Re:
From jason Thanks for all info!
Re: Thailnad questions
Hi ,
Hopefull the info below will help:-
Ban's! the largest dive operator on Koh Tao I think, biggest and best facilities, but I find that they can't provide the personal touch as a result.
Be aware that there are minimum dive levels for the varoius courses that most dive shops stick to. Plan to do upto DM with one place then Shop around for the IDC and IE.
I used LV Dive - for a number of reasons, they are smaller and are there fore mor personal, rarely conducting calsses of more than 6 at the OW and AOW levels and getting smaller, ususaly 1 or 2 at the MFA, Rescue and DM levels. They have a good boat which is simple and never overcrowded. They operate the boat from the Mae Hat port/village which is better/easier than from the Siree beach (DM skills). You will get a discount by doing the lot with/through them and accommodation will be cheaper.
Accomodation - I have stayed in the same area over the years for good reason -there is an outcrop of land between the village Mae Hat and the main Siree beach, if you take the old road/track from Mae Hat it is about 10 mins walk, up a steep but short hill then it sort of flattens out, walk for 5 mins more and on your right is LV Dive, opposite side of the track the owner of LV has his bar and accommodatin Called Tommy's, 50 yrds on you have the View Cliff accomodation, which is where I stay, walk 100 yards further and you go down a steep but short hill and are then on Siree beach which streaches for about a mile with restaurants, cafes, bars, accommodation and Dive shops all along it. I would highly recommend either Tommy's or View Cliff to stay at as they have a good range off accom, from the very cheep to the moderate ie, 300bht / night to 600bht / night. because you are staying longer you must barter for discount whatever level you settle on. I know that View Cliff have monthly rates of 6000bht and 12000bht respectfully, but you will be staying longer - negociate hard! You can also get some basic accom for as little as 3000bht per month elseware on the island but you will then HAVE to hire a motorbike about 3000bht / month - ask Clous and Gary at LV Dive for more info.
Visas - When you enter Thailand you will get a 60 day visa, but you must have an exit flight! get around this by buying a flight from Phukett to Penang and getting it refunded in Bangkok once you are in (an adimn fee is charged approx £10) this means that you will have an outbound ticket to show them and you are free to get either a one way ticket or a return that is for longer thatn the 60 days. Once there youwill need to get your visa renewed, 2 options - 1 - pay someone like Mr J (you'll find out) to take your passport and get it stamped -you dont have to leave the island, it costs around 1500bht and you must get copies of the relavant pages before you let you passport out of your sight (you should do this before you leave this country anyway option 2 - do a visa run yourself, quickest is a boat to Chumpon 300bht, bus to Ranong >100bht, stay over night in the Tanatwan Palacein Ranong and ask the owner 'Wiliwan' to tell you the cheapest way to cross the border to Myanmar for the day, back to Chumpon, overnight ready for the 7 am ferry to Koh Tao. Works out mutch the same in cost but you get to see some more of Thailand, Ranong is a great town almost no tourists and very cheap.
Not sure that you're expectaions to work will be met, it will depend on how busy the ilsand and therefore the dive shops are. A DM working in LV Dvie may earn 18 - 20,000 bht / month.
My recomendation - Dive with LV, Stay at View Clif, do the visa run yourself, and dive till you drop (I to am pushing the big 40)
Enjoy and let me know if I can help with anything else, I'm off to Bangkok in March and desperatly trying to make time to get to the turtle.
Jason