DiveGlobe - Koh Tao

Koh Tao

Little Turtle Island, Koh Tao, lies in the Gulf of Thailand about 60 kilometers away from harbour town Chumphon on the mainland. With only 21 km2 of land it is the sweetest island in the gulf of Thailand. Only discovered by tourists fifteen years ago, koh Tao has a laidback and relaxing atmosphere. Due to the tropical rainforest covering the mountains only 6 km2 is inhabited, creating the perfect combination between unspoiled and comfortable tourist environments on one island.

The eastern areas and secluded bays can only be reached by fourwheeldrive or long tail boat, keeping these parts of the island unique and pristine, while the western beaches provide a wide variety of accommodation, sensational restaurants, fantastic nightlife and comfortable infrastructure. But it is not the atmosphere of the island that ensures Koh Tao’s popularity, it’s her colourful coral reefs, covering the entire area around the island, making Koh Tao known as the Dive Mecca of South East Asia.

So what makes Koh Tao so special to dive? Being situated in the gulf of Thailand, there are hardly any currents to worry about. The divesites lay within a ten minutes boat ride from the harbour, with reefs at almost any depth and the visibility is nice and clear. The gulf of Thailand created what is in effect a massive swimming pool that makes Koh Tao an excellent training ground for almost any level of experience.

It’s the perfect place to learn to dive or further your knowledge or skills. As well as so many courses starting on a daily basis, it is the ideal place for divemaster and instructor training.

But Koh Tao is more than just easy and comfortable diving conditions. There are more advanced divesites as well, lying a bit further out. A dive on South-West, Sail Rock or Chumphon pinnacle is always fascinating. The Grey reef sharks come closer to the pinnacle and the amount of Whale shark visits is more frequent than any where in Thailand! Interesting diving and superb dive training for every level, year round makes koh Tao popular for a reason!!

Open Water
The beginner’s level for all divers is the Open water level. It takes you from you first breath underwater to the depth of 18 meters. Open water gives basic knowledge about the theory behind diving and a comfortable introduction to how it feels diving and swimming around the reefs.

And upon finishing, giving you, your Open Water Certification. The most wanted piece of paper, that gives you the opportunity to dive anywhere in the world.

Open water courses start off in the shallows. This can be a Swimming Pool or a confined area in the sea. It teaches you how to breathe underwater, get you comfortable with your equipment and teaches you to take care of yourself underwater.

The adventure of breathing underwater continues in your four open water dives. In which you learn how to control you buoyancy and enjoy the first impressions of the underwater world.

Best place to learn to dive is definitely: Koh Tao in Thailand.

Advanced Open Water
After finishing you Open Water Course, you feel comfortable in the water and are ready to go out there and explore the reefs yourself. Sensational!… but there is so more to learn..

After Open water all training comes down to the water work. It’s all about the diving from now and not about learning in the classroom. Your Advanced Open Water course takes you to the next level. Each of your five advanced dive focuses on a new specialty to improve your dive knowledge and ability.
Your advanced course starts off with your two compulsory dives Adventure Deep and Adventure Navigation. The remaining three dives are structured to your interests with choice out of twenty specialties.

Adventure Deep
Your adventure Deep dives takes you down to 30 meters where you can experience your first feeling of Nitrogen Narcosis. Follow the footsteps from many others that giggle their way through their first Deep Dive. But more importantly, diving deeper gives us to opportunity to get closer to the big stuff, Sharks, Groupers and Large Rays all hang out in the waters past 18 meters. No wonder The adventure deep is on the compulsory program of the advanced course, it’s the one dive you don’t want to miss out on.

Adventure Navigation
Your feeling for direction will be proved unless you really know where you’re going. Adventure Navigation will get you exactly where you want to go underwater from now on. The Dive focuses on improving you compass navigation skills as well as combining them with your sense for natural navigation, reading dive maps and recognizing strategic points underwater.

And now choose your three elective dives :

Adventure NightAfter the sunset life on the reefs completely changes, most fish comes out of their shelter for dinner. Hunting Barracuda’s and sting Rays as well as all the lobsters and crabs that come out for food, while others find their beds inside one of the many sheltered cracks or holes. Equipped with your own torch the adventure starts on the dark sheltered bays. Night diving is a completely new adventure for everyone and the most chosen dive on the Advanced Open Water elective programme.

Adventure Photography or VideographyNow that you’re diving all the sensational reefs, you want to keep your memories on picture or video. Your adventure Photography or videography explains you all you need to know about the photo or video equipment, complemented with buoyancy and body position techniques and perfect angles for the best light to capture all you unforgettable moments.

Adventure Peak Performance buoyancy Perfect body position, advanced breathing techniques and carefully measured weights creates less usage of energy and results in a better air consumption and that’s exacly what we all want to make those dives last longer and longer.

