Crystal Dive Resort Reviews

Best place to learn to dive. Staff, sea, parties, the works. One of the best weeks of my life spent here. Thank you guys

Our best decision was to start diving and get in touch with the most wonderful hobby on earth. Our second best decision was Crystal Dive. Nice people, professionally organized and very peaceful. Rooms were nice and clean, too. It was a pleasure being tought by you. We ll be back soon!

We did our first freediving lessons here. Jason was a great, patient instructor who helped us learn the basics of freediving. Even though we couldn t reach the 10m from the first time, Jason was always flexible and adaptive to our needs and speed. The equipment was given to us. All in all, we had a great time and hopefully we will see each other again!

I did my OWD and AOWD here and even we started with bad weather (due to Pabuk) in pool it was great fun! Our instructor Hana did a great job and always explained the following steps including safety hints and repetition. I m not a mermaid but she was very patient.

The boats were sometimes quiet full, but in OWD our group size was 2 (plus Hana and dive master), in AOWD it was 4 (plus 2 instructors, also thanks to Adara) so it was perfect.

We definitely will come back to Koh Tao again for some fun dives at Crystal!

Just completed my Open Water with Martin. He was an amazing instructor, he made sure everyone was understanding everything that was going on. I asked a lot of questions, he answered them all the time. I highly recommend asking him to be your Instructor, you will not be let down I promise you. We are staying in their hotel as well, super close to the ferry + walkable to other parts of the island. We ended up taking our advanced with him as well!

Before arriving on Koh Tao I emailed with Crystal Dive to find out whether it was possible to divert from the normal Open Water Course-schedule, because my wife and I wanted to take turns diving (as we have kids). I got a very fast reply More

Was a bit skeptical of learning to dive in Thailand given the slight reputation of being a "diver factory" but couldn't have been proved more wrong. Everyone I dealt with at Crystal was really nice and helpful, and our instructor, Benno, couldn't have been better. I enjoyed it so much I will definitely be doing my advanced, and possibly even further!

We also returned for a fun dive a couple of days later with another divemaster, Alf, who was also brilliant.

Thanks to everyone at Crystal.

An excellent diving center and professional training center for divers. I just finished the course to become an instructor (IDC) and with the support of all the members and the structure of the program, everyone was more than ready for the exams. Thank you very much !!

Back to my Roots.......PADI Staff Instructor!!
Many years ago i arrived on the beautiful island of Koh Tao and planned to complete my PADI Open Water Course through to DiveMaster. I was going to go down a route that many people nowadays are choosing to do.....a change in career & life. The training lived up to the high reputation that Crystal has and after 6 months of working as a Dive Master and seeing the Instructional program going on, i was left with only one choice..... to become a PADI Instructor. The course was conducted by Course Director Matt Bolton and the IDC program that he ran was above and beyond what me and the fellow candidates were expecting. The instruction & guidance throughout really made me into the instructor i am today.
Now, 6 years down the line & again as many Dive professionals choose to do, i wanted to further my journey with PADI and work towards Master Instructor. Upon returning back to Koh Tao i messaged Matt and we scheduled a meeting where we could sit down and really work out which direction i am heading and therefore what i would need to assist me along the way. With the great memories of my training before and after this meeting it was clear that Crystal, Matt & the team would be best for me to do what i intend to achieve.
So after the decision had been made and Matt's evaluation of our skills in the pool we were good to go to get ready for the IDC in November. It was nice to be back in the classroom and now moving into the realm of Instructing the soon to be Instructors of tomorrow. It was apparent that even with the years i had spent away the standard is still just as amazing as i remembered, with a new dive school layout, huge equipment room and incredible new massive pool that is used for all courses.
In my time away from the island i have worked on Yachts and seen a lot of the world and can honestly say you wont find a place like here...I will be Staffing the next 2 IDC's to gain my PADI Master Instructor rating and strongly encourage anyone intending to become a PADI professional of any level to look no further than right here......

I recently joined Crystal Dive Resort on one of their career break programs, and I have to say it was one of the most amazing experiences i have have ever had. The atmosphere was great. the training was very professional and the boss Matt even sorted me out with a job at the end of all my training. If you are looking to do something truly great, if you are bored with what you are doing or are looking for a new career i recommend Crystal Dive Resort. Just do it!!!!

I just finished my open water and open water advanced courses. They were both expertly taught by Torben (with some excellent assistance from Martin and Line). If you want to be a PADI certified diver I cannot recommend this place enough. The free accommodations, when taking a course, leave a bit to be desired. But hey, they're free and they are close so you can make the 7 am boat.

