Come and Discover SCUBA Diving in Thailand!

Situated in the Gulf of Thailand near to Koh Phangan; Koh Tao or ‘Turtle Island’, offers the possibility of an excellent holiday and the chance to discover scuba diving submerged in the clear blue waters of Koh Tao, with its ornate coral reefs, giant anemones and multi coloured fish.
Koh Tao also allows you to relax on its deserted beaches and benefit from its laid back pace of life.  Here relaxation is compulsory – perfect for a great holiday in Thailand.  Here, by day you can marvel at the corals during your dives and by night, immerse yourself in the party atmosphere.
Situated in the middle of the gulf of Thailand, some kilometers from the coast of mainland, the island of Koh Tao has become over the years the diving Mecca of Asia, for all marine enthusiasts.

Paradise Island – A taste of Koh Tao

Learn to dive in Koh Tao is an ideal way to spend your holidays in the sun, partaking in a rich and thrilling experience.
Each year, the island of Koh Tao attracts those bitten by the diving bug searching the thrill and weightless sensation that SCUBA offers.
It’s not difficult to imagine an ambiance at 8 o’clock in the morning on the dive boats!  Despite being on holiday, the excitement and desire to dive drives everyone to be there on time!  Everything is done to allow you to take in and enjoy this beautiful underwater world in safety.

Koh Tao – A tropical paradise island

In Koh Tao, the majority of dive sites do not exceed 30m in depth, the water is warm and clear and the conditions are rather merciful, perfect for a holiday.  Free from exploitation, simply take pleasure of our diving and let yourself glide alongside the pinnacles, huge boulders covered with corals, anemones, oysters, sea urchins, sponges and giant mussels.  A large variety of tropical fish frequent our privileged dive sites around Koh Tao: squirrel fish, angelfish, scorpion fish, barracuda, triggers, and also the possibility of seeing sharks and better still a whale-shark!

Here you can dive between gigantic boulders that have tumbled from the edge of the island; piles of rocks peppered with small caverns and shallow coral gardens that stretch out along the beaches.  You will appreciate the diversity of nature’s highlights and Koh Taos varied dive sites, typical of Thai waters.

Scuba Diving in Koh Tao – A must

Koh Tao remains a must for dive holidays in Asia, particularly in Thailand.  ‘Turtle Island’, without a doubt, will please all scuba divers and those searching to discover scuba in a place that offers an all-round great time, not just in SCUBA. I you would like to stay informed about new content on my website and about new development in scuba diving, simply subscribe to my RSS Newsletter.

The Role of an Assistant Instructor:

1. Conduct all academic portions or any PADI course under the indirect supervision of a PADI Instructor.
2. During confined water dives, conduct the initial demonstration, under the direct supervision of a PADI Instructor.
3. Evaluate surface skills in open water for the dives in the open water course, under the indirect supervision of a PADI Instructor.
4. Train and brief divers taking the Peak Performance Buoyancy Speciality, under the direction of a PADI Instructor.
5. Independently teach the project AWARE speciality.
6. Independently teach the AWARE Coral Reef Conservation Speciality.
7. Independently conduct the Discover Scuba Diving program in a pool or in another confined water environment.
8. Independently lead the Aqua missions from the PADI Seal Team Program.
9. Train and brief student divers on non-diving specialities after having taken the corresponding speciality instructor training.

Prerequisites:

1. Be a certified PADI Divemaster or hold an equivalent certification from another training agency.
2. Be at least 18 years old
3. Submit as medical report signed by a doctor, confirming your suitability to dive. The medical certificate must be dated within the past year.
4. Have been a certified diver for at least 6 months and have 60 logged dives, demonstrating experience of night diving, deep diving and navigation diving.
5. Hold proof of first aid and CPR training dated within the last 24 months.
6. Supply relevant documentation including entry level and advanced certifications, rescue and leadership certified by another recreational diving training agency.

Materials:

Before starting your training you must have access to the following materials:

• Encyclopedia of Recreational Diving.
• Diving Knowledge Workbook.
• RDP & eRDP ML.
• Instructor manual and candidate workbook.
• Peak performance buoyancy and AWARE specialty instructor outlines.
• PADI Open water manual and exam booklet
• PADI Adventures in diving manual.
• PADI Rescue diver manual and exam booklet.
• PADI Divemaster Manual and Final Exams booklet.
• Slates: OW, AOW, Rescue, DM & DSD.
• Scuba Diving Lesson preparation slates – confined and open water.

The Role of an Assistant Instructor:

Diving Course Prices
Material Price List
If you have any questions,
please contact me here.

