Image: Snorkel test with a difference – this time the new PADI Divemasters decided to dress up as smurfs!

As is customary at the end of every PADI Divemaster internship, we celebrate the achievements of the new PADI professionals with a special event or party. This normally involves a Koh Tao traditional passing of rights ceremony which is widely known as a ‘snorkel test‘.

These tests regularly have themes based behind them, and this months was Smurf-tastic!

With little to no prompting , this months PADI Divemaster internship graduates – Sami, Tim, Nathan and Emma decided to cover themselves in blue paint and dress up in adult nappies. There were a few fun drinking games, followed by the Snorkel Test – a bucket of cocktail consumed through a snorkel! Was lots of fun, (except for washing the blue paint of after – ask Tim!)

Congratulations to new PADI Divemasters -  Sami, Tim, Nathan and Emma, who are now able to work and live in paradise!

                          

This afternoon saw the completion of Shay, Joel, Louisa, Patty and Alex’s PADI Rescue Diver course here at Simple Life Divers!

These guys were all put through their paces, with a number of panicked snorklers, divers, swimmers – shock, horror, missing and unconscious divers.

After a large amount of surface swimming (Joel and Louisa!) these guys really excelled in all that had been taught to them over the previous 2 days, successfully managing to revive both of the DMT victims, (Nathan and Sam)!

Congratulations guys -  for Shay, Patty and Joel, enjoy your Divemaster internship, and hopefully we will see Alex and Louisa back at Simple Life soon for their Divemaster Course!

                          

Due to the brilliant dive conditions and weather we’re currently enjoying on Koh Tao, after enjoying their entry-level dive training at Simple Life a number of students have decided to stick around and enroll in our PADI  Divemaster internship.

Having endured the PADI Rescue Diver course and come out as more confident and competent divers, Hannah, Sam, Patty, Joel and Shay all decided that they were keen to continue down the route of PADI proffessional.

Over the next four to six weeks these guys will all be assisting on courses from PADI Open Water through to Rescue, leading dives for certified divers and navigating around the Koh Tao dive sites, and participating in a number of other fun activities. Over coming weeks these guys will be getting real hands on experience here at Simple Life and becoming part of the dive team.

At the end of all this, after having completed the Tao tradition of the “snorkel test”, these guys shall all be certified Divemasters and able to travel the world whilst receiving paid work. Why not!

Check back soon and we’ll keep you updates with photos and stories of how the posse are getting on with their Divemaster internship.

                          

At the moment, there are many big bill sharks living around the Koh Tao dive site, reaching around 3M in length. This makes for a truly spectacular shark dive. Yesterday, Simple Life dive shop manager Haydon reported seeing 9 bull sharks circling the pinnacle on a single dive.

Newly certified PADI Open Water and Advanced diver Chris Slaughter sent in the following feedback from his morning dives:

“Amazing! One dive, 27m, 40 minutes and at least 10 Reef Sharks swimming and feeding.  But not only was the first dive great; the dive site was so great, the staff made an executive decision and altered the trip and we went down the same dive site… so TWO absolutely great dives swimming with the reef sharks of Koh Tao.

And to top it off, learning to dive with Simple Life was just over the top… Wos was a great instructor and made the whole group feel comfortable diving and exuded calm. He is exactly what a dive instructor should be.  I’m hooked for life…

Thanks to everyone at Simple Life Divers for making my ’round the world trip over the top!”

(And for your information, the sharks aren’t an issue for divers. Although bull sharks have a fearsome reputation, attacks are reported from areas such as river estuaries with poor visibility and shallow water. Scuba diving here in Koh Tao we have clear water and large fish populations, and there has never been a problem with the sharks. Nevertheless, as with all aquatic life it’s important to remember that we’re a visitor to the underwater world, and should be passive spectators, treating all aquatic animals including the sharks with respect).

Amazing! One dive, 27m, 40 minutes and at least 10 Reef Sharks swimming and feeding.  But not only was the first dive great; the dive site was so great, the staff made an executive decision and altered the trip and we went down the same dive site... so TWO absolutely great dives swimming with the reef sharks of Koh Tao.

