Welcome to Koh Tao Thailands Number One Scuba dive resort offering courses from open water to dive instructor, with PADI, SSI and BSAC.
Latest News - May 2012
Diving Angthong Marine Park
Our big brave boys at Big Blue Tech are off on another jolly this morning with their BSAC trip to Ang Thong with BSAC Dive Leaders Dan and Nat beavering around the resort preparing for the 06:00 departure time. The wind is blowing slightly so we are waiting for a final assessment of the conditions from the captain. Fingers crossed that the conditions will allow us to make the 3 hour journey to the Marine Park & do some exciting unexplored diving & hey who knows might even find that Beach place that plonker Leonardo Di Capprio kept harping on about all those years ago! Have a great trip!
Big Blue Team Photo
Its our yearly staff photo today! A time when we can all compare how much we've aged since this time last year. How much fatter, thinner, older younger, more haggard, more frumpy, hairier, balder, bigger, smaller, saggier, baggier, less teeth, more scars, rounder bellies, we've all got now! So the gals are doing their best to cover their blemishes, wash their hair, shave their legs & firm up their busts the men among us are shooting each other our best Zoolander faces. Blue Steel, Wet Neoprene, & Compressed Air! Strike a pose. 12 o'clock Big Blue 1! See you there!
Save the Sharks
Quick shout out for some help for Ex Big Blue Instructor Jodie who is working today at the BBC on a 'sharks in crisis' proposal and needs to find some specific examples of what the loss of sharks would/will mean for the planet, we all know the ecosystem will be buggered but she needs something that will make the audience go holy crap thats really bad! and start to care about the fate of our finny friends. so obviously she thought of us and Eco jen in particular, the font of fishy knowledge that she is. Unfortunatley Jen is joining the Dark side & is taking her IDC right now but maybe there is someone else out there who can help Jodie & her friends the sharks? contact info@bigbluediving if you can help! Remember Save the sharks & they'll save you!
Welcome to Big Blue Diving, a PADI Dive Center and SSIPlatinum Instructor Training Facility, BSAC Center of Excellence and a TDI/SDI 5 Star Instructor development Facility, with accommodation for all budgets ranging from 'Days of Old', Bungalows on the beach to poolside Air conditioned rooms with sunset views as well as 2 beachfront Restaurants & Bars.
In 1991 we opened a small little dive shop at the end of the pier. At that time it was only the second shop on Koh Tao. We sat around most of the day waiting for customers to arrive on the island once a day! But it wasn't long before scuba divers started hearing of this unexplored diving paradise around a little known island about 90 kilometers north of Koh Samui, Thailand.
By 1999, as Koh Tao was beginning to get a mention in the Rough Guides & Lonely Planets, we expanded a little & opened Big Blue Diving Resort on Sairee Beach. A 5 Star PADI Gold Palm Resort, with a Beachside Dive center, bar & restaurant operating, with 3 purpose built Dive Vessels, offerring a choice of upto 13 Divesites each day, leaving directly from our Resort.
When all is said & done the success or failure of any business relies very much on the involvement of the staff. Big Blue Diving has a fantastic Dive team & we all know that every time we start a course we know this is big deal for you the students & therefore we got to make this experience the highlight of your holiday! So lets see who these clowns are shall we...
Reggie Petersen- Hailing from Denmark, Reggie speaks Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, German aswell & English better than most of us & even speaks with a little bit of a midlands accent! Our only lady in our Divemaster Team & another Big Blue Trained Diving Professional. Reggie started her Dive Career like we all did in a completely different industry. With a background in Real Estate Sales in the European Union Reggie managed to live the life of luxury jetsetting from one country to the next, earning millions as she galavanted her way across Europe! After 10 years she then decided to spend her millions here at Big Blue & trained up to become a diving professional! Wise girl! Reggie is a Barbie girl in a Barbie world, Life in plastic, it's fantastic but of course she would be! She's Danish!
