Olly's time on Koh Tao learning how to dive

Olly has recently returned from a trip learning how to dive with us on Koh Tao.  Below is a review of what he had to say about his time on the island.

"I contacted Mungo at Scuba Duba Dive about 2 months prior to the planned holiday, our tailor made package was quickly organised and confirmed. It is comforting to know that all of the money I invested into a holiday is protected through both the TTA and ATOL.

On arrival at Koh Samui Airport the transfers were waiting and were prepared to take us to the Lomprayah Ferry. The transfer to Koh Tao was quick, pleasant and easy using the Lomrayah Fast Cats.

On arrival at the pier staff from the hotel were ready to pick us up. Koh Tao Regal Hotel is an odd place, long dark corridors, and questionable interior design in the lobby but looking out to a fantastic looking pool and bar area. The concerns were quickly alleviated when we got to our rooms which were quite frankly fantastic. Okay they weren’t spotlessly clean and a few maintenance issues but the room was huge, with an ensuite that included a Jacuzzi. But overall the view was special, looking out over the beach and across the bay. The balcony was a lovely place both to refresh yourself in the cool morning air and a perfect vantage point to watch the sunset over Thailand in the evening.

On arrival at the Dive Resort the company were expecting us and were ready with the paper work so we could enlist upon the course. All the instructors were extremely friendly and knowledgeable, they would happily assign different instructors to different abilities so that no one was leftwaiting. I did my PADI Open Water, PADI Advanced Open Water and PADI Wreck Speciality. Throughout the courses I never had more than 6 in the group with 3 instructors but I mostly had 2 instructors to myself throughout the week.

Another bonus of the resort was that they could find instructors that speak various assortments of languages. We had a Russian trio in our group, who were given a Russian speaking Dive Master for translation.

During my time in Koh Tao I dived at Mango Bay, Twins, White Rock, Sail Rock and HMTS Sattakut, the latter using that for my wreck spec. The coral and sea life is abundantly colourful and diverse at all sites. Diving on and inside HMTS Sattakut was an experience I’ll never forget. With visibility varying between 5 meters and 30 meters on different dives, I truly got a sense that the same boat was an entirely different wreck.

Koh Tao is a place that I will miss, and I wish to go back sometime. Although it is an isolated little island the society is not at all closed and tight knit. The varying array of restaurants from all corners of the world were fantastic. I do not think I had a bad meal the whole time I was there. Everyone is friendly and helpful and the internet provisions are fantastic. The climate was exceptionally comfortable, around 30-35 with a constant sea breeze ridding the island of the expected humidity. Also if there are any problems Koh Tao has a good medical centre and everyone was more than happy to go out of their way to help you.

One of the more unexpected highlights was Koh Samui airport. The departure lounge is basically an outdoor shopping street, with various brands and restaurants. The architecture was quaint and well thought out. Spending a few hours at Koh Samui Airport was a pleasant way of ending our holiday."

Interested in learning how to dive?  Get in touch with us here

View from Koh Tao Regal Swimming Pool

Graham and Koh Tao

Graham recently finished his PADI Open Water Diver and PADI Advanced Open Water Diver with us in Koh Tao.  Read what he had to say below;

"What do you do with week of free time in Thailand?

Having finished my work related business in Bangkok, I had booked some annual leave and was determined to get out of the city. Having heard my friends go on and on about diving had got me interested, and after looking around I gave scubadubadive a call. They arranged everything for me - transfers from Bangkok to Koh Tao,  all my accommodation, as well as two diving courses. 

As a novice diver I really didn't know what to expect, but my big, friendly Mexican instructor Manuel was easy going and a very reassuring presence as he took us through the theory on the first (classroom based) day, before moving into the pool to teach us important basic skills like buoyancy, breathing technique, and mask removal. 

On the third day of our open water course we were finally heading into the sea and the excitement was easy to feel! To me there has always been something inherently uncomfortable about the concept of diving - essentially you are relying on a tiny tank of compressed air to keep you alive while the enormous weight of the water above you steadily squeezes more nitrogen into your blood - but as soon as we started to descend all these fears vanished as the freedom and relaxation involved in literally being part of the ocean life swept over you. 

As the wek progressed and I moved from the Open Water to the advanced open water course, I experienced more and more of my underwater surroundings as I became steadily more at ease during my dives. Huge highlights included a brief glimpse of a black-tipped reef shark, and an amazing night dive. Here our skills were really put to the test by the strong currents, as well as the opportunity to dive on a wreck in deeper water. 