Become a PADI Assistant Instructor on Koh Tao

You have worked hard to become a Divemaster and you are now ready to put a little more effort and enthusiasm into becoming an Assistant Instructor.
Throughout your Dive Master training you will have had lots of fun, done some beautiful dives and met lots of people! Likewise, throughout your training to become and AI, nothing will change. Conducted over a course of 4 days, in conjunction with the instructor training course (IDC), under relaxed and professional conditions, you can discover both the teaching aids and specific skills for conducting courses both in confined and open water.

In continuing your professional training with the PADI assistant instructor course the program will strengthen your understanding of learning and teaching within the PADI system. This will consist of two modules: Development and application of knowledge and diving skills.

A PADI assistant instructor is a diving educator who organises and supervises the knowledge development and activities in confined and open water. An assistant instructor works alongside a PADI instructor to provide students with a good level of theory knowledge and excellent diving skills throughout PADI programs and courses. The teaching skills acquired, will allow an assistant instructor to independently conduct many PADI programs, and thanks to additional training, permit them to teach non-diving specialties as well as the Emergency First Response course.

PADI Assistant Instructor

Diving Course Prices
Material Price List
If you have any questions,
please contact me here.

Become a Dive Master here on Koh Tao!

Congratulations! You are already an experienced diver so why not turn your passion into a career? Why not consider a change of profession or maybe just a break from it? Become a PADI professional and live the tropical life! Does the Koh Tao lifestyle appeal to you? Stay here and pass on the pleasure of diving to everyone you meet!

The Divemaster course can be completed in very little time, but if you plan to stay a few weeks, or a couple of months you will be able to gain more experience. There are two options available to you.

If your time is limited, you can cover all of the requirements within 2 weeks! A minimum of 20 dives is required to start the course and you will need to have logged 60 dives to complete the course. However, the Divemaster course is normally conducted as an internship with unlimited dives; you can also study at you own pace covering all of the theory subjects: physics, physiology, RDP/decompression and equipment. Theory lectures are also offered every 2 weeks for these topics in conjunction with the IDC.

The training doesn’t just focus on developing knowledge but also the perfection of skills as well as your own diving abilities. You will be responsible for other divers during the underwater excursions both as fun divers and as part of a course. You will develop your leadership skills and become a role model for many other divers. You will be able to get all of the experience necessary by assisting on various courses such as Open Water Diver, Advanced Open Water Diver and Rescue Diver.

In choosing the internship option (with unlimited dives!!), you will be become part of the team!

You will practice equipment exchange underwater, draw an underwater map of a dive site, take swim tests and participate in other activities that will make your Dive Master Course an unforgettable experience!
Whatever the day, you will be able to take advantage of the unlimited fun dives, and the best part is that you will be able to learn this new profession as if on holiday, in a tropical location! I guarantee professional training in the most relaxed of environments!

PADI Divemaster Course

Price: Click here
If you have any questions,
please contact me here.

Become a Certified Specialty Diver

 

 

 

 

If you wish to continue your diving education and gain more diving experience without becoming and advanced open water or a rescue diver, then the specialty dives are made for you! Whether you are interested in the technical diving specialties such as Nitrox, Deep Diving or riding around on a Diver Propulsion Vehicle (DPV), having the time of your life, or the more standard activities such as Night Diving, Multilevel Training Dives, Naturalist, Underwater Photography or others, you won’t have trouble finding specialty dives that to suit your interests.

Even if you’re not a scuba diver (yet), there are still specialties that may well interest you, such as Project AWARE, Marine Resource Management and Coral Reef Conservation. These specialty programs focus on our responsibilities to our planet and how to protect our oceans.

Possible specialty choices and prerequisites for each (list is non-exhaustive):

Deep Diver Specialty:
4 dives over 2 days
Maximum depth: 40 meters
Prerequisites: Adventure diver or equivalent, 15 years minimum age

Night Diving Specialty:
4 dives over 2 days
Prerequisites: Adventure diver or equivalent, 15 years minimum age

Nitrox Specialty:
2 dives (optional)
Prerequisites: Open Water Diver or equivalent, 15 years minimum age

Photography Specialty:
2 dives over 1 day
Prerequisites: Junior Open Water or equivalent, 10 years minimum age

Navigation Specialty:
3 dives over 1-2 days
Prerequisites: Junior Open Water or equivalent, 10 years minimum age

Naturalist Specialty:
2 dives over 1 day
Prerequisites: Junior Open Water or equivalent, 10 years minimum age

Become a certified specialty diver
Other specialties are available; please contact me here for more information!
Please Click here for Prices

