Comments on: The Complete Guide to Diving in Koh Tao

By: Bart Bijleveld

Bart Bijleveld — Tue, 05 May 2020 16:27:46 +0000

In reply to El Che. Good post El Che, I do agree with you that some people would be better of starting their diving ecucation doing more pool practice. But I think the vast majority will benefit more from the way we teach diving in Koh Tao. It's much more fun. And funny enough, we can deliver confident and safe divers just as well (and often even better) than in the northern european countries. But it always depends on the instructor of course. We focus straight away on fun and safety at the same time while in Europe often the safety comes (sometimes for a very long time) first and the (real) fun comes later. This approach does not work well for all students :-)

By: Kendrick Peachey

Kendrick Peachey — Tue, 19 Nov 2019 12:01:04 +0000

I’ve been in Thailand but I never got the chance to go to Koh Tao due to time constraint and bad weather. My friends and I are planning to go back there some time next year. I hope we can dive. Thanks for the information!

By: Ann

Ann — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 06:45:56 +0000

Fantastic post! I did both open water and advanced diving courses on Koh Tao, couldn’t have been a better place to learn diving! Also, I was lucky enough to hop in the water with a whale shark on my 2nd dive ever!! This post makes me want to go back and continue taking diving courses…

By: Ganesh

Ganesh — Thu, 29 Aug 2019 17:47:13 +0000

I have never been to Koh Tao and its interesting to know that there are more than 70 dive schools on the island. My best wishes on your travel blog.

By: Glenn

Glenn — Mon, 26 Aug 2019 03:44:06 +0000

I never made it to Koh Tao when I was island hopping in Thailand. Got to Koh Phangan and ran out of time on my visa..had too much fun 😉 I’d definitely like to go back and do some diving. Thanks for this great guide.

By: Kim

Kim — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 00:24:23 +0000

In reply to Kim.

Hi, all! I ended up doing my specialties in Koh Samui instead, because my good friend who went on a Thailand trip before us suggested Discovery Dive Centre and they were awesome! Check them out! And for the tipping culture, I got my answer straight from a DM who I happen to befriend… He told me, cash, a meal or drinks, anything is appreciated! And since it’s all about passion – dont worry about the price all the time. ^_^

By: Ann

Ann — Mon, 09 Jan 2017 15:07:48 +0000

I did my Advanced Open Water with Scuba Junction, one of your recommended medium size operations. they were absolutely fantastic and have the best location on the beach, in my opinion. Highly recommended.

By comparison, my husband frighteningly ran out of air underwater at Sail Rock due to faulty equipment and a negligent divemaster who ignored his signals while diving with Good Times. Choose wisely!

By: Liz Thrush

Liz Thrush — Mon, 02 Jan 2017 20:33:17 +0000

In reply to Cyrus. Hello, I'm going to Thailand Jan 14-28th, 2017. I see these comments are a few years old, but did you go? Any tips on what school to go to? Also, do we need to make advance reservations or just sign up when we arrive?

By: Kim

Kim — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 00:14:29 +0000

Thanks for this awesome review.

Would you know what the tipping culture is like? Should I give the tips to the instructors only (inclusive of tips for boat captain), or separate tips for instructors and boat captain? And If I’m doing 2 back to back dive courses in the span of 6-7 days, when is the proper time to tip? Should I tip every dive? or before or after the course? And most importantly, how much is acceptable? I don’t want to appear ungrateful and stiff, but I’ve been in many awkward situations where: I gave a tip when it was not considered appropriate, or when I gave too much and the person felt weird, and (worse) too little that I felt mortified.

Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you so much!

By: Isabella Raven

Isabella Raven — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 15:48:39 +0000

Hi, would the 3 day course allow us to dive in Australia independent of a professional as long as we hired the gear?