In the past few months the world has turned upside down and for many of us, all the adventurous travel plans we had made for 2020 have been put on hold for the time being. While there are still strict travel restrictions in place in many destinations around the world, a lot of countries are slowly (baby steps!) lifting some of their regulations and at least this allows us to start dreaming about our next diving holiday again.
Holidays on Koh Tao after the global lockdown
You’re itching to get back in the water? We hear you! This blog post is a collection of all the questions we have received from our guests – new divers as well as returning guests – and is meant to give you a guideline for planning your diving holiday in the second half of this year.
1. I would love to book some dives with you! Are you open?
Yes, absolutely! We currently run our dives and courses on an ad hoc basis which means ultimate flexibility for you! With two boats, our medium-sized MD boat and our smaller-sized longtail, we can easily get you to the nicest dive sites around the island.
Our group sizes are extremely small at the moment (with a maximum ratio of 1 Divemaster or Instructor to 2 divers) and this allows for an even more personalised schedule for your dives with us!
2. I am ready to book my diving course, but I’m not quite sure if my travel plans will work out. What happens with my deposit in case I have to postpone my trip?
We use your deposit payment as a guarantee that you are coming, as a part-payment of your digital materials (which means you can start studying already) and in some cases even to secure your accommodation for you.
We fully appreciate that all travel plans have to be a lot more flexible at the moment and if your trip is postponed by a few weeks, or even months, we will happily hold your deposit for you. In fact you can actually use it against any spending with us, so for example if you book for fun dives, but actually decide you would much rather take a training course with us, we will simply adjust your booking for you.
3. I can’t wait any longer and want to start with my diving experience now! Can you help?
Absolutely, yes! Together with our experienced team we have created a digital classroom and the best news is we are not charging anything extra for your online training! In the instructor-led online training you will be attending a digital classroom with your Instructor and can easily complete the entire academic portion of your diving course from the comfort of your own sofa. Let us know which time zone you are in and we will arrange a time that works best and the best thing is that you can study completely at your own pace!
Once you finally get to Koh Tao we include a quick free refresher session for you to make sure you still remember everything and that’s it. Now you can spend the rest of your holidays under water!
4. I would normally travel to more than one place, because I like to do other activities during my holidays! Is there anything to do on Koh Tao other than diving?
Because travelling is a little bit more restricted these days, you will probably want to minimise the number of destinations. Koh Tao has got a great mixture of fantastic diving, outdoor adventures, relaxed beach side cafés and an incredible foodie scene compressed into just 21 km2. There is everything you need for your dream holiday!
You might want to check these links out for some more inspiration:
5. This sounds amazing and I want to come now! When will the borders be open again?
At the moment all borders are still closed until the end of June. At the time when this blog post was published (11th of June 2020) there has been no official statement about what happens after that, although there is talk of borders opening with restrictions as early as July or August.
That is the reason why we strongly recommend planning your trip together with an experienced local partner. We will make sure to be in touch with you on a regular basis before, during and after the booking process and will certainly keep you updated as soon as we hear any updates on the travel situation in Thailand.
6. I am in Thailand already. Can I come to Koh Tao?
Yes, absolutely! There are daily connections from Bangkok and you can choose between a domestic flight (plus ferry) via Surat Thani or Koh Samui or you can take the bus & ferry connection via Chumphon. Because the seats on the ferries are a limited at the moment, we recommend to book your connection in advance.
If you do get stuck with any of these options, the night ferries from Chumphon or Surat Thani might be a good alternative for you!
7. What are the procedures once I arrive on Koh Tao?
At this stage – and please be aware that the procedures might change in the future – all travellers arriving on Koh Tao will have to be registered through the Koh Tao screening centre. The screening centre has been doing an amazing job so far: Up until today not one person has been tested positive for COVID-19 on Koh Tao!!!
As long as you are healthy, you will not have to go into quarantine upon entering Koh Tao. If you have been travelling from a so called ‘high risk area’ (like Bangkok for example) your hotel or guest house will be take your temperature once a day and keep a record for you. When you enter local shops, restaurants or dive centres on the island, you will usually be asked to wear a face mask, disinfect your hands and a member of staff may take your temperature again.
Forgot to wear your mask? You might be stopped by the police and be asked to do some push ups as punishment! (Skip to 0:25 to see what we’re talking about…)
8. How does diving and social distancing work?
If you haven’t done so yet, we recommend checking our blog post about ‘COVID-19 and diving’ which we published back in March 2020.
We are encouraging our customers to wear face masks whenever a safe distance can’t be guaranteed and we provide hand sanitizer in our public areas. Group sizes are extremely small which allows us to spread out on the boats. Because we do not want our customers to share drinking cups on the boat, we encourage you to take a reusable water bottle with you and there will be an ice bucket to keep your water nice and cold for the surface interval.
During the pre-dive buddy checks and also some skills of the PADI Open Water course you would usually have to share your alternate air source with your dive buddy. Don’t worry, if your dive buddy is not someone who you are close with, there are alternative ways to practice these skills and still making sure that you are having a safe diving experience.
9. How do you make sure sharing the dive gear is safe?
You will get your very own set of rental equipment for the entire duration of your stay with us. Each equipment item will be signed out specifically for you and while you are diving with us, no other diver will use any of your rental gear.
Once you are done with your dives one of our staff members will thoroughly disinfect your entire set of equipment before it goes back into rotation for the next guest.
10. I had a fantastic holiday to Koh Tao in the past and will come back at some point in the future! What’s next?
First of all thanks for reading this blog post until the very end! If you want to help us (and many other businesses on the island) the best thing you can do is talk with your families, friends, colleagues, neighbours and everyone else about the wonderful time you had with Master Divers.
You can review your stay with us online and follow us through our social media channels! Share your favourite travel moments and pictures on Facebook, Instagram , etc. and then most importantly, let’s start planning your next diving adventure today!
Did we miss a point? Please let us know in the comment section if there is any additional information that you would find helpful for your travel planning.
Disclaimer: This blog post was published on the 11th of June 2020. If you have any questions on up to date travel information, we recommend getting in touch with us directly.
