Koh Samui Thailand

One of the most popular pastime available of the Samui islands is Scuba diving. The Gulf of Thailand is a great place to leam how to dive; there are dozens of dive schools offering all the professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) approved courses. PADI is an American base association that has become the industy's most widely known and accepted governing body. All PADI instructors have completed an Instructor Development Course (IDC) with a certified IDC training center and all PADI Dive Centers have complied with PADI requirements.

Many schools have reached 5-star status, which generally means they have successfully trained a large number of divers without any complaints over a number of years. A good gauge is that the school has been around for a while-there are always fly by night operators-and that their instructors are consistently competent.

There are also dozens of dive sites to choose from: the best sites are all around Koh Tao, which has become a real diver's paradise as they are all less than a 30-minute boat ride from Mae Haad, meaning that ardent divers can squeeze four dives into a day and still have time for a night dive There are also enough good sites within range of Samui and Phangan to keep most divers happy, but the boat rides are longer, limiting you to a maximum of two dives a day.

LEARNING TO DIVE

Learning to dive More people learn to dive on Koh Tao than anywhere else in Asia: not only because of the quality and range of the diving, but because it is very cheap. Prices have been effectively frozen for a number of years by unofficial agreement between the operators and THB7,800 will buy you a PADI openwater course, which is the standard learn to dive package. You may also get free accommodation at one of the dive resorts or some waterskiing thrown in. In Samui it typically costs from US$190 to US$260 for the same course.The PADI Open water Diver course is a combination of theory, pool training and four open water dives. It usually takes four days, which consists of a day in a class room, a day in the pool and four open water dives. Upon successful completion of the course you will receive the PADI Open water Diver which is recognized practically anywhere in the world.

It covers the basics and takes you to 18 meters below the surface, but does not turn you into an experienced diver and youwill find that the best sites are deeper than this. If you want to get more experience it is recommended that you complete the PADI advanced diver course. This takes you close to 40 meters below the surface (the maximum depth recommended for recreational divers) and gives good all round training, including teaching useful skills such as underwater navigation and night diving. A course will last 3-days and include 5 dives.

If you really want to get serious about diving then there are a whole load of specialist courses to choose from before becoming a divemaster, which is the first step towards becoming a diveing professional. The PADI Divemaster course is a comprehensive training program designed to shape and develop the skills and attitudes required to become a Divemaster and Instructor. To qualify for Dive master training you need to have 20 logged dives, be qualified as PADI Advanced and PADI rescue diver or equivalent and hold a PADI MFA certification or equivalent (not older than 2 years). A Divemaster course can be completed in 10-days, however a longer apprenticeship, including spending some time working with a dive shop is recommended for anyone interested in becoming an instructor.

A few schools are also instructor Development Centers (IDC) and Samui International Divers are also a Career Development Centre (CDC), where you can take the Instructors Exam (IE) and become a professional diving instructor. Because it is so easy (relative to other professions) and reasonably cheap to become a Diving Instructor, Samui and now Koh Tao have become production lines churning out hundreds of new instructors every year.

Many of them will get jobs on the islands teaching, which means you may find that your instructor has little if any experience elsewhere something to vear in mind if you plan to go on and dive in places with different conditions.

CONDITIONS AND SEASONS

One of the advantages Samui has over other places is that diving is possible throughout the whole year. However the optimum time is from April/May, when the winds and tides change direction, until October, when the monsoons come and stir things up and make it difficult for the boats to go out. During December to April conditions are hit and miss, with some good days but generally underwater visability is not great.

From May through September visability can be really good (up to 35 meters), but there are always bad periods when it can go down to under 10 meters. During this period larger pelagics (big fish) come in to feed and you may be lucky enough to encounter a manta ray, reef shark or the giant whale shark.

The best month for whale sharks has been August over the last few years. Generally the waters are clearer around Sail Rock and Koh Tao than the Marine Park or local reefs because they lie in much deeper waters and are not affected by the run off from rivers on the mainland.

DIVE SITES
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FROM SAMUI

Local reefs there are pretty unimpressive sites and should only be considered for learning, however they can all be reached by boat within 5-25 minutes

Lamai Reef
Mostly dead coral reef which can be accessed by a beach dive from Lamai beach.

Chaweng Reef
The long reef just off Chaweng beach, can also be accessed directly as a beach dive.

Koh Matlang
The island at the north of Chaweng is a little better, usually accessed by longtail boat.

Wailili Reef
A reef off the south of the island that occasionally has good visability and some marine life.

Five Islands
The islands off the west coast have some reefs, but not really recommended.

FROM SAMUI AND PHANGAN
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Sail Rock
It is probably one of the finest sites in the Gulf of Siam. It is a wall-dive surrounded by a number of smaller but still impressive pinnacles. The southeast face has a natural chimney eroded in the rock from 6m to 18m depth that you can dive through. At the eastern end of the wall you can often see Great Barracudas patrolling the sometimes spotted here. Recommended.

Samran pinnacle
A terrific dive site but sadly often overlooked by the dive companies, who consider it too difficult to find a mooring and unsuitable for inexperienced divers and snorkellers-the top of the tallest pinnacle is 12m below surface. It is highly recommended for super vised and experienced divers.

ANGTHONG NATIONAL MARINE PARK
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Hin Nippon and koh wao
They are the two sites nearly all the dive companies visit. They are gradually sloping reefs, with some nice coral and quite a lot of morine life. If the visability is good it can be a good dive.

FROM PHANGAN
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Phangan Reefs
They are ust off haad rin and haad Tien and are better than Samui's local reefs.

Haad Yao
The beach on the north west of the island has a reef 50-meters off shore, with a nice eight meter drop off. A recommended beach dive.

Koh Ma
There are some OK shallow reef dives around the island off Mae Haad.

FROM KOH TAO
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Chumphon Pinnacles
Probably Tao's most impressive site. It consists of four underwater pinnacles: the highest peaks are 16m below surface. A good place to see large pelagics. Highly recommended.

Green Rock
Some nice swim-throughs provided by large archways and caves make this an interesting dive. This is also a good place to see Green and Hawksbill Turtles.

White Rock
A very enjoyable dive, suitable for both novice and experience divers. The site consists of two submerged pinnacles, the higher of which is covered by only 2m of water. Home to some very territorial triggerfish. Recommended.

Red Rock
Two large rocky outcrops the larger standing 10m proud of the water. There are many different species of fish along the reef including the aggressive Titan Triggerfish. Recommended.

Southwest Pinnacles
There three submerged pinnacles represent a series of short walldives. Another good place to see pelagics of all sizes. Recommended.

Nang yuan
Also called "Big Rock". Good training site. Beyond to boulder corals is a shallow sloping reef formed of table staghorns and various leaf corals. Shallow site good for night dives.

Mango Bay
A shallow bay on the north of the island, some nice coral-good for beginners.

Hin Wong
A site off the north east of the island with some interesting coral plateaus. Good place to see turtles-often calm when the other sites are rough.

Ao Leuk
Off the east coast. A nice shallow site, good for training dives, especially when the other side is rough.