Curtis Lentz- born on an organic produce & livestock farm, brought up in a caravan park, graduated from the Basketball Diaries School of hard knocks in Gangland Baltimore, one time murder capital of the world, & after finishing his studies for the NRA (National "over my cold dead hand" Rifle Association) became an animal killer, sorry, "Hunter", probably shot lots of things dead like all good American young men do these days, & then fled as far away as possible as soon as Barrack Obama came to power. Hence his presence here at Big Blue. We were looking for a gun toting, Beetle nut chewing hillbilly from the US of A & we got one!
Iain Goodfellow- Another one of our main pool of PADI & SSI Instructors, but this one is from the Highlands! Iain has been a Big Blue Instructor for a couple of years now & is also one in our team of 6 who train our PADI Divemasters & SSI Divecons. As the name suggests Iain Goodfellow is a jolly nice chap, as opposed to being a member of the Las Vegas Mafia, though there are doubters among us. Iain is one of the most patient Instructors around apart from that one time when his student woke up with a horses head in their bed! Very chatty, extremely friendly, looks good in a kilt, Iain is the island champion at Beer Pong. An accolade he wears with pride as would any true Scotsman... in a dress!
Serena McGibbon- PADI Instructor. SSI Instructor. BSAC Instructor. Swimming Instructor. Serena is a Koh Tao record breaker after her under the hour swim around Nang Yuan Island for the Save the Sharks Charity Swim which we host every year. Serena is an amazing swimmer & represented Canada at the World Cup Swimming competition & would have been there at the Olympics & Commonwealth Games aswell but had a scheduling clash with a Star Wars themed fancy dress party! Massive Sci-fi Geek is our Serena & when not teaching in her Return of the Jedi Gold string bikini she can be found hanging round Moss Eisley Styled Cantina's wearing ear muffs talking to a metallic Rubbish bin saying "Help me Obi wan, you are my only hope!"
Ludvig Svanteson- More affectionately known as Ludo. He loves crap music but you can hardly blame him as he was brought up having to listen to the attrocious sounds of Roxette & Ace of Bass! Another one of our Scandanavian team Ludo looks a little Swedish Danish Norwegian & Irish & even speaks Swedish, Danish, Norwegian & Irish, having lived there a number of years trying to sell computers to them before he realised he was in the wrong game & the wrong country! Shortly after Ludo found himself signing up for some scuba diving lessons with us at Big Blue here in Koh Tao & is now one of our first choice SSI or PADI Instructors when we want a Scandanavian to River Dance for us!
Neil Draycott- could have been the 6th member of the boy band Take That but producers decided they'd rather have someone with hair & their clothes on! So he formed his own band instead! Neil has calmed down alot since reaching the dizzying heights of Rock stardom! Once hailed by NME as the next major British Ska band to hit the big time. A performing music legend at festivals, live gigs & concert halls, scantily clad in his socks Dr. Martens boots, & strategically placed Trumpet, Neil is now an unassuming SSI, PADI & BSAC Instructor and a power boating Instructor as well & has over 5 years experience on Koh Tao working in the scuba diving Industry.
Ant Silwood- Despite the fact Ant is Welsh we still went ahead & employed him! Must be something about his likeable personality, charm, good looks & our necessity to have someone to pick on! Ant has been a SSI DiveCon at Big Blue for almost a year now having been professionally trained by some of the leading Scuba Diving Instructors in the business. I wonder who they were? Originally a Computer software salesman with an alleged talent at being able to fix computer problems, Ant has on numerous occasions proven this fact to be a joke & can't even spell PC let alone fix one! However he is very relaxed, reliable & great eye candy for the ladies! Paul 'Tosh' Tanner- Originally born & bred in Essex, Tosh saw the light quite early & was here on Koh Tao before most of the Thai people! He's been a PADI DM, Instructor & Manager, at one of the world's biggest dive centers, then went on to run, manage & operate one of the most exclusive Dive resorts in the Caribbean for all sorts of celebrity has beens ! After the owners realised Tosh had an Essex accent not an upper class 'pip pip pass the toffees & rich tea biscuits' accent, Tosh found himself back on Koh Tao! He's a PADI Master Instructor, a Divemaster Mentor, an SSI Instructor as well as the worlds newest Dad so please be a little understanding if you see baby vomit on his wetsuit shoulder!
