Chaloklum Diving school was opened in 1995, starting from a small diving shop with two instructors. The school, just like the entire island, had grown and developed and is now a certified PADI diving school with a variety of diving courses, trips, and activities.
Chaloklum is a calm village in the north part of Koh Phangan. The village became a synonym for diving on the island, thanks to its clear water and proximity to reefs and dive sites, including Sail Rock and Koh Tao.
Diving trips are made with their very own big, comfortable, spacious diving and snorkeling boat, visiting all the top dive sites in the Koh Phangan/Koh Tao area. The boat has headroom downstairs for tall foreigners (!) and is set up for 30+ divers (though there’s a lot more space) with large toilet, dedicated dive equipment set up the area, and an open front deck for sunbathing and socializing. Upstairs there’s the captain’s cabin (with ship’s radio, mobile ‘phones, GPS, full 1st aid kit and oxygen supply), more sunbathing space, and a large, cool, covered eating/social area with buffet (plus a great view).
Chaloklum Diving is offering a variety of PADI courses and certification, from the beginner to the master.
For visitors to Koh Phangan who don’t have time for a full dive course or who want to check it out first, Chaloklum Diving can provide a genuine experience of scuba diving in a safe, controlled style.
After a careful briefing on diving safety rules, techniques and equipment, you start with some simple skill training just below the surface of the water before progressing to do a shallow fun dive (maximum 12 meters) with your instructor to take care. Usually a maximum of 2 divers per PADI professional.
The definitive beginners dive course usually takes 3 or 4 days. It involves some simple theory presentations (DVD’s and personal classroom teaching), shallow water training sessions (off the beach or in our training pool), and 4 actual Open Water dives (the last 2 are usually on a boat diving trip to one of our top dive sites).
On successful completion of this diving course, you should understand how to make safe SCUBA dives.
Once you’ve got your “Padi card” you can join dive trips with other trained divers whenever your travels take you where the diving’s good, and needless to say it’s just the starting point to expand your scuba diving horizons with Padi Continuing Education!
The course includes your own Padi Open Water Diver manual, diver’s logbook, and PADI Diver certification; valid for life.
One of the many delights of scuba diving is that you never stop learning or becoming a better diver, and Padi offers a really wide variety of training programs to meet your every underwater need.
If you want to broaden your diving experience, or follow a special diving interest, or make the step to Padi professional; we can help you do it. As always our principle of personal and professional dive training applies, no matter what the level!
A one-day course, conducted at the dive shop, covering basic first aid techniques and including cardio-pulmonary resuscitation. Involving Padi training videos, personal teaching presentations, and hands-on practical techniques.
A more serious (but still fun!) dive course for Advanced Open Water Divers, or equivalent rating. Self-rescue techniques dive equipment issues, surface, and U/W problems, emergency management, actual rescue scenarios, and more, are covered in theory lessons at the dive center and a minimum of 5 in-water training sessions over at least 3 days. On the last day, we like to take the training from our boat on a diving trip to one of the top dive sites. This certification will help you to care for a dive buddy with a variety of possible problems, in addition to becoming a more able, self-sufficient, and confident scuba diver yourself.
The first level in the PADI professional program will teach you how to care for certified divers and assist an instructor with PADI training. This should take a minimum of 4 weeks (including as many dives as it takes) as there are lots to do!
In-depth theory (which we can still teach personally at the dive school), lots of in-water work with our instructors and divemasters, but also learning what it means to work for a dive center; from filling tanks and maintaining dive equipment, to caring for divers and students, meeting with customers, and helping to run the dive shop.