I'm just doing the open Water Course and first of all, I've got to say the classes are great! We are 6 people with one instructor and he is very nice and speaks good German! Today we had two dives at Japanese garden which was great as well.
The rooms however are not good at all! In front of our room it smells really bad, the fan is partly broken (it's stuck in one position and doesn't go full speed), 3 of 5 power sockets are broken, there are blood stains on the bed sheet and the mattresses are really old and rusty!
I really expected a lot more from such a diving school...
Additionally, they try to drive you into doing costly things, just like you being filmed, which is cool, but with 1500 Baht/Person a lot of money for backpackers and them trying to persuade you of doing the advanced course is quite annoying as well.

Very nice staff, helping and caring. Good experience

We were super happy with how s our week with Crystal Dive went. The team are super welcoming and relaxed and the equipment is always checked and cleaned. We had a great dive instructor who was freelancing there, she really made us feel safe and secure and in the end we felt so knowledgeable on the dives there was no room for fear! We did our open water course and liked it so much we stayed two extra nights to complete our advanced open water dive too. No problems with staying at all. The bungalow we had was right on the beach front and although there was no hot water, it didn t matter so much as the climate was ideal. The only downside was that sometimes the boat taking the divers out was late and we had to change Dive sites last minute which meant we visited the same dive sites a few times and missed out on some cooler planned sites. But we had a great time and fell in love with diving and would definitely recommend Crystal as a great place to really learn how to dive!

The best diving school in Koh Tao. Professional, friendly and fair. The best instructors. Unreserved recommendation for everyone who wants to learn to dive (I did my Advanced Open Water Diver here)

So we came to Thailand with the hope of obtaining our PADI Open Water qualifications, but we never anticipated that diving with Crystal would become the undisputed highlight of our holiday.

Our instructors, namely Dirk, Christina, Youri and Bo, are some of the most passionate and friendly individuals we have had the pleasure of meeting during our travels - and I have no doubt that extends to the rest of the Crystal Team. Their love of diving extends way beyond teaching the basics to their students, and we found ourselves spending entire evenings in the bar with our instructors discussing diving over a few beers.

We achieved our Open Water qualifications with ease and confidence under the wings of Dirk and and Christina and did not want to leave Koh Tao. We promptly rescheduled our holiday plans to return to the island the following week so spend some more time with Crystal and to complete our Advanced Open Water level with Youri and Bo.

If you have any diving-related holiday plans, and even if you don't - go and visit Crystal Dive Centre and allow them to walk you through the beautiful, tropical waters of the Gulf of Thailand.

Stayed here for four days.
Convenient location of the resort, near the pier, on the shore, well-groomed area, did not use the pool, reasonable prices)
Friendly staff, cleaning the house, at the first request, changing towels, bedding, hot water, with good pressure

Had a great experience today our guide was amazing thankyou Corinna! We look forward to coming back next year to do our open water scuba course!

Had a great day out fun diving yesterday with instructor Bo. Can't speak highly enough of the staff & facilities that gave us a great experience, thank you!

A very big dive center with lots of people and lots of instructors. I finally only tested the refresh in an extremely chlorinated pool, but with a very kind instructor. I can not give my opinion on what the center is worth at the diving level at sea, I took a small family club finally.

Just back in Belgium, but the time at Crystal diving on Koh tao was a top time and a top diving school, the Advanced open water done and certified, thanks to a top instructor Mira who brings you to rest and who is very patient
@ Mira thank you so much for guiding us and giving us a lot more confidence under water; thanks for the great time you gave us
we will definitely be back next year
Rik & Olena

I had such an amazing experience with this diving school, great people and instructors! Thank you to Youri for your patience and expertise! Great job!

I have had a horrible experience with Crystal Dive center. After the first day of the course which was theoretical class only, I got sick, went to the hospital and was advised by the doctor to not dive in my condition. Crystal Dive center did not agree to give me a refund even though I've had a medical certification that approves my condition ,not even half or third of the money. Their explanation was that once you start a course, no refund will be given, as a backpacker, needless to say that I am traveling with a low budget, this 9800 Thai bhat that I've just thrown out of the window is alot for me. This whole experience has left me depressed. It feels like they count on the fact that most of their clients are tourists and not locals, so they act accordingly. They gave me some paper that says that I've learnt the theoretical material so I would not have to do it again in other course of PADI, but it is pointless because no one says that other diving school would agree to give me a discount, there is no indication for other businesses to give a discount for people that had started course in some other place. I am truly very sorry to write such a bad review on a business, it is just how I feel and I believe that I need to share my experience with future clients of this place. Thats all.