Evenings were spent relaxing at the bar and enjoying the local food at any of the nearby restaurants, as well as fighting off the attention of the local mosquitoes! I also got the chance to explore the island as my holiday had a built in day off from diving to go and use as we wanted. It was a really worthwhile experience and ap ps all group of myself and three Canadians joined forces to ride mopeds to each end of the island and really experience all that was on offer. 

Koh Tao was brilliant and the customer service from scubadubadive was really good - I got quick replies to the one small problem I had and it was sorted the same day. "

Many thanks for the review Graham and we looking forward to seeing you back for more diving!

Talking with Ian about his first diving experience in Thailand

Diving is not a very common sport but is becoming more and more popular with it being ranked as the do-to sport in 2013.  We're going to be spending the next couple of days talking with some divers about there first time experiences underwater.  Here's what Ian Roberts had to say;

First learnt to dive in June 2010 on Koh Tao, Thailand aged 21

"I went travelling around Southeast Asia with some friends in 2010 who were all aiming to do some scuba diving as part of the adventure.  Initially I wasn't sure what I thought about the idea of diving, looking at all the equipment required it seemed very obvious to me that humans are very much not designed to go underwater, making the whole idea of it seem very unnatural.

With some convincing from my friends, and not wanting to miss out, I signed myself up but still had my reservations.  After an introduction in the swimming pool under controlled conditions I got used to the idea of breathing underwater, became comfortable with all the diving gear and more confident that I was in good hands.

Feeling more at ease after the pool session I signed up to do my PADI Open Water course on Koh Tao which was an absolutely fantastic experience.  Koh Tao is an interesting, somewhat crazy, place which offered awesome diving facilities.  Completing the Open Water turned out to be the most memorable few days of the entire trip which, if it wasn't for my persistent friends, I would have missed out on.  I enjoyed the diving so much I also completed two adventure dives which count towards my PADI Advanced Open Water qualification, including a night dive which added a totally different dynamic to the experience, which I aim to complete in the future.  Gaining my PADI Open Water Qualification allowed me to easily undertake fun dives when I visited Nah Trang in Vietnam as we continued on our travels.

I urge anybody who finds themselves in my situation, with the opportunity to go scuba diving, to say yes.  Ask friends or family who have been diving before for their opinion, I guarantee it will be a positive one.  You will not regret it!"

Many thanks for your time Ian and hopefully we will see you underwater again very soon!

The Website is Live

Well if you are reading this blog you're probably aware that the official Scuba Duba Dive website has finally come off the a test server and gone to the live domain, scubadubadive.com. We've launched with just a range of dive training holidays which will be expanded over the coming weeks.  We'll also be launching some exciting dive holidays for those of you who are lucky enough to already be qualified divers.  We'll be running holidays in Australia, Turkey, Egypt, Thailand with the views to expanding to other countires as the Scuba Duba Dive network grows.

The next stages in the growth of Scuba Duba Dive will be launching various press release articles around the dive community and implementing a marketing and social media strategy with the main objectives being to get you the customers to interact with us over Facebook and Twitter.  We are launching an exciting competition to win a weeks diving somewhere and will be putting the Scuba Duba Dive clothing designs to social media for a public vote.  The equipment packages will also be finalised as we're currently researching what is the best equipment around at the moment which is most suited for our programs.  So lots of exciting things happening and we will keep you updated with the progress but for now;

Remember..... Like us on Facebook, Follow us on Twitter and Join us in the sea!

How it all started....

Well hello everyone and welcome to Scuba Duba Dive's first blog post.

Hopefully everyone reading our blog is either currently a keen scuba diver or is eager to learn.  Scuba Duba Dive has been launched to cater for both needs beginners and experienced divers.

There is currently a huge amount of work going on within the Scuba Duba Dive team getting everything ready for the official launch.

I'd thought I would take the opportunity in this blog post to introduce myself, Mungo Finlayson, as the Managing Director of Scuba Duba Dive.

The first time I ever tried scuba diving was on a PADI discover scuba diving day in Zanzibar, Africa in 2005.  To be honest I didn't enjoy the experience much.  This was down to me having food poisoning and the lack of professionalism within the dive centre which didn't make me feel at ease.  

It was a few years after trying diving in Zanzibar that I felt I should give it another go.  So I signed up to a 10 week diving marine conservation project in Fiji learning more advanced dive techniques throughout the project.  Yes, it was a bit of a gamble, signing up to a 10 week project related to diving when I wasn't sure the first time but I wanted to give it a second chance.  I'm seriously glad I decided to give scuba diving another try.  The difference it made having an instructor who was interested and focused on any elements that you were struggling with was amazing.  I qualified up to an PADI Advanced Open Water diver in Fiji, getting to dive some pretty amazing dive sites and to top the whole trip off I saw a hammerhead shark!

