Heart Ocean Diving ReviewThe most welcoming Houbihu dive venue, where a passionate family guides you to explore Kenting's ocean

Coach Octopus has loved the ocean since high school, and he chose to settle in Kenting because you can dive year-round, and the sea always heals everything, no matter your mood.

Coach A-Tao, a Hong Kong native and Taiwan son-in-law, has a deep passion for the ocean and offers instruction in both Cantonese and English.

Coach Ethan is an outdoor enthusiast with a lean, tanned physique and a sunny disposition, who loves interacting with children.

Xinhai Diving Center has three quad rooms, each with two double beds and a private bathroom.

Notably, if two people sign up for a diving course, they receive a special room rate, allowing each person to enjoy their own double bed. It's an incredibly generous offer!

The outdoor common area is a hub for connection, where guests gather to eat, socialize, attend pre-dive briefings, and gear up. As the cool evening breeze rolls in, everyone settles in to crack sunflower seeds and chat, creating a lively and warm atmosphere.

During my Kenting Diving experience at Xinhai Diving Center, I had the pleasure of meeting Coach Octopus's parents, and their meticulous care was evident throughout my three-day, two-night stay.

Every moment at the venue, they would conjure up simple meals and snacks, always concerned that guests might be hungry after their dives.

On weekends, Papa Octopus even adds extra dishes to the menu. After diving, everyone gathers around the long table, enjoying snacks and fruit while chatting. If you're not in a rush to leave, they'll even invite you to stay for dinner.

This Kenting Diving venue is a family-run operation. Coach Octopus handles the diving lessons, while his parents provide invaluable support, ensuring that guests not only experience professional instruction but also feel the genuine care and attention of the coach's parents.

Xinhai Diving Center offers a range of PADI scuba diving courses, including the three-day, two-night PADI Open Water Diver certification, Advanced Open Water Diver, Specialty Diver certifications, and PADI professional certifications.

Even without prior experience or a diving certification, you can still enjoy Kenting Diving through an introductory dive, where a professional instructor will guide you hand-in-hand to explore the beautiful underwater world.

Xinhai Diving Center also offers refresher courses for divers who haven't been in the water for a while. These half-day, two-dive sessions cover fundamental skills like academic knowledge review, buoyancy control, mask clearing, and alternate air source use, with customized practice available to meet individual needs. Whether you're feeling rusty on your diving technique or simply want to regain your comfort in the water, these one-on-one or one-on-two small-group lessons provide safe, relaxed, and effective guidance to help you rebuild your confidence.

Xinhai Diving Center offers four SUP sessions on weekdays, each lasting an estimated 2.5 hours. Before heading out to sea, you'll practice at the dive shop, and once on the water, you can enjoy paddleboarding and group games!

If you already have a diving certification, you can rent equipment from Xinhai Diving Center and explore the underwater world to your heart's content.

If shore diving doesn't quite satisfy your urge to explore, Xinhai Diving Center also offers boat diving, taking you further out to sea to discover hidden dive sites.

If you already have an Open Water (OW) certification and want to explore deep-water wrecks or challenge famous deep-water secrets abroad, an Advanced Open Water (AOW) certification is the ideal next step. Compared to the OW limit of 18 meters, AOW allows you to safely descend to 30 meters, unlocking more dive sites and, most importantly, equipping you with the skills and knowledge to protect yourself in deep-water environments. The course involves five themed adventure dives led by an instructor, with deep diving and underwater navigation as mandatory components. The remaining three can be chosen based on your interests, such as night diving, boat diving, underwater photography, or fish identification. The entire course typically takes 2 to 3 days to complete.

Xinhai Diving Center's AOW certification course covers deep diving, underwater navigation, and night diving, with practical electives like Nitrox also available. Plus, learning in Taiwan means you can study in your native language, allowing for immediate discussion with instructors when questions arise, making the learning process more thorough and reassuring.

