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...
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.