Q1 and a bit 2017 at The Dive Academy

So it's been a crazy first few months of the year here at The Dive Academy, with several weeks in January and the beginning of April with heavy monsoonal rain and severe flooding around the island. Naturally this was devastating for tourism on the island, not just for us but for all the hotels, restaurants and various other small businesses. Fortunately, the flooding receded and eventually we were back to business as usual! Sometimes you just have to ride it out, after all you can't change the weather no matter how frustrating. But don't believe everything you read in the international papers, it's always best to ask locals or people actually living here for the up to date situation!

Since then we have gone from no boats being able to go out at all to both Midnight's in full operation every day. From trips to the usual places around Koh Tao and to the fabulous Sail Rock, to many Angthong Marine Park tours, private charters and also venturing out to Koh Phangan as well. So a great variety of different tours are available depending on what you are interested in doing and how much time you would like to spend out on the water. Have a look at our tour options and drop us a line if you need more information.

Throughout most of March and pretty much all of April we have had awesome diving conditions, with generally calm seas, great visibility, little current and loads to see. All the juvenile fish are around during these months so you can be diving through schools of what looks like rainfall - it's very pretty! Then we have the baby black tip reef sharks, around 1m in length in schools of around 6-8. They are very shy but relaxed and if you're quiet and don't make too much movement you can spend a long time watching them swim around. The best way to see these is to join one of our VIP snorkel tours, in a small, personalised group with 1 of our Instructors who can show these and other wonderful things.

Now, the big topic of conversation is definitely the Whale Shark action we have been experiencing lately. We generally get sightings all year round across all of our dive sites but this is normally sporadic where we maybe get 1 or 2 sightings in a week and nothing for a few weeks. 2017 has been very different, with many, many sightings and often 2 at a time at a variety of dive sites. Sail Rock so far has had the big fish(s) there every day for the last 3 weeks which is amazing! We must all remember good etiquette around them: NO touching, NO chasing or crowding the fish, NO deliberately stopping it's natural path and NO flash on your camera. These basic things will help everyone enjoy the experience all the more.

If you are one of our customers who had the pleasure of a Whale Shark during your Discover Scuba dive or Open Water course dives, you are VERY lucky!!! Sometimes people clock up hundreds of dives over years and still don't get to see a Whale Shark!

We have also had some rare sightings including Dolphins, large Bumphead Parrotfish and some pseudo 'Orcas'! So lots of activity going on right now in the Gulf of Thailand and a great time to come diving as a beginner or an experienced diver.

At the end of March, we saw Heath one of our long term Senior Instructors leave us. He decided that he wanted to focus on himself a bit more and take some time to enjoy things around the island that we often don't get a chance too because we are all so busy! 1 month after saying goodbye to Heath, he is now back doing some part time work with us as he missed us so much!! We also had a new addition to the team in the form of Marc. Marc was a repeat customer of The Dive Academy for many years and after completing his Open Water and Advanced Open Water courses with us, decided to turn Pro. After becoming an Instructor last year, he has subsequently worked on a part time basis with us and is now a full time employee. So look out for the Scot on the team!

You may have seen our exciting news about the launch of The Freediving Academy. A new addition and service offering, this is a new sport that is really taking off around the world and our Instructor Sophie, who can offer both PADI & AIDA courses is really looking to show our customers something new. Already, we have had some snorkelers keen to give it a try and Scuba Divers wanting to see what the differences are and whether they could be as successful at this sport. Have a look at our new Facebook page to see what all the fuss is about: https://www.facebook.com/thefreedivingacademykohsamui

When we talk about our team, we generally refer to our Instructors, however we mustn’t forget that we have 2 boat crews and Thai office based staff. So after our boat crew all getting to experience recent Whale Shark sightings (normally whilst cleaning the boat!), Sak our driver was feeling a little left out. So after a pool session to introduce him to Scuba and get him comfortable breathing underwater, out he went for a Discover Scuba Diving experience to Sail Rock! He did a great job and we are all really proud of him as he was a little scared!!

Also this year, saw us move away from the Bandara resort as our secondary location to Peace Resort just a little along the beach. The Dive Academy is now working together with Peace resort to establish combined hotel & diving packages. So watch this space!

The latest news on the IDC front is that Paul has been helping out another dive centre in Bali and has so far completed 2 there this year. Our next IDC's at The Dive Academy are scheduled for June and September, if you are thinking of becoming an Instructor and would also like to get 5 free Specialites!

Lastly, we were awarded another Certificate of Excellence by Trip Advisor last year, so a big thank you to everyone who has written a fab review about us or told their friends or who come back many times to dive with us! May you continue to enjoy diving and snorkeling with us!!

PADI Sidemount Course

PADI Sidemount is one of the more recent PADI Specialty Courses and is a whole new way of diving. You learn to dive with either one or two tanks attached to your side as opposed to one tank on your back! 

Some of the techniques and procedures used in Sidemount are the basics of Tec Diving so Sidemount is a great way to get a taster for Tec Diving while still within the limits of recreational diving.

Sidemount Diving - two tanks on the side not one on the back

Having scuba tanks on your back isn’t a requirement for exploring the underwater world. Many scuba divers have discovered the joy of mounting cylinders on their sides. Sidemount diving gives you flexibility and streamlining options plus, you don’t have to walk with heavy cylinders on your back – just enter the water, clip them on and go.

The Dive Academy offer both the PADI Recreational Sidemount Course and the Recreational Sidemount Instructor Course.

