Thailand (Lonely Planet, 13th Edition) - China Williams [514]
Japanese Gardens (12m maximum depth), between Ko Tao and Ko Nang Yuan, is a low-stress dive site perfect for beginners. There’s plenty of colourful coral, and turtles, stingray and pufferfish often pass by.
Mango Bay (16m maximum depth) might be your first dive site if you putting on a tank for the first time. Lazy reef fish swim around as newbies practise their skills on the sandy bottom.
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New Way Diving ( Map; 0 7745 6527, 08 60440 0822; www.newwaydiving.com, www.scubadivingkohtao.com; Hat Sai Ri) This tiny school has built its reputation on offering small diving groups in a professional atmosphere. Their early-morning scuba excursions depart before the larger schools, which means less traffic in the water. It’s not too uncommon to go out for a postdive dinner with the entire school. The manager (a native Ko Tao-ist) can organise discounted accommodation nearby, and the free internet access on the dive shop’s ancient computer is an extra bonus.
SNORKELLING
Snorkelling is a popular alternative to diving, although scuba snobs will tell you that strapping on a snorkel instead of an air tank is like eating spray cheese when there’s Camembert on the table. Orchestrating your own snorkelling adventure is simple, since the bays on the east coast have small bungalow operations offering equipment for between 100B and 200B.
Almost every dive operation offers snorkelling day trips tailored to the customers’ desires. Prices range from 500-700B (usually including gear, lunch and a guide/boat captain) and stop at various snorkelling hot spots around the island. Laem Thian is popular for its small sharks, Shark Island has loads of fish (and ironically no sharks); Hin Wong is known for its crystalline waters; and Light House Point, in the north, offers a dazzling array of colourful sea anemones.
TECHNICAL DIVING
Well-seasoned divers and hardcore Jacques Cousteaus should contact Trident (www.techthailand.com), if they want to take their underwater exploration to the next level and try a technical dive. According to PADI, tec diving, as it’s often known, is ‘diving other than conventional commercial or recreational diving that takes divers beyond recreational diving limits’. Technical diving often exceeds depths of 40m, requires stage decompressions and a variety of gas mixtures are often used in a single dive.
In the last few years, Trident has made a name for itself in the diving community after successfully locating dozens of previously undiscovered wrecks in the Gulf of Thailand. Their most famous discovery was the USS Lagarto, an American naval vessel that sunk during WWII. The Gulf waters have long been an important trading route and new wrecks are being discovered all the time, from old Chinese pottery wrecks to Japanese marus (merchant ships).
Stop by Buddha View ( Click here) on Saturday for a free introduction into the world of tec diving, or hit the waters with the Trident team on ‘wreck Wednesdays’.
UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY & VIDEOGRAPHY
If your wallet is already full of PADI certification cards, make a stop at ACE Marine Images ( Map; 0 7745 7054; www.acemarineimages.com; Sairee Beach), one of Thailand’s leading underwater videography studios. Many scuba schools hire professional videographers to film Open Water certifications, and if this piques your interest, consider enrolling in their underwater video or photo course. The interactive eight-dive course (30,000B) includes an independent diver certification and one-on-one instruction in the editing room. Internships are also available for those who are truly serious about gaining field experience. The staff at ACE are starting a variety of other projects, such as whale shark tracking and tagging, and a unique photography-oriented gap-year program. Visit the website for more information or join their group on Facebook.
SPA
All of that shark ogling might leave you with a serious backache, so why not indulge in a post-scuba session? (Though be warned that a massage treatment directly after