PADI Rescue Diver – Learn how to Help others

After you have been certified as a PADI Advanced Diver and you have also got your EFR certification (or equivalent), you can learn how to anticipate and efficiently respond to all critical situations that either yourself or a fellow diver may find themselves in.
In the PADI rescue course you will learn the theory and procedures for organizing, and putting into action, a search for a missing diver. You will learn how to carry out an effective underwater search and how to bring a victim to the surface safely. Step by step you will learn how to remove a victim’s equipment whilst giving rescue breaths and get him/her out of the water and onto the dive boat. You will also learn how to administer oxygen.
The Rescue Diver training covers and repeats the prevention of simple problems and all emergency procedures that you have been taught since your PADI Open Water Course.
The Rescue Diving Course will also teach you how to react efficiently to help a distressed and/or panicked scuba diver on the surface.
At rescue diver level, you will also be ready to learn how to manage more complex diving emergencies and apply these skills directly in order to help others in an emergency situation. Due to its nature, the rescue course is a bit of work, but the outcome, content and context are made as realistic as possible. However, the nature of such training and the context in which it can be used is so serious; the course remains to be fun and good spirit.

The Rescue Diver course is perfect for scuba divers who want to improve their self confidence underwater and above. The PADI Rescue Diving Training is also the last step before going into a professional level of scuba diving. These courses are further explained in the Divemaster, the Assistant Instructor and the PADI Scuba Diving Instructor (OWSI) sections.

PADI Rescue Diver
Minimum age: 12 years
Maximum depth for skills: 9 meters
Location: Pool or confined water (bay) and open water (sea)

Please Click here for Prices
If you have any questions, please contact me here.

Become an O2 Provider on Koh Tao

The handling of an oxygen kit requires certain knowledge. Even though its usage is fairly easy and straight forward; you want to make sure that you know what you are doing to be able to provide the most efficient help.

Scuba diver or not, the O2 provider course can be useful in many ways. Learn how to administer oxygen to a patient, learn which mask to use and how to deliver the correct rate of oxygen under various circumstances.
This 4 hour training session will allow non divers to become familiar with the processes of dealing with decompression illness, lung over expansion injuries and decompression sickness. For scuba divers, the course will cover in more detail, the DCI and DCS type one and type two. And finally, you will learn all about drowning and near drowning accidents.
You will further learn to recognize the different components of an oxygen kit and know how to assemble and disassemble the oxygen provider equipment.

You will learn about the uses of the following oxygen masks:

• demand mask
• non rebreather mask
• resuscitation mask
• MTRV

Combining Emergency First Response and O2 Provider

In case of an accident, the main aim of an emergency responder is to start first aid procedures and to keep your patient in a stable condition, until professional medical help arrives. Administering oxygen to a patient with decompression illness not only aids the work of the emergency medical team but will also greatly increase their chances of survival of the victim.

Important note:

Certain countries such as Australia, New Zealand and the United States require you to have done the oxygen provider certification in order to work as a boat crew member, divemaster or scuba diving instructor.

O2 Provider – Oxygen Provider Course on Ko Tao Thailand
Minimum age: none
Minimum level: none
Course duration: 2 – 3 hours

Please Click here for Prices
If you have any questions, please contact me here.

Advanced Open Water Diving Course (AOWD)

After completing your Open Water Course, you may want to become more confident underwater, know how to handle yourself underwater, maybe even defeat your fear of deep water or simply get closer to the sharks and other pelagic animals; in this case the PADI Advanced Open Water Course could be your next step! Very much like the Adventure Diver, the advanced open water is comprised of individual adventure dives. An AOW certification is often required of those, who wish to participate on dive orientated cruises like sail and dive, or on live aboard excursions.
Extending your Open Water Certification limit of 18 meters, the AOW course will allow you to dive to a depth of 30 metres. And it is not even necessary to spend a lot of time in the classroom, partaking in long theory sessions! You will learn your lessons with ease by simply reading the sections of the Advanced Diver manual relevant to the dives you are participating on. After reviewing the important points with your diving instructor you’ll be on your way straight into the blue water.
With 5 dives over 2 days, including a deep dive and a navigation dive, you will become capable of exploring even more of the underwater world!

Possible choices for Adventure/Advanced Dives on Koh Tao:

• Deep dive (compulsory for A.O.W): descend to 30 meters and see the sharks and other marine giants!
• Navigation dive (compulsory for A.O.W): you will learn to use your compass efficiently which will allow you to dive more independently and discover the superb corals and aquatic life common to the area.
• Nitrox dive (optional): Want to stay longer underwater? Learn to dive with an air mix enriched with oxygen and enjoy even more the underwater life!
• Night dive (optional): Like the marine life by day? How about at night??!! You will discover the joys of phosphorescent plankton and other parrot fish in their cocoon.
• Photography dive (optional): learn about photographic equipment and take home a superb photographic souvenir!
• Multi-level / computer dive (optional): Prolong your time underwater by planning you dive using the erdpml, a computer and other multilevel dive planning devices.
• Naturalist dive (optional) : Nothing to do with … nudists !!…….Learn to recognize and identify vertebrates and invertebrates !
• Peak Performance Buoyancy dive (PPB-optional): perfect your buoyancy and breathing. Learn how to do a head stand and how to observe rays and other box-fish hidden under the table corals.