I just did my open water course, June 14th. There were three of us doing it, the instructor and two trainee instructors! Likely not a normal set up but we got good treatment. Four dives and the swimming pool section done. My favourite dive area was the junkyard, an area Crystal created themselves by singing a variety of things to create a dive site. Kinda like a mini wreck! The rooms included in packages are decent, fan cooled and quiet at night.

The number one choice learning diving on Koh Tao. I learnt my diving from OW all the way to DM here. You will do a lot more yourself and do you learn more real stuff yourself. They have multilingual stuff to help you if you don t speak English well and wish to learn scuba diving in other language. Just follow the instructors and those nice DM and enjoy the undersea world.

Very good, teaching is very strict, those who want to get a certificate after paying in China should not come

Great PADI center to learn from! There are a lot of dive schools on the island, but I m very glad I chose this one. I did my open water and advanced with Hana Cho and she was a fantastic instructor, she kept it fun but was also very thorough in her teaching. I would highly recommend this place and Hana to anyone going to the island and wants to learn how to dive!

Good place to stay, nice room, convenience location.
Special thanks to and teaching.

I give the courses a 5 and the accommodation a 3 (hence the 4). I took Advanced Open Water and stuck around to do some fun dives. Big Rich was my instructor and I felt that I was in good hands. The culture of Crystal is kind of a big family, with mostly expats from all over the world. This is one of the bigger dive centers on Koh Tao and there are lots of people hanging out together before and after diving. You meet in the bar area before you head to get your gear, and then hang out at the bar when you get back. The location is really convenient because it's walkable from the ferry and walkable to food in Mae Haad. It also means that loading to the dive boats is super easy (walking to that same ferry dock) in comparison to the dive centers on Sairee beach. If you're traveling solo, having a dive center with a social feel is great. You are diving on boats with up to 20+ other divers, but you're always with a small group per Dive Master, so you know you've got a good ratio and an experienced person keeping an eye on you even for fun dives. On the accommodation, a fan room is included with the course, which is great and makes it convenient and a good deal. I had bungalow A1 which has an amazing view right on the beach. But you need to know the room is BASIC. The only furniture is a bed and a chair. You need to know that going in. There is also a fan, which in my bungalow was kind of weak. The windows in A1 don't all have screens so if it's a hot day you end up debating mosquitos (all windows open) or high heat (with some windows closed). The bathrooms don't come with toilet paper (Thai people use the little hose thing), so you have to be ready to do that or buy some. The shower is part of the bathroom and unfortunately the location of the drain in A1 meant that water gathered on the floor and didn't drain out well. That said, I still enjoyed my stay at Crystal and would recommend it. I met some cool people, upped my scuba skills and got to see a whale shark!!

The quality of the submersible coach and the Resort environment are excellent! The best choice to learn diving

Amazing Experience at Crystal Dive ! They are really professional and the atmosphere is amazing :) Thank You Mira for evrything you are an amazing instructor ! Keep it going !

Crystal Dive - Excellent diving school! Got my PADI Open Water Diver certificate there. The whole team is super nice and especially my diving instructor Dirk you can clearly see the enthusiasm for diving and the underwater world!
I was very well trained and prepared there and I always felt safe underwater.
The course also included accommodation in one of the bungalows, which was clean and had a comfortable bed.
All in all, it was a very pleasant atmosphere and it was a lot of fun to get my diving license with Crystal.

I completed my Divemaster at Crystal Dive. Kieran Hooley and Youri Koyen conducted the course in such a fun and professional way, I couldn't have asked for a better experience. So many great memories, Thanks guys!!

My 8 year old daughter had been so excited about coming to do Bubblemaker on Koh Tao and she had the best time at Crystal. Her instructor was fab and made it fun and simple. She loved the pool day and was even more excited at getting a chance to do it again in the sea. Everyone at the dive centre was so helpful and looked after the whole family really well and my daughter especially, allowing me to really relax while out on the boat for diving. The post-dive atmosphere around the bar area is great too, can't recommend them enough

I completed my Advanced Open Water Diver here and did several fun dives. Very competent and nice instructors (Thanks, Oli!) And Dive Master. There is a lot of emphasis on safety and the equipment was in good condition. Although Crystal is a large diving school (and the boats are sometimes very crowded), the individual groups were never too big.

