Diving Koh Tao, Thailand

2011-05-08T09:39:00.000+07:00

Rescue Nick

PADI IDC Staff, Nick H, pushes his students to a new level and they learn to team build, problem solve and forward plan to solve and prevent Rescue Diver problems.

Illness and Injury assesment

The 3 day course pushes divers to the limit and gives individuals a chance to grow into a more confident and competent diver.

With the idea to keep an open mind and to learn to love thy buddy.

Pocket mask use provides a better seal & a perfect barrier

Each student completes a set of emergency and panicked diver scenarios, from missing divers, unconscious diver accidents, marine life injuries to Oxygen use and CPR.

Surfacing an Unconscious diver.

We extend a huge congratulations to the newest Crystal Rescue team!!

Video Night

2011-05-05T16:21:00.000+07:00

Its been a busy month a DDP HQ on Koh Tao with more courses starting, our day to day filming for Crystal Dive Resort, documentary course preparation and a great certification night for two new underwater film makers.

New underwater videographers Gary & Bobbie have just finished there extensive 26 dive professional videography training programs, visiting Koh Tao's best dive sites throughout the course they filmed a variety of marine life and both videographers produced awesome showreels. Next step is the internship where they will get the experience of making movies on a daily basis and learning the ropes of a day to day videographer. Then the world is their oyster!!! well done guys

On another note..the whalesharks are here, the weather is fantastic and the visibility is superb so come on over to Asia's prime scuba diving location and get diving.

Wrecks N' Effect

2011-05-01T14:01:00.000+07:00

Crystal Dive Resort took the the seas and headed out to where the M.V Trident was sank.

Very close to Shark Island at about 35m deep, the M.V Trident sits offering koh Tao a chance to study underwater wreck and of course teach the PADI Wreck Spec and Tec courses.

PADI Master Instructor Ivan heads sub sufrace to conduct PADI Deep & Wreck Spec

It also give those already certified as good change to fun dive some more of the challenging divesites Koh tao has to offer

Earth Day

2011-04-23T17:22:00.001+07:00

Eco Koh Tao joined Project Aware in Diving for the Internationally acclaimed Earth Day.

We kicked off proceedings by conducting a beach & shoreline clean up in Mae Haad just adjacent to the dive centre. We collected loads of netting and other debris washed in during recent storm action.

Some of the 75 plus people who joined in the underwater clean up on Earth Day

In the afternoon we banded together as a community for an underwater clean up and all up had 75 people Diving for Earth Day. The underwater team managed to collect over 335 kgs of debris which is a great achievement on such an important day. Most of that garbage was nets and ropes which make up some of the most damaging types of rubbish underwater.

Continuing the celebrations into the evening our attention turned to the Koh Tao Eco Film Festival for 2011. A marine ecology & reef restoration talk was help by Chad Scott, Jen Matthews and Eco Koh Tao’s Nathan Cook before the attention turned to some great locally made films raising awareness at this important time for our planet.

Kailash Cook, winner of the film festival with his donations from Project Aware for his involvement in the clean up activities

Local boy and Eco Koh Tao member Kailash Cook narrated a fantastic production highlighting sedimentation and runoff and the need to protect coastlines and habitat from construction and subsequent erosion. It was a clear winner and Kailash not only took home a regulator for his trouble, but choosing the regulator meant the entry fee was donated back to Save Koh Tao.

All in all it was a very successful and environmental Earth Day on Koh Tao. Thank you to Project Aware for their support and everyone else who participated.

Tec-Niq-All

2011-03-15T12:25:00.000+07:00

Crystal Dive Resort and Crystal Tech congratulates Sean Parker And Angshuman on their completion of their Tech diver course's.

Both students did completed their PADI Divemaster Course's with us at Crystal Dive and Ang finished his PADI IDC with Matt Bolton in Feb.

Both Divers opted for the Tec route and completed the TDI extended range course's with Mike Clancey and PADI Master Instructor/ Tech Instructor Ivan.

Check out the Tec sites

http://tech.crystaldive.com/

http://www.crystaldive.com/

Rescue Me

2011-03-11T10:15:00.001+07:00

Crystal Dive Resort welcomes the return of PADI Master Instructor Paul "Tosh" Tanner with a mighty PADI Rescue Course.

Elizabeth moves her victim into position

The course taking 3 full days gives the students a full insight into managing stressful and life saving situations giving the students the education into problems solving, team work and some hands on 1st aid.

With over 50% of the students all continuing their PADI experience by signing up for the PADI Divemaster Course.

Tosh clings to life while his students masterfully provides rescue breaths

Tosh uses the confines off our swimming pool to lay down some basic training and then moves to the ocean and some deep water to push the students to the Rescue limit!

Once again, Tosh struggles to stay a float, his student readies for the exit skill

With full success, Koh Tao's newest PADI Rescue Divers are ready for anything and looking forward to completing the PADI Divemaster Course and Crystal Dive Internships.

Ready for action!!... (Sort of)

Well Done Team Tosh

IDC 2011

2011-02-08T14:35:00.000+07:00

What a great start to 2011 for Crystal IDC..!!

The first PADI IDC of the new year is over, and there are 5 newly qualified, super enthusiastic PADI Instructors at Crystal Dive Resort.
Following on from a superb 2010, Matt Bolton’s Crystal candidates once again demonstrated how thorough their training has been, posting the best scores of any of the dive centre’s overall on the IE! In fact, both Jack Brodie & Brittainy Slade scored 5.0’s throughout the IE. Jack also scored 100% in 5 of the 6 written exams on Day 1, dropping only one point, on the Physics exam…this was the only ‘point’ he dropped throughout the entire IE..!!

The other candidates, Timo Sarin, Jasmin Lee & Alex Stavros all scored very highly as well, with the lowest score awarded to any Crystal candidate a 4.6….and all of this from PADI Examiner Yung He Hanis who is regarded as one of the toughest PADI examiners around!
Tomorrow is the start of the MSDT Prep & internship program. Over the nest 4-5 days the candidates will complete a variety of PADI Instructor Specialty training courses. After that they will start their ‘Instructor Internship’ , team teaching, alongside some of Thailand’s most experienced PADI Master Instructors!!
Its busy, busy here at Crystal at the moment and Matt will be starting the next IDC on the 4th February.

All Clammed Up

2011-02-06T13:24:00.001+07:00

The initial batch of clams were placed in cages in Aow Leuk Bay on Koh Tao’s south-east coast. Mortality rates where high during the first few months but two years on approximately 50% survived to maturity. 12 months ago the majority of these were transferred to the surrounding reefs in Aow Leuk with the remaining clams staying in their caged home.

Unfortunately the cages suffered some damage during the recent monsoon so we figured rather than fix the cages it best we simply transfer them out onto the natural reef. So as part of the ‘Adopt-a-Reef’ program a number of dive schools received some of the remaining clams for their adopted reef.

Laura Bailey and Tina Major with Bob the Diver help with the Eco expedition!

Today Crystal Dive & Eco Koh Tao made their way to Aow Leuk and collected 22 giant clams from the collapsed cage on the bottom. Many of them have grown up nicely and were more than ready to be moved. For our second dive the boat made its way to Mae Haad and the much used Junkyard reef.

IDCS Nathan Cook with the help of several volunteers currently diving, or training with Crystal Dive who took this opportunity to get involved in some marine conservation and helped us distribute the clams into the surrounding reef.

2011-02-03T10:17:00.002+07:00

Show Your Support: Scuba Certification Cards

Select the Project AWARE version of your PADI certification or replacement card.
Project AWARE receives 100 percent of your donation to conserve aquatic environments on a global scale.

http://www.projectaware.org/content/index.php?pid=56

Team Suki!!

2011-01-12T11:33:00.000+07:00

PADI Master Instructor Suki Hung certifies yet another group of PADI Open Water Divers who spent the extra time to progress onto a PADI Advanced open Water.

"Taking Students from the classroom to the pool, then to and through Open Water Dive 1,2,3 and 4 is always guaranteed job satisfaction"

The team spent the 2 extra days with Suki to complete their 30m deep dive at Chumphon Pinnacle, a Navigation dive a Mango bay, PPB at Buoyancy World and a Nat and Night Dive at White Rock.

Well Done guys...

See you on the EFR and PADI Rescue Diver!!

Say No To Plastic Bags

2011-01-08T10:43:00.000+07:00

After the successful first batch of calico/cloth bags was introduced more than 2 years ago Crystal Dive Resort & Eco Koh Tao have just received a shipment of new bags for 2011.

Our cloth bags are designed to promote the use of reusable bags over the destructive non-recyclable plastic bags that pollute the world in their millions and millions.

At Crystal Dive Resort, which has over 60 rooms, we are introducing them into all of the guest rooms as part of their stay to encourage them to use more non-polluting methods of travel. This comes on the back of recent initiatives tin introduce water refill stations to promote the reuse of water bottles rather than constantly buying new ones, some of which get recycled and many of them don’t.

Plastic bags are made of polyethylene
Polyethylene is a petroleum product
Production contributes to air pollution and energy consumption
Four to five trillion plastic bags are manufactured each year
Americans use over 380 billion polyethylene bags per year
Americans throw away approximately 100 billion polyethylene bags per year
Of those 100 trillion plastic bags, 1% are recycled
It takes 1000 years for polyethylene bags to break down
As polyethylene breaks down, toxic substances leach into the soil and enter the food chain
Approximately 1 billion seabirds and mammals die per year by ingesting plastic bags
Plastic bags are often mistaken as food by marine mammals. 100,000 marine mammals die yearly by eating plastic bags.
These animals suffer a painful death, the plastic wraps around their intestines or they choke to death
Plastic bag choke landfills
Plastic bags are carried by the wind into forests, ponds, rivers, and lakes

Change Your Lifestyle??

