Feb 12-15 2023 |
After 30 years of visiting "the islands" in Thailand, I finally made it to Koh Tao! As I didn't dive back then, and could never commit to doing an open water course ("snorkelling is fine"), I never had a compelling reason to visit the island. But, I gotta say, once I did, it was superb. I booked 4 nights and 6 dives over 3 days at Hydronauts, based on a tip from one of their former partners, who I met diving in Koh Chang.
Somewhere in my travels, I had been told that Koh Toa is some of the best diving locales in Asia. So I was pretty stoked to go there. While it was good, it certainly wasn't the best in Asia (mind you, I have been pretty spoilt, diving at Raja Ampat, Sipidan, Weh, Tioman, Koh Chang in the past few years, ahem...). Visibility at Koh Toa was fair with a lot of gunk in the water, and the sea life ranged from ok to good. Maybe it was a seasonal thing? I didn't make it to Sail Rock (seasonality), the "wow" dive site of the region. One downside at Koh Tao (experienced on one dive only, fortunately) was the sheer mass of divers - one famous location was like a scuba version of Shibuya crossing. A highlight was seeing some massive Titan Triggerfish, including one that went bonkers, rushed my dive master and attacked his fin (and got a good kick as a result), then did a run at me - exciting. Overall the dives at Koh Tao were good, and I certainly promote it as a great diving destination.
Koh Tao is amazing, a true island paradise with great views all-round. Food is awesome, prices decent, and there is a solid social and nightlife scenes (I guess, I didn't stray beyond Hydronauts bar).
Hydronauts is exceptional, located on the quiet side of the island. The team is great and the facilities blew me away (the main rooms are a design masterpiece). I spent my last night in a 2 person dorm room, about $8, great value (especially compared to Koh Phangan, where I saw dorm beds on Agoda for about $25 - crazy). I looked into doing a dive master program with Hydronauts; didn't end up signing up there, but it would have been a great choice and experience.
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