Two dives, four divers to a guide
Phu Quoc is shallow, warm and easy — a good place to learn and a poor place to chase big walls. We will tell you which of those you are getting before you book.
At a glance
- Duration
- One day, two dives, 08:00 – 15:00 on the water
- Group
- Max 4 divers per guide, 8 on the boat
- Starts
- Hotel pick-up from 07:30
- Ends
- Back at your hotel by 16:00
- Difficulty
- 5 – 18 m, mild current
- From
- USD 95 per person
What the diving is actually like
Honest version first, because dive centres everywhere oversell and it is easy to check us later. Phu Quoc dive sites run from about five to eighteen metres. Visibility on a good day in the dry season is ten to fifteen metres, on a poor day four. Water temperature sits between 27 and 30 degrees year round, so a shorty is enough and many people dive in a rash vest.
What you see: hard coral in fair to good condition on the better sites, soft coral in patches, large numbers of small reef fish, nudibranchs if you look properly, moray, occasional cuttlefish and squid, and blue-spotted rays on the sand. What you do not see: walls, big pelagics, sharks, mantas or turtles in any numbers worth planning around. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling.
Which means Phu Quoc is an excellent place to do your first dive or your tenth, and a mediocre place to spend a week if you have four hundred logged. We would rather you came here knowing that and had a good day than arrived expecting Sipadan.
Season matters more here than at most destinations because the island flips. From November to April we dive the An Thoi archipelago in the south, in the lee of the northeast monsoon. From June to September the south is unworkable and we move to the northern islands off Ganh Dau, which are shallower but sit in cleaner water at that time of year. May and October are transitional and we decide two days out.
The day, hour by hour
| Time | What happens | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 07:30 – 08:00 | Hotel pick-up | Your hotel |
| 08:15 | Board, kit assembly, briefing, buddy check | An Thoi or Ganh Dau |
| 09:15 | First dive, 40 – 50 minutes, shallower site | Site one |
| 10:30 | Surface interval, fruit and water | On the boat |
| 11:30 | Lunch on board | On the boat |
| 12:45 | Second dive, 40 – 50 minutes, deeper site | Site two |
| 14:00 | Kit rinsed, log books signed, run for harbour | On the water |
| 15:15 – 16:00 | Back at your hotel | Your hotel |
Do not book this on the day before an early flight. The standard guidance after two dives is a minimum 18-hour surface interval before flying, and we will refuse the booking if your flight is inside that window rather than let you take the risk.
Day by day
Two dives with a maximum of four divers to a guide
Pick-up from 07:30 and boarding at 08:15. Kit is assembled on the boat rather than at a shop, which saves an hour of standing around. If you have not dived in over six months we run a refresher on the first descent — buoyancy, mask clear, regulator recovery — at no charge, because it makes the second dive better for everyone.
The first dive is on the shallower of the two sites so that weighting can be sorted out in eight metres rather than sixteen. Forty to fifty minutes, computer-limited, with a three-minute safety stop. Then a surface interval of about seventy-five minutes with lunch, which is not padding — it is the interval the tables require and we do not shorten it.
The second dive goes deeper, typically twelve to eighteen metres, on a site chosen that morning for current and visibility rather than fixed in advance. Beginners doing a try dive stay in the shallows with their own guide for both dives and never go below twelve metres, which is the limit for an uncertified diver.
Prices
| What you book | Per person | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Two fun dives, certified, own gear | USD 95 | Boat, guide, tanks, weights, lunch |
| Two fun dives, certified, full hire | USD 107 | The above plus BCD, regulator, wetsuit |
| Try dive, no certification, two dives | USD 125 | The above plus a dedicated guide |
| Third dive on the same day | +USD 32 | Tank, weights, guide |
| Private guide, your party only | +USD 70 per group | One guide for you alone |
What the price includes
- Boat with a maximum of 8 divers and a ratio of 4 divers to each guide
- Tanks, weights and belt
- A guide who dives these sites several times a week
- Lunch, fruit and drinking water on board
- Hotel transfers both ways and all port fees
- A refresher on the first dive if you have not dived in six months, at no charge
What it does not include
- BCD, regulator, wetsuit and computer, USD 12 for the set
- Dive insurance — normal travel insurance often excludes scuba, check the wording
- Certification courses, which we do not run ourselves
- Underwater camera hire
- Tips
Gallery
Who this tour is not for
- Experienced divers looking for walls, current, big pelagics or wrecks. Phu Quoc has none of those. Book Nha Trang or fly to the Philippines.
- Anyone flying within 18 hours of the second dive. We will decline the booking.
- People with asthma, recent ear or sinus surgery, or heart conditions who have not cleared diving with a doctor. The medical questionnaire is not a formality.
- Children under ten, and under twelve for the try dive.
- Anyone who wants to dive in the south between June and September. It is not a matter of price or persuasion — the sea state does not allow it, and we move north instead.
Questions travellers ask most
Can I dive if I have never dived before?
Yes, on the try dive, which is two shallow dives with a guide who has only you and at most one other beginner. Maximum depth is twelve metres and you will be held through the whole of the first descent.
It is not a certification and it does not count toward one. If you want the card, do the course with a centre that runs them over three or four days — we will recommend one and we take no commission for it.
How good is the visibility really?
Ten to fifteen metres on a good day in the right season, four to eight on a poor one. It drops after heavy rain because the rivers push sediment out, and it is at its best in February and March in the south.
We check the previous day's report before we take your booking and will tell you if the week has been bad.
What certification do you accept?
PADI, SSI, CMAS, BSAC, NAUI and SDI, with the physical or digital card shown on the boat. If your last dive was more than six months ago we run the refresher, which is not optional and not charged for.
Is there a decompression chamber on the island?
There is a hyperbaric facility on Phu Quoc, and the nearest full treatment capacity is on the mainland, which is a flight or a fast boat away. This is the honest reason we dive conservative profiles, keep the ratio at four to one, and insist on the surface interval. It is also why your insurance needs to cover diving explicitly.
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Tell us what you want out of the island
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