2011-01-04T10:23:00.000+07:00

Make a new start for 2011,

Full "Diving Lifestyle" Instructor Internship Program

•	PADI Open Water Course
•	PADI Advanced Open Water course
•	Emergency First Response (EFR) First Aid/CPR Course
•	PADI Rescue Diver Course
•	PADI Divemaster Course
•	PADI O2 Provider
•	PADI Enriched Air Nitrox Diver
•	DM Crew Pack >>>
•	All PADI Educational Materials & Certification Costs
•	First Year PADI Membership
•	Optional ‘Working Internship"
•	1 year "In Depths" Gold Plus Personal Pro Level Diving Insurance >>>
•	Full "Coral Reef/Environmental Awareness & Action" seminar and "Discover Reef Check" workshop conducted by Nathan Cook at Eco Koh Tao
•	DSAT Discover Tech Intro
•	Intro to "Pro Underwater Video" conducted by Deep Down Productions
•	FREE Diving For Life!
•	IDC Prep
•	PADI IDC Course
•	EFR Primary & Secondary care Instructor course
•	EFR Care for Children Instructor course
•	PADI EANX Instructor course
•	PADI O2 Instructor course
•	IDC Crew Pack >>>
•	IDC/IE fees (includes EFRI, O2 & EANX)
•	IE Pass Guarantee
•	1 Free "Team Teach" after receiving teaching status, alongside an experienced Koh Tao Instructor.
•	Visa Assistance
•	Diving Medical
•	Buffet lunches throughout IDC, EFRI, O2 & EANX Instructor Courses For more "lifestyle" information, click the link or email For a full 2011 IDC Schedule, click http://www.idckohtao.com/schedule.htm PADI Course Director Matthew Bolton Matt@crystaldive.com

Happy New Year!!

2011-01-01T10:09:00.000+07:00

We would like to thank and congratulate all of our customers and students that continue to support us.

It's been an amazing 2010 for us, Please keep diving and come back and visit soon.

Stay in touch with facebook and the Crystal Dive Resort website.

Happy New Year Everyone.

Team Crystal Dive does it again!

2010-12-18T15:49:00.001+07:00

Crystal Dive proudly congratulates another group of successful OWSIs, after a flawless performance on yesterday's IE. This month, 'Team Crystal Dive' truly excelled throughout the IDC, and loved every minute of it. Once again, headed by Course Directors Justin Mayers and Matt Bolton, the IDC thoroughly prepared the candidates to sail through their final exam, and become highly competent Open Water Scuba Instructors.

Today, the candidates enjoyed a well earned day off, after some serious celebrations yesterday. Many will continue their training at Crystal with the MSDT programme, which begins tomorrow. This introduces PADI's Speciality courses to the new instructors, and allows them to work alongside Crystal's finest and most experienced instructors to develope their skills further.

A very big congratulations to Pete, Chloe, Justine, Breffni, Ville, Ian, Susan, Adam, Jonas and Dan, and enjoy the MSDT!

Un Témoignage du Programme Go Pro' chez Crystal

2010-12-17T13:57:00.004+07:00

Je suis arrivée à Koh-Tao dans l’optique de faire de ma passion un métier, on m’a tout de suite parlé de Crystal Dive Resort, et de Matt Bolton son propriétaire, un pionier de l’éducation en plongée sur cette île.

J’ai donc décidé de faire mon IDC dans cette école, très bien située, et dont la reputation n’est plus à faire.

Mes deux semaines d’IDC, je ne les oublierais jamais, malgré la barrière de la langue, l’équipe qui nous entourait, mes 6 coéquipiers et moi même a été tout simplement géniale, toujours disponible pour nous aider dans notre cheminement, d’un professionalisme et d’une gentillesse exemplaire.

De la théorie à la pratique en passant par les presentations orales en classe, rien n’a été omis, nous avons été preparés à la perfection, et le jour J, nous avons tous, sans exception, accompli avec succès les épreuves qui nous ont été imposées.

Aujourd’hui je continue mon éducation avec Crystal, en effectuant un stage afin de devenir MSDT, assistant différents instructeurs, ayant chacun leur propre méthode de travail mais une caractéristique commune: l’envie de partager leur métier et leur passion.

Alexandra Harati
Koh Tao - 2010

Alex vient de terminé son Instructor Development Course (formations des moniteurs) avec Crystal Dive Resort et Matt Bolton. Elle est en train de terminer le Master Scuba Diver Trainer (Instructeur de plongée de spécialité) avec Crystal Dive et d'acquérir une précieuse expérience d'enseignement avec des moniteurs de plongée expérimenté - un précieux atout pour les perspectives d'emploi.

Nous lui souhaitons tout le meilleur pour son avenir dans la plongée.

Pour plus d'info sur nos cours et formations en Français visite www.crystaldive.fr

The inter-web

2010-12-12T09:30:00.000+07:00

Check this out,

Our Crystal Dive Resort Facebook page

The idea is to keep our students up to date with the goings on and latest news via Facebook,

we have Crystal Dive, Koh Tao aa a group page and Crystal Dive Resort as a fan page.

http://www.facebook.com/crystaldiveresort

Copy and follow the link... enjoy!!!

The Suunto Zoop

2010-12-11T13:49:00.001+07:00

As Crystal Dive Resort becomes more and more successful, we thought it was time to upgrade to a new model.

Moshi planning and comparing his Eanx 32% dive at Chumphon Pinnacle.

The Suunto "Zoop", which is short for "Zooplankton" (the most abundant thing in the Ocean) is the Finnish companies latest addition to the dive computer family.

The 3 buttons makes it super easy to use.

For those diving for more than 5months, you would be familiar with the Suunto Gekko, this very similar but yellow computer is it's replacement.

By adding 10 new Zoops, Crystal Dive Resort can offer even more of our PADI Advanced Open Waters, Deep, Multi-level, Eanx, Night Specs and even "Fun Divers" the chance to borrow and look after their own dive times, depths and Safety Stops.

The Zoop automatically allows for a Safety Stop and starts to count down above 6m - 3mins at 5m

The new dive computer can be used with both air and nitrox and is designed to give the specifics of any diving situation, including decompression, at a glance.

Everyone O.K?....

Both ascent rate and available no-decompression time are displayed graphically with clear color coded indicators. Visual and audible alarms are given when necessary. Maximum depth and dive time alarms can be enabled.

Easy-to-use push buttons, a straightforward menu structure and a super-bright phosphorescent LCD display make Suunto Zoop really simple to operate. The Suunto Zoop can be used as wrist unit, or mount it on one of Suunto’s Combo consoles.

MRM

2010-12-05T09:48:00.000+07:00

It was a mixed bag of weather that greeted Koh Tao as the Thai Navy Join Eco Koh Tao and Crystal Dive Resort whilst they made a pit stop en route through the Gulf of Thailand.

We took the opportunity to join them in a touch of community service helping the navy boys clean the road between Chalok Baan Khao in the south and Mae Haad in the centre of Koh Tao.

It was a special day as local community members were offered complimentary medical & dental care. The navy donated their time and also some sporting supplies for use at the school.

Kailash Cook supports the cause!!

Students of a current Marine Resource Management course with IDCS Nathan Cook took the day off to get involved in cleaning of our streets and our beaches.

In the afternoon our cleaning efforts took us to Mae Haad where we cleaned the beach and the waterways. Participants in the water scooped up dozens of plastic bags and glass bottles full of sand and silt that turned the water black. It wasn’t a pleasant job and after two solid hours underwater MRM students Stefanie Anderl and Sirasa ‘Pearl’ Kantaratanakul had done a power of work. There’s still more to do but we’ll have to save it for another day!

Thank you to everyone who took part in a very successful day out.

An Underwater Engagement

2010-11-28T10:31:00.000+07:00

Crystal Dive Resort is always full of surprises, this week was no exception.

PADI Master Instructor Suki Hung played witness to a very special underwater event this week when two of her Chinese PADI Open Water students got engaged.

After all the skills and before the final assent of the final open water dive, Jason pulled out a small box and lifted the lid.

On a white underwater writing slate had the words "Will you marry me" (in chinese and english) so his wife to be could read in amazement.

Charlotte gave the big o.k sign and even wrote YES, in big capital letters.

Deep Down Productions Videographer, Debbie caught the special moment on camera for the couple to savour their magic moment.

Congratulations Charlotte and Jason and good luck for the future.

Watching Coral

2010-11-27T11:33:00.000+07:00

Eco Koh Tao has been an avid supporter of Project Aware’s Coralwatch coral reef monitoring initiative for a number for a number of years now. This support has recently been recognised in Coralwatch’s first newsletter. An article featuring information from our Coral Bleaching Film about Koh Tao was a big pat of it, as well as the recognition as the largest single contributor of data.

Teaching Coralwatch has been an integral part of our Reef Check Ecodiver Courses and our recent excellent addition, Marine Resource Management. Through these courses and the dedication of our many volunteers and staff we have managed to provide an enormous amount of valuable information on the health of the reefs in Koh Tao. This information goes into a worldwide database providing the information we need to successfully and correctly manage these important resources.

Thank you to everyone who has helped us over the years collecting data. Especially to our volunteers who have completed the sometimes harder task of doing the data entry. That’s you two Simon and Jenny Dowling! Thanks guys.

New Breed

2010-11-19T11:22:00.001+07:00

After a 2 week PADI Instructor Development Course with Platinum Course Director Matt Bolton and Gold Course Director Justin Mayers.

Crystal Dive Resort's newest PADI Open Water Instructors sleep off the celebration of the year. With 7 candidates making mince meat of the PADI I.E, the group, most of which have completed their PADI Open Waters to PADI Divemaster Courses and Lifestyle internships with us at Crystal.

The next stop for these guys is the PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer, a hands on internship created by Crystal Dive Resort and Matt Bolton to put the newbies along side some of koh Tao's most experienced instructors.

PADI Master Instructor, Laura Bailey worked alongside IDC Staff Ivan and doing his IDC Staff, Nick H.

The MSDT also certifies the candidates 5 specs at instructor rating, allowing each instructor the ability to teach things like Enriched Air, Deep, Dup, Dpv, Equip, Navigation, Wreck, Underwater Videography and many many more.

Team Crystal!!.. Phil, Gemma, Johnny, Steve, Eric, Dave, Alex, Justin and Laura

Well done guys... Back in the classroom in 2 days!!!

Koh Tao Critters

2010-11-15T13:18:00.000+07:00

On a recent dive I came across some quite unusual marine life around Koh Tao. I have seen similar species around the Similan Islands, but never here. Look out for these!

The first was on a night dive at white rock. It was a Decorator crab (family Majidae) around 12cm in diameter. Decorator crabs are"camouflage artists" and are very hard to spot unless they are moving.

They attach bits of algae, sponge and hydroids to fine hairs which they have all over their body.
Without all of the camouflage they appear to look like a bright yellow spider and when they move, resemble a tarantula.

Usually found between 10m - 15m range.
A decorator crab was seen again the following night at white rock, we very was lucky to see it and get some great photos!

The second unusual sighting was on a morning dive at Shark Island.
A Stick Pipefish (Trachyrhamphus Bicoarctatus) around 25cm - 30cm in length. These fish can be either yellow, red, brown or black in colour and can grow up to 40cm in length.

