Love Koh Tao. You will. If you take a Thailand gap year there with us, you can not fail to fall in love with this island.
Check out the photos on this face book group to find out more.
Programmes that involve Koh Tao can be found here.
Here is another reason to behave yourself on your Thailand Gap Year, Santisuk, the pig tailed Macaque Monkey, Thailands latest top law enforcer will be out to bust you.
For reasons no sane individual will ever understand, monkeys are being uses by the Thailand authorities to keep the population in check.
Fear not though, if you do find your the wrong side of the hairy long arm of the law, we have been told you can bribe your way out of a stint in the slammer with a bunch of bananas.
According to the telegraph ”
The precinct’s Police Corporal Yutthapol Phromdao Yutthapol takes Santisuk with him on patrol every day.
He said compared to other checkpoints, where officers had to deal with annoyed motorists, his was a ‘happy place’.”
Only in Thailand…
Alasdair 19, Uk. Doing Muay Thai and diving in Thailand.
After 1 and a half months on Koh Tao, I now have 3 days left on the island to fill with last minute souvenir hunting and leftover muay thai sessions.
My last week here has been slightly different as I finally got round to starting my PADI Open Water course, which only lasted 3 days but was really amazing – I have never been scuba diving, or even snorkelling before [and to be honest I'm not even a very good swimmer!], but 3 days of teaching, with 4 dives at 4 different dive sites around Koh Tao, has been more than enough to make me feel comfortable scuba diving [and I hope to use my certification when I travel to Australia to go on a shark dive!].
The teachers are all really friendly and funny [especially Claude and Sarah, who taught me!], and there really were some amazing sites to be seen at the various dive sites – damselfish, eels, and just swimming through a school of angelfish, along with a pretty colossal triggerfish, were all incredible. We also had a photographer on our last two dives [as they have for all Open Water courses apparently], who filmed us underwater as we scuba’d around – I’m really looking forward to seeing the video this evening! [if only to make sure there was nothing in between my teeth]
Overall the scuba diving course has proven a really nice ending to my time here on Koh Tao – although I am looking forward to the rest of my travels, as I will now be spending 6 weeks in rural China, I know there are some things I will definitely miss from Koh Tao – the trainers from muay thai [although perhaps not the situp routine], the weather [and my tan!], and most of all the endless supply of mango shakes!
Did you know that both owners of Xtreme Gap are Divemasters? My name is Debby and I am one of the two.
I had the most amzing time when I did my Thailand Divemaster course in 2007 on Koh Tao. I had done my openwater before but now wanted to do the full course. Not so much because I wanted to work as a Divemaster but more because I wanted to dive as much as possibe for a long duration of time.
This is why our Divemaster course is streched out over 12 weeks and during there 12 weeks you can make up to 5 dives a day. We know other companies offer Divemaster programmes too, but never 12 weeks and sometimes with less limited amount of dives.
The instructors at the five star padi resort we work with are great. I stayed there for 12 weeks and had a ball. I met so many nice people at this programme. People from all over the world. Not scary at all to be alone, because you never really are. The best place to meet after a day of studying fish in the tropical waters, is at the Dive Bar at the resort. You can cath up with other travellers and decide where you will go out for dinner. I have been to many many restaurants with great food!
The evenings are such a big social event. This is also why we have decided not to include food. This would ty you down to one and the same restaurant while all your new mates go to nice different places all the time. The food in Thailand is cheap. You pay like 2 euro for a nice curry with chicken and fresh veggies in a nice restaurant or at a beach bar.
Koh Tao is a small island in the Gulf of Thailand and it has a special feel to it and even though it is really small, you will never get bored. There are many great beaches, you can do some yoga or try out some Muay Thai moves. There are great option for rock climbing, but believe it or not, you will probably be to busy for this all.
I was always so busy…getting up early sort out the new arrivals, because as a divemaster you assist your instructor with helping out new divers, or people that are just there for a few days doing their open water. Than you get on the truck, to the boat. After a month or so of training you can do the briefing to the new divers and sometimes the instructor lets you lead the dive.
The dive gear is included. Not for yours to keep, but if you travel on afterwards you do not want to pack it all and take it with you anyway.
The accommodation we have selected is great too. The resort has various options for t=rooms but I stayed in the standard room and tht is perfect. Ok you do not have view at the pool, but rooms are spacious, and you have your own bathroom. There is a fan to keep you cool and a shower to keep you cool. Yep, no warm water, but you will probobaly not miss it because it is so hot and humid in Thailand that you prefer to have a cold shower anyway.
To make the travel easier for you we have included a night in Bangkok and we have pre arranged your bus and boat journey to Koh Tao. On koh Tao our rep Sarah will pick you up at the pier take you to the resort and in the evening she will take you out for dinner and introduce you to all trainers and other travellers.
If you have any questions regaring the Thailand Divemaster programme, just drop me an e mail: [email protected].