The diving course included two nights in the Thai-style bungalow. This is definitely a good deal for backpackers on a budget. If you want a higher standard or spend more, I would recommend another place to stay.

What can be improved: When I was on Koh Tao, Crystal unfortunately had problems with credit card payments and Paypal. I therefore recommend to bring the amount for the course in cash.
Likewise, I could not choose underwater photography as a specialty because I did not have my own camera. Here a reference to the homepage would have been good, or the possibility to rent a camera (possibly for a fee).

Both the place and the instructors are great. I did the advanced open water and now I am going to do wreck spec and nitrox. I have had so much fun that I am considering to do the divemaster here.

I went through the open water course with my girlfriend and we had an amazing time!! You leave feeling well prepared to dive anywhere else. Our instructor was Martin Croot, the guy is a beauty! He made the course extremely fun and he made us feel like a team. I highly recommend doing the open water course, specially if you can get on board with Martin!

With my boyfriend we did the diving course with Kira. The experience was incredible !!! So much so that we decided to take the advanced course with her. Always aware of everyone, kind, friendly, funny ... it shows that he loves teaching to dive. If you want to do the PADI course, do it with her! 120% recommended.

I had a great time during my open water course. Youri is a great instructor, and very knowledgeable.

I just completed my Padi Open Water Course with Crystal Dive and I really want to thank my amazing instructor Zuzana! Zuzana made me feel safe at all times (even when I didn t feel very confident) as well as making the course fun. I was very lucky because there were no other students on my course so I had a 1-1 experience and completed the course within 2 and a half days instead of the usual 3 and a half days. I saw lots of beautiful tropical fish including blue ringed angel fish, blue spotted ribbon tail ray and clown fish (aka nemo!). Big thanks to Fred for also guiding me and Norbu for your words of encouragement. If you re heading to Koh Tao for diving, I definitely recommend Crystal Dive.

Just did my divemaster course with crystal dive. Had an amazing time and so much fun had Kieran hooley and youri koyen train us they where both inspiring and very skilfully in how they ran the course i learnt so much from them both.
All staff at crystal dive are all amazing and fun people.
I highly recommend this dive center for any course and fun diving they have so much to offer thank u so much for this and the great service and memories

Definitely a good option for a fun dive. Friendly staff and all round good banter. Cheers Tyler!

What a wonderful place! One can interact with so many fellow divers and professionals because of a short proximity to other dive related areas, also accommodation was excellent with no bad reviews from my part. My instructors Youri and Anthony were excellent! They were motivating and very knowledgeable people. I'll surely be back to blow more bubbles! :)

I went to Crystal Dive on the advice of a friend and it was the best thing I did. I did my Rescue dive course with an Australian instructor by the name of Mel. She was very professional and stuck to the standards like glue making the group feel at ease in difficult times in the course, the two DMT's that were assisting were well briefed and made the course fun and enjoyable. I had a real sense of achievement when I finished.
As I enjoyed the experience so much i signed up to do my Divemasters the following year and was not disappointed. The whole staff team from trainees to management made me feel part of Crystal Dive throughout the 3 months I was there. Would highly recommend Crystal to anyone who is planning on coming to Koh Tao to Scuba dive. Small groups and a great atmosphere.

After researching the myriad of potential diving shops on Koh Tao I chose Crystal Dive as its reputation as one of the larger and longest running and I'm so glad I did. Our Dive Instructor 'Big Rich' was not only friendly and hilarious but he made us all feel confident and safe as a team. He along with trainee 'Scuba Steve' made the whole experience a truly unforgettable one. Cannot reccomend enough. I will definetly return to Koh Tao and I'll be heading Crystal Dive for further PADI courses.

The team were fantastic at explaining things! A whole range of instructors all from different areas of the world speaking all different languages! Brilliant instructors and wonderful people! Will 100% come back and do some more diving!

Did my advanced and girlfriend did her open water. Beautiful setting and the instructors are very good.

I had a great experience here completing my Padi open water divers course. My group got paired up with Dav and he was a brilliant instructor to learn under. On our final dive we had Victor come along with us and he made an amazing video of us completing our open water course. Chris was also a great guy to hang around with on shore. Would highly recommend this place!

We did our first freedive course in crystal, the airconn room is good, the course is nice packed,Thanks our instructors Jason, although we haven t made it 10 m at the end, but he always encouraged me and let me relax. Thanks again.

