Scuba Shack, Koh Tao PADI dive center — Local services in Ko Tao

What we only thought would be a quick stop on Koh Tao to give scuba diving a “try”, turned into getting our open water certifications, our advanced open water certifications and multiple fun dives with what I would say is the best dive shop we could’ve chosen on the island, for multiple reasons.

We met Mr. P on the ferry to Koh Tao who told us about Scuba Shack. I don’t normally like to trust the first person to try and “sell us something” but when I saw the amazing reviews for Scuba Shack I figured we should give it a try.

First of all the location is perfect, right in the middle of all of the action (great bars, restaurants, street food surrounding the shop). We stayed in their partner bungalows, Mama Ochai which is just a few steps down the beach from Scuba Shack, and only 500 baht per night with our open water course. They were extremely comfortable for the price, very clean, spacious and with very comfortable beds. We ended up staying there our entire stay.

As far as the dive shop goes...we were extremely impressed by the way the shop owner, Stephan runs his business. He hires only the best quality staff, and his team of instructors and dive masters feel like a big family, which we now feel apart of after only a week of being with them. The instructors also spoke very highly of working for Stephan and they way he treats his staff, which is something that pleases me to hear about a business I am giving my money to. He also treats his CUSTOMERS fairly which is extremely important. He won’t charge you for the full course up front...you only pay for the first day or two, and if you decide it’s not for you, you can stop there. Other dive shops charge you the entire amount up front, and if you decide not to finish the course, you do not get your money back. Stephan also hooked us up with some sweet gear for free for completing our courses, which I’m now rocking ALL OF THE TIME!

For the PADI course itself, our open water dive instructor, Valery, was amazing. He was excellent at clearly explaining things and extremely patient, especially with new divers like us. During the first two days I was definitely more nervous about diving, and he never rushed me through anything and took his time explaining things thoroughly. On our third dive something changed, my nerves went away and I saw why people fall in love with this sport. I truly thank Valery for getting me to that point!

We decided to continue on and get our advanced cert, which was taught by Jarek who I also adore. He is very calm underwater, kind and funny! So glad we got to dive with these two amazing instructors.

They also have dive masters and instructors that speak multiple languages...French, German, polish, Spanish, etc so you can have a course taught in your preference.

Overall, I can’t say enough good things about our experience with Scuba Shack. I truly feel a little piece of my heart missing having to leave Koh Tao...but I know I will definitely be back in the future. I will also recommend scuba shack to ANYONE I know coming to dive. You won’t be...

we were coming as a couple, went into the office because we were a bit overwhelmed by all the diving schools here. we came in and there was an Italian lady, I don’t remember her name, but she was lovely. gave us a lot of details, was very patient and in general very friendly. we decided to go with the school, my girlfriend with he open water, I wanted to do the advanced course a couple days later. we came in for the first session of the classroom and briefly before met the owner. I haven’t done many dives, so he suggested I might want to start with a fun dive or two to get me started before the Advanced course. I was first unsure because I felt ready but i was like yeah sure why not, he’s the expert. he then said he puts me on the afternoon boat. usually I’m more of a morning person so I was in my opinion just asking if it’s possible in the morning to get on a morning boat and after that ( I don’t know if it was bad timing with busy coursing started, etc.) he started harassing me, basically telling me my open water is unworthy and he should have put me on a refresher… I just felt that he was looking down at me and wanted to make my confidence down. This definitely didn’t feel like he was concerned for me and just wanted me to be save, this was for sure different. It almost seemed like he needed to text me down in order for him to feel better. I understand that diving is a dangerous sport, so in no way I was trying to put me or anyone else in danger but at no time he was even asking me how I feel, what I do in the course in order to maybe want to do fun dives first do dive back into diving, etc. As an add on Information, the morning boat is usually at the deeper and more difficult sites, that’s why he wanted me on the afternoon boat. That I totally understood, tho he couldn’t just say that, someone told me after. I would’ve been fine on the afternoon boat too, it was just a simple question. I don’t want to just leave a bad review, I mean this is a 5 star diving Center, just wanted to raise awareness that the owner for me personally to harsh and didn’t listen or really care in any way. My girlfriend decided not to the course either because we both just didn’t really feel good afterwards. he just stood straight on my confidence leaving me with a definitely concerned, unheard and not safe feeling, and just went into a classroom. After that we decided not to do the course, didn’t just want to leave tho so we told him and he acted surprised and was asking if it was because of him. I think he was scared we leave a bad review because he apologised but didn’t really understand when we said the vibe for us doesn’t feel right and we don’t feel supported. Cheers to the lady at the office, she made us feel welcomed and safe from the beginning. One point for the fact that he sent the e learning but without opening the email, he took it back. So not to scare you away from this diving school, just to be aware that things here might be handled without so much patience and...

I was approached on the boat by some guy handing out flyers and asking me questions if I’d like to try scuba diving in a school with a German boss (I’m German myself, that’s why he was going on about the German boss), of course they would drive me to the school from the pier for free and drop me off at my resort afterwards if I just listened to the boss for a few minutes.

In the office the boss Stefan divided all the people into English, German, Italian etc groups and explained the courses, what’s included, what you can expect to learn and see and all that without aggressively trying to push his courses onto us - he told us to take our time and thing about it in the resort afterwards they dropped us off there for free.

The Beginner Diving Course was by far the best thing I did in my 6 week of Thailand and I felt super save with my diving instructor. We got a group of four German people, had a short school session on what we’re going to do, how the diving and the gear works and what you need to watch out for in terms of safety.

On the diving spot our German diving instructor Dennis, who is arguably the most competent, calm and nice instructor on the island, made some tests and normal diving exercises in the water close to the beach to ensure safety before going to the actual dive.

In the actual two dives, Dennis always had us in his eyes, tried to show us the world under water and made sure we had a lot of fun. It was a stunning experience and the safety given through the instructors and the schools reputation added to this fabulous experience, the diving definitely caught my attention and I hope to pursue it even further - I might even come back to Koh Tao for more advanced courses.

But for now.. check the reviews, book the course you like the most, enjoy the fabulous experience and tip your guide Dennis for his outstanding instruction and guiding performance - you won’t regret it (unless you hate water,...