Blue Planet Divers, Koh Lanta - Diving & freediving Centre - Centre de plongee — Local services in Ko Lanta Yai

Blue Planet was highly recommended to me by both people online and divers from my home country. It’s sad for me that my experience with them ended so negatively. I contacted them 1 month before, knowing these are the busy months in Thailand, I wanted to make sure I reserved a place for my diving. Communication to simply make the reservation with them was very difficult. They wouldn’t answer my WhatsApp messages for many days at a time and I had to call and plead with the gentlemen to respond to me and to my confirm my reservation. The day before my diving, I confirmed pickup time with them and reminded them 3 times that I would be diving with nitrox. When I arrived the next morning, my dive guide and the boat crew had 0 knowledge of me ordering nitrox, and the boat departure was delayed due to them getting me nitrox tanks at the last minute. The dive team consists of an international group of dive instructor/guides from many countries, providing a fun and dynamic atmosphere on the boat. Along with the meals and snacks, they also provide electrolytes on the boat to stay hydrated, which is amazing. I booked and planned to do 3 days of diving with them, expecting them to go to different places in those 3 days, but to my surprise they decided that on the 3rd day they would be going back again to the same dive sites we did on day 1. This was very disappointing since they have 2 boats and there are more than enough places to dive around The Andaman Sea. I didn’t want to pay and use my whole day just to repeat the same dives as the first day, so I decided to only do 2 days of diving with them. On each boat trip, they have a “Boat Master” which is essentially a dive guide that is the manager/supervisor for the trip. Blue Planet takes safety and conservation very seriously which I applaud. They have a rule where every diver must surface with 50 bar minimum left in their tank and when you finish your dive the “boat master” goes from diver to diver checking their pressure gauges marking with a clipboard the data. For me this is a bit too extreme and gave off a feeling of unpleasantness. On day 1 during each dive I felt anxiety about possibly getting my dive guide in trouble if I end the dive with 40 or 30 bar rather than the 50 and this worry effected my ability to enjoy the diving. The boat master on day 1 was pretty relaxed about all this and he did a good job balancing out enforcing the rules with keeping a pleasant atmosphere. On Day 2 it was the opposite. The boat master was a young girl who I believe was Chinese. Our 2nd dive that day was very challenging with currents and swells in all directions and thermoclines. I finished the safety stop and surfaced with only 35 bar, and when she came to check my gauge she scolded me giving me a very uncomfortable look as she marked on her clipboard like I was a kid getting in trouble at school. After the 3rd and final dive of the day this same boat master was passing around a box with cookies and pastries for the divers. I took 1 cookies and 1 pastry, being hungry after the dive. A few minutes later I saw there was a few remaining and I went to take another one to which this Chinese girl the “boat master” grabbed ahold of my arm very strongly and yelled at me “No you already had 3” (I had 2). SHE PUT HER HANDS ON ME OVER A COOKIE! Never in my 7 years of diving did anyone ever have the audacity to physically grab me and put their hands on me and yell at me, over taking an extra snack! Due to me being sensitive to sea sickness, I barely ate for most of the day and simply finished that last dive very hungry. By physically grabbing me and yelling at me, that girl (the boat master) caused me to finish the day feeling degraded and disrespected. If I was the boat master and she was the customer and I did this to her the police would probably arrest me. I worked in tourism management positions for years. You NEVER physically put your hands on a customer, especially over a cookie. I hope the owners re evaluate this Chinese girl and her competence to...

French owner is impatient，uncomfortable feeling. The diving experience is Hard to say… …always in a rush. Lack mindful communication.

Just make a supplement: It’s not a right place to get certificate. If you don’t pass, no second chance(but Koh Tao has, fees already include and provide hotel). But Price here almost 9000b. Expensive not worthy. before you dive here, assess your previous experiences. shop owner don’t discuss this with you, only see money without considering your ability. So you need to take care of yourself if u decide to dive here. I learned swimming 2 weeks with coach and practiced on my own 1 month. Can’t believe shop owner here asked me to do free diving certificate in two days by only asking me if I can do duck dive, though the trainer just wanted me to try one day fun diving first(shop owner was unhappy with this). Misguided by the shop owner. I thought I can duck dive, but actually not skillful(swimming pool is only 2m, can’t do real duck). After all, I never dive into the sea before.

Trainer is not emotionally stable. Not right one to learn free diving. I don’t like man yell at me no matter what reason. I feel the trainer was angry that I didn’t carry my own diving basket, he said nothing. But atmosphere became weird since then as we never openly talk about this. This made me feel anxious and confused. If any work I need to do, it’s better that he kindly remind me. First time, I know nothing. Also, he didn’t teach me how to get into sea. Back or face? And any equalization problem and solution before diving. Isn’t it necessary to explain in detail?

First dive, I threw up. second dive, still didn’t feel well, so didn’t go, he only asked: u don’t dive? Like I’m doing something wrong. I just need time to recover. Back to shop. I didn’t know why he was angry again. Didn’t let me go to have some rest, but gave a paper to me: I can give u pool diver, then you are free!! I felt mentally exhausted, not because of throwing up, but the weird interaction all the time. Abusive. Need therapy. I’m peace maker and get used to be kind to the young as I was a university teacher. I’m wrong at this place. Just business. Waste...

Free Diving Instructor great! 2nd Dive Spot not appopriate...

Very good communication and promt emailing prior to our booking. They made our very short termed request possible! Thank you! The pick up that morning however was more than 30 minutes late and we were quite stressed running to our reception desk to have them call Blue Planet (nobody answered the phone) not knowing whether everything will work out. At the pier first of all Blue Planet apologised for the delay due to mixing up of taxis. But still we were rushed on board and had not enough time to try on the equipment properly (looking back I must add that the fins my boyfriend had gotten caused him wounds on his toes so that he wasn't able to go into the salty sea or join me on another snorkeling tour for the rest of our holiday - very bad luck). On the boat it took me some time to start to enjoy the trip because of this semi-good start. The crew was funny and the good mood was overwhelming. Our free diving instructor Oliver was great! He gave us a good feeling and we felt save about our premier free diving experience as he was such a calm and soothing person. We got just the right amount of theory and it was easy to follow his instructions in the water! At the first diving spot we practiced with the line and were a bit out in the blue so that we unfortunately didn't see any corals or fish. At the second dive spot we agreed on doing a fun dive and we were eager to see all the sealife we had missed due to our exercises at our first spot. Sadly enough we discovered that the second spot was what felt like out in the ocean since there were no shallow reefs, lots of waves and current. Reefs and fish were far too deep down so that we could not see a thing. Surely fine for divers but definitely not for beginner free divers or snorkelers (also 3 people in the group). Regarding sealife the trip was very disappointing which I already mentioned to Blue Planet in person. I hope that every customer will be taken into account in the future so that the trip will be worth every baht for everyone no matter which kind of activity chosen. Last but not least, thanks for the free...