From the same family as sea horses, their body looks like a stick with the head of a seahorse on it. I was lucky to have my camera with me on this dive and got some wonderful photographs.

Reel 2 Reel

2010-11-10T15:24:00.000+07:00

Another successful film night for Deep Down Productions

DDP held another Student Film night and BBQ at Dirty Nellies on Koh Tao. The night was to show the hard work and effort the 3 underwater video course trainees have put in making their final movies from the Pro Video Courses.

All movies were well received and showed creativeness and individuality, again setting a new level in film making from DDP.

As well as the films there was a great BBQ and raffle with all donations going to Eco Koh Tao.

The Prizes were 1st, a free 10 dive video course, 2nd, a free eco course & third a free fun dive video. Brilliant work ladies.

Iain Learns Polish

2010-10-30T09:43:00.000+07:00

Crystal Dive Resort congratulates Team Polska for recently completing their PADI Advanced Open Water Course.

After completing their PADI Open Water on one of our neighbouring islands, the lads, Marek, Przemek & Wojciech, chose Koh Tao' s award winning dive school to continue their dive education. Throughout the course, overseen by MSDT Iain Johnston, team Polska showed great dive skills and awareness to the underwater environment.

The lads have now left the island to continue their journey through Asia and Crystal Dive Resort and all its staff wish them well with their future diving endeavours.

Spec-Tactular!

2010-10-28T11:55:00.000+07:00

Taking a student from the introduction on day 1 of the PADI Open Water course and watching them grow and progress through the PADI system to the day they leave gives an instructor real job satisfaction.

Hampus and PADI Divmaster Dave at the Stern of the M.V Trident

Hampus Fransson from Sweden went from and non-diver to a PADI Open Water Diver through Advanced Open Water, Eanx Spec and finally finishing off with Deep Spec and Wreck Spec.

On his adventures with us at Crystal Dive Resort, Hampus made his 40m dive at Chumphon and also became Crystal Dive Resorts 1st student (and possibly Koh Tao's 1 student) to complete his Wreck spec using Koh Tao's newest wreck, the M.V Trident.

The visibility throughout the courses was on average between 15m to 25 m, even at the lonely depths of 40m at Chumphon, we had a good 5-7m vis.

Ascending up to the Safety Stop

The PADI Wreck Spec took us to Japanese Gardens at 18m, The small wreck now so much marine life living on it, its as stunning to see the fish as it is to see the wreck.

Measuring and Mapping the Aow Leuk wreck

Using M.V Trident couldn't have been easier, Hampus completing his Deep and Eanx Spec, used his new levels of training to break the 32m mark on Eanx 30% giving him a 30min dive. The stern of the wreck sits against a huge pinnacle covered with blue, purple and yellow soft coral, similar to coral found in the deep areas of Shark Island and Hin Wong Pinnacle. There was a fresh current with vis up to 15 - 20ms.

Lining and Reeling off skills

Hampus's final dives where conducted on the Aow Leuk wreck, a perfect small training site, sitting in 12m of water.

Congratulations Hampus and thank you for choosing us.

PADI Open Water Greeted By Turtle

2010-10-21T11:03:00.000+07:00

Team "Suki" finished their last PADI 2 open water training dives with us at Crystal Dive Resort

"What a great day for some Scuba Diving". "Blue Spotted Stingrays, Moray Eels and even a Hawksbill Turtle."

Twins is one of the best divesites located around Koh Tao, you can nearly conduct all of the PADI courses and the variety of marine life is amazing.

The Group pictured on the sun deck of Crystal Dives number #1 boat, PADI Divemaster in training, Richard Todd assists Suki as he working his way through his Lifestyle internship.

Crystal Dive Resort and PADI Master Instructor Suki Hung sends a huge congratulations to Adam, Jelle, Nicola and Austin... Koh Tao's newest PADI Open Water Divers!!!... Yeah!!!

Tina hits 40

2010-10-18T11:23:00.000+07:00

With the weather taking a turn for the best, the sun shining and the windy dropping, Crystal Dive Resorts students are skipping the Fullmoon party and sticking around for some more underwater action.

Today we certify Mark Campbell and Wesley George from the United States as they complete their 3x dive Deep spec and Nitrox with PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer, Tina Major from Canada.

Wesley having his 30th Birthday at 40meters.

The group hitting the maximum recreational depth of 40m at Chumphon Pinnacle this morning. Surface conditions where near to perfect with underwater visibility at around 10m and no current.

Congrats to our new Deep Spec Divers...

A Finnish 40m

2010-10-15T11:38:00.000+07:00

PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer Rob Brooks takes his Finnish student Jori to the dizzy depths of 40meters at Chumphon Pinnalce as he eases through the PADI Deep Spec.

Monkey See

Monkey Do

Jori from Finland has come back after completing his PADI Open Water and Advanced Open Water with us last year.

Signing up for the PADI Emergency 1st Responder and PADI Rescue Diver before starting his PADI Divemaster is next on Jori's calendar.

Another Open Water group, hooked on diving!

2010-10-11T15:38:00.000+07:00

Crystal today congratulates yet another group of Open Water students, who took the plunge and discovered their love for the underwater world. Rebecca Widdess, Claire Eccles and Chris Peters spent a fun-filled four days with PADI MSDT Sam Mack, who unleashed their passion for diving and gave them a new hobby for life. All three have eagerly signed up to do the Advanced Open Water course with Sam tomorrow, with the promise of an exciting Deep dive, mysterious Wreck dive and fun buoyancy games in the Peak Performance Buoyancy dive. Claire and Chris only came to Koh Tao to do the one-day Discover Scuba Diving course, but quickly became hooked and continued straight on to the Open Water course and now the Advanced course. Could we be looking at PADI Rescue divers or Divemasters in the making??

PADI Advanced-Tastic!!

2010-10-09T11:34:00.002+07:00

With the "High Season" firmly in the past, Koh Tao and Crystal Dive Resort looks forward to some rain and chill time.

The sight of rain does not put some of Koh Tao's best PADI Instructors off getting students from the surface to the underwater world.

PADI Master Instructor, Laura Bailey and PADI IDC Staff, Ivan Karadzic took a small group of land lovers and eased them through their PADI Open and Advanced Open Water.

PADI MI Laura Bailey with newly certified Open and Advanced divers, Val and Ellen from Italy and England.

PADI IDC Staff Instructor, Ivan from Denmark finishes 4 Advanced, Adam, Andreas, Fredrik and Kris.

Having fewer tourists this week, Crystal Dive Resorts courses are even more personalised and relaxed with even smaller groups of 2, 3 and 4 students per instructor.

Well done to all

Koh Tao's Newest Wreck Dive

2010-10-06T11:20:00.002+07:00

For everyone who lives and works on Koh Tao, they all know the M.V Trident.

The 29 meters long, 5.5 meters wide and 7m tall vessel was bought by PADI Course Director Jamie MacLeod and team to be converted and used as a Tech diving boat, with its large size, cabins were installed to create a livaboard to explore the Gulf of Thailand for missing wrecks.

The M.V Trident has since retired and has been bought buy the Save Koh Tao group. Money raised from different dive schools around Koh Tao in fund raising events generated the 400,000 B needed to turn the boat into the wreck.

The location of Koh Tao's newest wreck is just off Shark Island, the bottom of the Trident rests in around 33 to m35m of water (depending on tides) and has been anchored down to provide stability and to minimise any movement of the wreck.

Crystal Dive Resort took the initiative and took their number 1 dive boat with a few PADI Divematers and Instructors, loaded up the Nitrox tanks to check it out before taking their customers to the new divesite

PADI Course Director, Kenji with the M.V Trident

The idea for the wreck is obvious, this is the 3rd sizable wreck on Koh Tao, we have 1 in Tanote bay and 1 in Japanese Gardens, the Trident will encourage Deep divers, Nitrox divers and Wreck divers from around the world. The site also offers fantastic Tec diving opportunity's.

Soon the the Marine life will flock to and make a home from the Trident, with the currents found around the area, nutrients brought in will encourage fish which may encourage Sharks... the possibilities are endless.

Cleaning The Secret Pinnalce

2010-09-19T15:56:00.000+07:00

On 17^th Sept, Crystal Dive’s 3^rd and largest dive boat headed to Southwest pinnacle full of eco-minded scuba divers.

With nearly 16 buddy teams, ready to enter the water, all we had to was to wait for the location marker to surface and the “Secret Pinnacle” just off Southwest Pinnacle had been located.

The plan was to remove a large fishing net that had been caught over the rarely dived group of granite pinnacle.

For nearly all on the boat, this was the first time at this location and seeing on of Koh Tao’s lesser dived spots proved that the large schools of Barracuda, Trevally, fusiliers and jacks where still out there.

As the groups took to the net, some with scissors and some pulling tension on the net allowing it to be cut more effectively.

Other jobs included gathering cut net and squashing into mesh bags to bring back to the surface.

The most effective way to remove the net was to use normal house hold scissors and cut around hard corals, picking the net as your go.

Marine life like fish that need to keep moving to allow water to pass through their gills where nearly all dead, most now will be fish food for others, but many crabs that had been tangled up just needed un picking and careful cutting to set the free.

We like to dive the divesite and fishermen need to earn a living. There really is no right or wrong, everyone has their needs in life, us to dive, fishermen to fish.

With a little more care, things like this can be avoided, until then, dive schools and teams will continue to maintain and keep the Koh Tao divesites, fishing net free.

Ivan and Tina turn Fullmooners to Fish

2010-09-10T10:38:00.000+07:00

With a huge number of travellers, tourists, backpackers and gap year students all leaving Koh phangan after the hectic "Fullmoon Party", to head to tiny koh Tao.

Most if any have never Scuba dived before, some have a fear of water.

So what better way to learn and overcome any under the surface fears then to to a PADI Open Water Course.

With 4 Days of theory, confined swimming pool sessions and 4 Open Water dives, you can be certified to a depth of 18m and explore this new world with a buddy.

PADI MSDT Tina Major's guys stayed the extra few days to complete their PADI Advanced Open Water.

These guys took and passed the challenge with flying colours.

Crystal Dive Resort's New Fish

2010-09-06T10:25:00.000+07:00

With "High Season" coming to an end, the last few weeks have shown some more monsoon like weather with heavy afternoon/evening showers & heavy winds.

Below are a few of Crystal Dive Resorts newest PADI Open Water & PADI Advanced Open Water groups.

