Sub Aqua Dive Center
Sub Aqua Dive Center
5
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About
Located directly on Karon Beach Road, as part of Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort & Spa complex. If you walk along the Beach Road, you will definitely find us with Thavorn Palm Beach Resort and Andaman Seaview on one side of us, and Woraburi Resort/ Movenpick on the other.Big Sub Aqua Dive Center logo!
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Sub Aqua Dive Center
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Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
5.0
121 reviews
Excellent
104
Very good
14
Average
1
Poor
1
Terrible
1
holidayAM
London, UK5 contributions
Mar 2012 • Couples
We visited three or four dive centers in Phuket. Sub Aqua Dive Center was the most friendly, had a good offer and professional service and advice. We were picked up at the resort in Nai Harn :)
The staff (Kerry, Marc), as well as DivemasteR TED, is incredibly friendly and knowledgable.
On the boat was a good service and good food - especially pancakes :)
Our divemaster Ted was fantastic, we felt safe. Ted was professional, ensuring all safety rules are made clear but also making sure you have a fun and relaxing dive. He answered all our questions, shared his experience and good advice. Thanks to Ted we had a great dive and learned a lot.
Sub Aqua is excellent company, We will definitely recommend to everyone.
Thanks Kerry, Marc and Ted We had a wonderful time!
Kind regards,
A & M
The staff (Kerry, Marc), as well as DivemasteR TED, is incredibly friendly and knowledgable.
On the boat was a good service and good food - especially pancakes :)
Our divemaster Ted was fantastic, we felt safe. Ted was professional, ensuring all safety rules are made clear but also making sure you have a fun and relaxing dive. He answered all our questions, shared his experience and good advice. Thanks to Ted we had a great dive and learned a lot.
Sub Aqua is excellent company, We will definitely recommend to everyone.
Thanks Kerry, Marc and Ted We had a wonderful time!
Kind regards,
A & M
Written April 1, 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Surgeon11
Orlando, FL2 contributions
Mar 2012 • Couples
My fiancé and I were both new PADI certified divers, so when we decided to visit Phuket, Thailand we knew it would be best to go with a company that we felt comfortable with and Sub Aqua filled all our expectations.
From the moment we walked into the shop we were greeted by “I’m not from Australia” Kerrie and she made us feel at ease due to the shops cleanliness and her professionalism. Mark, an instructor for Sub Aqua was our dive master. Mark had a great attitude, personality and really knew his dive sites, the locals, types of fish…you name it. The first day was 2 dives and it was so good, we booked a second day (2 more dives) on the way back to the hotel. Mark was nice enough to juggle his previous appointments to take us out again the next day.
LOCATION: In a small shopping strip in front of the Hilton Phuket on Patak Road.
SERVICE: Kerrie and Mark made us feel very comfortable from the start and most of all, as tourists in a foreign country, we felt absolutely safe from the bus to the boat to being in and out of the water.
EXPECT: Short bus ride to the boat. Approx. 2 or 3 hour boat ride (depending on site). Nice large 2 decker boat with helpful crew. Mark sets up your tanks (awesome). Great lunches.
We highly recommend Sub Aqua for the experienced and non experienced diver! You won’t be disappointed! What more could you ask for, a great experience for a reasonable price, safe and comforting environment, an experienced professional showing you the greatest spots to dive, and an all around very cool experience. Next time we visit Phuket…we plan to go back to Sub Aqua!
We visited late March, 2012.
From the moment we walked into the shop we were greeted by “I’m not from Australia” Kerrie and she made us feel at ease due to the shops cleanliness and her professionalism. Mark, an instructor for Sub Aqua was our dive master. Mark had a great attitude, personality and really knew his dive sites, the locals, types of fish…you name it. The first day was 2 dives and it was so good, we booked a second day (2 more dives) on the way back to the hotel. Mark was nice enough to juggle his previous appointments to take us out again the next day.
LOCATION: In a small shopping strip in front of the Hilton Phuket on Patak Road.
SERVICE: Kerrie and Mark made us feel very comfortable from the start and most of all, as tourists in a foreign country, we felt absolutely safe from the bus to the boat to being in and out of the water.
EXPECT: Short bus ride to the boat. Approx. 2 or 3 hour boat ride (depending on site). Nice large 2 decker boat with helpful crew. Mark sets up your tanks (awesome). Great lunches.
We highly recommend Sub Aqua for the experienced and non experienced diver! You won’t be disappointed! What more could you ask for, a great experience for a reasonable price, safe and comforting environment, an experienced professional showing you the greatest spots to dive, and an all around very cool experience. Next time we visit Phuket…we plan to go back to Sub Aqua!
We visited late March, 2012.