Great experience for my PADI Open water with Mira and Zhu as instructor ! Feel super safe and prepared for diving ! Thanks

Took my freediving course with a big group of friends. Jason was our instructor and he was great! I felt without Jason s patience and encouragement, I would have struggled to pass the course. His approach to instructing was fun, challenging and safe :)

My other feedback to Crystal Dive was their website being unclear on accommodation being included in course. I let them know and I m assuming this has been fixed.

Had the best experience ever learning to scuba dive and doing my PADI open water with Crystal off this beautiful island. A great company all round from diving side to the retail shop who were so helpful in fixing my snorkel mask. My instructors Dirk and Freddy were amazing from the start. Despite my initial worrys about diving they put me straight at ease; were patient, thourough and really knowledgeable teachers. A big thanks to my dive buddy Laura who helped make it an experience I'll never forget Would certainly recommend Crystal

Whe had an amazing experience during our OWD and AOW courses! Even though the visibility wasn t the best (2m), due to the recent storm, we felt comfortable diving. Safety and good habits come first. I really appreciated the constant repitition of all procedures (even the easiest ones, wich are forgotten quickly when under stress). We went with Hana and Adara who where always calm and patient and also a lot fun to be with! Thanks to you guys and keep going like this!

Also the gear was in very good condition!
Crystal provides you with everything you need for diving safely and enjoyable!
The 3 Boats are right on the pier.

Amazing! Beard, the instructor, got som mad underwater skills.

Had super amazing diving courses with Bo at Crystal! Headed to Koh Tao to get my open water and had so much fun I ended up doing my advanced course as well! Bo was super attentive and I felt so well even though I was an absolute beginner. Bo managed to really make the course fun while also being professional and making sure we were learning everything we needed to be excellent divers! If you're thinking of diving in Koh Tao then do it and definitely go for Crystal!

2008-12-12 - We took our open water certificates here and it was a great experience. While getting the certificate you will have great dives at the same time.

We payed for the course in Bangkok and the man just wanted to sell it so he said it was in Spanish (our language). When we went there we realised that it was in English but they, without being their fault, managed it very well and the same afternoon we were doing the first class in Spanish. We were so lucky to have Antoni Santiago as instructor. He was super professional and friendly. We had such a good time and we learnt a lot from him. If you had the chance to have him as an instrouctor, you won't regret it.

A fantastic example of what a good dive shop looks like.

Extrem good service. Very friendly staff. Awesome Divemaster 'the Beard'. Tomorrow again and again and again...

As I just finished my open water diver course with Crystal Dive, I'm more than happy to wholeheartedly recommended them to everyone. We got great accommodation with AC, and my group was lucky enough to get Steve as an instructor, he truly gave the best of himself! If you happen to be in Koh Tao, don't miss your chance for this amazing experience.

Best dive center in Koh Tao ! I came for my Open water and I ended up doing my Advanced as well with 2 specs. All the instructors are so nice but Nina is the best <3 Go ninja team !!!

we had a great time doing our open water course at Crystal. The facilities are nice, equipments efficient and the vibe is really chilled! but the great difference is made by the people itself. Beard is a super knowledgeable and funny instructor, who gave us a great confidence! already planning to go back and do the advanced OW soon :)

We did the Discover Scuba Dive with Dirk and had a wonderful day! Unfortunately we could not stay longer, otherwise we would have attached the diving certificate. From our instructor we were very excited, a very sympathetic man who does his job with great pleasure and radiates a security that you can use on his first dive well. Top!

The best place to learn to dive in Thailand!! Lovely part of the world, fantastic and vastly experienced staff, great dive locations, great vibe. Really enjoyed it!

Great diving here although I wouldn't stay here unless it's free with a course!!
The staff are super helpful and friendly, the boats are slightly crowded but are perfectly functional. If you're not happy about something just go and speak to them, the management is fab!!

I came to Crystal on Nov 3rd 2016 as an Advanced Open Water diver and I m now leaving 4 months later as an Open Water Scuba Instructor!

The courses here are fantastic. The Dive Master course is designed around you so that you can complete it as quick as you want or as slow as you want. There was no pressure which was wonderful. I was able to do a few specialty courses whilst doing my Dive Master so I had a varied pattern which broke up the School side of things.

After I completed my Dive Master I went straight onto the IDC programme. It was an intense two weeks and we were given a huge amount of training in both water skills and knowledge development. We had a lot of support from all the staff during the IDC and it felt great knowing that they were there whenever we needed a chat or help. Due to all of this, they more than prepared us for the actual IE, and everyone passed with flying colours.

Depending on which package you choose, you can also get free diving for life! So, whilst you are completing your courses you are able to go fun diving whenever you want for free, and also after, bonus!

