Clarifying the Mess that is Koh Tao...

[CanadianSushi]

Hi everyone,

New to the forum, and just as new to diving. Please be nice,, k? :blinking:

Just a quick bit o' background -- my wife and I are looking to get our PADI open water certification, seeing that all our friends seem to have taken up diving, and we got to keep up with the crowd, right? No, not really -- it's actually something we've wanted to do for a long time but our friends just happened to beat us to it.

Currently we live in Japan, which is where one of our friends did his OW course, and another friend went to Koh Tao last Winter, and he highly recommended it. So I am in the process of booking a flight to Thailand for 10 days (for the last week in March and first week in April) with the intent of having a nice, relaxing vacation, and as part of it, getting certified.

I've lurked through about 12 pages of this forum and have read as much as I could about Koh Tao, but I would like to clarify a couple of things.

It seems there is consensus on this:

1) The island is rife with dive shops -- the good, the bad, and the ugly.

2) It's best to avoid the "cattle boats" and the large outfits who are interested only in making a lot of money and churning out divers at a high rate of speed

3) The best policy is to look around for a small dive shop and an instructor you are comfortable with.

What there seems to be little consensus on, is:

1) what the names of some of these "good" places may be... (Some people have posted company names and websites, but there is little else to indicate whether these places are good or not).

2) whether Planet Scuba is good or evil

3) whether learning to dive in other locations in Thailand is better or worse than Koh Tao.

Also, here are some questions I have. Apologies if they have been asked many times already -- I can't seem to get the "search" function to work on this board for the life of me! I usually hang around phpBB. This is new to me...

General questions:

- From the last week to March to the first week in April, should I be worried about mosquitoes and mosquito-related diseases? If so, should I be treating my clothes with Permethrin and by body with a high DEET repelant?

- Should I be getting a Hep shot before I go? How about other immunizations?

Diving related:

- I was very impressed with Buddha View's website. Are they a decent company? Are there any reasons why NOT to go with them?

- FWIW, my friend who did his OW last year went to Ban's Dive Resort, and he couldn't say enough good things about the company or his instructor... Have any of you had direct experience with this outfit?

Thanks in advance...

JD

P.S. I can't say I relish the idea of following the suggestion of some and just "going" and looking around the island for a place I like... I'm the kind of person who likes to have everything 100% planned before I go, so I can just get there, relax and not worry about anything else. Which means -- I want to have my accomodations pre-booked, (A/C, & under 1,000 Bhat) and if possible, have the OW course details worked out as well, so we can just start our course the day after our arrival. I guess this is why I'm posting this.

P.P.S. Sorry for being so verbose.

 

[bubblemonkey]

Personally I wouldnt even do it on Ko Tao, the west coast has far better diving, but then again the season is about done by then I think.

 

[Divehappy]

Koh Tao is subject to a lot of snobbery. I'd go with Bans if your friend recommended it (and you trust your friend's opinion). I did my Divemaster and Instructor course with them while living on Koh Tao for six months in 2004, and the b_itching and rivalry between dive schools is endless. Ban's though was great fun - there is a lot of people, yes, but that's exactly what makes it. It depends how sociable you and your wife want to be. I'd say it's more fun learning to dive in a group of 8 than on your own, as it creates a good cameraderie - but your mileage may vary

Learning to dive is a very standardised process - you want an experienced instructor who has seen it all before and knows how to look after his group and instill them with confidence. You also want an operation that can afford to maintain their gear and boat and can offer you decent, affordable accommodation.

Buddha View and Ban's can do that. Coral Grand are also recommended , but you will find plenty of people to b_itch about all three schools too.

I'd simply choose one of the big schools and do your course. You can go somewhere else afterwards if it's not to your taste. I'm afraid it is a bit of a case of "suck it and see" so you need a bit of flexibility in your schedule

Alternatively, you could do a liveaboard in the Similan Islands on the west coast, where the diving is unarguably even better than Koh Tao. The season doesn't end over there until May. However, you'd have to do a liveaboard, which is typically four days and a fair bit more expensive than a OW course and accommodation on Koh Tao.

Re malaria - if you stay around the main areas of Koh Tao, very unlikely to be a problem. There are mozzies but use repellant and wear long sleeved, light clothing at dusk if you're worried about it.

Immunisations - ask your doctor. You should get hep, tetanus, typhoid and probably others if you haven't got them already.

PM me if I can help further - I am getting too verbose myself!

Best
Chris

 

[limbo]

Canadiansushi,

divehappy gave a good answer here, if your friend recommended a shop that he was happy with, you may want to follow up on that. Both Ban's and Buddha View are the biggest shops on Koh Tao though, so if you like a smaller shop, look for another option.

The period you define is a very good diving period, very good viz normally and possibly whalesharks in the waters around Koh Tao.

Mozzies shouldn't be a problem. Long sleeves and some spray should do the trick.
Immunizations etc, check with your local doc.

Enjoy your course and the island!

Before you go on a liveaboard, make sure that you're certified, otherwise the liveaboard won't be as much fun.

 

[drbill]

Although I dove with Planet Scuba while there, I think Bans and Buddha View are good options from what I heard while on the island. PS's rental gear was terrible, although I enjoyed the staff and divers.

For a first experience, I think Koh Tao is pretty nice (I had already been diving 40 years when I went there... and PS made me do a check out dive because my c-card was so old!).

I've heard that diving is very popular in Japan, and that the ratio of female:male divers is 4:1.

 

[Zippsy]

Before you go on a liveaboard, make sure that you're certified, otherwise the liveaboard won't be as much fun.

:huh: :huh: :huh: I'd change that to say "Before you go on a liveaboard, make sure that you don't get seasick, otherwise the liveaboard won't be as much fun." What's less fun about learning on a liveaboard?

I may have misinterpreted your statement though. If you are saying that you won't get the full benefit of being on a liveaboard if you are doing a course, I would agree with that. Maybe you have to watch the course video between dives rather than get a massage, or take the exam instead of watching a movie, snorkeling or getting a tan but you have the same issues with taking the course during a shore vacation too, right?

 

[limbo]

Zippsy,A lot of live aboards don't teach Open water courses but rather in contrast, require a certain level of qualification or an 'X' amount of dives/experience for the region/area that they're going to. Sometimes divesites visited are a bit more challenging (deeper, strong current etc) than you would be able to dive on more 'regular' dive sites.As far as my knowledge goes, I'm not aware of operators teaching OW classes during Similan trips, I may be wrong though.

 

[Divehappy]

Um, there are plenty of Similan liveaboards that offer Open Water courses.

www.phuket-diving-safaris.com is one outfit (I run this site for friends of mine so I'm biased, but it illustrates my point).

I think the comments above re seasickness are important. If you are not very good on boats then doing your OW course on a liveaboard may not be so much fun. Certainly Similan dive sites can be more challenging, but if you have experienced instructors they will make it easy for you. On my mate's Similan liveaboard they have on average a couple of Open Water courses every trip, who have a great time. Plus, of course, you might get to see manta rays within your first four dives

I think the main sissue are the extra cost and whether you can handle being on a boat for 4 days.

 

[Ringo]

Similans - National Marine Park? OW course training dives? So sorry to hear that this is allowed.

 

[Bowmouth]

Similans - National Marine Park? OW course training dives? So sorry to hear that this is allowed.

It gets even worse. I've seen Instructors from Liveaboards doing a DSD on Twin Peaks at Tachai (with current). How much fun is that for beginner divers? Both student and Instructor desperately holding on to the mooring line and trying to do a mask-clearing and regulator recovery with bubbles going horizontally...
There's still quite a few bozo's out there!