Latest News- February 2016

Thursday 25th February 2016

People often ask why Koh Tao is so good for diving in the Gulf of Thailand. First of all Koh Panghan and Koh Samui have maybe 2 or 3 dive sites. The vast majority of centres travel to Koh Tao to dive. Divers who go to Koh Samui realise that after their 2 hour boat ride to dive around Koh Tao and then another 2 hour ride back again, it makes more sense just to come straight to Koh Tao where the diving is on our doorstep. Our limited depths and calm conditions make it perfect for training. From your first ever breath under water on a Try Dive in one of our shallow bays to exploring wrecks at 50 metres. We are lucky to have a wide range of sites suitable for beginners and the more experienced divers looking for macro life. Having dive sites located all around Koh Tao it is always possible to find a sheltered bay if the weather is windy or wavy.

Our house reef of Sairee is home to many Saddleback Clownfish, and the dive is like an underwater dot to dot to find the anemones they call home. The 'Nemos' here are much bigger than the ones we regularly see at Twins or Green Rock. Along with a wide variety of nudibranch and colourful reef fish is has everything a shallow site needs. A staff favourite is White Rock, this large spread out site is home to many blue spotted stingrays as well as a Jenkins Ray cleaning station just off the main site. We have seen Whalesharks and turtles there, huge Barracudas feeding at night and stalking their prey during the day. These sites of perfect for Open Water courses. Then we head slightly further away to Chumphon Pinnacle. This stunning location never fails to impress even the most experienced diver. Hughes schools of travelly, snapper and barracudas of all sizes. Another favourite spot of the the Whalshark with more sightings here than any other site around Koh Tao. This is a deeper dive site which allows you to complete the 30 metre dive of your Advanced course and even head off deeper to 40 metres for your Deep Specialty. You will also see our Technical divers here on sidemount or with multiple tanks hanging off them doing decompression dive training.

If scuba diving is not your thing but you still want to explore the ocean then we can leave the tanks behind and submerge below the surface on one single breath, being one with the ocean and surrendering to all which is around you and the silence of no bubbles. Freedivers are a rare breed who have the ability to retrain everything we thought we knew about the bodies abilities whilst underwater. This course will make you see your body and it's power in a whole new light, with relaxation and breathing techniques your journey underwater is on another level completely.

Once back on land and you have dried off, you will want to unwind watching the sun drip into the horizon, chilled music and cold drinks at the North end of Sairee and then getting busier and more of the party scene further towards the South end. Or if it's sport that your into most sporting events can been seen in a many of the sports bars. The island is full of some amazing restaurants. From cheap street stalls to beautifully located restaurants that will have you wanting more.

 So what are you waiting for........

Sunday 14th February 2016

Last night saw our annual Valentines auction to raise money for the Noistar Animal Clinic and Sea Shepherd. It saw our desperate Instructors and Divemasters selling them-selves to the highest bidder just so they can have a social life away from Big Blue. This did back fire to a certain degree with both Liam and Erik being bought by Mini Ant, and Irish G being bought by Steve-o. The prize was that the winner had the Valentine for an hour to do whatever they wanted them to do. Steve-o is having Irish G try and not talk and stand still for one whole hour and try not to say the word sweetie or ears.  Mini is going to have his strapping young men do 100 press-ups then cover them in baby oil while dancing to Ginuwines “Pony” and then just stare at them till his hour is up. A strange buy last night was Rick who bought Boz, what he is planning on doing is anyone’s guess, maybe be his tank carrier or in charge of polishing his valves…who knows watch this space.

We also had a few guest appearances from other dive shops who wanted to muscle in on the act. Scuba Junction and Roctopus joined us in the money raising see scantily clad females offering body shots all for charity. Recently we have seen Andreas searching down the back of the couches and picking up spare coins whenever he saw them, at the time we just thought he was a cheapskate, but it all made sense last night when he went nuts and did body shots off just about everyone who lay down including Piglet and Panda, this is probably going to be the most action he will get all year so we won’t hold it against him this time. His was the biggest….. smile in the whole bar last night.

The night was a great success and saw us raise a whopping 40,000 for the 2 charities. A massive thank you has to go for everyone who took part and were auctioned and humiliated by Simo on the microphone and also to the lucky people who bought their Valentines, please be gentle with them and give them back in one piece once you have finished with them.

Thursday 4th February 2016

We were recently privileged to have Miss Scuba UK Sarah Winterbottom join us for her SSI Stress and Rescue course and some fun dives. She has been lucky enough to dive in various countries while being hopeful to win the title of Miss Scuba International. We have just finished a photo shoot with some of our better looking staff, unfortunately Jim and Steve-o were unavailable so we had to drag in Handsome Swedish Erik, Hot Aussie Steve, Tattooed Hunk Matt and the newest Blonde German Danny. Our resident photographer Andy was on call to take some stunning shots which will soon be in our new brochure. Thank you to Sarah and our wanna be models, we look forward to seeing the pictures soon.

We think Jim is having a slight mid-life crisis or at least after watching the photo-shoot he has regressed back to his pre-diving life when he was working in the porn industry... Oh yes, not many people know that our illustrious bigger than Steve-o leader used to be known as Hugh Hefner to his pals. Now just to be clear he was never in front of the camera or involved directly as a fluffer, it was just the advertising or marketing stuff (or so he tells us).
Where was I going with this? Oh yes, Jim has decided to make an Instructors / Divemaster Calender and he is trolling Facebook of all places to find the sexiest picture of us he can. Please do not get too excited as I can see it being along the lines of either The Full Monty or Dads Army rather than Magic Mike...

My job now is to ask his lovely wife if she has any hidden sexy photos that we can use, mwahaahhahaha! Maybe some when he had hair! (and I may be getting the sack now)

On a serious diving note which is why are all here at the end of the day, tomorrow sees the end of another SSI Instructor Exam with 4 new and sparkly candidates joining the flock. At the end of their exam and before they start teaching on their own they are shown the delights of recreational side-mount as well as spending a few weeks as interns with our full time instructors to learn the ropes and professionalism we expect at Big Blue. We are very proud that our standards exceed the required course standards set out by SSI and once they are off on their own they are certifying students who feel safe and comfortable in the water. Well Done guys the first round is on Mr Hefner.