Latest News- September 2015

Sunday 20th September 2015

Working as a diving professional has to be one of the best jobs in the world. We get to play around in the water nearly every day having the freedom and tranquillity of being completely weightless and submerged in silence for the duration of the dive. No phone calls, no emails, just peace and quiet surrounded by an environment so foreign to anything seen on land. Believe it or not but teaching new students how to dive while rewarding is also mentally and sometimes physically hard work.  Not only are we taking new divers to breathe under the water for the very first time, we have to make sure you have understood what we have been teaching you in the pool and the classroom, that you are comfortable and relaxed and most importantly you are diving within safe limits. But it is also AWESOME! The days are long but the first jump in from the boat and the first descent into the new world is unbelievably cool! 

I have lost count on how many times I have given the time to go up sign and received the thumbs down sign along with head shaking ‘no we don’t want to go back up’. The most common question asked by our students here has to be 'Do you not get bored doing the same thing every day?' The answer quite simply is no. Every day and every dive is completely different, yes the dive sites may be the same but you never know what you might find under the surface, and for many of you it is the first time you have seen any of these marine creatures up close and personal. I have been lucky enough to have seen heaps of turtles but I am more excited for you, my students to see one for the first time, being in his/her world and knowing that they are comfortable with you stay and just hang out and watch them eat and swim or chill out on the bottom. Finding a new baby fish on a dive site also gets our juices flowing, seeing a baby harlequin sweetlips or a new baby Nemo still puts a smile on our face. Ask any member of staff now they ended up working for Big Blue and nearly all of them will say that they came here on holiday/ travelling and fell in love with the sea and Big Blue and just never left. Whether it was from doing the open water course here or already being a certified diver the atmosphere is unbeatable and no one ever wants to leave, it may also have something to do with the taste of a nice cold beer after a day’s diving while watching the sun set over the beautiful Gulf of Thailand. 

Most of us did our Divemaster training here and hung out working or just fun diving and then taking the next step and becoming an instructor. A career change or break from the daily grind back home is never a bad thing and whether it is for 6 months or 6 years the experience you gain whilst working in this industry is second to none and all transferable to any other job in the world, from customer service, sales, multicultural relationships health and safety to managing logistics and paperwork.

So do you want a change and do something different or turn your hobby into a way to travel the world and make some money then why not visit bigbluepro.com for more information on how to have the best job in the world!

Photo courtesy of Lia Barrett

Monday 7th September 2015

It is Hot Hot Hot right now and the diving is lovely, a couple of Whalesharks have been hanging around lately so everyone is out on our early boats to try and catch a glimpse of the gentle giant.

Many of you travellers are now trying to squeeze as much into your holiday in a short space of time. For those of you who only come to Koh Tao for a night or two we offer a one day try dive, this is not a certification but a taster of what diving is all about. 

With a maximum of 2 people per instructor we guide you around one of our shallow dive sites, with the option of completing a second additional dive. If after this day you are hooked (which most people are) change your travel plans and stick around for a few more days a get your full Open Water Diver certificate. With nearly all currencies being particularly strong right now it is the best time to come over and get your licence. All of our courses start every single day so no need to worry about availability.

Everybody has their own favourite fish to see and one of the most popular on Koh Tao is the Little Yellow Boxfish. The yellow boxfish AKA Ostracion cubicus, can be found in reefs throughout the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean as well as the south eastern Atlantic Ocean. It has been known to reach a maximum length of 45 centimetres (18 in). As the name suggests, it is box-shaped, with tiny little dorsal fins and puckering pink lips. When they are juveniles, it is bright yellow in colour with blue spots. As it becomes older, the brightness fades and on very old specimens the colouration becomes blue as the spots get larger. The fish's diet consists of marine algae, worms, crustaceans and small fish.

Interestingly as a defensive mechanism when stressed or injured it releases an extremely poisonous protein from its skin that proves lethal to any fish in the surrounding waters.

In 2006, Mercedes-Benz unveiled its Bionic concept car, which was inspired by the shape of the yellow boxfish. It was assumed that due to the extreme agility with which boxfish can manoeuvre, that their shape was aerodynamic and self stabilizing. However, if you have ever seen one try and swim you may think this is a rather stupid idea and funnily enough when an analysis by scientists was performed they actually found that the boxfishes agility is instead due to the combination of an aerodynamically unstable body and the manner in which the fish use their fins for movement. Good job Mercedes, maybe you should have done your research first!

1st September 2015

So it is official the new dive shop is now open and it looks amazing. Lots more space for the shop girls so Jess and the Aeys are happy and the Divemasters have their own little area to work in, it’s all open air (until it rains) and very cool, no air-con needed right now but I’m sure we will be installing some when it gets hot and toasty here. It didn’t take long for us all to get used to it and it’s as if we have been in here for ages.

We have recently amended our on-line booking form to include the check the box once you have read through the medical statement. It clearly states that you need to read the statement so please be sure to just to make sure that there are no problems once you get here. If you do answer any yes’ on the form you can print it off and have it signed by a doctor at home before you travel here. This medical goes for ALL courses and for you if you are already a certified diver. We have your health and safety as priority here, so please help us to help you.

It may be getting that time when everyone is heading back to school, but we also have school days everyday here. We have just signed up a new bunch of Divemaster Trainees, who will be working and studying alongside our dive professionals. The course includes classroom lectures, in water workshops and skill demonstrations, but the best part of the course is the unlimited diving every day. The trainees shadow our current team of Divemasters and learn how to lead safely and find all the cool fish, stingrays and nudibranchs. The course also sees them assisting our instructors during all the various courses we have on offer. Divemaster is the first step to being a professional and is the first step to getting paid work in the diving industry. Many of our Divemasters decide to work and gain experience for a few months before they go on the next step of training to become an instructor. The course is designed to allow the trainees to cover all aspects of diving. Many who assist courses realise early on that they want to be an instructor, as the feeling we get when we see the faces of brand new students seeing their first ever parrot fish or turtle is priceless and is the ultimate reward. If you think you have what it takes to be a dive professional, patience, good sense of humour, you are a hardworking team player and have a zest for life you are already half way there. Contact us at info@bigbluepro.com for more information on the packages we have. Our office is way better than yours!