Barry Coville- has been living in Koh Tao a number of years already & has now found himself enjoying life as a PADI & SSI Instructor at Big Blue. He’s served a number of years in the military & learnt a number of invaluable skills as part of his training. Interestingly enough Scuba Diving wasn’t one of them! Barry is also the founder of the Facebook Group “ Just say no to speedo’s “ which actually has more members than our own “Big Blue Diving Koh Tao” group, with over 1000 members! Which doesn’t say much for our group but we don’t blame Barry for that! It just means there are more people out there who like revealing their personal photo collection of men in their budgy smugglers!
The TeamWhen 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...  Andy Evans- One of the most laid back personalities you are ever likely to meet. He’s got a great way about him, he’s always happy to lend a hand, he’s patient, well organized, hard working, friendly, & extremely relaxed. Not much will ruffle the feathers of this young man! Extremely well trained, of course, having done his DM Training with us at Big Blue. He did do a stint working at another Koh Tao Diveshop after completing his training but was only too happy to come back and prostitute himself for us! He also has a talent at being able to communicate with the animals & has often been referred to as the Dog Whisperer as he can get the dogs at Big Blue now to sit, beg, run, lie down, roll over & go woof Paul Herygers– Our gentle giant at Big Blue, in the past he has been mistaken for a whale shark on a number of occasions! Trained in Khao Lak, fine tuned in Koh Tao! Canadian Paul in his previous life before becoming an employed Divemaster was as a nightclub promoter & more recently as a competitor at the Las Vegas World Poker Tournament but having come last felt that perhaps a change in career was a good idea! He’s also a very keen golfer which isn’t to say he’s any good; it’s just that he’s keen! Great with the divers, fantastic guide, a good drinker & well organized, just don’t get too close to him on a big night out in case he falls over & lands on you. The last person he landed on is now a 2 dimensional image of his former self!
 Dean Jenkins – Deano, the boy from the valleys, has also been with Big Blue for 3 years now & has proven himself to be one of the most committed Instructors in Koh Tao. A mechanic by trade Deano learnt his diving skills while on holiday, quickly fell in love with it & decided to change his career direction & became a PADI & SSI Dive Instructor. Soon, Deano was working at Big Blue as an Instructor & is now highly involved with our Divemaster training & our equipment maintenance & servicing courses aswell. Deano is another member of our Instructor team that is a PADI Staff Instructor aswell which means he can assisit in the Instructor Training of Divemasters. Guillaume Fargues- more affectionatley nick-named 'G' for short is our French speaking PADI & SSI Instructor who has been at Big Blue now over 3 years. G is a Gaelic gentleman who knows that your diving course with us should be special which is why he’ll ensure that 110% of himself goes into every course. Extremely reliable & a good team player G is never shy of stepping forward to lend a hand. He is often staffing the Instructor Courses and is looking to go the whole way to becomming a Course Director next year. He is also a keen rugby fan & DJ & can often be seen spinning the decks at the Big Blue Bar, when he's not on his knees in tears after losing the rugby to England... again! Simon Garrity- Worked as a Divemaster at Big Blue before becoming an SSI & PADI Instructor. 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 diving. Recently he has done a season working 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 unquestionably the one 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. Dan Bolton- Originally from the beautiful suburban paradise of Gravesend, UK, you might recognise Dan from a few famous movies & TV Shows with big fabulous Hollywood Stars! Dan is our Celebrity Staff! He left the glamour & glitz of acting & modelling to become one of Koh Tao’s most sought after PADI Instructors. When he’s not busy ‘sharing’ he can be found hard at work leading his student divers around Koh Tao’s many sites & will one day soon be an SSI Instructor. Dan has an amazing ability to get on with everyone, which makes him one of our more popular Divestaff all round the resort. And lately has become our 1st choice Instructor for taking people on their 1st Discover Dive. Definitely a customers favourite! Sometimes 2!
 James Thornton Allan - Originally from England but brought up in Canada, hence the imaginative nick name, Canada- James has Spent a number of years in the British Marines, and is now our dedicated technical diving guru. From all things deep, dark, cave, rebreather, nitrox, trimix and the list goes on. When not pushing the limits he takes care of all the emergency services and compressors making sure everything is up to international standards. Covered in more ink then two octopii humping he's actually a friendly guy underneath all the hard stickers. You can find out more at Big Blue Tech about all things beyond the recreational limits. Barry Coville- has been living in Koh Tao a number of years already & has now found himself enjoying life as a PADI & SSI Instructor at Big Blue. He’s served a number of years in the military & learnt a number of invaluable skills as part of his training. Interestingly enough Scuba Diving wasn’t one of them! Barry is also the founder of the Facebook Group “ Just say no to speedo’s “ which actually has more members than our own “Big Blue Diving Koh Tao” group, with over 1000 members! Which doesn’t say much for our group but we don’t blame Barry for that! It just means there are more people out there who like revealing their personal photo collection of men in their budgy smugglers! Yvonne Fries- Yvonne has been with us on & off now for over 2 years. She came originally to train as a Divemaster & after completing her course immediately got work on the island at another Koh Tao diveshop. When she became a PADI Instructor she was headhunted by numerous shops and she decided to choose the sexiest shop to work full time at. After that she then came & worked for Big Blue as a PADI & SSI Instructor! Great for us, though I think we might have pissed off her former employer- the boss resigned! Since then Yvonne has affectionately been nicknamed the Germanator! Like most Germans Yvonne is a perfectionist & all her students become perfect divers. Yvonne is engaged to be married to her long term boyfriend with the 'hard stickers' but we won't hold that against her. Emily Billingham- Emily used to work as a Divemaster at another dive shop in Koh Tao before we got our greedy hands on her! She is an SSI & PADI Instructor who can be found wondering around the resort looking extremely pretty in the day time & can be found leaning up against the bar down the local looking downright stunning at night! Emily has been working in Koh Tao now for about a year having left the real world as a school teacher. Apparently the young teenage boys in her class had trouble focusing on their work! She is extremely patient & is a fully licensed Swimming Instructor as well so she is very capable of looking after you in the water, if you ask nicely! Unfortunatley for Emily her wetsuit went missing when she first arrived at Big Blue which was obviously very annoying for her but fantastic for all the guys! Richard Carr- Rich is one of the newest of our batch of Instructors but has been with us for what feels like a lifetime! In his previous life Rich worked at the helpdesk for Mercedes Benz which means he's used to bending over backwards to help people & he's good at that here too! He came to us originally to start his Rescue Course & by the time he'd left us was a fully fledged PADI & SSI Instructor. He has worked all around Koh Tao at various dive centers as both an Instructor and a Divemaster & we're proud to have this northen monkey back where he belongs, which appears to be dancing on the stage in the Big Blue Bar to 70's disco if there ain't anyone Karaoke singing! Jim Donaldson- SSI & PADI Instructor (retired!). Has worked at Big Blue for 3 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 filling in & keeping updated the Big Blue page on Facebook, and is the guy who writes back to you with all your enquiries. Much to the disdain of the female population of Koh Tao, Jim got married last year to his longterm German babe as a means of getting over his depression from the New Zealand All Blacks failure to win the Rugby World Cup... again! |