The Recreational Sidemount Course takes two days to complete. You complete the theory by independent learning then have a short theory review session where we make sure you understand the concepts and differences of Sidemount diving, such as slightly more complex gas management. You then go to the swimming pool where you get to try out the gear used for Sidemount and get used to the different configuration of the equipment and the different way of doing certain skills compared to diving with a tank on your back. As a diver already there aren't many new skills for you to learn just previously learnt skills conducted in a different way to allow for the different equipment set-up. The second day is where you get to make 3 dives in the sea with the Sidemount gear, getting used to the difference in buoyancy, gas management and just generally get used to a different way of diving. Many who have tried Sidemount say they much prefer it to diving with a normal BCD.

If you are a PADI Instructor or are taking an Instructor Development Course and already a PADI Recreational Sidemount diver, the Sidemount Instructor Course can be completed in one day with only 1 dive needed plus a classroom presentation, although we do prefer to have a short theory and pool session the day before. If you are not a Sidemount Diver already the Sidemount Instructor Course can be completed at the same time as the Sidemount Diver Course.

For more information on PADI Sidemount Specialty take a look at our website: http://www.thediveacademysamui.com

and for information about PADI Professional level training:

http://www.idc-thediveacademysamui.com

or contact us by email: info@thediveacademysamui.com

Songkran 2016

Sawadee Pee Mai (Happy Thai New Year) to all our Thai staff and friends, we hope you have a great day today!

Otherwise known as Songkran, this is the biggest water festival you will experience in Thailand where Thai's splash/throw water on friends and family as a way of seeking good fortune and pay homage to Buddha. Over the years this has turned into a little more than splashing and now tourists come from all over the world to experience this time of year and it normally involves buckets of water as well as water guns and hoses! So if you don't want to get wet, stay at home or at your resort!

Don't get too drunk boys, we have a boat tomorrow!!

Diving Koh Samui: Sail Rock

Sail Rock is approximately 50 minutes speedboat journey north from Koh Samui, between Koh Phangan and Koh Tao and is a pinnacle shaped like an iceberg that rises out of the water creating a fantastic wall dive.

Sail Rock is stunning at depths of 5 metres and down to a maximum depth of 40 metres, so it is ideal for beginners and experienced divers alike. There are sometimes relatively strong currents on parts of the site, but the site is big enough for you to dive and avoid the current.

Sail Rock is famous for the vertical "Chimney", which begins at around 16m and opens at the top around 6m and is great fun to ascend through. Sail Rock is one of the main sites in the area for sightings of Whale Sharks, but if they aren't around there are always schools of Barracuda, large schools of Yellow Fusiliers, many schooling Trevally, Giant Morays, Large Groupers, Batfish and a great variety of other fish.

Whale Shark @ Sail Rock

Today we had a trip to the fantastic Sail Rock and it turned out to be even more spectacular than usual.

We got the shout that there was a Whale Shark around just as we were about to eat lunch after our first dive. A few dinner plates quickly got discarded as we jumped off our boat "Midnight Blue" to see if we could spot the big fish, but we didn't manage to see it until........ Around 5 minutes into our second dive the beautiful 4-5m shark came alongside the rock where we and a few other divers were swimming. It was calm and relaxed and swam among the divers. Fortunately it happened to turn and swim directly towards us and came within a metre of us so we managed to get a few nice pictures fairly close up of the Shark filtering water through it's gills and smiling for the camera. Most of these pictures are untouched as the shark was so close we didn't need to zoom or crop!!

Lights, Camera, Action

The Dive Academy recently had the pleasure of hosting famous American conservationist Jeff Corwin during filming of a Thailand themed episode of his Emmy Award winning wildlife adventure series Ocean Mysteries with Jeff Corwin.

On the first day out Jeff and his crew, consisting of his Director, Cameramen, Producer, Sound man and a couple of assistants, wanted to go to our best dive spots to see the best of the marine life in the area. 

For the first spot we went to South West Pinnacle where the visibility was good at about 15m and as expected there was plenty to see for the guys to capture on film. Schools of Barracuda, Snapper, Fusiliers, a couple of very large Grouper, blue spotted stingrays, banded shrimp and the huge bed of anemones were just a few of the things the guys enjoyed filming. 

For the second spot we went to the amazing Sail Rock. The visibility there had dropped to around 7m but as usual there was plenty to see, so much so that Jeff decided he wanted to make two dives there to capture even more footage. Unfortunately there was no Whale Shark but one of the resident Giant Moray's was around and even followed Jeff as he swam away, allowing for some good footage I'm sure, especially as Claire was in charge of the lighting during most of the day!! Again, more Grouper, big schools of Trevally and Snapper and a Yellow Boxfish all gave the crew something to capture on camera.

The second day out was a trip to Koh Tao where the crew were meeting up with Nathan Cook from Eco Koh Tao to look at a couple of the fantastic projects they are running. 
First stop was to the Coral Nursery next to the most popular dive site around Koh Tao, Twins. The crew filmed Nathan and the guys from Eco Koh Tao collecting fragments of broken coral (of which, unfortunately, there is plenty in the area), selecting pieces that are still able to be rejuvenated then planting them in a frame where they will be left to grow. Once the coral has grown to a significant size it will be moved to either one of the many artificial reefs being developed around Koh Tao to ease the burden on the natural sites, or to one of the natural sites to supplement or replace the endangered coral.

After lunch the crew were taken to Junkyard, which is an artificial site built to be used for diver training and various marine projects. Here Eco Koh Tao have developed a Clam Nursery where clams are being cultivated and protected from natural predators, such as Trigger Fish, by mesh cages. Jeff and the crew were shown how the size and growth of the clams is being monitored and once the clams are big enough to be moved they too will be transferred to another site to help restore the failing population. 

And that's a wrap.......

It's not every day you have Emmy Award winners on your dive boat filming and it was a great experience for us to see the program being made and we are looking forward to hopefully seeing the episode when it airs.

An added bonus was that all of the crew were really friendly and  a pleasure to be around which made for two nice, albeit long days out when we were coming back as the sun was setting.