Hi, 

I was diving with the Crystal Dive Center some years ago, they were just a few minutes walk north of the ferry arrival point, so central location. Good diving experience, good instructors (I took the AOW at the time)! They offer accomodation but the standard of the bungalows was not very high so I would not recommend to stay there, but there's plenty of hotels/bungalows around.

You might  want to check their review on tripadvisor.

Enjoy!

Thanks so much! Will check it out

Hi there, I'm from Thailand myself and did a 3-day live-abroad diving trip around Koh Tao once a couple of years back. When do you plan to go? Recommend to go before mid-May (at the latest) before the rainy season begins (and it rains cats and dogs during the rainy season, especially in the southern part of the country where Koh Tao is located). The island is famous for scuba diving learning...so if you are a beginner diver or thinking of taking a diving lesson, it is probably a good place. However, if you are a seasoned diver and looking for something more than just clown fish, anemone and a possibility to spot a whale shark (not 100% guarantee that you will see it), I'd suggest you go further south, eg Surin or Similan archipelago. 

Re: accommodation on Koh Tao, there are plenty of options depending on your budget. You may want to check out the Thai Tourism Authority website http://www.tourismthailand.org/ or TripAdvisor is also a good start.

Hi!

I went with Easy Divers back in october 2007, completing both my open water and advanced openwater PADI certification, the package i got at the time covered accomodation, although like Lebenja says, the 'huts' on the beach sound great at first but are really, really basic. we ended up upgrading for the little extra into the air conditioned rooms which were literally just off the beach, rather than 'on' the actual beach. As far as i remember, they were the only ones who offer an accomodation and diving package together, but im not sure if thats changed. the instructors were great and they never have more than 6 people in a group :)

I hope you have a wonderful time, if you get a chance to do the sunrise shark dive, thats pretty spectacular, and mango bay made me think of a disney scene. 

Have lots of fun!

P.S. a word of advice, try not to rent bikes in Koh Tao, its renown for money scams where they will take your money and not give you a receipt, then charge you again, or make some story up about there being scratches when they were already there. i didnt rent one myself but a couple who was doing the dive with us ended up having so many problems. Avoid if you can. 

We will be travelling through Thailand for about a month in July. We will start off by visiting the North, for tigers, elephants and hill tribes, and then work our way down to islands. We were told that it is more western islands that have rough weather in July and that going east, where Koh Tao is, should actually be good for diving and snorkeling. This is really important to us cause our kids are only 9 and 10... And we want them to have a good first experience :)

We were initially finding it difficult to find a good diving company that also provides a decent accommodation... Thanks for your help

Hi,

Been there in in 2006. Phoenix divers was a good school, on the beach with a small boat, would be good for families. definitely avoid BAN divers.

Phoenix do accomodation for you, but it's not their rooms, however that does give you more choice.

http://www.phoenixdiverskohtao.com/index.php

Kao Tao has excellant diving and snorkelling. No real need to dive there. Kao Phi Phi and Krabi are also good. Avoid Kao Samoui for diving.

Thanks for the info. There are apparently over 50 diving companies on Koh Tao now, you bet it changed :)