Nitrox diving is an excellent solution for underwater photographers and marine life enthusiasts who often find their no-decompression limits too restrictive. Standard diving air contains about 21% oxygen, with the majority being nitrogen. Nitrox, on the other hand, increases the oxygen concentration to 32% or 36%, which significantly reduces the nitrogen content. This means your body absorbs less nitrogen, allowing you to stay at the same depth for longer and shorten your surface intervals between dives. Additionally, reduced nitrogen absorption lowers the risk of nitrogen narcosis and may help alleviate post-dive headaches. However, Nitrox diving also has its considerations: excessively high oxygen concentrations or exceeding recommended depths can lead to oxygen toxicity, potentially causing convulsions or cramps. This is why Nitrox diving requires specialized training and certification, as it's more complex than simply swapping out a tank.

Xinhai Diving Center's Nitrox course provides hands-on instruction on how to analyze tank contents, differentiate between Nitrox and standard air tanks, and observe data changes on your dive computer underwater. This ensures you truly understand how Nitrox impacts dive planning and how to use it safely. Once certified, you'll have greater flexibility to choose the most suitable diving approach for various dive sites and itineraries.

Before your SUP experience, you'll fill out a personal information form and insurance waiver, then practice paddling on land.

Next, the instructor will use a bench as a paddleboard to demonstrate paddling techniques. The explanation is lively and engaging, and they'll have you follow along with the paddling motions.

Wanlitong boasts a stunning gradient coastline and crystal-clear reef shores, so for this trip, Shiyang booked a transparent paddleboard and aerial photography to capture the most beautiful memories.

Once we'd paddled out to the middle of the sea, the instructor hooked our paddleboards to a buoy to keep us from drifting. That's when the drone and the instructor's phone started snapping away, capturing tons of photos. The instructor even connected with the drone photographer via phone, guiding us through various poses with clear, step-by-step instructions!

Xinhai Diving Center prioritizes student safety, offering super-small class sizes with a maximum of two students per instructor. Children as young as 10 can participate, making it one of the few Kenting Diving venues that welcome kids.

The next morning, after a breakfast prepared by Octopus Mom and changing into wetsuits, Coach Octopus had us sign personal data forms and insurance waivers. Xinhai Diving Center prioritizes the safety of every student, so securing ocean activity insurance is a must.

Coach Octopus began by explaining important diving safety and essential knowledge, including hand signals, followed by instruction on how to use the regulator, clear it of water, clear your mask, and equalize ear pressure.

After the briefing, we took a short quiz to ensure everyone understood the basics of diving before we geared up and headed out.

Our Kenting Diving experience was led by two senior instructors, Octopus and A-Tao, who guided us into the water from Houbihu's outlet.

Before you dive, the instructors will review the basics on shore: how to breathe with the regulator, equalize ear pressure, and clear your mask. Once they've confirmed you're comfortable, they'll help you put on your fins and begin your descent!

Throughout the dive, the instructor stayed right by Shiyang's side, even pulling her along if she got tired and didn't want to swim anymore, so there was no need to worry about running out of energy. Even better, the instructor was incredibly enthusiastic about taking photos and videos the entire time.

On the day of her dive, Shiyang was at Houbihu, where she had the incredible luck to encounter a giant trevally, a local celebrity of the deep. The massive yet unafraid fish swam right past her, making Shiyang so excited she almost screamed.

After the dive, we returned to the venue around noon, where Octopus Mom had already laid out a table full of delicious food for us. Enjoying the incredible meal while looking through hundreds of beautiful photos was a truly wonderful experience!

On the day of our Kenting Diving experience, we spent about 30 minutes changing into gear and learning about the local marine ecosystem, followed by about 60 minutes in the water. Our snorkeling area was primarily around Houbihu.

During the dive, we saw beautiful marine life including coral reefs, clownfish, starfish, and sea urchins. Afterward, we returned to the venue to wash up and enjoy some snacks, feeling completely relaxed and happy.

For a family of ocean lovers visiting Kenting for a two-day, one-night trip, instructors recommend starting with a parent-child snorkeling session. In the evening, parents can enjoy a romantic SUP sunset date, followed by a warm and welcoming dinner at Xinhai Diving Center. The next day, after a diving experience, you'll depart, completing a perfect Kenting Houbihu snorkeling adventure.

