, so spent many hours in the evening going through the course and taking the tests.
If you are looking to do this, get started on this part of the course at least a week before you are due to start your first diving day!
Anyway, the diving itself and the teachers were AMAZING! Super friendly and experienced. I was in a group of 3, so a very small group, which meant that each person got all the attention they needed.
The first day is a swimming pool day to go through the core skills needed before the 4 open-water dives.
Unfortunately for me, there were storms after this day, so I only managed one additional day with 2 dives, but these were great! I felt very comfortable and looked after and it was great fun going through all the practical skills I learned on the online course.
I really want to return to complete the rest of the open-water course, because I had to downgrade to the PADI Scuba Diver qualification due to the missed day.

I would highly recommend Discovery Dive Centre and their excellent diving instructors to any beginner looking to experience scuba diving in this amazing part of the world!
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Posted On : 2022-08-18 11:26:18

Posted By : DrDaniel_L
Learning to dive at my age (almost 60) was simply inspiring. I'm very thankful to my instructor, Yuan from Germany, who was very patient, kind and professional. After completing the PADI Open Water certification, I am now ever more motivated to do the Advanced & Specialty Courses. Thank you Discovery Dive Centre for providing such wonderful & efficient services and making the whole dive experience simply memorable!
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Posted On : 2022-07-04 22:20:09

Posted By : gregmL3153ZY
I and my girlfriend were new to scuba. Prior to our first visit to Koh Samui this last January I had only been snorkeling a few times, and my girlfriend not even that. Her inexperience led to some special needs, but more on that later. We chose Discovery Dive Center because of the many excellent reviews on Trip Advisor and similar sites.

Once we had signed up for the three-day open water training we received a link for the online portion of the course. This is a very well produced and informative class developed by PADI (the Professional Association of Diving Instructors). PADI is the gold standard world wide for scuba training and certification. We were picked up at out hotel on time and taken to our training locations. The first day of in-person training took place in the safety of a swimming pool. For days 2 and 3 we were brought to the Discovery Dive Center Pier, where we took the company boat to train in several of the beautiful dive locations accessible to Koh Samui.

The culture of Discovery Dive Center is all about safety, knowledge, and fun. The owner, Eric, is an honest and thoughtful businessman, organized, and a good communicator. He has attracted an excellent international team. Over two separate Koh Samui trips (I have now had 18 dives with this company) we have enjoyed learning from several excellent instructors, including: Zoe, Pierre, Dion, and Margaux. Highest praise for this group, who we now think of as extended family.

A quick note about my girlfriend. As mentioned above she had little experience in the ocean prior to our first scuba lessons. The skills required for PADI Open Water certification — breathing through the regulator mouthpiece, buoyancy, and clearing the mask of water — were all new and daunting to her. She would not have been able to continue except for the kindness and strong support of the diving team, especially Zoe. Zoe is a gem!

Overall, Discovery Dive Center has my highest rating. There is no better choice on Koh Samui. We can’t wait to return and dive with these wonderful people again.
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Posted On : 2022-05-15 10:22:25

Posted By : 606teenyb
Highly, highly recommend Discovery if you're thinking of learning to dive! My partner and I did the open water diver course with Zoey (who is truly amazing -- positive, clear, informative, fun, and all around lovely to be around and to learn from) this December. We had such a wonderful time, we changed our travel plans to plan a few more dives in south Thailand before returning home. It's odd to say it, but even the day in the pool learning the basics was enjoyable and then the dives (!!!!!) on days 2 and 3 were just superb. We saw tons of fish (my personal favorite may have been the mammoth, waterfall of flowing yellow fish all swimming their way forward) or the long, toothy barracuda making their way through open water, surrounded by a school of bright silver fish, by Sail Rock). Anywho, back to this review: Discovery was quick to respond, professional, helpful, and got us trained and certified in three days. We had a blast while doing the course, liked the entire crew, and were extremely grateful to Zoey for all the work she put in to helping us learn and making the days as wonderful as they were. 10/10, 5/5, 100/100 etc.
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Posted On : 2021-12-24 11:16:52