Adventure Multi level Open water dives to 18 meter give us often enough bottom time. But now that we are allowed to dive to thirty meters, we limited our dives to a maximum of 20 minutes. To improve your bottom time on deep dives we need to change pour ways of planning your dives. And that is exactly what multilevel diving teaches you by giving you a new training aid the Wheel.

Adventure Fish identification or NaturalistThe more you dive the more impressive marine life you come across on the reefs. The more you want to learn about the fish you see and about the interaction of this marine life with the reef they live in. And that is exactly what these dives focus on, improving your knowledge about the underwater world.

Adventure WreckAlways been fascinated about the sunken ships that leave their evidence on the sea bottom? During your adventure wreck dive you have the opportunity to explore some of the impressive boats and airplane that were unfortunately enough not to make it back to shore. The mystery of the sunken ships can be felt all dive long.

Adventure DriftOnly a few place and divesite sin the world offer completely current free dive sites. Especially the very exposed and often deeper dive site can have strong currents flowing through. By being able to control you self in the currents and learning more about them, you will feel much more comfortable and prepared when the current does pick up and takes you on a accelerating ride along the reef.

Nitrox
As an advanced diver you start to realize how important it is to stay safe and within the limits. However, dives can never be long enough and its always a disappointment when time s running out.

No wonder Nitrox has become the most popular specialty course of them all. Nitrox takes you deeper and longer and that’s exactly what every diver wants. However If you don’t use your Nitrox to extend you dive time it will definitely decrease your nitrogen intake and makes your dive a lot safer, and more importantly you will feel a lot more energetic especially during multiple dive during multiple days. Everybody has their own reasons to start using Nitrox, but there is one thing we all agree on, we love it!

Private Charters
Cruising around in comfort, with first class food, service and diving the most unique and pristine reefs is the recipe for a holiday you will never forget. Liveaboards offer the perfect opportunity to meet new people and make new friends to share your adventure with. So what can possibly be better than that?....

Sharing this sensational experience with your friends or family!
For your ultimate group holiday, we also offer the possibility to charter your own private liveaboard. With your own private liveaboard you will even more improve the quality and increase your sense of adventure of your trip. The trip schedule is all yours now, you get to choose the menu and where and when you sail. Decide yourself which dive sites to dive and at what time of the day. There will be no limited dive time to your dives or rush to get in the water.

Everything will be tailored to your personal convenience. Of course you will still be provided with the liveaboard staff on board to ensure safety, convenience and expertise during your trip. Let your imagination run free, because Private charters offer endless opportunities and possibilities for your group holiday.

When you book a private charter, we will ensure it will be the best diving experience in your life. Use our knowledge and expertise and together will come up with some extraordinary adventures. Family celebrations, wedding trips, trips for people with special abilities like deaf or hard hearing, corporate events and team building trips or just a sunset BBQ dinner party on one of the remote islands, the opportunities are endless.

A Private Charter is the perfect option for a group of family or friends looking for something a little different for their diving holiday. Just let your hair down and the charm of your own personal boat will take you on your next adventures in Thailand, Malesia, Singapore, indonesia or the Andaman Islands.

Please feel free to contact the DiveGlobe team with your group size, preferred length of the trip, date requests and destination preferences and we will come up with a number of options for a full Private Charter Liveaboard quote.

MV Huntsa and MV Carina
MV Huntsa and the MV Carina are two of the more comfortable liveaboards, suited for lower-end budgets.

Destinations: Thailand
Cabins: A/C Twin bed cabin , A/C Four bed cabin
Dive Courses: Yes
Nitrox onboard: No
Comments: Good budget option
Overall Rating: ****
Prices: From 420 Euros

MV Huntsa and the MV Carina are comfortable liveaboards for divers with tight wallets who really care more about diving than anything else.

The 20 meter long MV Huntsa / MV Carina are mid-size boats with comfortable air-conditioned cabins, each with sea view! There is a spacious upper deck with plenty of room for relaxing, sun bathing and a big salon where freshly cooked meals will be served. There are four showers on board and two toilets and a spacious dive platform with plenty of space to hang up your dive gear and to get comfortable into the water.

DiveGlobe! Diving and travel specialist in Asia!
The ultimate stress-free diving holiday starts at home, rather than when you arrive at your holiday destination. Comparing all the options, finding availability and ensuring the best value can be an enormous task. Being dedicated divers ourselves, we take pride in helping you find and experience the world’s most pristine and unique dive destinations.

We offer you simply the most complete, accurate and detailed travel and dive information available. Just sit back, enjoy our website and let us help you find your dream diving holiday.

