Explorer Dive Internship
Koh Tao, Thailand

To enroll on the 1-month dive internship you must be:

• In good normal health
• Able to swim
• Minimum age 15 years old

Fitness for Diving

To join the dive internship you need to be in good normal health, with no preexisting medical conditions that could be an issue for scuba diving.

You can review a list of medical conditions which may be an issue on the PADI Medical Questionnaire.

If you have a medical condition highlighted on the PADI form, you’ll need to get a checkup by a Doctor to assess whether it is safe for you to dive.

Swimming Requirement

You must be able to swim to join the dive internship . Basic swimming is fine.
Scuba diving is usually easier than swimming or snorkeling. For scuba diving, the idea is to maintain neutral buoyancy (weightlessness) & explore underwater at a slow, relaxed pace. The aim is to maintain steady breathing to conserve your air supply and enjoy long dives – something we’ll teach you about during your dive training.

Koh Tao – a tiny tropical island in the Gulf of Thailand – is the perfect destination to join a dive internship for many reasons:

• Superb Scenery: Koh Tao is spectacular. Palm-fringed beaches meet turquoise ocean, coconut groves, and jungle-covered mountains with trekking trails and epic viewpoints. A short boat ride away is Koh Nangyuan; 3 tiny islands joined by a sandbar – one of the most famous views in Thailand.
• Dive sites: Koh Tao is surrounded by multicolored coral reefs comprising branching staghorn corals, massive brain corals, porites, table corals & delicate gorgonian fans. Also close to Koh Tao are numerous submerged granite monoliths, including the famous Chumphon Pinnacles & Green Rock. These are home to some of Koh Tao’s larger marine species. Plus close to the island are several sunken shipwrecks, including the HTMS Sattakut – a former Thai Navy vessel. Also fascinating are several coral conservation sites to explore such as Simple Life’s Alotmeant coral restoration project.
• Distance to dive sites: Within a short boat ride from Koh Tao are more than 25 named dive sites. Departing from Simple Life Divers, journey times are typically 20 minutes or so. Ultimately you spend more time diving and less time sitting on the boat. Another benefit is that fuel consumption is low, minimizing our environmental impact.
• Marine Life: Dive sites around Koh Tao are a habitat for countless species of tropical aquatic life. Scuba diving around Koh Tao you can expect to see turtles, moray eels, triggerfish, blue-spotted rays, barracuda, giant grouper, batfish, wrasses, butterflyfish, angelfish, and much, much more. If lucky, you may get to dive with a whale shark – the biggest fish in the ocean.
• Gulf of Thailand: Essentially a large, sheltered bay, throughout the Gulf of Thailand wave heights are usually low & underwater visibility is good, making for ideal scuba diving conditions. We’re able to enjoy diving all year round.
• Fantastic Food: Thai food is delicious; Flavorsome Thai curries, tantalizing soups, noodle dishes, spicy salads, and more. International cuisine too is available on Koh Tao; Japanese, Korean BBQ, seafood, steakhouses, Mexican, Italian, and pizza, Middle-Eastern, and vegan restaurants are within close walking distance of the dive shop. Best of all, the cost of food and drinks is very inexpensive on Koh Tao.
• Social Scene: Koh Tao receives visitors from across the globe. One of the most enjoyable parts of joining the dive internship is meeting and diving with people from different backgrounds. We have a fantastic social scene around the dive shop, with our own onsite bar-restaurant. There’s always a crowd around for sunset drinks or headed out for something to eat. And along Sairee Beach (where the dive shop is situated) are a bunch of beach bars where you can kick back and enjoy the view. As evening rolls into night, more lively venues open up where you can party until the small hours. Koh Tao is a fantastic place to spend time – you’ll be sure to settle in quickly and become part of the crew.

During the internship, you’ll be progressing through PADI dive training in sequence:

1. PADI Open Water Diver
2. PADI Advanced Diver
3. Emergency First Responder and PADI Rescue Diver
4. PADI Deep, Wreck & Nitrox Specialties

During training activities, you’ll be learning from our team of PADI Instructors. We keep group sizes small to make sure everyone gets plenty of attention, qualifies as a competent diver plus has a great time along the way.

Between courses, you can pair up with other interns and enjoy some non-training ‘Fun Diving’. This is an opportunity to apply what you’ve learned and fine-tune your underwater navigation skills. You’ll get to explore all the best dive sites around Koh Tao including the spectacular Chumphon Pinnacle, Shark Island, HTMS Sattakut shipwreck, Alotmeant coral restoration project, and coral reefs such as the Japanese Gardens.

In terms of day-to-day schedule, we run two dive trips.