                          

The official dates for the Songkran celebrations are from April 13^th – 15^th, so in the bigger cities things will already be in full swing a couple of days prior to the Koh Tao Songkran festivities.

Know What Songkran Is?

Songkran is the Thai New Year which occurs each April. This is one of the hottest times of year on Koh Tao, with temperatures usually getting up around 40°C.

The event is marked by people throwing water over each other. This originated as a mark of paying respect. Originally, water was used poured over Buddhas to cleanse them. The water was captured and poured over friends, family and neighbors, with the ‘blessed’ water said to bring fortune.

Nowadays people still indulge in the throwing of water, but for most Thais the focus seems to be more on fun than the traditional religious meaning. Songkran has involved to become a nationwide giant water fight!

Either way, getting doused with a bucket of water during the hot season is a welcome relief, and a lot of fun. The Thai’s often add scents to the water, mix in flour, or sometimes add prickly heat powder which brings a nice cooling tingle! It’s a really great day to be on Koh Tao with all the locals and tourists joining together for a giant party across the whole island.

The usual sequence of events is that during the daytime the water-fight takes place on the streets, with pickup trucks being loaded up with barrels of water and people doing some low speed drive-by soakings, meanwhile lots of pedestrians arm themselves with water pistols and buckets . By late afternoon / early evening most people make their way down to Koh Tao’s popular Sairee Beach, where thousands of people congregate for a giant beach party.

Diving with Whale Sharks in Koh Tao

Meanwhile April is also a great time for scuba diving here on Koh Tao. The hot consistent weather and flat seas mean that we get great visibility around the Koh Tao diving sites and can enjoy visiting all of our deeper pinnacle dive sites.

And best of all, each April we get a high number of sightings of whale sharks around Koh Tao. Usually these giant fish hang around a dive site for a day or two, feeding on plankton which is stirred up as the current passes over a rock formation. It’s a truly spectacular site.

The whale sharks we see in Koh Tao range from 3-4M right up to larger specimens of 8 or 9M in length. If you stay still and calm, quite often a whale shark will swim up to you to check you out and to try work out what’s making those funny bubble noises.

So if you’re planning a Thailand Gap Year and are looking for a fun place to spend some time during April, you really should think about visiting Koh Tao!

                          

In salty seawater most people’s bodies are roughly neutrally buoyant. In English, that means they neither sink nor float.

But since water conducts heat away from the body many times faster than air, to keep us warm whilst scuba diving we wear an exposure suit. In the warm tropical water of Koh Tao (29-30C), divers generally wear a 2.5mm neoprene ‘shorty’ wetsuit. Neoprene is a highly buoyant material, so the result is that a diver wearing a wetsuit now floats a bit.

So in order to be able to descend at the start of our dive, we need to carry some lead weights, usually mounted on a weight belt which divers wear around their waist. With an empty BCD (buoyancy control jacket) a diver is able to descend, then, when they reach the depth which they want to stay at they add a little air to the BCD to regain neutral buoyancy, allowing them to hover effortlessly and explore the dive site.

Wearing the correct amount of weight is critically important when scuba diving.

Way too little weight and you won’t be able to descend at the start of the dive. In Koh Tao, that means swimming back to the boat to get more lead weight, which wastes time and effort. Even if you have just enough weight to get down at the start of the dive, as you use up the air in your tank throughout the dive you’ll become increasingly buoyant, so may find it difficult to stay underwater later in the dive, which poses other serious problems. So it’s critical that you’re carrying enough weight.

But what if you carry way too much weight? This leads to equally serious problems. Too much weight means you’ll have to add lots of air to your BCD to achieve neutral buoyancy at depth. The weight mounted around your waist causes your body to twist, so rather than scuba diving in a horizontal streamlined position, you’re now more upright with a lot of drag. That means you’ll expend much more effort, will consume your air supply more quickly restricting your bottom time, and be at a higher risk of overexertion. Plus diving from boats here in Koh Tao, Thailand, a diver who is significantly over-weighted may find it difficult to climb back up the ladder at the end of the dive, or may need to remove their weight belt to get back on the dive boat. So you certainly don’t want to be heavily over-weighted.