Crystal also has a great mix of young and older instructors; Dive Masters and Dive Master Candidates (I definitely fall into the older category!), so no matter your age you won t feel out of place on any of the courses.

Many thanks to Matt, Tina, Manu and the rest of Crystal (Too many to mention!!) for an outstanding time and I will most definitely be back!

This place is awesome ! There is teachers for each nationality ! There are flexible and adapte courses for your schedule ! Groups can be from 2 to 6 people ! Cheap and easy, if you do the open water course (4days), accomodation is free ! Clean bungalow with fan and A/C ! Staff friendly, and good localisation ! I recommend it!

Had the best two weeks doing my IDC with Andrea, Matt, Beard, Lauren, Pri and Burak. Pleased to say I'm a better diver, instructor and person for doing it. Cant wait for more diving adventures!!

diving was good. it is a big dive resort and the masses do the trick here. personally id recommend going to smaller dive shops so you have a chance to avoid the crowds and be more flexible in the schedule. few points id like to mention:

- first day there was no boat briefing
- in general my feeling was that the guides/instructors preferred hanging out with each other or sleeping than dealing with their customers. there was a short dive briefing and a very short debriefing but then they would go hang with their crystal crowd between and after dives. this is not bad but if you want some more attention u should go somewhere else.
- the boats are on a tight schedule and so are all the other big boats on ko tao. means wherever you go there will be other big boats meaning u will see a lot of divers down there. smaller shops can kind of go whenever they like and avoid the crowds

still, the diving was good and safe and if you dont have another possibility bc u wanna dive sail rock id def. recommend to dive here.

all the best :)

Great place to take any dive course! Super organized and want to make sure you are safe and prepared.

Done my Open Water and Advanced OW license with Crystal and I would highly recommend it.

Safe, friendly with good equipment and professional, helpful staff.
Yuri made my wife convinced for diving even she wasn't a huge fan of it.

Sail rock trip is a must if you have a chance!

BE CAREFUL IF YOU BOOK DIVING WITH THESE GUYS. On the beginning of the second day I started having asthma symptoms. I've never had this before and spoke to the instructors. They told me to continue and it will be fine. My shortness of breath got worse (later found out its brought on by high humidity and the oxygen in the tanks makes asthma worse. I have since seen a Dr and have an Inhaler now) then they kept me going in the course until I had an all out panic because I couldn't breath. Then they withdrew me and WON'T REFUND ANY OF MY MONEY. They didn't even refund the portion that they would send to PADI normally so they actually made more money on me than someone that would complete the course. TOTAL SCAMMERS.

I can t even put into words how amazing my time was at the crystal dive open water course! My boyfriend and I were blessed to have such an amazing instructor Martin! He made us feel welcome and at home. Martins passion for diving is what made the course perfect. With all of that passion he was able to incorporate education with fun... ahaha yes that really does exist! The whole time I felt safe and like I was in the best hands. We both agreed we couldn t have had a better teacher! Thank you so much for this life changing experience. Cheers mate!

The instructors are very good, especially Tiago Pinto, who lead our course on a very professional and attentive way. The equipments are new and on good quality. But I felt a little fooled by the "free room" policy. The free room was dirty, hot and full of ants so I had to pay extra money for a decent room

Just did my PADI open water dive course here just now finished on 19 October 2020

1. Customer service was extremely helpful! I couldn't ask for more. Since the day i was just looking around asking for everything they went fully helpful with all the information provided including about the dive activity, the boat ferries flight and all, they even keep checking on me from time to time about my travel plan to koh tao.

2. They partnered with Ananda Villa for providing stay which costed 800 thb for a single bungalow, and it was FREE during the course!! Just wonderful.

The reason for a 5-STAR Review:
1) The instructors: Kieran a.k.a Beard and Beks were awesome. They're friendly and knowledgeable professionals who teach not only on how to do things but also on why to do them.

2) The facility: Due to COVID they were sharing their facilities with another dive center (sharing equipment, dive boat etc.) but that did not affect their high quality, standards or safety.

3) The equipment: The equipment used by me was not exchanged with other divers for throughout the length of the course as a safety precaution from COVID.

Overall, I'm extremely happy and satisfied to take my first open water course here. It was a great experience, highly recommend it to my friends and family and probably will be back to continue my course someday. *finger crossed*

Would really reccomend this training facility. I just completed my instructor course here and had a great time. The facilities they have here are top notch and very well maintained. The staff in particular Andrea and Matt who were our course directors are dedicated and top level educators. They went over and above to make sure everyone felt comfortable with all the information and stayed back to help those who needed individual counseling. If your thinking of doing your Instructor Development Course you would be silly not to consider these guys!

