Whale Sharks » Koh Tao Diving with Sairee Cottage

Koh Tao Diving – October News

The End of a Diving Season

The end of another diving season has arrived and what an amazing season it’s been! We’ve really enjoyed all the customers we’ve had at Sairee Cottage Diving in Koh Tao. No matter whether we were bringing people out for their first open water dives, or continuing on their diving education with Advanced, Rescue and Divemaster courses, we always enjoy diving with our guests. And now with Neil qualified as an SSI Instructor trainer we’re introducing new diving instructors into the dive industry. We want to give a big shout out to all our students and fun divers who have made this season an unforgettable one.

Underwater in October

We’ve had lots of spectacular dives this season. We were lucky enough to dive with a Whale Shark on a couple of occasions this year at Chumphon Pinnacle and South West Pinnacle . Even without the Whale Sharks both dive sites have been teaming with life this year with the huge Marbled Groupers, Schools of Chevron Barracuda, Bat Fish, Travellies as well as the sighting of King Mackerel hunting. We’ve loved diving at Lham Tien, the Red Rock Drop off and Green Rock for the amazing swim-throughs and turtle sightings. We’ve had a huge amount of turtle sights this year on dive sites such a Twins and White Rock. Diving with a turtle is always a lovely way to finish off an open water diving course. Our students and our fun divers have loved it.

News from the Dive School

Our new Dive School is up and running now. We’re going to be moving into the new reception during November and our instructors are already teaching in the new classrooms. It’s lovely to be in the new buildings. We hope you have all enjoyed diving with us this season and hopefully we’ll see you again soon. As always, the dive center remains open during the low season and we will be happy to accommodate you at Sairee Cottage Diving. Keep up to date with all our latest news and photos on our Facebook page.

Pictures

Here are some pictures of and from Sairee Cottage Diving in Koh Tao. There will be more pictures uploaded soon. For now, you can also find more albums and pictures on our facebook page. Many of the pictures have been taken during our diving courses, maybe you can find a picture of yourself here. If YOU have shot some cool pics on Koh Tao, no matter if underwater or on land; send them to us and we will be happy to publish them here with credit to you. If you would like to leave a comment about Sairee Cottage Diving Koh Tao, please sign our Guestbook, enjoy the pictures (click on the “View in Piclens” link to get a larger picture).

[View with PicLens]

Dive Trip – Sail Rock & Lham Tian

On the 5th of Sept Sairee Cottage Diving Koh Tao had a full day trip to Sail Rock on the program! The conditions for this diving adventure were perfect, the sea was flat and the sun was out. We set off at 7am ready to get some good diving in for the day. Chris was teaching an Open Water Diver and an Advanced Diver course with Rachel’s assistance. Tamara was leading fun divers while Alina, Barry and Laura got the chance to do some fun dives for a change. Trevor, Bear and Sarah got the opportunity to do some deco dives. The best tanning spots were soon nabbed on the journey out and everyone took the task of tanning very seriously!

The first dive at Sail Rock was brilliant. For those of you who don’t know Sail Rock yet; it’s simply one the very best dive sites in the Gulf of Thailand! Whale Sharks, Leopard Sharks and Reef Sharks are regular visitors here. There was a slight current but loads of underwater life. There were huge schools of Jacks, Chevron Barracuda, Spangled Emperor Fish and even some huge King Mackerel. We found the big Moray Ells and the Banded Coral Shrimp and even the Clown Anemone Shrimp.

As the current was picking up in the afternoon we decided to change our plans and head back to Lham Tian for our second dive so it was back to tanning on the top deck for most of us. The second dive at Lham Tian was amazing. We were the only dive boat there and we saw no other divers under the water which such a nice change. Everyone enjoyed squeezing in through the swim throughs, finding cool Nudi Branches and seeing lots of Angelfish, Banner Fish and Unicorn Fish. The visibility was amazing and there was absolutely no current which was a nice change from the first dive.

After chilling out on the boat for a bit, eating lunch and taking cheesy photos of us jumping off the boat we did our third dive at Ao Mao. Here we continued exploring the swim throughs along the coast line. On this dive most of the divers came across a group of Hump Head Parrot Fish which everyone was really excited about. Our boat boy found a turtle caught up in rope and fishing line and managed to free it. It only had a small scratch on its fin so we’re sure it’ll be fine. On the way back to Sairee we all chilled out together, compared sun burns (maybe the coconut tanning oil wasn’t the best idea!) and watched the sun set. It was the perfect end to an awesome full day diving trip. We can’t wait for the next one!