We have Tara, Rick, Peter, Liselot, Claire & Tina with PADI Instructor Torben kneeling in the middel

With PADI Master Instructor Laura Bailey, we have Matt, George, Sean, Jessica, Karina and Darren.

Well Done Guys and Girls, Happy Bubbles.

Crystal Tech

2010-09-03T16:15:00.000+07:00

Exciting, intensive and extremely rewarding.

Technical Diving courses give you the techniquesand procedures required for diving beyond the recreational limits.

But remember, technical diving isn’t for everyone. However, if you are drawn to adrenaline pumping challenges and are willing to accept the risks, responsibilities and obligations, you’ll find technical diving to be one of the most exhilarating experiences you will ever have in diving!

Reef Check It Out!

2010-09-01T09:51:00.001+07:00

It has been a busy month for Reef Check Ecodiver courses on Koh Tao with three courses being conducted in the month of August. With increasing demand for environmentally based courses IDCS Nathan Cook has been admirably supported by MSDT Debbie Gottdenker during this busy month.

Reef Check surveys are vital tools for marine resource management allowing recreational divers the opportunity to add to the limited pool of data surrounding coral reefs worldwide. Diving in shallow water divers are trained how to count certain indicator species that suggest possible ill-effects for the ecosystem. For example an overgrowth of algae may suggest overfishing of the herbivores that would normally keep the algae in check – Rabbitfish, Parrotfish and sea urchins.

The courses allow us to utilise the time to not only train up new Ecodivers but to also conduct surveys that are submitted to the relevant agencies for further analysis and distribution.

Reef Check is conducted under to auspices of Reef Check International whereas the Koh Tao EMP is conducted in conjunction with Marine Conservation Koh Tao. Both surveys cover similar elements of the ecosystem but the local EMP is much more relevant to our local species.

Thank you to all of those certified Ecodivers who helped with surveys throughout August.

August Clean With Eco Koh Tao

2010-08-21T10:14:00.001+07:00

Our Biggest turnout ever for a clean, at least that was the case on Crystal Dive’s number 2 boat.

47 buddy eco Scuba Divers hopped on board and heading to Sairee reef to make a difference on our very small island.

One of the main focuses of these clean ups is raising awareness and for the last rew years, we have been educating our divers to refrain from bringing up certain rubbish. For example, glass bottles and tyres are a perfect substrate for other organisms and can be used as homes for shrimps and fish.

If we take these potential homes out of the water, it becomes part of Koh Tao’s Landfill and provides little if any further use.

Despite the fact that Sairee is home to many bottle that were seen on the dive, it was encouraging to see fewer bottle brought up this time.

It was a great turn out with many fishing nets, batteries and even the old captain’s underwear

Wow Sharks

2010-08-18T14:23:00.000+07:00

As history would prove, we should be at the beginning of Monsoon.

Monsoon is a time on Koh Tao for those to catch up with DVDs and spend time hiding from the rain and wind. The visibility reduces to a few meters and the waves grow a few.

But this year, as we move into the last 60days of the year, we have the most amazing weather, the water is still a cosy 29c, surface conditions are stunningly clam with no currents or swell. The visibility is fantastic with aquarium like conditions, the marine life? well that is a case of seeing is believing.

Timing is everything and you can’t plan trips like this on Koh Tao, to spend 30 to 40mins with a 5meter Whale Shark is on every divers Christmas list.

At Chumphon Pinnacle this morning, Christmas came early as PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer, Mike Clancy lead his soon to be PADI Advanced Open Water Students, Rooner and Maria for Norway, for some priceless scuba diving.

100% harmless (unless your plankton or krill) and the most amazingly patterned of all sharks, the Whale Shark is the largest of all filter feeding sharks and feeds as it moves effortlessly through the water, a very sociable animal and this morning spent time cruising around the large granite pinnacle of Chumphon, giving all in the water a display of what nature does best.

As we next to nothing about the Whale Sharks feeding and breeding habits and cycles, we use a Crystal Dive sighting forms to record as much information about the where and when of the whale sharks is important. Of course photos are essential when it comes to individual Sharks. Markings alone the side, dorsal and pectoral fins show that each Whale Shark has its own identity.

Once the data is recorded, we enter the findings onto the Save Koh Tao and the Whale Shark Project Data base at

http://www.whalesharkproject.org/

http://www.marineconservationkohtao.com/

With this information, we can learn, educate and help protect these amazing underwater giants.

A New Look For CDR

2010-08-15T10:04:00.000+07:00

Crystaldive.com has recently gone through a face lift.

With new pictures, letter fonts, slide shows and soon to be added a daily blog, the new look crystaldive.com is smarter and more streamlined than ever.

check it out

Cheeky Little Buoy

2010-08-02T10:24:00.000+07:00

An afternoon dive to one of Koh Tao’s premier dive sites, Chumphon Pinnacle gave us the opportunity to head to Green Rock on the way back and replace the buoy line which was in much need of repair.

As part of the Marine Conservation Koh Tao’s Mooring Buoy Project Eco Koh Tao and Crystal Dive teamed up to replace the buoy line at Green Rock, a popular dive location that suffers from strong waves and currents and often loses its buoy line.

Using the Save Koh Tao Group's prescribed method, we spent the entire morning cutting and splicing rope, tying knots and attaching the buoy ready for deployment. With good preparation the job is usually very easy assuming you have you tie on location predetermined.

At the site, we used the old buoy line to help secure the new line to the rocks below.

With the help of a grant from the Marine Conservation Branch have started making "Sand Screws" as mooring anchors for Koh Tao.

These prefabricated sand screws are drilled into the sandy areas can work towards protecting the natural reefs from the damage caused by tying ropes to rocks

Thank you to everyone who helped put the whole system together and make the site diveable by all for a good while to come.

Thanks especially to Justine Delaney, Justin Mayers, Simon Dowling, Jenny Dowling, Max Larran and Johnny Ashencroft for all their work to arrange, organise and deploy the new line.

IDC @ Crystal Dive

2010-07-27T15:52:00.000+07:00

12^th July 2010

Step 1 - Successful IDC at Crystal

July 2010 saw the new beginnings of illustrious diving careers for our multi cultural candidates at Crystal Dive Resort.

Step 1 is the completion of The PADI Instructor Development Course which was conducted by PADI Course Directors Matt Bolton, Justin Mayers and Kenji Takahashi. We were very ably assisted by PADI Staff Instructor Laura Bailey.

The IDC candidates were Kat Costis (UK), Bec Swanson (AUS), Simon Burdett (UK), Matt Nagle (USA), Max Larran (FRE), Alex Lewington (UK) and Lara Clark (USA) and we also had Jeremy Blake and Vicki Roberts undertaking their IDC Staff Instructor Course.

The IDC Candidates are required to show us proficiency in teaching in different environments – Classroom, Swimming Pool and the Ocean.

The guys here showing us how to demonstrate a number of skills in Confined Water.

All of the candidates completed the IDC with flying colours and on to stage 2 – The PADI Instructor Exam...

Good luck and a big thanks to Laura, Jez and Vicki for all their assistance.

The Black Belt Of Scuba Diving

2010-07-23T11:25:00.000+07:00

The Black belt of Scuba Diving

In July, Taneva Baker from the USA took on the challenge of the Master Scuba Diver program at Crystal Dive resort on Koh Tao.

The Master Scuba Diver program is frequently referred to as ‘the Black Belt of Scuba Diving’ and has a prerequisite of 50 logged dives and a PADI Rescue Diver Certification and the course itself involves undertaking the challenge of 5 PADI Speciality courses.

Taneva completed her PADI O² Provider, Naturalist, Deep and Enriched Air Nitrox specialities with PADI MSDT Tina Major and completed her ‘black belt’ with PADI Staff Instructor Carsten Neuhaus, becoming a Wreck Speciality diver.

Taneva and Tina preparing for their Nitrox dives

Taneva really enjoyed her time at Crystal and is returning next year to complete her Divemaster Course and then the prestigious PADI Instructor Development Course.

Congratulations Taneva on achieving the highest non-professional level in Scuba Diving – See you next year

Congratulations AOW Students

2010-07-18T15:00:00.000+07:00

This morning saw four more students complete their AOW course after participating in the Deep Dive and their final elective dives.

The deep dive was at Chumphon Pinnacle, and with anticipation growing in the hope of spotting the resident sharks, the students were not disappointed. As the group, led by MSDT Iain Johnston, descended over the west side of the pinnacle, out in the blue the shady shape of a 2 metre shark appeared. As the group delved deeper onto the site, there was another of natures great predators lurking in the distance.

With big shoals of Chevron Barracuda, Fusiliers, and the odd Triggerfish, it all made for a great dive.

Left - Right. Donna, Megan, Gregor, Simon & Jon from Deepdown-Productions

The second dive was at Green Rock, with two of the students selecting Fish ID, one student Underwater Photography and the forth electing for the Underwater Videography. Jon form Deepdown Productions joined in for the final dive to take Simon for his Underwater Videography dive

The dive was a good choice for all the students as it has a great diversity of fish, some very interesting swim throughs and plenty of underwater subjects for the students to film.

Congratulations to all four for becoming Crystal's latest Advanced Divers and good luck to Simon who is continuing his diving adventure with Crystal. The next stop for Simon is the PADI Rescue Course before he starts his Divemaster Training.

For more information on PADI Course's please visit the Crystal website at
www.crystaldive.com

For more information on Professional Videography Courses please take at a look at,
www.deepdown-productions.com

Wreckin' N Rollin'

2010-07-15T14:46:00.000+07:00

Japanese Gardens is one of those divesite thats offers a great deal to a diver, weather that diver is under training or supervision, or is an experienced instructor or videographer.

Pictures courtesy of IDC Staff Richard Butler

With the new local Eagle rays taking up residence in the shallows, fields of coral between 6 and 12m, various caves and swim troughs to the South and with the popular Red Rock drop off from the North.

We also are lucky enough to have an old dive boat that sunk a year or so ago to be sitting in 18m of water. The landscape around the small wreck is a little eerie with flat sand filled with living things. Collector urchins, soft corals growing from the bed and small families of Saddle backed clownfish to mention a few.

The now faded yellow wreck has provided a home for many. juv. Batfish, pufferfish, Titian Triggerfish, banded sea snakes and even a yellow boxfish. Not to mention the thousands of invertebrates and corals that have attached themselves onto the wood and metal frame work.

The site is also a perfect play ground for PADI Digital Underwater Photography & Wreck Adventures and Specialities.