Written May 8, 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Mishtheman
Nice, France7 contributions
Jul 2011 • Solo
i arrived in Phuket/Patong with the intention of doing my PADI open water, but just being in Patong after a few hours started to get to me. So i got on my scooter and headed to the sub aqua dive center in Karon due to my brothers recommendation, who having done his dive master with a limited amount of time that the Sub Aqua Dive Centre managed to work around. What to say from the second i entered the centre i immediately felt more at ease just seeing the young friendly faces, was the positive turning point of my trip. Shortly after having arranged my dates of when to start my dives i jumped onto the back of mark's scooter (one of the instructors) to sort me out with better accommodation than the one i already had, they weren't wrong, cheap beautiful and 5 minutes walk from the dive centre 30 seconds from the beach. The words i would use to sum up the instructors at the dive centre would be friendly to the point that you feel your diving with a friend that are teaching you, fun as a large part of all diving has to be focused around the element of fun you'll have, patience of a saint, especially with some young students losing focus every few minutes or even for those who weren't grasping it as quick, they make sure you understand. I cant stress enough that i really wouldn't go diving with anyone else, for me i was a bit worried about diving and swimming in open water, especially the thought of doing it with someone i didn't know, who maybe had a limited amount of english, scared the life out of be before hand. All the instructors are extremely respectful to the ocean, all speaking perfect english making me feel so comfortable to dive. i had the time of my life made friends and even met a girl what more could you want and to top it off all the areas they take you diving are incredible, depending on what you want to see they'll find it, not to mention the water is so nice and warm. I'm sure I'm not the only person that would say all of this, so trust me or at least walk in and check it out for yourself and you'll see what im talking about. lastly not to mention they managed to teach my brother to dive master and hes not that bright, so i guess that speaks for their techniques of teaching must be pretty good.
Please listen to my words of advise, i would even go back there just to give them all a hug
Please listen to my words of advise, i would even go back there just to give them all a hug
Written August 19, 2011
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Wow - thanks ever so much for the review! It was so lovely to meet you after having taught your brother his Divemaster course earlier in the year. Wishing you both all the best in the future. Hope to see you again!
Written August 29, 2011
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
ripley122
Labuan Bajo, Indonesia2 contributions
Oct 2014 • Friends
I guess that's what you get when you are looking for the best deal around. Either that or we really had bad luck with the instructor. Me and my two buddies decided to dive just off Phuket for a couple of days. My two friends did the advanced open water SSI course in which not only they gained absolutely no knowledge but on their first dive the instructor let them both run completely out of air.
I am already an advanced diver and I was just hanging out for the dive while they were doing their "skills" when I saw the instructor swimming away with one of my friends on his octopus (spare regulator). I felt a tap on my shoulder and my second friend was right beside me giving me the sign for out of air. He grabbed my octopus. I couldn't believe it so i checked his gauge and he was OUT of air! That's about 40 min into the dive, at a depth of 18 meters, his instructor didn't even look back. Kept swimming towards the ascent line. Luckily i had enough oxygen for both me and my friend to do a safety stop. When we told him at the surface, he didn't even react like it was a big deal.
Over the next few dives, my other friend struggled with the buoyancy and got no help from the instructor. My friends got no books to read about the course and they didn't complete any tests. Learned nothing about deep diving or currents or NN... yet they got certified! Scary.
I am already an advanced diver and I was just hanging out for the dive while they were doing their "skills" when I saw the instructor swimming away with one of my friends on his octopus (spare regulator). I felt a tap on my shoulder and my second friend was right beside me giving me the sign for out of air. He grabbed my octopus. I couldn't believe it so i checked his gauge and he was OUT of air! That's about 40 min into the dive, at a depth of 18 meters, his instructor didn't even look back. Kept swimming towards the ascent line. Luckily i had enough oxygen for both me and my friend to do a safety stop. When we told him at the surface, he didn't even react like it was a big deal.
Over the next few dives, my other friend struggled with the buoyancy and got no help from the instructor. My friends got no books to read about the course and they didn't complete any tests. Learned nothing about deep diving or currents or NN... yet they got certified! Scary.
Written November 1, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Dear ripley122,
I found your words quite surprising and also very disappointing, but since we value our guest feed-backs (either good or bad) I would also like to thank you for taking the time to review our dive center.
I have been talking to our Instructor today to investigate about this episode and had the following report from him:
Towards the end of the first dive, he admitted a mistake in judgement, seeing that both the students were getting close to fifty bar he decided to head for the boat, instead of simply surfacing where you all were.
As it was, he told all three of you to head back to the boat, and as you all got close to 12 metres he decided it was safest to pass his Octopus to Felicity who had about 35 bar left, at this point he noticed you and Taylor had stopped at about 16 metres to take some pictures; he tried to get your attention with his tank banger but neither of you noticed. He then saw the two of you coming towards him with Taylor using your octopus. Once on the surface he specifically asked Taylor if he had run out of air and he said he had not but could not remember the signal for this so had signaled out of air; on checking his gauge he verified he had still around 20 bar left in his tank.
These things to be honest shouldn’t happen as the diver should have either checked his air supply earlier or surfaced upon realizing it was low; however it is also the responsibility of certified divers to alert their instructor if they are running low on air in order to avoid out of air situations. The instructor’s main focus had been on his student at this time assuming your knowledge of the basic scuba diving rules which you learn during the Open Water Course were of a satisfactory level.
