Once you notice that $90 repeats across four centres, the price stops being the question and the group size takes over.
How big is the group?
OnBird goes one way and builds a ten-guest beginner trip that runs from 8:00 to 16:30 for 2,150,000 VND (about $83). The rest go the other way:
- Vietnam Active: a maximum of four guests on the fun diving day, and no more than two per instructor on the beginner day.
- Phu Quoc Diving Club: one instructor with one or two beginners, but fun divers go out on a big shared boat.
- Kimie's south: a one-to-one try dive.
- Ecodive: a Discover Scuba described as one-on-one.
North or south — what changes?
North and south are two different seasons, not two directions. Northern dives only run in the dry season, November to April, from Dương Đông harbour, about an hour and a half out to a site it usually names as Turtle Island, at around nine metres. Flipper prices the north below the south, from 1,400,000 VND (about $54) against 1,800,000.
The south is the deeper, year-round option: Ecodive dives around 18 metres, with up to 30 for advanced divers, multi-level and drift dives, and there is a trade-off: diving is accessible all year, but because the island sits close to the Mekong delta, peak-season visibility is rarely what you would find on Vietnam's eastern seaboard.
What should you settle before you pay?
Poseidon quotes 'Only $80' for the dive-plus-snorkelling programme and 'Only $90' for fun dives without saying whether that is per person, so ask the school for the unit before you pay.
Is there anything besides the standard boat day?
If you want to dive without getting on a boat schedule, Red River's Seawalker at the Ocean World coral park is the outlier of the section: a four-hour trip with 15 to 20 minutes on the sea floor in a helmet, or scuba instead, one instructor per guest, 1,350,000 VND (about $52) for the adult ticket — ask for the child rate when you book.
Night diving is a single option with a single rule. Kimie's takes certificate holders only, 17:00 to 21:00, two dives, $150 per person, and states the price is identical on the north and the south side of the island — so the choice of harbour, Dương Đông or An Thới, is yours and costs nothing either way.
Important
there is no diving in the north from 10 May to 20 October.