Luke White- Another one of our Triple certified Instructors, PADI, SSI & BSAC. Luke comes from a place in England I only thought existed in fairy tales & childrens horror stories- Grimsby! Need I give any other reason as for why Luke finds himself gainfully employed in one of the worlds most amazing locations. Looks like he's just stepped out of a scrum playing for the Georgian Rugby Team, Luke is nothing like the scarey Barbarian his outward appearance would have you perceive! Calm, funny, relaxed, very easy going Luke has found himself right at home at Big Blue, especially at the Big Blue Bar where he can be seen most nights playing darts like all good lager drinking chimney smoking northerners I know!
Steve Reid- often referred to as the islands only diving doctor, & most eligible Bachelor, Doctor Steve has been referring Diving patients on the island for the last 4 years. Steve is another one of our staff with over 10 years experience in the diving industry & has worked as a Divemaster, an Instructor & a Dive shop Manager & also Managed the islands only Subaquatic Safety Services for a couple of years. He's now our go to guy with all things Medically related & a PADI Master Instructor, an SSI Instructor, a Dive Medic Technician, & a Divemaster mentor Instructor here at Big Blue. Interestingly enough Steve could have been a professional footballer if he'd been any good but he's not so he wasn't! Hence the diving!
Steven De Velters- Our Head DM. An extremely well trained diving professional having done most of his professional training with us!. Steven has been our Head Divemaster for almost a year now & still doesn’t look like he wants to join the dark side & become a Dive Instructor so happy is he with the joys of 12 hour days, 7 day weeks, dealing with Instructor demands, managing logistics & leading scuba divers. Consequently this might lead you to believe that perhaps Steven isn’t all there, which would actually be a very accurate observation! Italian by birth, Geordie by nature Steven has very distinctive sense of humour. Which serves him well & is an excellent character to have about the place come those stressful days at the beach… I mean office!
Greg Green- Another one of our superbly trained Divemasters. I wonder where all these guys did their training? Got the job due to his extremely creative CV rather than anything to do with his dive skills though! Greg hails from the plains of South Africa & is a fully qualified lion tamer, elephant smuggler & shark trainer, rugby player & soccer player. Aren’t all South Africans… except for the soccer bit? He speaks English with a weird accent & Dutch with an even weirder accent, I think it’s called Double Dutch, & can recite every single one of the Flight of the Conchord songs! Most South Africans can recite New Zealand songs apparently. Something to do with envy!
Ros Annenburg- At one time one of the hottest sought after Dive Shop Managers on Koh Tao for her personality skills & ability to transform a disastrously run dive shop into a highly successful & profitable one! So once she succeeded in her last venture & found herself looking through the employment board once again we snatched her up quicker than you can say ‘Ken Dodds Dads dogs dead’ & now she is our Number 2 at Big Blue holding the fort when Doctor Evil is away on his ventures! A hairdresser originally, which accounts for her ability to talk about anything under the sun Roz answers emails, teaches PADI & SSI Courses in English, French & Hebrew, though English is the only language anyone understands.
Jennifer Matthews- The Queen of Green! Jen is Big Blue’s environmentally active eco warrior battling fishermen, polluters, & the Dark side while saving fish coral & the Empire! Manager of Big Blue’s Eco arm- Big Blue Conservation Jenny has helped set up Koh Tao’s Bio Rock, Buoyancy World, has started our own Coral nursery & inputs all info we get on Turtles & Whalesharks. She also organizes weekly Reef & Beach clean ups. She has a degree in Marine Biology & is an SSI & BSAC Instructor & teaches our Ecology Internship Programmes. She might be small but she’s got a big heart & the fish & corals love her. So does the present goalie for Derby County football club but apparently nobody is suppoesed to know so if you see him don't tell him!