2010-07-12T10:42:00.001+07:00

Eco Update

July 7^th , 2010 – Intro to Eco for DMT’s & IDC Candidates

Mentoring is one of the most important roles you can play as a divemaster or instructor. And teaching people about the environment and our need to protect it is an increasingly important responsibility for our dive leaders of the future.

It is to this end that Eco Koh Tao teamed up with Crystal Dive’s Divemaster Trainees and IDC candidates for an Eco Workshop to ensure that tomorrow’s dive leaders are in tune with the needs of an ever endangered environment and the knowledge to protect it.

We conducted a classroom presentation highlighting some of the problems but more importantly some of the solutions needed to preserve our oceans. Reef Check’s global eco- monitoring program is one such solution providing valuable, quantifiable data pertaining to the health of the reef.

In the afternoon we headed to a local reef for some practical application. All participants shadowed experienced Reef Check Ecodivers for a first hand look at how a survey is conducted and the results. Our surveys on Koh Tao cover the Koh Tao Ecological monitoring protocols as well as the Reef Check requirements.

Reef Check is conducted under to auspices of Reef Check International (www.reefcheck.org) whereas the Koh Tao EMP is conducted in conjunction with Marine Conservation Koh Tao (http://marineconservationkohtao.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=59&Itemid=77). Both surveys cover similar elements of the ecosystem but the local EMP is much more relevant to our local species.

On a second dive our Divemaster trainees conducted some Coralwatch surveys. Coralwatch is a relatively simple coral bleaching survey developed by the University of Queensland and supported by Project Aware.

Thanks to all who participated once again, especially my right hand assistants –Simon & Jenny Dowling & Debbie Gottdenker. We couldn’t do it without you!

New Heights at Deep Down

2010-07-08T12:39:00.001+07:00

Crystal Dive Resort works closely with Deep Down Productions on a daily basis. The Videography company films and edits students on many of the different PADI Courses. Since time began the 2 companies worked hand in hand. With the need for more Underwater Video Courses and Internships, Deep Down Productions is now one of the busiest Underwater Videography companies on the island... This is also recognised globally.

The UK's most popular diver magazine contacted us and ask if they could feature our PADI and Pro Video courses in the colour supplement for the June 2010 issue. The Supplement Magazine is simply named, "100 ways to boost your skills."

Very appropriate for our 26 dive training program and documentary film maker courses, which features everything you need to become professional underwater film makers.

This huge milestone in Deep Down Productions is proof they are the number 1 choice on the island!

ERFI

2010-07-03T17:58:00.000+07:00

With the IDC Candidates successfully completing the Assistant Instruction (AI) section of the course, today they progress onto the Emergency First Response Instructor Course.

PADI AI's Simon (right) and Alex check the wee one for signs of injury

The Course takes a Day to complete and teaches the candidates the teaching side of Emergency First Response. PADI Course Director Justin Mayers educates his 8 candidates, covering the Primary and Secondary Care skills, including Care For Children.

PADI AI Lara showing her motherly instincts

With such a serious course at hand, there can also be a lot of fun and group banter as each candidate has to present different sections of PADI's Emergency First Responder course.

PADI Assistant Instructor Lara checking for the infants breathing. All the candidates also practice CPR, so they are now able to make a role model demonstration when they teach Emergency First Response courses in their new career as PADI Dive Instructors.

Crystal Gets Busy

2010-06-28T14:11:00.000+07:00

It's that time of the month again,

The June 2010 Fullmoon party has passed and don't we know it.

As the daily boats come to Koh Tao from Koh Samui and Koh Pang yang, the jaded and hazy travellers on that "Gap Year" experience rock up to Koh Tao after a heavy night on Hadd Rinn beach to embark on an underwater adventure.

Crystal Dive resort being so close to the main pier, is an ideal position for those diver wannabes looking for much needed sleep, before starting their PADI Open Water Course tomorrow afternoon.

The Wind on Koh Tao has picked up allowing the temperature to be a little more bearable around the island.

Water temperature at around 30c with the surface conditions being choppy keeping some of the smaller dive boats away from Chumphon pinnacles, Southwest Pinnacle and Sail Rock.

2010-06-25T11:22:00.000+07:00

Koh Tao, Thailand is at the forefront of scuba diving in South East Asia with thousands of people visiting this island paradise every year to take advantage of the world famous dive sites.

As a result the dive sites of Koh Tao have provided a wonderful amphitheatre for the training of millions of divers, whether new divers, eco divers, gap year students, eco internships or recreational divers, but for how much longer.

Eco Koh Tao specialises in preparing and instructing divers in the intricacies of the underwater environment with an emphaisis on marine conservation. By providing educational expertise in marine ecology & ecosystems Eco Koh Tao promotes employment opportunities for professional aspirants through extensive Gap Year programs and our Internships.

In this age where the environment is changing so rapidly, dive professionals with Ecological expertise will be in increasing demand worldwide. Using world standard methodologies like Reef Check & Coralwatch our marine conservation programs are leading the way to a more educated world of ecodivers where the environement is paramount and our actions help to preserve marine ecosytems rather than diminish them.

We love to Pro-Create

2010-06-20T11:25:00.000+07:00

Go Pro... again.....

This week marked the final few days of the June 2010 PADI Instructor Development Course at Crystal Dive Resort.

PADI Course Director Justin Mayers, had candidates from around the world representing Croatia, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan and also Khoa Nguyen from Vietnam progressing through to complete his IDC Staff Instructor rating.

The Assistant Instructor Course and Open Water Scuba Instructor portions went very well indeed with the IDC Candidates grasping the teaching concepts for the classroom and water work very well.

PADI CD Bob and soon to be IDC Staff Khoa

As part of the PADI IDC Staff Instructor course, in addition to presenting knowledge development, confined water and open water sessions, Khoa was required to demonstrate his mastery of the PADI Evaluation system for the up and coming candidates.

A confident Confined Water Rescue presentation at Koh Tao Regal Resort’s luxurious swimming pool.

So a huge congratulations and good luck to Toby, Mario, James and Christian for completing their IDC and for some, this marks one step closer in completing their PADI Instructor Internship with Crystal Dive Resort.

Appropriately known as Shark Bay!

2010-06-18T15:04:00.000+07:00

Scared of Sharks?,

At the south of Koh Tao lies a small and secluded bay. There are no dive resorts, no restaurants, no hotels or late night bucket bars. the beach is privately owned and very well looked after, you can hire snorkeling gear, bask on the white soft sand or swim in the shallows.

As you swim further from the shore, the bottom contour slowly and very gradually gets deeper and deeper, you only need to swim out to about 4 meters of water before you realise you should have bought along your mask and underwater camera.

If your timing is right, if you have managed to arrive around late afternoon, you may see, on occasions, 5 to 6 or more, baby Blacktip sharks. It's amazing to get up so close to such a wild animal, these graceful million year old species harmlessly cruising just meters below you as you practice breath holding to spend longer below the surface.

As it's so shallow, you don't even need fancy camera equipment, if the sun out, you can get all the underwater light you need to snap this rare and advanced creature.

What with all the dive resorts and dive boats the operate around the waters of Tao, all the un-monitored fishing that happens in the local waters, we are so very lucky that these Blacktip Sharks choose to live, breed and survive here.

If you miss the sharks..... the bay offers everything else stunning.

A look-A-Like Night!!

2010-06-16T12:17:00.000+07:00

Last Night, the Crystal Dive Bar hosted yet another passing out ceremony for 7 PADI Divemaster Trainees looking to finish their DMT Program.

But before the paper work can be signed off and processed to PADI HQ, the guys must endure one last task... The Snorkel Test!!

DMT Co-ordinator Carsten and Helen

Guy and Lara

The Snorkel Test team consisted of Edith, Kate, Lara from Canada, Brett Janine and Helen from the U.K and Antti from Finland,. Standing behind and proud, with the technical task of pouring the chemical mix, were the individuals mentors responsible for coaching and educating the candidates through the Divemaster Course, providing knowledge and feedback so that the individual can grow into what is now a PADI Divemaster.

Mullet and Antti

Laura and Brett

With Antti, Brett, Helen, Lara and Janine all on "Change Of Lifestyle" packages, Brett and Antti enrolling on to his Divemaster Internship before beginning thier IDC

Kate and Edith a.k.a Luca and Liran

The DMTs dressed up as their mentors for the evenings entertainment giving the crowd something else to laugh at.

MSDT luca with his protege Kate

Crystal Dive Instructor Mentors, Luca, Laura who was mentoring 3 of the DMTs, Tina and Master Instructor Carsten, all once upon a time fulfilled the same horrific test and where keen to see their prodigies finish.

5,4,3,2...1

The Snorkel Test consists of a bucket of mix alcohol, a mask and Snorkel and of course a willing consumer. As the liquid is poured, all air supply is blocked, so the soon to be PADI Divemaster is unable to breath thus forcing the victim to "down" the bucket... most of which, spill the contents on the floor, the one with the most spillage gets do it all again with a large Chang.

The Final Shot.. Well Done Guys

Now the newly certified PADI Divemasters are all finished with Crystal Dive Resort Divemaster Trainee Program, more options are available to them, most have signed up for Crystal Dive's 2 week Divemaster Internship where the interns will get to work alongside the very busy Divemaster team

Turtle Power!

2010-06-12T16:35:00.001+07:00

Crystal was happy to welcome back the beautiful diving conditions seen at White Rock and Twins this morning. With the recent weather having had a detrimental effect on visibility of late, there was much excitement as the boat moored up and the crystal clear, inviting waters revealed the pinnacle and the bottom of the dive site once again.

There was an abundance of marine life at White Rock, with numerous sightings of stingrays, moray eels, trigger fish and a very welcome hawksbill turtle. The little sea creature was spotted munching on a sea sponge as several groups were doing their safety stop. Thought to be the same one that was seen at Twins about 2 weeks ago, the divers watched him gracefully swim to the surface for air, and then back down to continue with his meal.

Several group's were fortunate enough to witness the beautiful sighting, for some it was only their third dive ever! Divemaster Trainee Jenna Besaw, who has done over 60 dives in Koh Tao already, was particularly excited to see her first turtle. One of the Open Water groups pictured below, diving with MSDT Iain Johnston were eager to sign up for the Advanced course after two spectacular dives this morning. Lets hope conditions continue to improve and they see even more of the marine delights that Koh Tao has to offer. Perhaps a whaleshark on the afternoon double Chumphon trip on the 14th?! Here's hoping....

Crystal Keeps It Clean

2010-06-12T15:26:00.000+07:00

We came up with a bright idea.....