Image: An over-weighted and correctly weighted diver

New divers are often unsure of how much weight they should wear. Student divers may never have dived in the ocean before so will need guidance on choosing the right amount of lead weight for scuba diving. Even seasoned divers may have had an extended break from diving and might be carrying a bit more fat, or the warm tropical water of Koh Tao means they’ll be diving with significantly different scuba equipment which again affects how much lead weight they should wear.

As a Koh Tao PADI Divemaster, you’ll need to keep an eye on the amount of weight which divers are wearing, giving help and advice to divers who need it.

So how do you know how much weight a diver should wear?

The easiest way is to perform PADI’s buoyancy check. Once you reach the dive site, with all your scuba gear on you take a normal breath and empty all the air from your BCD. If properly weighted, you should float at eye level then as you exhale will be able to descend.
Working as a PADI Divemaster in Thailand, most likely you’ll be required to do this with customers many times. As you build up experience, you’ll eventually be able to estimate the correct amount of weight for most scuba divers.

Making sure all the divers are properly weighted means you’ll have much more enjoyable dives, where the divers which you’re guiding or assisting are comfortable and controlled, with a proper streamlined position which allows them a nice slow breathing rate and long bottom times.

And how much weight should a Thailand PADI Divemaster wear?

If fun diving for yourself, you’ll want to wear exactly the right amount of weight to allow you to enjoy your dive. However, if you’re working as a PADI Divemaster in Koh Tao, either guiding certified divers on an underwater tour or assisting a PADI Instructor with the training of new divers you’ll want to change your approach.

It’s usual for PADI Divemasters to carry a couple of extra weights during dives. If a student diver or customer does discover that they’re under-weighted during a dive, you’ll be able to give them a weight which will allow them to complete their dive in comfort and safety.

That wraps up the Divemaster Internship Thailand mini-lesson on carrying the correct amount of weight. Check back again soon for more snippets from our Koh Tao Scuba Diving Internships.

                          

In this article we’ll focus on how a PADI Divemaster chooses the best Koh Tao dive site for any given day. Consider this.

Koh Tao has more than 30 dive sites close to the island, ranging from beach dives to shallow coral reefs, deep isolated pinnacles, small islands and even ship wrecks. So what influences where we go scuba diving each day?

Here’s a look at the important factors which a PADI Divemaster considers when deciding on the dive site:

Environmental Conditions

Safety is of paramount importance when choosing a dive site. A big part of that is making an assessment of environmental conditions – specifically waves, current and general weather. Information is gathered from a range of sources including weather forecasts from the internet, tide tables, direct observation of the weather and speaking to the boat captain.

We always want to dive where the waves are lowest. Big waves make it more difficult to get in and out of the water, especially when climbing a ladder to get back aboard the dive boat whilst laden with dive equipment.

Luckily in Koh Tao we can dive either side of the island, so can always head to the sheltered lee-ward side of the island, away from the wind and waves.

Similarly for currents, unless drift diving we’d prefer to dive where there is little or no current, so if there’s a choice we’ll decide to dive when the tide is slack (not coming in or going out).

Ability of the Group & required training activities

Most PADI courses focus on building up dive skills and experience within controlled limits. For example Discover Scuba Diving or the first two dives of the PADI Open Water course must be conducted within a maximum depth of 12M, whilst the PADI Advanced Course deep dive can go to a maximum depth of 30M.

Plus, during the Open Water course, most PADI Instructors will appreciate you choosing a dive site which has shallow areas with a sandy bottom, which they can use to carry out any required underwater skills.

Even certified divers have maximum recommended depth ratings. PADI Open Water certified divers should stick to about 18M, PADI Advanced Divers can head right down to 30M, whilst Deep Specialty certified divers can dive right down to the recreational limit of 40M.