Germaine Maguire- probably Koh Tao's most well known person! Everyone knows Irish G! If you don't know Irish G then you obviously haven't been to Koh Tao! Long time Instructor on Koh Tao, G has also did a stint teaching in South America & Australia, you know, for a Crack! Now a full time Instructor here at Big Blue and our only female Mentor in our Divemaster Training Programmes G has certified thousands of students already. She is a PADI & SSI Instructor & when she aint teaching she is also the owner of Moov! One of Koh Tao's most unique, hippest & funkiest clubs & restaurants. G is an island legend & if you end up being taught by her when you get here then be prepared to pay a little more. We charge extra for diving with celebrities!
Jim Donaldson- SSI Instructor & PADI Staff Instructor (retired!). He has been running Big Blue for the last 6 years but has been in Koh Tao since the millenium. He has worked at various different Diveshops around the world as a cook! a Divemaster, an Instructor & a Manager & now sits around wasting away his retirement years answering fan mail & updating the websites & various blogs, and is the guy who writes back to you with all your enquiries. Extremely handsome, very rich, loved by the ladies & admired by the men, muscular, athletic, virile, looks good in a speedo, well endowed, charming, witty, intelligent, speaks half a dozen languages & is adored by his staff! At least he better be or they're all fired!
Nick Bufton- Seperated at birth from Sid the Sloth in the Ice Age movies Nick is another one of our fully qualified SSI & PADI Instructors here at Big Blue. Nick was trained by another rival diveshop here in Koh Tao & even worked there for sometime as a Dive master then an Instructor then as an Instructor training Divemasters! Which is exactly what he's doing now. Nick is a very easy going chap who fits well in any group. He minds his own business & gets on with the job in hand. He has a great track record with his Open Water students who continue with their Advanced Course. Like all good honest Englishmen he loves a beer or 2 after work & loves to talk about how well his football team, Tottenham Hotspurs, are doing this season! May as well cos its highly unlikely he'll be able to talk the same way about them next season!
Simon Garrity- Worked as a Divemaster at Big Blue before becoming an SSI & PADI Instructor and is now our SSI Instructor Trainer. He has a very sharp wit & if he wasn't a diving Instructor would have been a stand up comedian! Probably not a very good one though! His loyalty & passion for Liverpool Football Club is rivalled only by his enjoyment & enthusiasm for scuba diving. He has worked for our west coast branch of Big Blue Diving in Khao Lak & loves the diversity of fish life between the two sides of Thailand. He is the Instructor that gets the most returning customers & highest amount of compliments. Simon is exactly what you see. He is shy but friendly, funny & serious & is also a very key member of the Big Blue Dive Team.
Our Aim
Of course any business aim is to make a profit but how one makes the profit is our aim!
Koh Tao is a relaxed little tropical island paradise. The water is never cooler than 27 degrees and averages throughout the year at around 30 degrees. Water visibility often stretches 20 meters or more and the diversity of our dive sites generates continuous tourist interest throughout the year.
Our resort is situated on the west coast of the island in Sairee Beach, the nicest and largest stretch on Koh Tao. Every day you awaken to the crystal clear azure waters of the Gulf and each night we are greeted with the glowing warmth of a setting sun. There is an atmosphere on Koh Tao like nowhere else in the world. Its easy to arrive here & immediately fall in love with the island.
Our Staff realize how lucky they are to live and work here. They love their jobs and look forward to coming to work. They are able to have fun while being strongly committed to all elements of safety. The frequency with which these guys get complimented by our divers is abnormal but these guys do do a great job. All of them, our Boat staff, our Restaurant staff & all our Dive staff. Their enthusiasm is infectious and consequently the atmosphere they generate increases the profitability of the business.
Our aim is to supply you, our holidaymakers and divers, with an enjoyable and safe experience & memories that will last a lifetime. Our business is to make you happy!
