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Welcome to IDC Koh Tao’s Scuba Diving blog

Award Winning PADI Course Director Matt Bolton’s articles provide all scuba divers with an educational resource plus industry information. You can also visit Black Turtle Dive blog for additional Koh Tao news. As an aspiring scuba diver, you can find information here to help you on your journey. If you require more specific diving course details, please use the contact page and provide full details in the comments box.

How to Become a PADI Divemaster in Thailand

Do you dream of trading your business suit for a wetsuit and turning your hobby into a new and exciting career? Do you want to commute to work on a boat across a clear, blue ocean and have meetings at fish-filled dive sites? If that sounds like yourself, .....

Sidemount Diver Training as a PADI Instructor

I was conducting a routine dive with my Divemaster candidates using a backmount single tank configuration at Chumphon Pinnacles. There was a technical diver also on our dive boat, diving on a Sidemount set-up and he decided to tag along with us on our dive. Half way during the dive he surprised me by attaching […] .....

Importance of Neutral Buoyancy as a Dive Professional

As a PADI Course Director, I have the opportunity to work with and develop hundreds of budding dive professionals. I feel as though I have an obligation to set each and every one of my candidates up for success within the Dive Industry. For me, personally, this means to push them to be the best […] .....

What is CITES and why it is important

Planet Earth is home to about 1.8 million species. Approximately 13,000 new species are discovered every year. Together all these species form an integral part of the natural ecosystem and are vital contributors to our diets, our medicine and clothing needs. Yet, many of these species are under threat from human activities such as deforestation, […] .....

PADI Women’s Dive Day

My name is Andrea. I am a PADI Course Director on a small tropical island called Koh Tao in the Gulf of Thailand. For those of you who do not know what that is, one of my main roles is to teach PADI Divemasters how to become Open Water Scuba Instructors. Every month I conduct […] .....

8 Best Reasons to Team Teach as a Dive Instructor

One of the most common questions I’m asked by IDC candidates, often in the counselling sessions I conduct at the end of the IDC is ‘do you think I should do a team teaching Internship after the IDC?’ My reply is, if you have the time why not? This tempts the next question: ‘Why do […] .....

Climate Change – Out of Sight, Out of Mind

The winds of change are blowing? The storm clouds are gathering?  How bad is the coming storm? When we hear about extreme weather approaching, we typically choose to take shelter.  There are always a few people who choose to remain and weather the storm.  Sometimes they are lucky and sometimes they are not. What happens […] .....

How scuba diving helped Jamie Hull overcome adversity

Jamie Hull is no ordinary scuba diver. He is a leader in his field as a PADI dive professional and a fully qualified diving instructor with the British Army Sub Aqua Diving Association (ASADA), a special branch of the British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC). This in itself is not extraordinary, however, Jamie Hull is a survivor […] .....

PADI Women’s Day

Suki Hung is one of the most experienced Chinese PADI Course Directors, training over 1,000 PADI Professionals and has been at the highest level of the scuba diving industry for over a decade. Suki recalls her journey from the corporate world to the underwater world and the challenges she has faced as one of the […] .....

PADI Women’s Day Course Director Andrea Warren

Andrea Warren is one of Koh Tao’s newest PADI Course Directors and one of Crystal Dive’s Technical Diving Instructors. As an elite Instructor trainer, Andrea tells us about her journey to becoming one of scuba diving’s most influential leaders and role models. Tell the readers a little about yourself My first passion was dance and […] .....
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