In 1991 Big Blue Diving was born. Initially a small little dive shop on Koh Tao at the end of the only pier and only the second shop on on the island. As the island reputation started to reach the ears of the intrepid backpackers and Scuba Diving became more and more popular we opened a 5 Star PADI Gold Palm Resort and Big Blue Diving Resort on Sairee Beach in 2000.
Over the next couple of years tourism really boomed throughout Thailand and come 2001 we had branched out and opened up another small Dive Center in the heart of Koh Samui.
In 2003 Big Blue Diving was opened on Khao Lak, on the West Coast of Thailand in the sleepy seaside resort town about an hour north of Phuket.
In 2004 Big Blue Diving Koh Tao took the next logical step and became Koh Tao’s first SSI Instructor Training Center. Opening another avenue of choice for the serious diver and having seen how popular and successful this was we opted to introduce BSAC to the island too in 2009 and became a BSAC Center of Excellence and with so many military leaving the forces and looking for a change in lifestyle and career, the growth of the British Diver in Thailand we instantly became the Number One BSAC Instructor Training facility in Thailand and Asia.
One of Koh Tao’s first dive shops has now evolved in to full featured SCUBA resort
Big Blue Tech
In 2007 we opened Big Blue Tech – the Technical Diving division of Big Blue Diving specializing in Wrecks, Tech, Depth, Nitrox, Trimix, Rebreathers, Caves and Sidemount diving. Big Blue Tech very quickly became one of Thailand’s leading Tech, Wreck & Cave Diving Operators winning numerous awards and commendations of achievement throughout the Tech Diving Industry
Big Blue Conservation
In 2010 we launched Big Blue Conservation, an Ecological awareness and educational organisation led by our own in house Marine Biologist. Organising Charity Events and fundraisers brought about a new avenue in Diver education by focusing on the ecological Diver with reef and beach clean-ups, coral surveys and the building of artificial reefs and structures.
Big Blue Freediving
In 2013 with the huge growth in demand for breathhold diving around the world we relaunched Big Blue Freediving and were the only freediving school in Koh Tao with our own swimming pool, and very own dedicated Free Diving boat which took off immediately.
Big Blue Movies
With the growth in Social Media and the increasing numbers of Dive schools on Koh Tao, in 2014 we created Big Blue Movies. Focusing on Underwater movie making and Photography, we also did our best at remaining ahead of the competition on the social media train.
As Koh Tao grew and the island became increasingly popular Big Blue noticed a demand for beach clothing and summer casual wear so decided to open a new venture with clothing designed especially for the beach. We started our own brand of Dive wear to rival Skate, Ski and Surf wear. Now almost 8 years later in addition to clothing with clothing designed by ourselves and featuring our very own iconic Big Blue dolphin, the retail store ‘Drift’, also became the biggest distributor for all Go Pro Cameras and Go Pro accessories on Koh Tao.
A continuously evolving and improving dive operation
To celebrate our 25th anniversary in 2016, we extended our dive resort to adding in five new budget beachfront dormitories, eight new backpacker private rooms and enlarged our restaurant. We also opened up four new classrooms including a classroom dedicated to Big Blue Pro for all professional-level training.
By 2020, Big Blue Diving was a well-established and well-known name in the diving industry worldwide. We’d met our goal of being able to provide our customers with everything under one roof and we had started to set our eyes on open up other Big Blue Diving shops in other countries. But then the Covid-19 pandemic hit and blew our plans completely off course.
To protect our staff and our customers, we halted our operations in March 2020 and encouraged our staff to self-isolate. Since there were suddenly no tourists around anymore, our staff were unable to work and many had no choice but to leave Koh Tao and go back to their home countries. To help relieve the pressure for as many staff as we could, we offered free meals from our restaurant. It wasn’t easy but our excellent staff managed to stick it out and many are still here anxiously awaiting their chance to get back to teaching the sport they love.
In late February 2021, Big Blue Diving management had a big surprise – Big Blue Diving would be leaving its location on the north end of Sairee Beach and relocating to the Blue Tao Beach Hotel. Not only was this a change of location, but it was also a change in how we see ourselves as a dive school. For many years we have been a large dive resort and we loved it. But now we want to focus on giving our customers a more personal, more exclusive island experience.
With that in mind, Big Blue Diving officially moved to central Sairee Beach in March 2021 and became Koh Tao’s top boutique dive school. Our main office is now on the ground floor of the Blue Tao Beach Hotel and our partnership with them allows us to give our customers special diving and accommodation packages. Our SCUBA diving activities are based out of our partner restaurant, Blue Water, a short 1-minute walk from our main office. The comfortable upper floors at Blue Water are the perfect places to learn the basics of SCUBA diving, the restaurant is one of the best eateries on the island, and simply can’t get any closer to the beach.
We are extremely excited about this change in direction and are anxiously awaiting the return of travelers so that we can show off our new vibe. Hope to see you all here soon.
Interested in diving with us?
Check out our Diving Courses page to find out about our courses for divers of all levels. Or visit our fun diving page if you just want to go see fish 🙂