• Morning dive trips depart around 07:00 am, visiting two dive sites before returning to the dive shop by noon. Usually, morning dive trips explore deeper dive sites such as Chumphon Pinnacle, Green Rock, Southwest Pinnacle, or the shipwreck.
• Afternoon dive trips depart shortly after midday, again visiting two dive sites before heading back to the dive shop early evening. This time we visit shallower coral reef dive sites such as Twins & Buoyancy World, White Rock, Mango Bay, or Japanese Gardens.
• Plus we make night dives several times per week; usually we visit White Rock, where you can see chevron barracuda hunting in the dark.

You could spend all your time out on the dive boat, logging 4-5 dives each day. However, it’s better to stick to a more sensible diving volume of 2-3 dives per day for several reasons. Firstly, each of the PADI courses you’ll be progressing through has a theory and shallow water skills component, so we need some time to complete that. Secondly, we have to plan our dives with regard to depth, bottom time, and surface intervals to stay within safe diving limits – something we’ll teach you about. If you make 4-5 dives every day you’d reach a situation where you can only make short dives to stay within safe diving limits. Much better is to maintain a more sensible volume of 2-3 dives per day and enjoy long dives.

Besides the dive training and fun dives, you’ll want to spend time exploring everything else Koh Tao has to offer. The island is spectacular. Plus many people joining us choose to take a couple of days off to visit the world-famous Full Moon Party on neighboring Koh Phangan.

The dive internship structure is flexible and you can take a day off whenever you want. All that we ask is that you give us a little notice (rather than not turning up for a scheduled activity due to an unplanned crazy night etc.).

Simple Life Divers is open all year round, exploring dive sites around Koh Tao every day. We run our diving internships as a rolling program so you can begin whichever date you prefer. Just give us some notice so we can schedule the dive crew and get everything lined up for your arrival.

Best months to come to Koh Tao?

Located in the tropics, Koh Tao enjoys hot sunny weather all year round. Wave heights in the Gulf of Thailand are usually low, and underwater visibility around Koh Tao is normally good, making for ideal diving conditions.

The exception is that every November, the monsoon season arrives on Koh Tao. Monsoon brings a few weeks of heavy rain, strong winds, and big waves. We still dive each day, exploring dive sites on the sheltered leeward side of the island. But underwater visibility drops and diving isn’t as idyllic as the rest of the year.

For this reason, if you have flexibility we suggest avoiding being on Koh Tao during November. Any other month is fine.

The hottest months are April and May when temperatures can approach 40°C.
Koh Tao receives tourist visitors all year round, with the busiest periods from mid-December until April & the summer months.

The 1-month dive internship includes use of our shop rental dive equipment (BCD, regulator, wetsuit, mask, fins, weight belt, tanks etc.). Our shop rental sets are quality dive gear from leading manufacturers (Aqualung, Scubapro), properly maintained by our in-house certified scuba technician.

If you have some spare money, it’s worth investing in some or all of your own dive gear. A properly fitting mask, wetsuit booties and rigid full foot fins are inexpensive and owning your own can make diving more comfortable.

Koh Tao is a busy dive destination with all major brands of dive equipment available on island (Suunto, Mares, Aqualung, TUSA, Scubapro etc).

If you are interested in purchasing some or all of your own dive gear, check out our comprehensive Guide to Buying Scuba Equipment.

Scuba Gear Guide [PDF]

Numbers vary throughout the year, but typically we have around 10-20 active interns at the dive shop, spread amongst the three diving internships we offer on Koh Tao.

For a dive shop the size of Simple Life Divers, this is ideal. We stick to running all dive training in small groups to ensure everyone receives quality tuition. Meanwhile, there’s a great social atmosphere around the dive shop of PADI Divemasters and Instructors, Thai support crew, long-term interns, and day-to-day customers taking PADI courses or joining dive tours. It’s great to be a part of with lots going on everyday.

To join the dive internship you should be in good, normal health. You don’t need to be an athlete. Most people improve their fitness level whilst here, due to being active in the ocean everyday.

Its important that you don’t have any pre-existing medical conditions that may be an issue for scuba diving. Examples include asthma, epilepsy or heart disease.

Take a moment to review PADI’s medical questionnaire to determine if you are fit to dive.
(If you have any of the conditions listed on PADI’s questionnaire, you’ll need to be assessed by a Doctor prior to coming to check whether it is safe for you to dive).

As part of the one-month dive internship you can dive as much as you want. Likely you’ll log a minimum of at least 50 dives.

By the end of the month you’ll become an expert diver, certified to explore to a depth of 40 meters using nitrox blends to extend your bottom time.