Xinhai Diving Center offers a unique parent-child snorkeling experience. Most snorkeling tours in the area involve a group of ten people on a single rope, which, while allowing you to see fish, often leaves little lasting impression.

Xinhai Diving Center emphasizes a customized approach, offering marine ecology education before family snorkeling sessions. They explain the marine life you might encounter and tailor locations and times based on guests' swimming abilities, group size, and sea conditions.

This educational and entertaining parent-child snorkeling experience is perfect for families with kids, teaching children how to navigate the unpredictable ocean, important safety precautions, and engaging them with marine life through interactive field guides.

The reason for getting my AOW certification was simple: I wanted to explore deeper underwater. Many famous dive sites, including Taiwan's underwater church and numerous international locations, are beyond the depth limits of Open Water (OW) certification. To visit these places, an AOW certification is essential. I chose to study in Taiwan because learning in my native language made it easier to understand, and I could directly discuss any questions with the instructor, which made the learning process much more solid.

The most unforgettable part of my Advanced Open Water (AOW) course was the night dive. In the pitch-black ocean, with only the beam of my flashlight to guide me, I became incredibly focused on every subtle change in the water. Each time I moved the light, I'd discover new creatures in unexpected corners. That thrill of exploring the unknown is something you rarely experience during a daytime dive. Underwater navigation was another unexpected bonus. I used to dread this part of the Open Water (OW) course, but with the incredibly patient Octopus Instructor, it became my strongest skill. The instructors at Xinhai Diving Center don't just teach techniques; they also guide students to observe and build confidence, making you feel completely at ease in the ocean.

The greatest benefit of the Enriched Air Nitrox specialty course is its practicality. Using a nitrox tank allows you to stay at the same depth for longer, giving you more time to explore the intricate details of the underwater world. This is incredibly helpful for anyone who enjoys observing marine life at a leisurely pace. Another very practical advantage is that when diving with a group of friends, using nitrox means you can enter the water before those with regular air tanks. This lets you secure a prime spot before others scare away the fish, increasing your chances of spotting those shy, easily hidden creatures.

After completing the course, my understanding of enriched air nitrox went beyond just "staying underwater longer" to a clear grasp of its usage limitations and critical safety considerations. Knowing how to use it, and how to use it safely, gave me much more confidence in the water. This course was concise, yet the knowledge gained was substantial and will stay with me throughout my diving life. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to make their dives more efficient.

Before you even get in the water, you'll take a 21-question online quiz to confirm your basic understanding of diving concepts. Only after passing will you move on to practical training; if you make any mistakes, the instructor will provide extra explanations and demonstrations. The in-water portion begins in the shallow area, where you'll practice essential skills like mask clearing and using an alternate air source. The entire program emphasizes self-paced learning and overcoming individual challenges, all designed to enhance underwater safety. If everything goes smoothly, you can complete the review in about 10 minutes, followed by a 30-minute fun dive. The schedule is always flexible and adjusted to your progress; for example, on this particular dive, we spent over 30 minutes reviewing before descending.

I chose Xinhai Diving Center for my refresher course because diving season had arrived, and after a year out of the water, I wanted to review my skills before getting back in, both for safety and peace of mind. Xinhai Diving Center's refresher courses are small-group sessions, with a maximum instructor-to-student ratio of 1:2, or you can upgrade to a 1:1 session if preferred. This ensures every student can comfortably rediscover their diving rhythm.

I used to be terrified of getting water in my mask, and even after getting my OW certification, I still struggled with mask clearing. This practice session was particularly chaotic; I kept floating up. But with the instructor's guidance, we broke down each step of mask clearing—exhaling, inhaling, removing the mask—and I successfully completed the drill. It gave me a deeper understanding of my body's instinctive fear and unconscious gasping, which will help me react better in emergencies.

This Kenting Diving practice program is ideal for anyone who hasn't dived in over six months, those who've just gotten certified but haven't actually gone underwater, or older divers with memory or physical limitations. But in reality, review courses are essential for every diver. After all, diving safety is something you control yourself; it can't be outsourced to an instructor. Even if you dive frequently, you might not often review emergency procedures. Only through repeated practice can you truly enhance your safety.