Diving on Koh Tao
Learn to breathe underwater.
More divers get certified on Koh Tao than anywhere else in the world. Here's why, and where.
Diving on Koh Tao
More divers get certified on Koh Tao than anywhere else in the world. Here's why, and where.
Why here
Koh Tao is small, but the reason people come is what surrounds it. Warm 29°C water all year, sheltered bays that stay calm when the rest of the Gulf is rough, and more than 25 dive sites within half an hour of the pier. It's one of the easiest, and cheapest, places on Earth to learn to dive, which is exactly why more people get certified here than almost anywhere else.
Below the surface it earns the reputation. Granite pinnacles like Chumphon and Southwest rise out of the blue wrapped in barracuda and trevally; shallow reefs shelter green turtles, blacktip reef sharks and clouds of parrotfish; and from March to October the slow shadow of a whale shark, the biggest fish in the sea, drifts through on the plankton. For scuba, schools like Master Divers in Mae Haad run boats out to all of it every morning, from your first breath underwater to professional training.
You don't need a tank to see it, either. Some of the best snorkelling is straight off the sand: Shark Bay for turtles, the Japanese Gardens at Koh Nang Yuan, and the calm coves of Aow Leuk and Hin Wong Bay. And if you'd rather hold your breath than carry air, Koh Tao is Asia's freediving capital, with schools like Apnea Total off Sairee taking you from your first breath-hold into the quiet.
Courses
Courses run daily at the island's dive schools, in most languages. Here's the ladder, from your first breath underwater to teaching it yourself.
One guided dive to 12 m with an instructor beside you the whole time.
Your worldwide certification to 18 m in 3 to 4 days. The reason most people come here.
Five adventure dives: deep, night and navigation, down to 30 m.
Rescue, Divemaster, Instructor. Plenty of people came for a week and stayed for years.
Dive sites
Granite pinnacles wrapped in barracuda, shallow turtle bays and, in green season, the slow shadow of a whale shark.
The signature granite pinnacle: barracuda tornadoes, giant grouper, whale shark territory.
The Gulf's most famous site, with its vertical swim-through chimney.
Pink soft coral, trevally and big blue water.
Shallow, calm, full of green turtles and blacktip reef sharks.
Koh Tao's classic all-rounder: great by day, magic by night.
Japanese Gardens, Twins and Green Rock around the postcard islands.
Freediving
Koh Tao is Asia's freediving capital. Calm bays, deep water minutes from shore, and world-class schools that take you from 10 to 30 metres on a single breath.
See the intro day →Dive centres