I'm currently undergoing training to becoming a PADI certified scuba dive master.
Enjoyably this has taken me to, two amazing Thai islands of which i have never been to before
KOH TAO & KOH LIPHE
Firstly Koh Tao -
I had already done my PADI open water in Borneo, I chosen to do my advanced open water course in
Koh Tao due to the
low course fees
& great reviews on trip adviser
and the chance of spotting a whale shark :)
To get to koh tao island you can get a bus for 800THB / $20. From Bangkok to Surathani province, from surathani you then take a boat which took us 5 hours but there may be a faster one.
once on the island you will be greeted with beautiful beaches like this.
Accommodation is cheap on Koh Tao ranging from 200THB dorms to high priced hotels!
i did my advanced open water with a PADI certified company called seashell resort, the course was easier than the open water course. It was only a two day course and after that we got to do some fun dives, pics below!
me and my girlfriend circled by a school of fish (they only school i ever enjoyed)
floating seemingly witlessly........
below a great (baby whale shark)
and heres a video of the whale shark excuse the bad footage i got a bit scared!
KOH LIPHE one of the more idyllic locations, known from scenes in the movie 'the mechanic 2'
koh liphe is more expensive all from getting there to commendation, dive prices and food!
we found this really cool hobbit looking place for only 400THB / $9 per night it was cute but basic with outdoor toilets and a lot of big mozzies.
however the beaches were much more beautiful than koh tao with pure white sand!
we only did one dive costing 1500 thb as oppose to koh taos 1000B per dive price and unfortunately the visibility was quite poor 5-10 meters (due to seasonal conditions)
visibility pic below
however we decided to snorkel instead which was amazing and so cheap 100thb per day for a mask and fins!
and we found nemo
other than diving there's a lot more to do we went on a fishing trip but caught no fish. below is the fishing boat that took us pic of it before and returning from the trip.
you can see plancton booms (which i did not go on) canoeing and island tours all great tours so i heard!
One morning whilst eating breakfast i was lucky to see monks walking down the bea
which always looks cool!!
some traditional thai long-tail boats
so to evaluate i think koh taos the best option for diving however, if you have any questions regarding diving in Thailand send me a message and i will respond.
tomorrows day #3 will be an amazing post about a remote community in northern Thailand.
Dec