Koh Tao, a minuscule island off the gulf of Thailand certifies the second most amount of people for scuba diving every year after Australia. The island is home to over fifty Five-Star PADI scuba diving schools on a piece of land only thirteen square miles in size. Like several of the islands in Thailand, there are heaps of young people running around everywhere. On Koh Tao, there are instructors and students of all ages hailing from various areas around the world simply here for one purpose, to scuba dive. Let me paint the picture a little better, everyone who comes to Koh Tao is here to scuba dive. Use this guide to get the most out of scuba diving in Koh Tao.
Why you should be scuba diving Koh Tao
1: The full diving packages
What’s so unique about diving in Koh Tao is that since the island is all about scuba diving, many resorts offer full diving packages. Therefore, the total price of a program includes scuba certification, the dives themselves, and accommodation. The going rate for almost all diving resorts is 10,000 Baht for a four-night, three-day “Open Water Certification Course.” That’s the most standard and popular option for first time divers.
However, the resorts also offer extensions and/or advanced courses around 15,000+ Baht for those certifications as well. What does all this mean? It means that for roughly $300 you can get dive certified for life and stay at a resort on the beach, pretty sweet deal. Although several other islands are also known for their scuba diving off the coast of Thailand, such as Koh Lanta or Koh Phi Phi, no other island offers the full diving/certification/lodging packages.
View from our “Buddha View” dive resort
2: The dive groups are small
Although there are many people who come to Koh Tao to scuba, the island is still generally small. This in turn means the dive groups you learn in tend to be smaller. The experience is more personal and intimate when you’re in these smaller dive courses with one or two instructors teaching only two to four students. The instructors really take the extra time to make sure you’re comfortable in the swimming pool before diving head first into the open sea.
3: All of the dive sites are only a few minutes from the island’s main dock
There are no hour-long boat rides to the dive sites. On the other islands that offer scuba diving it gets very old having to boat hours to the reefs. On Koh Tao you can boat for twenty minutes and be in the presence of WHALE SHARKS.
What is it like scuba diving Koh Tao?
Koh Tao’s water, coral reef and marine life is some of the best in the world. The water is up there with the clearest I’ve seen in my entire life of traveling.
You can see amazing marine life. Having dive sites like “Shark Island,” you can swim with small sharks or “Chumphon” where the majestic enormous Whale Sharks like to frequently visit, makes this island extremely sought after. On a good day you could even run into a sea turtle as he’s gliding through the smooth shallow waters.
Coming back from an afternoon dive near “Shark Island”
What to Consider Before Booking With a Dive Program
1: First, how large do you want your dive groups?
The smaller resorts tend to have smaller groups of 2-3 people per 2-3 instructors. I dove with Buddha View and my dive group was fairly small. I’ve heard the dive groups at Bans (one of the most popular resorts) are fairly larger.
2: Secondly, what resort do you want to spend your time at?
This may seem simple but shop around a bit. Email resorts and find out what their dive groups are like, how many instructors, etc. Bans is the most well known diving resort on a Koh Tao. They single handedly certify the most divers every year, more than any dive school in the world! We opted for the “resort” Buddha View which my friend had recommended. The dive instructors and the whole program were great but the lodging was sub par. If we had to do it over I might have opted to stay at a nicer resort for a little bit more money. I’m sure their instructors would have been just as helpful and knowledgeable as ours.
Final thoughts
Before the scuba diving course the ocean genuinely frightened me. I decided to try diving to once and for all get over my fear. My master plan was a success! I am now an “Open Water Certified” diver. This means I can scuba dive anywhere around the world up to 18M, almost 60ft down in the ocean. I plan to go back to Koh Tao and get my “Advanced Open Water” certification in the next coming months…
So, is Koh Tao THE place to be scuba diving? The answer is yes, Koh Tao is definitely THE place to get certified and dive.
[…] included in the total price. For a week this usually runs you about $250-300. I wrote a complete Guide to Scuba Diving Koh Tao blog post if you want to learn more about […]