I’ve been wanting to get my open water scuba certification for a while, but never committed the time or money to do it. Then impulsively, I hopped on to a SE Asia trip with two of my college friends and soon-to-be doctors. As part of the trip, we spent 4 days getting our open water scuba certification in Koh Tao, a small island on the western side of the Gulf of Thailand. It’s not the easiest location to get to, but there are packaged deals that include the flight, bus, and catamaran to get to the island.

We booked our course through Ocean Sound Dive + Yoga, which was one of the better decisions we made while in Thailand. Actually, one of our friends had gotten his certification there as well and recommended the place. I would also highly recommend diving with Ocean Sound if you’re getting certified in Koh Tao.

One of the benefits of getting PADI certified in Thailand is that it’s very cheap yet safe. In the states, the cost can go anywhere from $500-$600 depending on the diving company. In Thailand, it was approximately $275 give or take due to exchange rates. This includes 2 classroom sessions, a pool session, and 4 open water dives, 3 nights accommodation, and other perks.

Ocean Sound also keeps their class size to a maximum of 4 so that the instructor can spend quality time with the students and make sure that they are comfortable with whatever they are doing. Because let’s face it, you’re breathing underwater. Freaking breathing underwater! The last thing you want to do is panic and accidentally stop breathing or use too much air.

The accommodation they provided was right across the street from their office. If you walked past the check-in lobby, you’re basically at the beach and if you hook a right, you’ll find yourself at Bar Next Door where you can look out on the ocean, have a few drinks, chat with foreigners turned locals, and listen to some tropical house music.

Throughout the dives, our instructor, Jo, was more than awesome. She taught us the basics in the pool, spending extra time on skills we had any problems with and was extremely knowledgable about any dive-related question we had. Thanks to her, we all passed the exam with flying colors and had a ton of fun on our dives.

In fact, I had so much fun that I’m already planning on getting my advanced open water course! Thanks to Will, Jo and the rest of the staff at Ocean Sound for taking care of us!