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."

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View from Koh Tao Regal Swimming Pool

Business Enterprise Award

Recently Mungo Finlayson, the founder and managing director of Scuba Duba Dive picked up an award for Business Enterprise in his home town of Banchory.  Scuba Duba Dive isn't the first business that Mungo has run from Banchory.  During his early days of secondary school Mungo ran a mobile phone accessory business.  Mainly importing accessories from China and Hong Kong then selling them on either via a online market place or to his wide database of wholesale clients.  Mungo had a niche at being able to find accessories which weren't yet for sale in the United Kingdom and importing them before any other sellers.  Before exams Mungo's trading business ceased trading due to the amount of time it was taking up.

After exams Mungo started another business, this time it was a partnership with three friends. The partnership specialised in designing and hosting websites.  ReplicaHost was run successfully for 5 years but it became a joint decision not to renew any of the contracts due to everyone going their separate ways.  At the end of the 5 years each partner came away with a profit.  Hopefully we will be seeing some more awards soon for Mungo and Scuba Duba Dive.

Pictured Mungo Finlayson receiving a Business Enterprise Award from Provost Jill Webster

The Great Scottish Diving

This summer in Scotland we've had some spectacular weather with some days hitting over 30 degrees.  Usually the Scottish summers are very hit or miss, sometimes just having a summer of rain.  With the weather being so good it meant I had to benefit from it, that meant getting back into Scottish diving in a wetsuit! 

Portknockie Harbour

North East Dive's Boat

Conger Eel,

I've spent many an evening this summer diving in the North Sea with some great dives.  I think the weekend just past has been my best day of Scottish diving.  I was on a day dive trip with North East Dive out of Portknockie Harbour, which is near Banff in North East Scotland.  It was another stunning day and as we arrived at 10am there was children playing on the beach, this is

Scotland at the start of September!

Standard Lobster

Gearing up into my wetsuit we headed out of the harbour to the Moray Wreck, which is a scattered wreck lying at around 29 metres depending on the tide.  There isn't a huge amount left of the wreck but that didn't stop there being a lot of marine life around the wreck, especially in the boiler room.  As we went down the shot line hardly being able to see a thing I wasn't convinced this was going to be a good dive but at about 20 metres it just open out to about 5-10 metres visibility, a true Scottish dive.  We saw giant lobsters, conger eels, giant crabs and plenty of fish.

Giant Lobster

 During the lunch interval we went back into Portknockie harbour.  It was so warm my wetsuit managed to dry off during the 2 hours we spent back onshore.  Tanks changed over it was time to head out for the second time, this time we were diving Caple Rock.  Gently cruising out the harbour we came across 7 dolphins just playing around in the bay, another example of how vast Scottish wildlife can be! 

Caple Rock is a gentle reef/rock dive with plenty of life about.  The current was up so there was a slight drift which is always good fun.  Overall the day was a great success and I never felt cold in my 5mm wetsuit!  I urge those who are qualified divers who haven't tried cold water diving to give it a shot, it's defiantly worth while!  North East Dive in Banff run weekly diving days from their boat, all excellent value and excellent fun! 

More cold water diving, Boddam Quarry, Peterhead

Boddam Quarry, near Peterhead, Scotland

Geared up ready for the dive

I did my first ever cold water dive in Boddam Quarry back in May 2009, while I was doing my PADI Dry Suit course.  I'd only done a handful of dives in the quarry since then.  So I thought it was time to head back and have another explore of the quarry.  I rounded up two friends who were keen to dive the quarry.  We were all going to be diving in wetsuits after recently diving other local dive sites with the water being 14 degrees, there isn't a huge amount to see in the quarry but it is good for getting used to diving in lower visibility waters and cold water.

We all geared up and did our buddy checks before jumping in.  Initially jumping in the water didn't feel too bad.  So we descended down too around 12 metres, the visibility to start with was terrible but after about 8 metres it started too clear up.  On the bottom there was loads of interesting things including a game of noughts and crosses and a television.  After we explored that area we swam further into the quarry, finally finding the famous burger van that Boddam quarry has!  Having a play around the burger van was good fun.  The burger van was at around 14metres and the water temperature was still around 12 degrees so defiantly bare-able.  Afterwards we decided to find the bottom, swimming into the middle we found 21 metres but didn't stay around for long as at 21 metres it was 6 degrees and in wetsuits wasn't all that fun!  So we ascended up slowly along the side of the quarry to go find the noughts and crosses again.  Little play around and then it was time to find a spot to do a safety stop, as after 25 minutes everyone was starting to feel a little cold.  Safely stop completed we ascended up to the surface, the surface water felt like a hot bath compared to the water at 21 metres deep!

I really recommend Boddam Quarry for getting yourself used to diving again, testing out new equipment or just a place for some dives when the local seas are too rough.  We had a good day out but maybe should use 7mm wetsuits next time!

The view from Boddam Quarry

Diving the Linn of Dee, Royal Deeside

Linn of Dee, Near Breamar

When I first started working in the diving industry in Aberdeen in 2009, I'd always heard people talk about the Linn of Dee salmon dive.  I'd always wanted to try the dive but never been a massive fan of cold water diving.  With this years summer being so good I decided to get back into cold water diving, as there is so many good dive sites on my door step.