PADI Master Instructor, Carsten has a plan

To have a divesite and beach clean up.

Eco Koh Tao's brains, Nathan Cook pushes the boat out for surface support

On yet another sunny afternoon, Crystal Dive Resort and Eco Koh Tao joined forces with the local community group, Save Koh Tao and 7 other dive schools to clean the waterways of the main town Mae Haad.

We took a twofold approach to the clean up this month starting at 10 am with a beach clean up. A change in the wind direction bringing a lot of debris up onto the beach of late and this is where we started our escapades.

We also had a team of Divemaster trainees, Divemaster interns and Eco interns led by Master Instructor Carsten Neuhaus sifting the sand of many errant bean bag balls strewn around the bar.

The afternoon was time to hit the water with 20 people joining in the underwater clean up. Many nets, bits of wood, electronics and bottles were among the 632 kilograms of rubbish brought up by the divers including 5 kilograms of batteries alone!!

A great effort by all and thank you to everyone who participated.

Junk Yard has a clean up

2010-06-10T12:32:00.002+07:00

Many of you may have heard of ‘Junkyard Reef’, our own artificial reef located a few hundred metres offshore from the dive school.

It was developed by a hardy band of eco-warriors a little over a year ago.

It is small but interesting and the aim was, and still is to make it a viable place to dive with courses and recreational divers alike. Those divers interested in the ‘little stuff’ can probably spend a dive there while many others find it a little monotonous.

We are expanding and now we are cataloguing as well.

Some recent additions to Junkyard show our new signage and some more amazing marine life that has gravitated to the site.

All In A Days Work.

2010-06-09T10:56:00.001+07:00

Crystal Strikes Gold

PADI Platinum Course Director Matt Bolton currently over in Australia on Business with PADI Asia Pacific in Sydney, manages to squeeze yet another award on behalf of Crystal Dive Resort into his luggage.

Matt kindly accepts an award for Crystal Dive Resort and for Outstanding Contribution to the Diving Industry.

This award recognises Crystal's position as the industry leaders in the fields of diver training, education, business and the environment. Recognising the fantastic role the entire team has played over the past several years, this is the 17th award that Matt has collected either for himself, or on behalf of Crystal making Crystal 'Koh Tao's Award Winning Dive Centre'.

A big thanks to all involved with Crystal Dive Resort over the past few years. Growing from strength to strength, the efforts of each individual working within our team has produced great results.

With thanks to our Bangkok & Koh Phan Ngan Offices, affiliate agents and guides, Divemaster and Instructor teams, boat captain, office and technical staff as well as our Web masters and marketing brains from past and present that have made this outstanding award possible.

Well Done, Congratulations and Thank You.

New From The Crystal Crew

2010-06-01T11:00:00.000+07:00

Crystal tech are the technical diving department of the award winning, Crystal Dive Resort, one of Asia Pacific’s leading PADI Dive Resorts. Crystal tech is located on the beautiful island of Koh Tao, in the Gulf Of Thailand. As part of a PADI Career Development Center (one of only six in Thailand) Crystal Technical Diving can offer a full range of DSAT technical diving courses from Tec Basics to Trimix Instructor programs and TDI courses from Decompression Procedures Diver to Extended Range Diver, offering a level of dedication and professionalism second to none.

Discover yourself - DSAT Discover Tech!

With Mike Clancey, one of the longest serving technical instructors serving on Koh Tao and Kenji Takahasi having over 10 yrs experience of the underwater world,

Tech Guru Kenji with Tech Davo

Depending on your interest level in technical diving, Crystal tech can offer you a range of challenging DSAT and TDI programs including Tec 40, Tec 45, Tec 50 and Tec Trimix Diver and also instructor training from DSAT and from TDI we offer Decompression Procedures, Advanced Nitrox and Extended Range.

Two of the best recreational dives sites in the Gulf of Thailand are easily accessible from Koh Tao and provide an excellent training ground for Technical dive courses are the mighty Chumphon Pinnacle and Sail Rock

Deco Stops are full of suprises - Whale Shark at Chumphon Pinnale

There are many wrecks in the gulf of Thailand that you can dive with Crystal tech in conjunction with the MV Trident arranged liveaboards.

Crystal Tech's newest TDI Divers - Samoa, Mike, Aeyelet and Rich

Deep Down Produtions

2010-05-28T13:48:00.001+07:00

Seeing really is believing with these guys...

PADI DM Kat Costis

Deep Down Productions is Mae Haad based company we use to teach all of our Under Water Videography Internships and PADI Videographer Specs. Made up with PADI Instructors and Divemasters Jon Fortis, Jace Green, Stuart Bridges, Dan Harding, Kat and Katie being the friendly faces.

Where the magic happens - The Deep Down Productions editing studio

Aswell as teaching at beginner level, many of our PADI Instructors cross over to spend some time away from teaching and to devlop different underwater skills and hobbies at a Pro level, with Liran, Justine, Master Chief and now Nir Miller, all spending time with Deep Down Productions at some point in they're diving careers.

PADI MSDT, Nir Miller, amazing camera work, bad hair

Nir is currently working with Jordana and Teresa on their individual show reels due to be aired at the next film festival at Dirty Nellys.

Isabelle, since returned home but she caught some amazing Shark footage at Chumpon Pinnacles in 2009

US Military Rolls In

2010-05-25T10:07:00.034+07:00

Over the last 5 days, 5 lads from the U.S. Army have been getting their PADI Dive Certifications. The group have recently returned from a tour of Iraq and hit Thailand for a well deserved vacation. The lads performed well with the academics and strolled through the confined session.

The DPV's lined up awaiting their fate

With their new found skills they took to the Open Water dives with great ease and enjoyment. Over the four dives, they honed the skills they'd learnt in the pool and showed great comfort and confidence.

They enjoyed the delights of Mango Bay, Chumphon Pinnacle and White Rock which opened up a whole new world for them.

Brandon, Mark, Bill, Josh, & Nick ready to

take on the underwater world at pace

With time on their side the guys stuck around for another couple of days to get their Advanced Open Water certification. The course is done over a two day period and consists of 5 dives. Two of the lads decided to upgrade their AOW and combine it with the Gucci Gas that is Nitrox. They all stuck with the same dives as each other that consisted of Deep, Navigation (both mandatory), Night, Wreck & Diver Propulsion Vehicles.

Once again they all showed great diving skills and with the flexibility of the AOW they really went to town, honing their buoyancy skills and it gave them a great opportunity to get into good diving habits.

A close up of the special guest feeding at Green Rock

The guys had a special guest join them on their final dive of the course in the form of a Hawksbill Turtle. With the group all using DPV's, they were careful not to scare the reptile by the noise created by the scooters. The group spent the last 15mins of the dive following the wee turtle around the dive site watching it feed and effortlessly cruise through the clear water.

Don't Ask!!

The guys have moved on to explore the rest of Thailand, but have vowed to return in December to continue their dive education.

Crystal wishes the lads well and looks forward to their return.

Not Your Average IDC

2010-05-23T11:27:00.000+07:00

Coral Watch and Reek Check

As the May PADI IDC cruises into its last week, PADI Platinum Course Director Matt Bolton, and his team have a Green injected Eco Day.

Using The Coral Health Chart, we can colour code each fragile piece

The IDC Candidates had a morning with Matt Bolton and Eco Koh Tao's Nathan Cook, Project AWARE was the presentation with the afternoon at Junk Yard reef to conduct a Discover Reef check and Coral Watch.

PADI IDC Staff and CD Mat Bolton

Koh Tao only has 2 Reef Check trainers, both Matt Bolton and Nathan Cook became the Greenest Instructors on the island back in 2008.

IDC Candidate Georgina Allibone

By introducing the Discover Reef Check and Coral Watch programs to the newest of Koh Tao's PADI Instructors, this valuable and inexpensive education can be passed down to the future PADI Open Water and Advanced Open Water students.

Hard Coral, Soft Coral, Sponge, Rock, Sand???... We got it covered

The Candidates can use this "Discovery day" towards the full Reef Check Internship which is conducted at Crystal Dive Resort with Head Eco-Man, Nathan Cook.

Stay In Touch

2010-05-20T15:23:00.001+07:00

Keen up to date with your Koh Tao dreams, desires and needs.

Check out the links below.

For Eco Koh Tao

For Crystal Dive Resort

For Deep Down Productions

Last but not least, our newest addition, Crystal Tech

Turtle Island

2010-05-19T12:24:00.004+07:00

In the 1930s, the Thai government realised the strategic advantage of Koh Tao as a penal colony and started to relocate a number of political prisoners from camps on the West coast to a new facility built on the island

Over looking Koh Tao's triplet islands, Koh Nang Yuang

From the island, surrounded for mile by ocean, there was little or no escape.

In 1944 with a change of government, after all the prisoners were freed and given an official pardon, the prsion camp was closed down. As "regular" people started to arrive, 3 main settlements emerged and to this day, Haad Sairee, Ban Mae Haad and Chalok Ban Kao.

Freedom Beach

Unlike neighbouring Koh Samui and Koh Phangan, Koh Tao remained untouched by tourism for many years. Then, in the late 1980's the first Samui based dive operators began running overnight live-aboard trips and were amazed by what they saw.....

Baby Black Tip Sharks at Shark Bay
.... crystal clear waters boasting an awesome array of colour and coral reefs, alive with an incredible diversity of marine life.

Over looking "Twin Peaks and Japanese Gardens"
Soon dive operators began re-locating to Koh Tao realizing they had uncovered a wealth of untouched beauty.

The most photographed view on Koh Tao, "The Sunset"
Today, Koh Tao remains one of South East Asia's most beautiful islands and has the image of a "picture-postcard" tropical escape!

A Greener Way To Spend A Gap Year

2010-05-17T12:19:00.002+07:00

Join forces with Crystal Dive Resort and Eco Koh Tao, come and see us in action!

PADI Inst. Liran Barkan

Our Ecodiver Internship packages are designed for the person who sees our ever changing world and wants to make a difference to the future of this beautiful planet. Our programs are suited to anyone wishing to dive and learn about the ecology, ecosystems and understand the marine environment in a lot more depth whilst providing invaluable service to its conservation and preservation. Gap Year Students will find our courses ideally suited to their mid year break. Our programs are ideally suited to those seeking career development and future employability through our thorough Internships as part of all our ecodiver programs.

Crystal Dive Resort's Nick H

Eco Diver Level One - Introduction To Diving & Marine Conservation.

This 2 week program allows you to learn to scuba dive and use those skills to develop a more in depth understanding of the aquatic environment and in turn to help preserve this for the future.