Extremelly profesional and fun staff. Safety Is paramount for them.
Sea front with amazing sunset

I stayed at the Koh Tao Regal Resort (see my separate review for it) and went diving with Crystal several times over 3 weeks (note, I didn't stay at Crystal resort).

Outstanding staff, new diving equipment (older BCD's and equipment used for courses at the pool, I saw). They even have a decent restaurant (reasonably priced), good bar with great vibe by the dive shop. Perfect for those early morning boat trips.

Divers/guide ratio was great too, about 4:1. Most days I had my own guide or just another buddy and me, as I went in the low season. Great spotters, great guides, just great service. Everybody's so friendly there, even at night I would go back just to chat with the guides and other travelers as a solo traveler. Laid-back scene. Just love love love!

I also had the Crystal team videotape me on my last dive at stunning Chumpon Pinnacle and let me tell you: the marine life put on a show. I mean just wow. Look at the screenshots I took of the video. Their videographers are very talented too, so I highly recommend hiring them as well for at least one of your dives ( I personally recommend to film either Sail Rock trip or Chumpon like me).

I'm already thinking about coming back to do my Divemaster training, as you get free diving FOR LIFE once you do it with them because in their own words "once you dive and do a course with us, you're part of our family. We want our family to keep coming back."

In short, Crystal Dive is a reflection of the great vibe and atmosphere of Koh Tao that makes you want to come back for more. And more. I may even live there after my experience !

Thank you for all the wonderful times Manu, Jade, Kiwi, Rich, Matt, and DOC! 5 stars, definitely recommend.

Did our advanced here we were lucky enough to have Beard as our instructor, he really made the experience memorable and hilarious (also it was nice to see a fellow northerner out there). Great diving, small class sizes, and to top it off we saw a whale shark on our last day. Amazing!

The coach is very patient and provides multilingual coaches to meet your needs as much as possible.
There are many cats and dogs here, and neither coaches nor students or tourists care much about it, and they are afraid that cats and dogs need to be prepared mentally.

I love this place started with a discover scuber diving day and on the next day I started my open water course because I liked it so much! Part of why I liked it was the great staff there! Thanks to everyone there and a special thanks to my great instructor Andra! You did an amazing job! I enjoyed every second of my course
I will come back in a while to my advanced course here for sure

I booked a stay and Open Water PADI instruction with Crystal Dive and had a great experience. After very quick (last minute) Google search I picked this spot and glad I did. Aside from the fact that they do not accept credit or debit cards of any kind I have nothing bad to say about them.
The location is a short walk from the pier when you arrive. And conveniently located close to everything you'll need as far as stores, restaurants, as well as massage and tattoo joints if you are so inclined. I booked the cheapest room and it did the job. You will not be in the room much as is but know it will be quiet at night and steps from the beach. They also have an outdoor bar with a restaurant next door that will deliver your food to the bar.
As far as the scuba training goes. The training seemed kind of rushed but I am not complaining about that whatsoever. May feel rushed but completely thorough. I was fortunate enough to have Beard and Simon give my instructions and have me diving with the fish in no time. These guys are great and I'll definately be back for further instruction from them to advance my diving. I would have stayed longer and obtained further licensing if it was not for a motorbike accident.
Tip: Stay off of the motorbikes while taking scuba lessons. You do not want to end up as I did unable to go in the ocean for a month.
All in all great experience here. Accomplished something I've been wanting to do for awhile and beleive I have found my new career :)

After finishing ow + aow, the coaches are good. Thank Manu !

Fantastic experience, fantastic staff, fantastic location just qmazing, big thanks to Youri, Christina, Frederik, Will, Dimitri, Nina and anyone else that I have missed, awesome awesome awesome!

Hello, two weeks ago my partner and I were at Crystal dive doing our padi open water, we were 5 days on the island and 4 days doing the course with the best instructor in the world :) :) Manu um a Mexican boy who treated us wonderfully since The first moment
What I liked most about this school is that we did the course with people from all over the world at the same time that we gave the course in Spanish because the instructor explained everything in English and Spanish, we were 6 people doing the course two Australians a Canadian and a Swedish girl with whom we made very good crumbs, with the Swedish girl we went later to Koh Phi Phi.
Another thing that I really liked about the dive center was the good atmosphere that you breathe in the afternoon when you come from diving, everyone stays at the bar that the school has on the beach having a drink while they put in a movie swamp videos of the courses that have been recorded in the morning and you can chat and meet people who are on vacation like you,
Conclusion of our stay in Koh Tao, Very short !!!! We are already planning our return to make our advance :)

Amazing experience, professional introduction process and excellent instructors. Recommend for Koh Tao diving fans

Crystal Dive in Koh Tao is really the best diving school in Thailand ! Our instructor Katherine was super patient, nice and a really good teacher. We chose the one day dive and it was great. The equipment is really good and you don t have to be scared, because everybody takes care of you!

