Thailand and Koh Tao

Yes, there are many outstanding dive sites in Europe, America and Australia. However, Thailand is a rapidly evolving country making large strides in Technology and infrastructure. Koh Tao has managed to embrace these changes while still offering breathtaking diving and retaining its natural beauty.
Traditionally a deeply proud and patriotic kingdom, Thailand welcomes visitors with open arms to discover their rich history and unique culture. While many travellers head to the busy holiday resorts of Phuket and Koh Samui, Koh Tao is largely undiscovered an unspoiled. On arrival you will feel a million miles away from the rat race of Western civilisation.

In addition, Thailand has everything a foreign traveller needs, banking and exchange facilities, e-mail and internet access, English speaking pharmacies, restaurants, bars and, of course, sunshine in abundance.

Koh Tao (Turtle Island) is a beautiful Tropical island situated in the Gulf of Thailand. The clear blue waters surrounding Koh Tao abound with a myriad of hard and soft corals, multicoloured tropical reef fish as well as large pelagics such as Whale Sharks, Manta rays, Barracuda etc.

Unlike the neighbouring island of Koh Phangan and Koh Samui, Koh Tao has its own atmosphere and culture. There are beautiful white sandy beaches, hidden coves and of course Koh Nangyuan - The only places in the world where three islands are interconnected by a sand bar.

While most people come here to dive there are lots of other activities on offer, which you can find out about in the Adventure section.

Even though the island is quite isolated, it is easy to reach from designated departure points in Thailand. It is Koh Tao?s splendid isolation that gives it an unique atmosphere, which compels the visitor to stay that little bit longer than they intended to.

New Way Diving

We are a Dive School apart from the rest. At New Way we believe in small, personal training courses and dive groups. Our primary concern is to ensure that our divers enjoy Koh Tao to the full, in and out of the water. We believe in sharing our knowledge with our divers at any time during their stay and not only in the classroom environment. Our retail staff will endeavour to help you select the most appropriate equipment at the best prices the island has to offer. The New Way Diving staff are always on hand to answer any questions or queries you may have on diving or Koh Tao in general. We are proud of the fact that our students and fundivers leave the island after a rewarding and relaxing dive holiday, with memories to last a lifetime. Accommodation is available at New Way, in the form of traditional beach style bungalow. All bungalows come with double bed, fan, and toilet/shower. Subsidised accommodation is provided for students and fundivers.

Here's a choice of brands we have at New Way Diving

Courese

Courses are conducted in English, German, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Dutch French, Japanese, Italian and Spanish by our multillingual team of instructors. Educational materials are also available in Thai and Korean.

All course fees include equipment and PADI CERTIFICATION CARD*.
Prices also include Full PADI Dive Insurance.

SCUBA TUNE UP
For certified divers who haven´t dived for a year or longer. Our Divemaster Team will take you through equipment assembly and all the basic SCUBA skills that you learned in the OPEN WATER COURSE. Once the skills have been completed to the satisfaction of our Divemaster Team, we look forward getting you back in the water for some diving. 2,000 Baht.

SCUBA DIVER - 2 days course = 6,000 Baht. PADI course designed for those, who don´t have time to take part in the full OPEN WATER course. 1 academic session, 1 confined water training session and 2 open water dives to 12 metres. Limited diving licence is awarded upon successful completion.

OPEN WATER - 4 days beginner course = 8,500 Baht (Minimum age 10 years): Become a certified diver with the well structured PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) approach to diving, making it easy and great fun to learn. PADI is internationally recognised as the leaders in recreational diving education. We use various techniques, throughout the course, personal instructor guidance, video presentations, pool and shallow water instruction and of course 4 Open Water Training Dives.

ADVANCED OPEN WATER - 2 to 3 days course = 7,300 Baht: Advance yourself as a diver with one of the most enjoyable courses on offer. Go Deep diving, Night diving and learn more about navigation. You can also choose from a selection of other dives to increase your confidence and abilities (total of 5 dives).

NITROX DIVER - 2 days course = 5,000 Baht: Speciality course in which you will learn how to increase your bottom time by diving with enriched air. The course can also be incorporated as part of the ADVANCED OPEN WATER Course.

ADVANCED OPEN WATER AND NITROX DIVER together: 10,500 Baht.

ADVENTURE DIVER = 5,000 Baht: Includes navigation-dive, deep dive, elective dive (choose from night dive, drift dive, ...)

EMERGENCY FIRST RESPONSE - 1 day course = 2,500 Baht and
RESCUE DIVER - 3 to 4 days = 8,300 Baht: You have learned how to look after yourself in the water, now you are about to learn how to help others! A focused and most rewarding training course, you will learn how to recognise and prevent problems that can occur in certain diving situations.

DIVEMASTER - 5 weeks course = 25,000 Baht: The Divemaster Training Programme is the first step into the ranks of becoming a professional diver. It prepares candidates for the responsibility they will experience as working dive professionals. This is an intensive course that requires self-study, classroom and practical training.