Jenny Dowling currently on her MSDT & ECO Internships

This package is ideally suited to gap year students who have never dived before but have a passion for the marine environment and its conservation.
At the end of your 2 week course, you'll embark on a 1 week internship designed to give you the skills and further experience to expand on your knowledge.

So?... You love the ocean but want to try something slightly different from the average "Back Packer"... Come and join the green team!

http://www.ecokohtao.com/index.html

777

2010-05-16T14:43:00.001+07:00

It's that time again, another group of travellers, gap year students and Lifestylers take the first professional step in the PADI Scuba Diving world.

Sabrina, Mathilda, Luke, Nick and Phil all warming up

With weeks and months of training and assists, fun dives, swim tests, mapping projects, rescue assessments, stress tests, scuba reviews, DSDs and theory exams.

Phew....

Phil looking lush!

Time for the final test.

The Snorkel Test!

Take your PADI Divemaster Trainee
1 x Bucket
1 x Mix of Alcohol fuelled cocktail
1 x Mask & Snorkel

The aim is to drink the bucket, through the snorkel with a mask on (to restrict the air flow) in one go.

Time to preform. A very busy Crystal dive Bar!

The 7 new PADI Divemasters, as well has making their professional journey have bonded into a group of very good friends and have added to the relaxed atmosphere around Crystal Dive Resort.

5..4..3..2..1... and were off!!

We wish the new "DMs" all the best in the future, with some taking a well deserved week off before starting Crystal Dive Resorts Divemaster Internship.

The spillage tells no lies..

Other options within the Crystal Dive network is a Videography Internship at Deep Down Productions and of course Eco Koh Tao's Reef check and Eco Internships.

Crystal Dive Resort

2010-05-09T14:54:00.001+07:00

Diving Koh Tao at Crystal Dive Resort, one of Asia Pacific's leading PADI Dive Centers & Resorts.

As a PADI Career Development Center (one of only 6 in Thailand), we offer the full range of PADI diving courses & diving internships programs, offering a level of dedication and professionalism second to none.

Established in the early 1990s, Crystal Dive offers courses and packages from beginner to advanced all the way to full PADI Instructor with our unique full Instructor Internships.

With a multi national, multi lingual instructional staff made up of PADI Master Instructors we are able to offer students and certified divers first class scuba diving adventures in numerous different languages.

As a PADI Career Development Center, coupled with one of Asia’s most experienced PADI Course Directors Matt Bolton overseeing all aspects of your training & education, Crystal Dive Resort is the perfect place for you to begin your "Diving Lifestyle".

With the backdrop of beautiful Koh Tao, Crystal Dive Resort offers all of our guests one of our luxury beachfront bungalows. As you sit and watch the sunset, is their a better place to just relax and unwind...??

Come and visit us at Crystaldive.com

The Magnificent 7 + 1

2010-05-04T14:42:00.000+07:00

On a wonderful May afternoon,

DMT Phil, Staff Instructor Laura & DMT Edith

PADI IDC Staff instructor, Laura Bailey, took her 7 students off to the wonderful underwater world of Chumphon Pinnacle to start and complete a massive PADI Speciality bonanza!.

To keep the divesite exclusive, the Crystal Divemaster Team & interns set up and sent off an afternoon trip, with a dusk dive at Chumphon & a night dive at Twin Peaks.

Divemaster Dave struggles with Nitrogen Narcosis!!

Day 1 would include all 7 divers completing dive 2 of their Deep Diver spec and dive 1/2 of their PADI Enriched Air Diver Course.

Almost the full team - Brett, Phil, Edith, Janine, Dave & Kate (Sascha+Laura are out of the picture)

Day 2 will see the underwater enthusiasts completing their 40m dive at Chumphon and dive 4 of the Deep Diver at Red Rock Pinnacle into the Wreck at Japanese Gardens.

Brett & Janine who are currently on their "Lifestyle Internship", Brett heading towards the IDC

With all 7 students completing at total of 14 specs in 2 days making Laura the most successful instructor for spec certs in a single course.

PADI Divermaster in training, Kate making her Deep Spec simulated extended Safety stop

the group was made up of newly certified PADI Rescue students, PADI Divemaster in trainees and some very keen Divemaster Interns on a few days off.

Well done team Laura!!

Underwater Video Internships (dot com)

2010-04-30T14:51:00.005+07:00

Bored with your day to day life and looking for a temporary or even permanent ‘Career Change’?

Just finishing school or University and interested in finding that perfect ‘Gap Year’ activity.

Well look no further ………we have teamed up with Koh Tao’s leading Videography training academy and Asia Pacific’s most successful PADI Dive Centre to offer you a selection of professional underwater video internships, that can be customized to your individual needs, abilities, timeframe & budget.

Head video trainer Jon was out trying the new Z1 that will be used on the newly launched documentary internship course.

Booking through our website assures you of the BEST, value for money, underwater Video Internship available on Koh Tao. We pride ourselves in attaining to the very highest service levels, and providing this to YOU at the lowest possible cost. We adhere to the very highest PADI standards and customer service levels set upon us by our partners.

Simon, Stuart, Justine, Jace, Kati, Jimmy (trainee), Jon, Andrew (trainee) just finishing their Pro course

Underwater Video Internships work with us here at Crystal Dive Resort and alongside Koh Tao’s Deep Down Productions who have proven themselves to be a leader in videography training.

For more information on packages, course content and Underwater Video internships... click the underlined ink!!!

Coral Pro-Creation!!

2010-04-28T11:12:00.000+07:00

Following on from our previous months expedition to capture and propagate coral larvae our efforts were expanded this week with the preence of Dr James True from Prince of Songkla University in Hat Yai, Southern Thailand.

Dr True has been working on this project for some years and has recently brought the concept of capturing coral larvae and propagating artificially to Koh Tao.

Coral Larvae being released from a "Massive Coral"

Essentially a Reef Restoration Technique the idea is that through painstaking research and observation one can accurately predict when a coral will attempt to reproduce. The second and third moons of the year seem to be the prime time for Koh Tao with the possibility of a third spawning later in the year.

Members of Eco Koh Tao and Crystal Dive teamed up with Dr James and Marine Conservation Koh Tao to set up nets to capture coral larvae as they spawn.
We spent an hour or more underwater as the coral eggs were released into the water column. Some species release their eggs slowly and can continue to do so for an hour or more. Others release them in an explosive cloud and if you miss the event, then you’ll have to wait for next time. Which is exactly what happened to us with one particular species.

One the colony starts to release eggs we place a net over the coral to catch as many eggs as possible.

Once on land with the jars of eggs and sperm these are propagated in buckets for a few days until they are ready to swim down and attach to a suitable substrate. This suitable substrate are the concrete ‘mushrooms’ placed in the buckets specifically for the corals to settle onto. They usually do being the ONLY suitable substrate available.

The buckets need to be aerated, which is done using aquarium filters and the water needs to be changed to keep it clean.

In this photo you can see the coral larvae on the dark background of the mushrooms.

After a few days the corals are ready to settle and in a week or two, once the corals have settled we’ll place them in coral nurseries in the ocean where hopefully we’ll have some new genetically individual corals to add to the reef diversity on Koh Tao.

With a massive Coral Spawning thank you to Nathan Cook and Eco Koh Tao for this amazing article and photos.

Marine Resource Management Course

2010-04-26T10:37:00.001+07:00

There more to be learn't when it comes to Scuba diving and the underwater world.... you have just got to want to.

It has been a long time coming but our first Marine Resource Management Course (MRM) was recently completed on Koh Tao and was a huge success.

PADI Master Scuba Diver Instructors Debbie Gottdenker, Simon Dowling & Jenny Dowling joined PADI Divemaster Jennifer Matthews for this exceptional program.

Debbie Gottdenker & Jen Matthews fixing coral mushrooms to

a mid water coral nursery. The corals themselves are

microscopic having been captured during their recent

spawning episode.

The MRM is a PADI distinctive specialty course focusing on the detailed ecology of reef environments, where most people visit and dive, and the problems they face in maintaining a pristine environment.

In addition to the theoretical nature of this course we endeavoured to provide potential Resource Managers with practical experience in some of the key tools available for managing restoration efforts – Data collection, reef restoration techniques, developing education and awareness campaigns.

On an island like Koh Tao with the increasing pressure that it suffers from it is important to have well informed dive leaders and managers to help preserve the environment. The two things this course provides is a through understanding of the problems facing a location and some tools to develop informed solutions for their preservation.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and hopefully the start of many more to come in the future.

St George's

2010-04-23T11:09:00.000+07:00

St George's Day

But Why????

St. George is the patron saint of England. His emblem, a red cross on a white background, is the flag of England, and part of the British flag. St George's emblem was adopted by Richard The Lion Heart and brought to England in the 12th century. The king's soldiers wore it on their tunics to avoid confusion in battle.

St George was a brave Roman soldier who protested against the Romans' torture of Christians and died for his beliefs. The popularity of St George in England stems from the time of the early Crusades when it is said that the Normans saw him in a vision and were victorious.

One of the best-known stories about Saint George is his fight with a dragon. But it is highly unlikely that he ever fought a dragon, and even more unlikely that he ever actually visited England. Despite this, St George is known throughout the world as the dragon-slaying patron saint of England

St George's Day is celebrated by the several nations, kingdoms, countries, and cities of which Saint George is the patron saint, including England, the old kingdoms and counties of the Crown of Aragon in Spain — Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia: Portugal, Cyprus, Georgia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Macedonia, and the cities of Moscow in Russia, Genova in Italy, Ljubljana in Slovenia, Beirut in Lebanon, and many others.

By tradition, 23 April is the day for a red rose in the button hole, the national flower. However, unlike other countries, England does not celebrate it like Americans celebrate 4 July with fireworks. In fact, you are more likely to see big St Patrick parades in England celebrating Ireland's National Day, more than you would see any sign of St Georges Day being celebrated.

For most people in England St George's Day is just another ordinary working day...

It is for us on Koh Tao too

International Earth Day 2010

2010-04-22T15:09:00.002+07:00

Dive Site Clean Up at Aow Leuk & Shark Bay

On the 22nd of April Crystal Dive Resort participated in International Earth Day. The purpose of Earth Day is to promote a healthy and sustainable environment. The globe over was conducting projects to improve the state of worlds ecosystems, whether it was underwater or on land.