Korean reviews available
The diving center here is really great,
The teachers are.very friendly, kind and explain the things very easily.
Got the 3 days course for 7000 tbh and it worthed the money I paid for.
Got private pool for practice too

I'll take 7000 baht for a three-day course, but I'll take it well without regrets.
There is also a pool where you can practice and the teachers are full.

Just finished our Advanced Open Water cert here. They were well organised and very helpful. I was quite nervous as my ears can give me trouble and I don't really like dark water :) , but our instructor was great! Mira knows her stuff and she is also excellent at making you feel at ease under the water.

I would really recommend Will as an instructor (did AOW 2-day course). He was professional yet laidback and had a positive attitude. Dive Briefings were very clear.

Overall great value for money with half of the dive-sites being really interresting. (I Recommend Chumphon Pinnacle for Deep Diving and HMTS Sattakut for Wreck Diving)

The included bungalow was descent. If you expect a resort you will hate it. But it was clean when I arrived and it had a bed + private hot shower/toilet. After a day of diving you will feel tired enough to accept the room :)

I enjoy my Free Diving course with Crystal, very organized. Especially thank you my diving instructor Jason, he is very patient, great teacher, able to explain things well and always very encouraging. He fully understand different people have different concerns, different level of anexity, he will always provide solution and assist to overcome! Awesome experience!

Diving Thailand, one for the bucket list. Thank you Crystal Dive for this amazing experience. DM s full of life and very professional, safety comes first. Dive gear in good condition

We (2) wanted to go for 2 fun dives which we were told the day before to be 800 THB / person & dive. At payment counter the price suddenly went up to a 1000 THB / person & dive. As response to the question why the price went up, we were told: "It's 1000 THB for 1-5 dives, 900 THB for 6-10, and afterwards it goes down to 800 THB." In that moment I felt messed around with & we left the dive centre without going for any dive.

Just to be clear: I don't give a sh** about the 200 THB extra. The treatment seemed intransparent. After reading some of the reviews here my impression is that everything is fine as long as nothing unexpected happens. The instructors would have been nice, probably. The dive centre seems to put up much effort in public appearance and getting your money. Maybe they should shift some of that effort into customer service.

Besides, the staff member who accompanied our check-in was rather unfriendly/uninterested.

Take care everyone!

best course i have done so far from crystal and i have done all they courses there from open water to idc. have to thank the amazine team at crystal cd matt bolton , tina , neil , alex , rich and all the team thanks for all the help and thank you crystal with out you i wouldnt be were i am now brilliant

Had a great time at Crystal Dive Koh Tao! Successfully completed my open water diving course with Martin Croot, who made sure we were safe the entire time and feel at home under water.

Outstanding diving course!

Three years ago I had already done a diving course on Koh Pangang, had not dived since then and now I wanted to start my friend over again. The difference to my first diving course was huge:

- All instructors I experienced were competent, fun and motivating. There are several German-speaking instructors, if you prefer to be taught in the native language.
- We were divided into smaller groups (with us 1 teacher to 4 students), so that more personal care was possible
- All safety exercises (for example mask under water, mouthpiece out) were practiced several times in the pool, while always has a diving instructor checked if everything works as it should.
- The dives in the sea were outstanding, the biodiversity in the areas hit is breathtaking. That's how you get the fascination of diving in the basic course "Open Water Diver".
- The diving school is located directly on the beach and only a few meters from the pier, where the boats drop to the diving areas.
- In the already favorable total price are also double rooms with wet room and fan included. You can not expect too much here, but warm water and a comfortable bed are safe.
- Originally crucial to our decision to do the diving course here and not in one of the 100 other schools was the high level of commitment to environmental protection. It is very important to protect the dive sites, nothing to touch or destroy. In addition, the reduction of plastic waste of any form is sought.

Afterwards we decided to take the advanced course "Advanced Open Water Diver". Again, all positive points have been confirmed.

Overall, we are thrilled and would recommend this diving school unrestricted!