On the edge of the Linn of Dee before the dive

The recent weather had been pretty good with no rain which makes the conditions for Linn of Dee perfect.  I spoke to a lot of people to get the overview of the dive site and what are generally the main points of entry and exit.  I knew the area anyway but not as a dive site.  I therefor went up the night before to check out the area and all the points I'd been told about made absolute sense once I was standing on the edge of the river.

We half kitted up at the car and carried the rest of the kit down to the riverside near the entry point.  Buddy checks done and plans discussed.

The water wasn't too bad but gloves and hoods were required but sadly we only had one hood.  I had to give up my hood for my friend to continue the dive.  We swam up the narrow gorge against the mild current exploring the little inlets and the rock formation was quite amazing.  It was quite gloomy and dark at just a few metres down and we could have definitely have done with a torch.  After about 5 minutes into the dive we came to the "V" which everybody had talked about.  I put my face in front of the current and it just wanted to take my mask off.  I knew this was going to be interesting getting through as it wasn't very wide and there was a strong current.  We tried to fin through several times but each time we just got thrown back by the current.

Eventually we realised fining through the "V" wasn't going to work.  Plan B was to pull ourselves through and fining down once half way through to get out of the current.  This eventually worked but was hard work!  Once in the last pool the currents got a lot stronger and if you ascended just half a metre you could be thrown back out through the "V" in just seconds.  This happened to us the first time so we had to pull ourselves back through.  This time we stayed on the bottom and explored the last pool, once we had explored the majorly of it we ascended a little and let the current take us back down the river like a massive drift dive.

We spent about 10 minutes working the way up the river and exploring the different pools and the current took us down in no time at all.  We then explored down the river and all the various different pools until it was too shallow and we beached.  I really enjoyed the dive.  The Linn of Dee dive isn't really about diving to see the fish etc it's more of a playground in the currents which was really good fun.  I'd highly recommend giving the Linn of Dee dive ago.  We can arrange trips to the Linn of Dee along with accommodation, so if anyone is interested just drop us an email at dive@scubadubadive.com

Diving in the North Sea again

After just over three years of not diving locally I finally dived again last night in the North Sea with North East Dive.  I'd been meaning to go diving with them for a couple of weeks but was concerned it was going to be too cold as I was mainly used to warm water diving.

Prepared for the worse I wore a 5mm full wetsuit and a 5mm shorty with hood, on the way out to the dive site on the rib I was talking to the other dives who said on Friday the water was 16 degrees.  At that I didn't think I would need my gloves after having been in 20 degree water in Malta a month before without a hood or gloves.  The moment I rolled back off the rib and hit the water I knew it wasn't 16 degrees and regretted not wearing my gloves.  However I continued without and descended down for the dive.

The visibility was around 10 metres and it was a shallow dive along the coast.  After spending the first few minutes getting used to my kit and the conditions again we started the dive.  There was lots of little swim throughs and getting thrown around by the current near the coast was a new experience which made me feel sea sick, so had to quickly descend again to get away from the waves.  The marine life was pretty good, lots of little spider crabs around the kelp and a lots of big edible crabs in the fisherman's pots.  Navigating in and out of the coast line never really exceeding 12metres we managed a 42 minute dive.  I was starting to feel the cold without any gloves on as the actual bottom temperature was only 9 degrees! 

North East Dive's Boat- Picture from Facebook

I will defiantly be back for more dives and next time will be wearing a pair of gloves!  I urge anyone who is a qualified diver and has diving on their doorstep to give cold water diving a try.  Yes, you have to wear a lot more equipment than warm water diving but cold water diving just lets you keep up your diving experience and that next time you go on holiday diving you don't spend the first days diving to refresher courses!

Speaking with Hannah about her experience learning to dive in Egypt

Another series in the Scuba Duba Dive Blog posts of peoples first diving experiences.  This time we're speaking with Hannah who learnt to dive in Egypt.

"The first time I donned scuba kit and descended into the ocean was off the east coast of Australia at the Great Barrier Reef.  This was a novice dive during which I swam around happily looking wide eyed at a magical under water world.  I loved the underwater world and was instantly at ease with the scuba equipment.  As such, a year and half later in Cairo, Egypt, I had the opportunity and signed up to do the PADI Open Water course.  After the theory and pool sessions, friends and I traveled to Safaga on Egypt's Red Sea coast to board Legends - it is a legendary dive boat on which I spent many subsequent weekends bobbing about in the Red Sea going from one spectacular dive site to another.  At 0900, on this inaugural morning, the sky was blue and the sun radiating heating, I kitted up and stepped off the back to the boat into a clear blue sea.  El Shehr was the location of the first dive during which I swam around looking wide eyed at the magical under water world.  In fact, on every dive I swim around wide eyed looking at the colours, shapes & sizes of the majestic under water world.  Dolphins, corals, moray eels, octopus, turtles, my favourite blue spotted rays and so much more - it is breathtaking every time. "

Did this post inspire you in wanting to learn to scuba dive?  Check out the range of courses Scuba Duba Dive offers at our website

Hannah in Egypt