Before a dive in the Fiji Dive Shack

Sunrise from the Beach in Fiji

After Fiji I had fallen in love with diving and what the underwater world had to offer, I moved onto Australia with a one year working holiday visa.  I gained work on a day diving boat on the Great Barrier Reef,  being paid very little daily but with the promise of gaining my PADI Rescue Diver and PADI Divemaster with the job.  This was a very slow process considering they said it was to be a three month internship.  I stuck at it though for five months due to the fact I loved that I was diving daily.  In the end I had to leave due to running out of money and only gained my PADI rescue diver from them.  I moved on within Australia and worked 6 months on a cattle farm in the Northern Territory, which was an experience I will not be forgetting.

Nudibranch

After Australia I starting making my way back to the United Kingdom but there were a few stops on the way.  The first stop were the Sipidan Islands in Borneo, where I spent five days doing some of the most fantastic diving I've done still to date.  There were literally too many things to see- sharks, turtles, bump-head parrot fish, sting rays, barracuda, the list goes on.

Moray Eel

After a short stay in Borneo the next stop was the tropical island of Koh Tao in Thailand which I'd heard lots about.  Koh Tao is located in the Gulf of Thailand and is known to be a divers' paradise.  On Koh Tao I started my BSAC Professional Underwater Course, learning how to use the camera on the land and underwater.  Learning how to edit my footage using Adobe Premiere Pro was confusing to start with but with the excellent tuition I received it wasn't a problem.  Once I had qualified as a BSAC Professional Underwater Videographer I spent some time filming student divers on their qualifying dives, editing the footage and doing a sales pitch in the evenings.  Getting a whaleshark in the footage was a guaranteed sale!  While being a videographer I also wanted to expand my diving knowledge so started on my PADI Divemaster Internship.  Overall I spent around four months on Koh Tao, learning and working.

Sairee Beach, Koh Tao

It was then time to return to cold and wet Scotland.  I decided to seek diving work once again.  I started diving in Aberdeen's finest quarries and coast.  I was doing my PADI Dry Suit Diver course five days after I was home from Thailand. It was a shock to the system having been diving in 30degree water to 10degree water.  After working the summer in Aberdeen I moved to Edinburgh to study Travel & Tourism at college.  I thought it would suit after doing so much travelling.  During my year in Edinburgh I joined a local diving club and continued diving the cold and beautiful waters of Scotland.

Once my time was up in Edinburgh I moved to Turkey to a warmer diving job.  During my four months in Turkey I was diving daily again in warm waters.  While I was there I become a EFR Instructor so I'm now two courses away from becoming a PADI Open Water Instructor.

Once I returned from Turkey I was at a bit of a loose end as to what to do next.  Did I go and complete my PADI instructor development course and become a PADI Open Water Instructor or should I start up a scuba diving travel company with all the contacts I'd picked up over the last few years?  I decided to risk it. So on  7th  February 2012 Scuba Duba Dive was born, or, more accurately, registered at Companies House in Scotland.

The whole project has been a lot harder than I ever thought.  The main issue has been "the website" which was always coming soon along with applying for all the travel licences -  ATOL & The Travel Trust.  The site which is finally to be launched, is the second attempt from a second company, Deep Blue Media who I believe have done a fantastic job and have created a very strong brand for Scuba Duba Dive.  During the start-up process I've explored many areas of the diving industry I didn't know very well.

I spent 3 weeks in Egypt exploring the excellent diving that the Red Sea has to offer, covering all the most popular dive locations.  During my time there, I met the first member of my Dahab Team, Lieve Rutsaert.  Lieve has been travelling and working back and forth within Egypt for many years, finally settling in Dahab for 6months of the year and the rest back in Belgium where Lieve is originally from.  Lieve has an extensive network of contacts in Dahab which are a massive asset to the running of Scuba Duba Dive's operation in Dahab.

Lieve, Dahab Rep

The reason for Scuba Duba Dive expanding to more countries and dive locations is to be able to offer you a greater choice whilst maintaining our principle of only working with people we know and trust in reputable dive centres.  With these locations all being places a member of our team has been, we know they will deliver a high standard of professionalism and reliability and you'll have a safe and enjoyable trip. 

Thank you for reading my blog and hopefully, one day soon, we'll see you under the water!

Eagle Ray, Koh Tao

Mungo