SPECIALITY COURSES - 1 or 2 days per course focusing on individual dive skills and more extensive knowledge on specific areas of interest.

Fun Divers

The whole point of learning to dive and increasing our confidence and experience with continuing education courses, is so that we can go out and enjoy our fun dives to the max.
At NEW WAY DIVING we understand this and offer our fundivers a great mix of dive sites around Koh Tao. The island has over 20 great sites available, including shallow coastal reefs, perfect for the novice or student, as well as Open Ocean pinnacle sites and cave dives, wich are popular with our slightly more experienced divers.

We believe in letting our divers have a say in the sites we visit each day and of course limiting the size of the dive group to 6 per Divemaster (usually less). We leave 30 minutes before all other dive schools on Koh Tao, giving us the dive site ourselves. As we leave the first dive site, we say goodbye to all the other boats arriving.

Please note: All prices include V.A.T.

Experience Programmes

Courses are conducted in English, German, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Dutsch and French by our multillingual team of instructors. Educational materials are also available in Spanish, Italian and Thai.
All course fees include equipment and PADI CERTIFICATION CARD*.
Prices also include Full PADI Dive Insurance.

TRY-A-DIVE - 1 day.
Introduction to diving for those who are curious about SCUBA DIVING but for one reason or another don?t want to go for their Open Water Diving Certificate at the present time. Involves 1 hour basic theory tuition in the morning and 1 afternoon dive on our dive boat. Follow up dives are available every afternoon for a limited period of 2 weeks.

BUBBLE BLOWER - half day (8-10 year old).
A fun and great way to get the kids interested in SCUBA DIVING. The Bubble Blower programme can take place in the swimming pool or NEW WAY?S own "Coral Pool" off the beach, across from the diving school (maximal depth 2 metres).

Apres Scuba

Whether you have just had your first taste of diving or are participating in an Advanced course you will want to share your experiences immediatelly. On board our new dive boat we offer drinks and snacks after dives and while relaxing on the sun deck students and fun divers can talk of their under water sightings. It's a great way to meet new friends and enjoy the New Way Diving experience. At New Way Diving village there is a real sense of feeling and camaraderie between student, fundivers and staff. The renovated Beach Restaurant is Thai run and offers tasty selection of Thai and Western dishes. Local and imported beers are on offer and we can assure that you will never be alone in the friendly and relaxed atmosphere of New Way. There are no strings attached though and many of the beach side restaurants can be recommended. A cocktail at a beach bar or club is a must and if you like to keep abreast of sporting events and current affairs most bars and restaurants now have satellite T.V. installed. There?s also the famous DRY Bar where you can enjoy the evening.

Other Activities

Snorkeling equipment can be hired at very reasonable rates and we suggest catching a taxi-boat to the incomparable island of Koh Nangyuan. The snorkeling conditions are excellent and make for a fantastic day out. Our taxi-boats can also take you around the island of Koh Tao. You may want to go by road and New Way provides reliable motorbikes. This mode of transport allows you to go at your own pace and can be rented on a daily or long term basis. The choice is yours. Mountain bikes are also available and are rapidly becoming more popular due to environmental and safety issues. For those who have sturdier legs a jungle trek may be just the ticket. Our experienced guide will take you on an eye opening tour into the depth of the Koh Tao Jungle where you are sure to see some of Koh Tao's exotic wildlife. The national sport of Muay Thai (Thai Boxing) can be viewed at the nearby Sairee outdoor boxing arena, which hosts regular bouts. Almost anything goes in this ancient sport which may seem brutal as most knockouts are administrered by kicks to the head but an air of spiritualism is evident throughout the pre-bout rituals as each fighter performs a dance calling on the Spirits to look favorably upon him and give him strength during the fight. This is the national sport of Thailand and is viewed the same way that Europeans worship football, so it is worth checking out. A perfect way of unwind at the end of the day is Thai massage. Available at New Way, this age old method of relaxation and revitalization must be experienced to be believed. You'll feel like a new person.

Safety

The message cannot be clearer. Your safety and ultimately, enjoyment is of paramount importance to all the staff at New Way Diving. That is our priority and we unconditionally guarantee that everything is done to ensure that you feel comfortable in the diving environment. Everyone has fears. You may be curious about diving and long to participate but are unsure whether your could actually go through with it. New Way Diving will put those fears to rest with our training courses and highly personal tuition. You can have full faith in our all-new state of the art equipment (MARES, Technisub and Scubapro) which is well maintained and serviced regularly by our inhouse equipment technician. Unlike other dive schools on Koh Tao and at the expense of profit, New Way will only conduct classes of six students or less. Otherwise the course can become impersonal and, in our professional opinion, safety standards can be breached. So classes of seven or eight are a no go area. If you are travelling with a large party it is possible to split it into smaller groups for everyone's benefit. In or out of the water an Instructor or Divemaster will be close by to ensure that you are in safe hands.

All our customers get full PADI dive Insurance and all our staff are DAN oxygen providers.