A Koh Tao PADI Divemaster must always consider the ability of the divers on the boat and the limits determined by required dive training to choose a dive site which has a suitable depth.

Time Constraints, Logistics & Economic Factors

Scuba diving is a business, so there are practical and economic factors that must also be considered.

For example, at Simple Life Divers we run two dive trips daily – one in the morning and one in the afternoon, which each make two dives. That means we need to plan dive sites so that we’re able to stay on schedule. We depart from Sairee Beach on the west coast of Koh Tao.

Almost any two dive site combination is possible during our half day trips. But you wouldn’t want to dive our furthest north dive site (Chumphon Pinnacles) followed by our most southern dive site (Southwest Pinnacles). We’d generally hit one of the further dive sites first, then motor back towards Koh Tao during the surface interval, diving one of Koh Tao’s closer dive sites second.

Also consider the cost of diesel. If you were the senior PADI Divemaster on the boat and chose to visit dive sites which are the furthest apart, you’d rack up some pretty serious fuel bills. Much better is to plan a northern combination one day, then a southerly trip the next.

Making the customer happy

People go diving to enjoy themselves, and we want to show them a good time where they see lots of marine life. As you gain experience as a PADI Divemaster in Koh Tao, you’ll develop your own opinions about which dive sites you prefer, and will know what marine life lives where.

That means that provided you’re able to satisfy all of the above, by speaking to divers and finding out what they’re interested in you’ll be able to tailor the choice of Koh Tao dive site to give them what they want.

If avoidable a Koh Tao Divemaster wouldn’t choose to dive the same dive site every day, as repeat customers would quickly become dissatisfied. Much better is to rotate around the Koh Tao dive sites, visiting different spots each day.

Diving Conditions

There are a number of other conditions which can affect the quality of a dive and overall diver safety. One big example is underwater visibility. Sometimes the water is crystal clear which is great. At other times disturbance of sediment, thermo-clines or algae blooms can reduce visibility to almost nothing which means that you can see very little and buddy separation becomes increasingly likely. Visibility varies from day to day, but it is well worth speaking to other divers to find out where conditions are best.

So that’s a brief look at the theory of how PADI Divemasters choose a dive site.

Now’s your chance to put theory into practice! Looking at the information given on the Koh Tao dive site map below, propose two dive sites for the following list of conditions:

Dive Trip 1. Two dives during the afternoon session

A strong wind is blowing in from the north-east. 2.5M high waves crashing on the east coast of Koh Tao. Minimal current throughout the area as it’s slack tide. The morning’s dive trip just got back and they said visibility was poor below the thermo-cline, which they reckon happened at about 26M, but pretty clear above.

On the boat, instructors Alex and Steve are each teaching a group of Koh Tao PADI Open Water students (dive 1 & 2, max depth 12M), meanwhile PADI Divemaster Lisa is running a scuba review for some rusty divers.

Which two dive sites are you going to send the Simple Life boat to?

Dive Trip 2. Two Dives in the Morning Session

Today there is a brisk breeze from the north-east, with wave height getting up to a maximum of about 0.5-1M. At the time the divers will be in the water you predict a gentle current flowing from north to south.

On the boat PADI Scuba Instructor Warren is running a PADI Advanced course. He’ll be doing the deep dive first so would like to get his students down to about 26M, then he plans to make the underwater navigation dive second, for which he’d appreciate a shallow sandy bottom. Plus PADI Divemaster Tim is guiding a very experienced group of divers, who dived the Chumphon Pinnacles yesterday morning.

Which two dive sites will you choose for the morning dive, getting back in time for lunch?

Dive Trip 3. Two dive afternoon trip

Reports have come in that there are two whale sharks hanging around at the Chumphon Pinnacles. Manager Luke has scrambled together a group of certified divers, there’s an underwater videographer onboard, and PADI Instructor Nikki is running a Deep Specialty course.

Which two Koh Tao dive sites are you going to send the boat to?