Q: What's the difference between PADI, SSI & BSAC? A: Very little! Each individual training agency is 100% recognised throughout the world. The differences between these training organisations are quite small but at the end of the day, The main difference are... i) with PADI you have to buy the manual whereas with SSI you are lent the manual,& at the end of the course you give it back. & with BSAC you are given a CD included in the price. ii) with PADI the skills are done in a certain order & if you have trouble with a skill you must persist with the skill untill you get it right before we can move on with other skills. With SSI or BSAC we can leave the skill that is troubling you, move on with the other skills & then come back & do that skill again later on in the session. iii) BSAC Courses are Instructor led & there is no video to watch as opposed to PADI & SSI where there is over an hour over Videos to watch.
Q: Are the certification cards of PADI and SSI recognized all over the world? A: Yes, it doesn’t matter with which organization you have learned to dive. So if a PADI Open Water diver for example wants to dive with an SSI Dive center, that’s perfectly fine. This counts certification cards of all dive organizations.
Q: I have done my Open Water Diver course with PADI, can I do my Advanced Course with SSI or the other way around? A: Yes, you can cross between PADI and SSI as much as you like for the recreational dive levels. Their levels are quite similar and certification of another dive organization is totally accepted. As noted all standards are set forth by the RSTC (Recreational Scuba Training Council).
Q: If I forgot to bring my certification card with me, will I still be able to dive? A: Both PADI and SSI have an online system and since we are affiliated with both PADI and SSI, we will be able to look you up. If a dive center is not affiliated with the organization you have done your course with, they can contact them to see if you are in the system. A signed logbook also helps.
Q: If I forgot to bring my certification card with me and I don’t show up in the system, will I still be able to dive? A: No, we need to see proof of certification before we take you on a dive, regardless of training agency or experience level.
Q: I want to do the PADI Open Water course with my family. Does everyone need to buy their own manual? A: When doing PADI Courses - Yes, every student needs to purchase their own manual. SSI does not require this - you are welcome to purchase one manual, or 20 - up to you.
Q: Do I need to have a medical before scuba diving? A: It is not a pre-requisite to have a medical before scuba diving, however if you have a pre-existing medical condition which affects your ears, sinus, respiratory and circulatory systems, or have had recent surgery it is advisable to consult a Diving Physician before you leave home. Before starting a diving course you must go through a medical questionnaire.
Q: Do I need to have dive insurance? A: If you do a lot of diving it is always good to get your own insurance, if you are doing a dive course with us you are insured with the S.S.S. Chamber Network.
Q: What medical facilities/equipment do you have available on land and on the dive boat? A: We have oxygen and a well equipped medical kit on all of our boats and on land & every member of our dive staff is a certified DAN Oxygen Provider. There are several medical centers on Koh Tao, Emergency Services (SSS) and a hospital on the nearby island of Koh Samui, which is 90 minutes away by speedboat.
Q: Do I need a visa to visit Thailand? A: The best is always to check with your Thai Embassy at home before coming to Thailand as they will have the latest advice for you. It is possible to get a 30 day visa on arrival if you fly in to Thailand from another country, overland you could get 15 days, you could get 2 months holiday visas from Thai embassies outside the country. It is also possible to get longer visas but check with your nearest embassy for details as visa rules can change frequently.
Q: I am traveling with non-divers, what can they do when I am diving? Koh Tao has lots to offer if you're not diving, excellent snorkeling & boat trips around the island various water sports, you can now do free diving (apnea) courses, Kayaking rock climbing & mountain biking, yoga, or even Muay Thai Kickboxing! Thai massage & cookery courses are popular, with a wide variety of restaurants Koh Tao has everything to offer in the way of cuisine from street stalls selling traditional food to exclusive fine dining.
Q: What if I cannot complete my dive course? A: If you cannot complete your course with us for any reason, we can refund you some money for what needs still to be done. We will give you a "referral form" and you will have a maximum of 12 months to complete it with us or with any other dive school around the world.