PADI Advanced Open Water Diver
Minimum age : 12 years, 15 years enriched air dive (Nitrox)
Maximum depth : 21 meters for 12-14 year olds, 30 meters for those 15 years plus.
Location: open water (sea)

Please Click here for Prices
If you have any questions, please contact me here.

PADI Adventure Diver – Adventures in Diving

You are already an Open Water Diver and you want to perfect your diving and gain more experience, but the Advanced Open Water Course seems too ambitious, then this is, without a doubt, the best option. This intermediate certification allows you to choose and mix 3 dives with different themes. There are no specific dives to do, you can choose the types of diving that you want to discover. No long classroom sessions, no exams, it’s enough just to read the relevant section of the manual and get in the water. Whether you are interested in photography, night diving, deep diving or many more, you have the choice! In just one day you can achieve your PADI Adventure Diver certification!

Possible choices for Adventure / Advanced Dives:

• Deep dive (compulsory for AOWD): descend to 30 meters and see the sharks and other marine giants!
• Navigation dive (compulsory for A.O.W): you will learn to use your compass efficiently which will allow you to dive more independently and discover the superb corals and the aquatic life around Koh Tao.
• Nitrox dive (optional): If you want to stay longer underwater, learn to dive with an air mix, enriched with oxygen and enjoy the aquatic life even more!
• Night dive (optional): Did you like the marine life by day? How about finding out how it looks at night? Discover the joys of phosphorescent plankton. Find fish in their sleeping places and learn more about the underwater world at night.
• Photography dive (optional): learn about photo equipment and take home a superb photographic souvenir!
• Multi-level / Computer dive (optional): Prolong your time underwater by planning your dive using the eRDP ML, a computer and other multilevel dive planning devices.
• Naturalist dive (optional) : Learn to recognize and identify the fish and corals you see under water. This coure will ultimately help you to keep a far more accurate log book.
• Peak Performance Buoyancy dive (PPB-optional): The perfect diving course to optimize your buoyancy and your breathing underwater. Learn how to do a head stand without holding on to anything. This is a great technique to observe rays and other fish hidden under table corals and rocks.

PADI ADVENTURE DIVER
Age minimum : 10 years
Maximum depth : 12 meters for 10-11 year olds, 21 meters for 12-14 year olds, 30 meters for those 15 years plus.
Location: open water (sea)

Please Click here for Prices
If you have any questions, please contact me here.

Introduction

Koh Tao, a little island that attracts many sea turtles to its clear waters, acquired its name, ‘Tao’ meaning turtle. With a land area of only 21 sq km and situated around 70 km from the coast between Suratthani and Chumphon, Ko Tao is a tiny spot in the ocean, a little tropical paradise, that offers beginner divers and certified divers, more than 20 dive sites, among the best in the archipelago.

History

Since 1933, the island served as a prison of political prisoners, and in 1947 the Prime Minister at the time, Khun A-Paiwong, pleaded for royal pardon of all of the prisoners; pardon granted, the island was deserted. But the same year, Khun Ueam of the neighboring island, Koh Pha-Ngan and his brother, in testing their fishing boat rediscovered ‘turtle island’, after a very long boat journey for this period, they decided to bring their families to live there. They cultivated fruits and vegetables that were used for their own cooking, and the first generation of inhabitants was born!

Koh Nang Yuan

A small island, just a few meters from Ko Tao, Koh Nang Yuan is connected by two sand bars to two other small islands. It is surrounded by sought after dive sites and offer the possibility to rent bungalows on the island. You can also hire a ‘long tail’ (typical Thai style fishing boat) for around 100 baht for 1 to 2 people. On top of that there is an ‘entry fee’ to pay on the island, 100 Baht per adult and 50 Baht per child.

How to get here

Koh Tao can be easily reached in 1 ½ hours on high-speed catamaran from Chumphon and 2 hours from Koh Samui, with a half hour stop in Koh Pha-Ngan, by normal boat. However, the fastest journeys can be made by speed boat, taking around 1 hour.

Getting about on Koh Tao

There are four possible options available to explore Koh Tao. Rent a Motorbike or a mountain bike (for the more energetic…), take local taxis (motorbike taxis or pick up cars) use the traditional taxi-boats that stop at various beaches around the island, or just have a pleasant walk along the beach, or up in the tropical mountains of Koh Tao, where you can enjoy the most incredible view over the Gulf of Thailand. Click here for a Map of Koh Tao.