Answers:

Dive Trip 1: You’ve got to stay on the sheltered west coast of Koh Tao, out of the waves, and choose shallow easy dive sites for the PADI courses. Good choices would include Twins, White Rock or even 3 rocks.

Dive Trip 2: They need some depth, want to see something good and have already seen the Chumphon Pinnacles, so a good choice for your first dive would be the South-West pinnacle or Shark Island. Since you need to get back to Koh Tao on time, you’ll need to choose a much closer second dive site such as White Rock or Hin Pee Wee.

Dive Trip 3: Scuba diving with a whale shark is a once in a lifetime experience, and we’re lucky to be able to provide such fantastic scuba diving here on Koh Tao. Best would be to double dive the Chumphon Pinnacles.

That wraps up a quick look at how Koh Tao PADI Divemasters choose the best dive site each day. Cheack back again soon for more free lessons from Simple Life’s Thailand PADI Divemaster internships.

                          

The Koh Tao video archive features the following scuba diving movies, highlighting what it’s like to dive in the Gulf of Thailand:

• The final two dives from a PADI Open Water course with Simple Life Divers
• Footage of 3M long bull sharks at Koh Tao’s Chumphon Pinnacles dive site
• Video of whale sharks around Koh Tao
• Hawksbill and Green Turtles, scuba diving in Koh Tao, Thailand
• Coral Reef Fish
• Small marine life species around Koh Tao

Plus we’ve included a few extra videos to give you an impression of topside attractions on Koh Tao:

• Panoramic views of beach around Koh Tao
• A back of the motorbike tour of Sairee Beach
• Koh Tao nightlife – a short movie of a fire dancer at Lotus bar on Sairee Beach

We’ll continue adding more Koh Tao videos to the archive, so be sure to check back often to see updates.

                          

In most cases, third and fourth quarter figures show signs of economic recovery for many developed western countries, but there’s a long lag time expected till we see that recovery manifest in unemployment rates. Estimates for September and October showed shockingly high unemployment rates in the west, at 7.8% in the UK,  a 9.3 % average across the whole EU, and equally gloomy figures across the Atlantic with 10% in the U.S. and 8.5% in Canada.

With recruitment slowing down, arguably the hardest hit group are under 25 year olds, including new university graduates. It’s unlikely that we’ll see this situation change till late 2010.

Fortunately over here on Koh Tao, we’ve been insulated from the slowdown, and have enjoyed a great 2009 with sunny weather and lots of tourist visitors As always we’re enjoy the great scuba diving and still have a thriving and vibrant island atmosphere. If you’re growing agitated with the employment situation in the West, taking time out during 2010 to join a scuba diving internship might be just what you need.

Taking a PADI Divemaster internship or training through to PADI Scuba Instructor, is a great way to spend time whilst the west recovers, and most importantly it’s a very cost effective way to enjoy the adventure of a lifetime in the Far East. Our dive internships give you the skills and experience you need to work as a PADI dive professional. That means that after your initial scuba training, you’ll be able to earn a living as an instructor or Divemaster on Koh Tao. Koh Tao, Thailand is as busy as ever at the moment, with paid gap  year work coming up on an almost daily basis.

And when the time is right and you do decide to make the move back, having worked as a PADI Divemaster or instructor makes an interesting and exciting addition to any resume.

See our website for more details.

                          

The new bar restaurant and Simple Life resort has opened just in time (strange coincidence), so to celebrate the festive season Sett is hosting a Gala Buffet style Christmas dinner on the 24th December.

There’s going to be a monster spread of Thai appetizers, cold cuts and salad, Japanese Sushi and Sashimi, the classic Simple Life BBQ, Christmas Turkey and Roast Beef from the Carvery, lots of Thai main courses including everyone’s favorites plus fresh fruits and traditional Thai desserts. Yikes!

It’s going to kick off around 18:30 pm, plus there will be live music and entertainment. No doubt all the Simple Life Divers posse will be attending – if you want to join us, reserve your place by visiting the restaurant or drop the resort an email on info@kohtaosimpleliferesort.com