Diving the world famous Similan and Surin Islands in Thailand promises an experience that will stay with you forever. Why not follow in the footsteps of Leonardo di Caprio and visit Phi Phi islands, where the white sandy beaches, crystal clear water and the spectacular limestone landscape is legendary. Or discover the charm of the Andaman Islands , where every dive brings the promise of exploration and new discoveries. Capture your imagination with the 3 million sq km of sea surrounding the Indonesian archipelago. Home to more marine species than anywhere in the world, including the sensational Komodo Island, full of natural wonders that never fail to both captivate and enthrall all who visit.

We are here to help you discover these wonders and more. We offer unlimited possibilities to all these dream locations. So why not browse our complete liveaboard destinations overview and our liveaboard fleet and turn your dreams into reality.

The team at DiveGlobe is committed to giving you the very best in personal service to ensure that your holiday will be the best diving experience in your life. Here just a few things that makes the team at DiveGlobe so special!

• Experience! With more than 25 years of diving experience all over Asia and the Pacific, we know what divers want and after teaching thousands of students to dive in the South-East Asia, we know what divers need.

• Flexibility! We have a liveaboard trip to suit you. The duration of the dive trips range from 2 to 21 days. We can offer budget traveling as well as trips on the most luxurious yachts. We simply offers you the widest variety and highest quality in liveaboard vessels and destinations.

• Quality! We have selected our liveaboards carefully and personally. Judged by their ability to give you safe, reliable and comfortable diving environments on board, implemented by knowledgeable dive guides and excellent dedicated staff.

• Local! The team at DiveGlobe is based in Thailand, at the heart of the Asian diving industry. Here we keep ourselves at the very forefront of the latest techniques and equipment while continuing to expand our diving knowledge on a daily basis.

About Us - DiveGlobe Management Team

Scobby and Jolien Heelan

Growing up on the islands of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, this Tasmanian devil could dive before he could walk. As a child he spent his days spear fishing with his little tank and improvised regulator. Eighteen years and hundreds of dives later he finally obtained his open water license back in Australia. After years of traveling and diving the Pacific he finally settled in Thailand and started teaching people how to dive.

One of his courses included his future wife Jolien. “Jolien did her open water course with me and never left”, he laughs. “She was as impressed with me as I was with her. She speaks five languages and has a degree in international economics.”

Working for one of the biggest dive schools in the world, together they have inspired thousands of students about the underwaterworld of Thailand throughout the last decade.

Our aim.

As dedicated dive instructors ourselves we know how frustrating it can be to visit spectacular places to see unique creatures with few facilities and more importantly without accurate information to work with.

We have travelled to places to see Thresher Sharks, but it turns out Thresher sharks only come out during the new moon period, while we were looking at a beautiful full moon that week. Nobody bothered to tell us when we booked, although they must have known?....... We visited places to see, hammerheads, but it transpires that the last hammerhead was seen there 22 years ago. So why is it still in the brochure?...... And the list goes on and on……

We created this website, purely based on our own experiences to give you the most accurate and reliable dive and travel information available. Our personalised service and wealth of experience will help divers to not only travel to all these unique locations, but also have the most enjoyable and unforgettable dive experience possible, without being disappointed or misled.

Peter Bowyer

DiveGlobe.com would not be online if it wasn’t for the expertise of our Wee Scotchman. After years being buried behind his computer, Pete decided that he wanted to see something else than the square screen of his PC. Traded his computer for a Dive Computer and started exploring the underwater world instead of the internet.

Unfortunately his little secret came out very fast and duty started calling, being the only real computer expert in the golf of Thailand. We needed Pete behind his desktop again. And he came back with vengeance. Created Koh Tao Ozone, one of the fastest growing computer and information businesses in the Golf of Thailand and is expanding fast to the other islands.

Koh TAo Ozone's Business parter Charlett Ragnarsson is the last link to the Dive Globe Management team. Her expertise in the Swedish Hosptality and experience on Yachts in the Mediterranean Sea eventually leaded her eventually to Thailand.

One of her must do’s was to try out diving so she did her open water course in the Andaman Sea which was directly followed by the advanced and rescue course. The passion for diving made her quit her yacht job and engage in dive master training on Koh Tao. Four years later she’s still enjoying diving around the “rock”.

Dive Globe

48/11 Moo 3 Koh Tao , Suratthani 84280. Thailand.
Tel : +66 (0) 77 456 774 , +66 (0) 77 456 763

We created this website, purely based on our own experiences to give you the most accurate and reliable dive and travel information available.
We look forward to answering any of the questions you may still have after reading our website.

PLease feel free to contact us and use our wealth of experience to help you not only travel to all these unique locations, but also have the most enjoyable and unforgettable dive experience possible, without being disappointed or misled.