Here on Koh Tao, Crystal Dive Resort joined forces with Eco Koh Tao and the other schools on the island to conduct beach and underwater clean ups. Our divesites of choice where Aow Leuk & Shark Bay of which situated on the east side of the rock. The idea, as with past clean ups, was to take anything out of the water that doesn’t belong there.

17 volunteers, which included newly qualified PADI Open Water divers through to PADI Divemasters on their internships all the way up to Instructors, took to the water to participate in the days event. The afternoon was a great success with bags of rubbish being brought up from the depths. A lot of the rubbish is a result from fishing boats mooring up in the bay and items such as clothes being blown of the boat, fast food containers being irresponsible disposed of, and run off from the Island.

For more information on International Earth Day see the link below

http://www.earthday.net

Pro - Crystal!!

2010-04-18T16:46:00.001+07:00

The Crystal Dive bar once again hosted the Koh Tao famous Snorkel Test. 7 newly certified PADI DiveMasters took to the stage to perform their final training requirement.

The participants readying themselves for the task ahead

The participants donned some handmade pirate outfits for the occasion along with the mandatory mask and snorkel. With the participants mouth and nose enclosed in the mask, they had no choice but to drink the bucket of tasty beverage in one fell swoop.

Carsten (Centre) with Lucy & Jonny

Then its a quick three head spins around the stool and a run to the ocean. The first back wins.

The snorkelers pictured with some of Crystal's Instructors

All the folks involved deserved a final night of celebration, as over the last few weeks they have been very busy with assisting the instructors on various courses, studying dive theory and improving their overall dive skills. Its been a long road for some, and the snorkel test was a good way to finish their training.

So whats next for the new budding divers?
Some of them have opted to take the Divemaster Internship. Its a two week apprenticeship working alongside the full time Dive Master Team. Here they will learn the day to day running of the dive school. They will be in charge of the logistical aspects, the equipment maintenance, and of course the best part of the dive masters job, leading certified divers on fun dives.

Ali Ba Ba, one of Crystals DM's alongside Justine

currently on her internship

With some of them looking for employment within the industry, the internship is a great way to start.

Buoyancy becomes Crystal clear!

2010-04-12T16:55:00.006+07:00

Things are hotting up at Crystal, and with the warm weather, stunning visibility and abundance of marine life around Koh Tao at the moment, even more students are continuing their education by taking the Advanced course immediately after their PADI Open Water course. MSDT Sam Mack's students were no exception, and were quick to sign up to further develop their underwater navigation and buoyancy skills, experience the delights of night diving and deep diving, and learn more about aquatic life in the naturalist dive.

Julietta shows off her buoyancy skills with some swim-through practice

Five fantastic dives followed at Chumphon Pinnacle, Twin Peaks, South West Pinnacle and White Rock. One of the student's favourites was the Peak Performance Buoyancy dive, in which they practiced hovering in different positions, playing games such as writing their name on a slate in an upside-down hover, and swimming through various obstacles at Buoyancy World.

PPB is like an underwater obstacle course

The PPB dive is a popular choice, and encouraged by most instructors to fine-tune the buoyancy skills learned during the Open Water course. As well as improving the student's body position, air consumption and control in the water, it is a positive for the environment as it ensures divers do not touch and damage the coral. Buoyancy World provides a perfect training ground for the PPB dive, and takes some of the pressure off the natural reef at Twin Peaks, which is one of Koh Tao's most frequented dive sites. Be sure to visit Buoyancy World if you are planning diving in Koh Tao, and experience it for yourself!

The Sun Is Shining

2010-04-09T12:19:00.000+07:00

Over the last few weeks the weather here on The Rock has been some of the best we've seen. At the height of day, the temperature has been a soaring 35 degrees plus. The water temperature in the sea has been an incredible 30-32 degrees. Wetsuits?? Who needs them.

With great visibility, comes great photo opportunities

With the warm weather comes great visibility. Every dive site we've visited recently has had 20-30 mt visibility. The students are loving the clear water with a great diversity of aquatic life, the staff are enjoying the warm waters, and the locals are enjoying their air con offices!!

Save Koh Tao tablet at Buoyancy World

With Songkran (Thai New Year) approaching, the water festival will be welcomed by one and all as a means to cool off during the high temperatures. Traditional, Thais roam the streets with containers of water or water guns, or hide themselves at the side of roads with a garden hose and soak each other and passersby. Of course, the tourists love to get involved by purchasing their own water cannons and even sometimes joining the Thais on the back of taxis for an elevated attack position.

Keep posted for the watery events of the the Thai New Year.

Bio-Diversity

2010-04-03T11:16:00.000+07:00

We though it was just a ruse, a rumour or even an April fools joke. Divers talking about Eagle Rays at the coral filled Japanese Gardens. But now we have proof.

Two PADI Open Water Courses with instructors MSDTs Tina Major and Iain Johnston had the amazing pleasure of diving with Koh Tao's newest residents. The Deep Down Productions crew along side "Jimi the wetsuit" who is currently about to complete his underwater videography internship, They filmed and edited videos shown at the Crystal Bar that evening, all the proof you need to take home and show your friends.

Deep Down Productions captures the moment

While the spotted Eagle Ray spends most of it’s time swimming in schools in open water they are also commonly observed in bays and over coral reefs. The two Eagle Rays appear to have taken up residence in the shallow area of the dive site, entertaining divers at the end of their dives. We all hope they stick around for a while. Eagle rays feed on mollusks and crustaceans, crushing their shells with their flattened teeth.

They are excellent swimmers and are able to breech the water up to several metres above the surface. Compared with other rays, they have long tails, and well-defined rhomboidal bodies. They are ovoviviparous, giving birth to up to six young at a time. They range from 48 centimetres (19 in) to 9.1 metres (30 ft) in length

Who says Scuba diving in Koh Tao is boring?

He's Got The Bug

2010-04-02T10:22:00.000+07:00

Jari Lahti arrived at Crystal having pre booked his Open Water and Advanced Open Water Course on the net. Half way through the OW he had already signed up to do 3 specialty courses. Like many people before him, he had experienced a child hood dream, and was hooked.

After successfully, completing the OW Course, Jari opted to take the Enriched Air Nitrox (NTX) upgrade to combine it with his AOW Course. After an arvo of academics, Jari and MSDT Iain Johnston headed out on the morning boat to White Rock for the Deep Dive of the AOW using 32% NTX. The main reason for using NTX is to safely extend your limits underwater. With the budding diver, already good on air consumption, they were able to reap the benefits of the Gucci Gas and have a prolonged safe dive.

Yari, the Finish man from Norway

Jari also opted to take the Deep Specialty and the Digital Underwater Photography (DUP) Specialty. The Deep Spec allows the recipient to dive to 40 mts, which is the maximum for recreational diving. The couple headed out on the morning boat again, this time to Chumphon Pinnacle. With a thermocline at 25 mts, the group stayed close to one another as they headed off the pinnacle into the depths.

With the extra pressure at depth and the increased density of the air, the time is limited at the 40 mt mark. Once they reached 40, they did a quick narcosis test then headed back to the main pinnacle for the remainder of the dive. While on route to the main part of the dive site, the group suddenly found themselves surrounded by a huge shoal of Chevron Barracuda.

Chevron Barracuda

With Jari wanting to learn more about underwater photography and take something away to show what his friends are missing out on, the pair proceeded onto the boat armed with underwater cameras for the DUP Spec.

With the arvo boat, going to shallower site's to accommodate other course's, it was an ideal time for DUP. With great weather recently, the visibility has been 20 mts plus at the majority of dive sites. Twin Peaks and Japanese Gardens were the sites of choice, and oh boy were they a great choice.

The DUP Spec, not only teaches different photography techniques, but it also teaches how to prep the camera, maintenance of the camera & housing & after care of the equipment.

With cameras in hand Jari and Iain, descended into the clear blue. As they reached the deep pinnacle of Twins they were met by a huge Yellow Boxfish. Throughout the dive both parties took some great photos, and for Jari's first experience with a camera his photo's were impressive.

Yellow Boxfish. Taken by Jari

The second site was approached with great expectation, as over the last couple of weeks there have been two Eagle Rays roaming the shallows of Japanese Gardens. After a 50 min dive, the majority of which spent at 3-6 mts, the pair where about to head to the surface, when suddenly one of the Rays swooped in behind them from out of no where. With plenty of air left, Jari and Iain spent another 20 mins taking some great pictures and video clips of the Spotted Eagle Ray. The Ray wasn't spooked by the divers or the camera's and allowed itself to be captured, not only by Jari, but by Deepdown Productions, Crystal's in house videography company.

Another smashing shot of the Eagle Ray from Yari

With all course's impressively completed, the pair took to the Crystal bar for some well deserved beers, and a look over the last few days diving. Jari is adamant he'll return to Crystal in October to continue his diving career, let's hops so because it's his round!!

Instructor Time

2010-04-01T09:33:00.000+07:00

As Always,

The PADI IDC conducted at Crystal Dive Resort With PADI Course Directors Matt Bolton & Justin Mayers produces very strong candidates.

March 2010 is not exception, with 10 new PADI Open Water Scuba Instructors all scoring very well in all aspects of this months i.e

The guys will be headed in different directions after these study filled weeks.

Some will head back home or to Europe, so have already singed up for the Master Scuba Diver Trainer Instructor Internship which allows the new instructors to work along side some of Koh Tao's best.

The Underwater Videography Internship with Deep Down Productions is another underwater road that some may take.

First things first... Celebrations at Dirty Nellys is on the cards for everyone.

Well done and good luck!!

Crystal 2 Sparkles Again!

2010-03-29T11:23:00.000+07:00

Crystal 2 Gets a New Look

Which the constant demand by our customers to keep thier daily dives as varied as possible, both Crystal 2 & 3 are always at sea. As the quite month of March passed bye, we sent Crystal 2 off for a re-paint.

She returned with a welcome of fire crackers from her annual refurbishing looking all shiny and clean with a new paint job. The second largest of Crystal’s 4 boat fleet, the boat is used for students as well as fun divers, allowing access to all of Koh Tao’s fabulous dive sites.

Our busy Divemaster Team and Divemaster Interns readied the gleaming boat with weight, belts, 1st Aid, O2 and tanks for her 1st visit out this morning.

Before the acquisition of Crystal’s newest boat last year, Crystal 2 was the largest boat at the resort and is still referred to by some of the staff as “big boat.” While it has now be relegated to the number 2 spot it’s still a favourite among staff and guests. With two main dive boats and a smaller boat used for smaller groups, Crystal Dive Resort also has a speedboat which can be booked for special groups and used for PADI DMT Speciality trips.