As for the course not having a book, it is the way SSI Advanced Adventurer Course is designed and I explained this to you prior to the booking, offering you the option to book the PADI Course with a manual or the SSI without a manual (which is cheaper because of this).
Both PADI Advanced Open Water Course and SSI Advanced Adventurer don’t have any exam to pass, and are structured in a way that introduce an Open Water Diver to 5 different underwater activities; a thorough briefing is given before each dive, going through the peculiarities, dangers and techniques which a diver needs to know; certain, but not all, dives also requires underwater skills.
Again, I am sorry that you felt the course did not meet expectations and I hope we’ll be able to meet your expectations should you decide to dive with us at anytime in the future
Written November 5, 2014
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Rajdeep-adventures
Gurugram (Gurgaon), India3 contributions
Mar 2016 • Solo
if you are looking at getting your certification done, Marc and Simon are world class instructors.
I did my open water certification last year with them (along with my 11 year old daughter) and have now come back and done advanced open water and nitrox certifications with them. The experince is fabulous while being thorough. they keep it safe, engageing, and make learning easy yet memorable.
Marc & Simon have an awesome knowledge of the area near Phuket - they took me to places and reef nooks and even a lilttle known man made reef near kata beach where i saw some serious variety and qualtity of fish
diving with them is an awesome experince - i saw from close quarters about 45 Sting rays, a 2mtr long Black tip reef shark, was in vicinity of a 5 mtr Whale shark, Giant moray eel, Lion fish, Coral Rockcod, school of big eye snappers, Batfish, Schooling bannerfish, Emperor Angelfish, Black spotted Pufferfish, Clark's Anemonefish, and many many varieties
highly recomend
I did my open water certification last year with them (along with my 11 year old daughter) and have now come back and done advanced open water and nitrox certifications with them. The experince is fabulous while being thorough. they keep it safe, engageing, and make learning easy yet memorable.
Marc & Simon have an awesome knowledge of the area near Phuket - they took me to places and reef nooks and even a lilttle known man made reef near kata beach where i saw some serious variety and qualtity of fish
diving with them is an awesome experince - i saw from close quarters about 45 Sting rays, a 2mtr long Black tip reef shark, was in vicinity of a 5 mtr Whale shark, Giant moray eel, Lion fish, Coral Rockcod, school of big eye snappers, Batfish, Schooling bannerfish, Emperor Angelfish, Black spotted Pufferfish, Clark's Anemonefish, and many many varieties
highly recomend
Written March 9, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
george s
9 contributions
Jan 2016 • Solo
Do not hesitate to use Sub Aqua Dive Centre for your underwater fun and games whilst on Phuket. I did my final Open Water dives with Simon over two days and a better instructor I could not have had. He was patient, thorough, professional and interesting. The necessary paperwork was handled seamlessy by the reception staff, the equipment was first rate and the logistics of pick up,return and travel to and from the dive sites were excellent. My only slight reservation, and this does not reflect against Sub Aqua is that I was somewhat underwhelmed by the underwater sea life. I saw 1 blue ray lots of small fish and coral. Maybe Phuket had raised my expectations too high!.
Well done Sub Aqua. Best wishes for the future.
Well done Sub Aqua. Best wishes for the future.
Written February 5, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
alpinner@ymail.com
Stamford, UK6 contributions
Jan 2016 • Couples
Marc and his team are massively flexible, knowledgeable, fun and above all safe. A great day and night diving.
Written January 12, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Karen F
Tavernspite, null, United Kingdom2 contributions
Oct 2015 • Solo
I recently went to Phuket and stayed at the Hilton and went diving for 2 days with Sub Aqua who are located outside the hotel. They were excellent - very professional and friendly and competitively priced. The equipment was also of a very good standard - well maintained, clean and current. When I dived with others in a group who were at different levels, the instructor ensured that I was still able to enjoy a long and challenging dive whilst also catering for the needs of the other divers. I would definitely advocate their excellent service and experience.
Written November 16, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Annemarie M
Fort William, UK40 contributions
Oct 2015 • Couples
Found the Sub Aqua centre after taking a walk, they offered free trial in the pool at our hotel so I was hooked after trying. You have to get checked out with a questionnaire to be sure you are able to dive once given the ok you are fitted out with your gear. Mark was great helpful and lots off encouragement I had my own dive bubby Simon who was great fun made it so relaxing for me a fantastic experience was on cloud nine after doing the dive. They gave us breakfast and a buffet lunch all in the price .Thank you to the crew and the help they give would have been nice to see more fish.
Written October 25, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Victoria G
abu dhabi18 contributions
Aug 2015 • Family
Went with Simon for 2 dives. Kids and dad snorkelled. Excellent service - personal attention, very informative and simon great with the kids. Dive boat very well set up - food fine, plenty of drinks and clean loos etc.
really enjoyed it.
Mark also great doing taster dives for kids in hotel pool.
Thanks guys!
really enjoyed it.
Mark also great doing taster dives for kids in hotel pool.
Thanks guys!
Written August 25, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
No questions have been asked about this experience