As I do not like to live on Sairee myself I chose Buddha View / Asia
Divers (same owners)

Buddha for my DM,
Plus points; very good group dynamics (the restraunt is where every one
meets in the evening, Students, DMT's, instructors), Thr barbeque in the
evening is wonderful value and choice.

Buddha View IDC - Asia Divers for my MSDT
Plus points; 30 seconds from the pier (no taxi needed!!), great manager.

I did consider Bans but having talked to a number of people who have had
tryed both the general view was that Buddha had an edge in the
profesional courses and that was without considering the IDC Centre

You will be happy with either Bans or Buddha and to get the most from
the course, take as much time as you can (there is no limit on time and
dives and no extra cost to the dive school I did 130 dives in 8 weeks!!)

'Big Blue' was one of the first dive operators on Koh Tao and one of the
better ones, and the first I dived with almost 15 years ago. At that
time a man named Kevin Garvey was managing the shop.

Kevin later left and started up his own place; 'Scuba Junction' on
Sairee Beach. It is also one of the better dive shops for both new
divers and experienced hands. Although his boat is smaller than Ban's,
Scuba Junction will allow expericened divers to dive their computer
profiles without regard for time, (where as Ban's runs 45 minute dives
to maintain a 4-5 dives a day schedule.) This is a nice feature for
those who don't suck up all their air in the first 15 minutes of a deep
dive.

Steve Kramer
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Five years, one month, one week, two days, 16 hours, 6 minutes and 7
seconds. 56000 cigarettes not smoked, saving $14,000.03. Life used for a
better purpose: 27 weeks, 5 days, 10 hours, 40 minutes.