Not only did I learn a lot from a number of very good instructors but I also had a lot of fun in a relaxed environment. At first (in 2012) I only booked to do my Advanced with Crystal but because of the way it was delivered and the confidence it instilled in me I decided on that holiday to do my Speciality dives as well...Deep and Wreck specs!
The following year I came back and was pleased to find the standards hadn't dropped when I did my Nitrox and Emergency First Responder...I loved it so much here and the people that I actually decided to come and spend some significant time in 2014 and do my Divemaster.
I'm a professional coach and work at elite level in sport and in business and I can honestly say these guys and girls were excellent!
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Huge thank you to the professionals at Crystal Dive in Koh Tao. I honestly couldn't think of one thing these guys could improve on, they are awesome! I did the open water course and the instructors were patient, informative, fun, and safe. Rich, Sam and Beard are excellent instructors, and everyone else I met was kind and accommodating. The room provided was also top notch; clean rooms, comfortable beds, and centrally located for easy walks to anything I needed.
I spent 3 months gathering information from around the World as to where I wanted to train to become an instructor. This spec of an Island in Thailand kept popping up, so I contacted each IDC Center on Koh Tao. After several emails with Platinum Course Director Matt Bolton, I chose Crystal Dive completing my DM, IDC and MSDT and never looked back!
Top class. One of the best things I've done since being in Thailand. Adam Clancey Martin Croot top fellas. Definitely recommend if you want to get your dive qualifications. I'll be back soon fellas for my advanced course. Let's go champ .
I'd give it more stars if I could. I did my open water and advanced open water with here with Tina and it was, by far, the highlight of my Thailand trip. Cannot recommend Crystal Dive enough!
Great place to learn to dive. Aidan and Carsten were brilliant instructors: very patient with my sons and me and super friendly and helpful with everything. Highly recommended.
If we could give Crystal Dive a 10 or a 100 star, we would. My fiance and I came in to the Open Water dive course extremely nervous and ending with our Advanced and loving scuba diving :) First, we were welcomed by Becca who was very welcoming at the front desk. She explained what to fill in, and assigned us our room. SECOND, was meeting the most important person on our diver course, our instructor . KIRA! KIRA KIRA :) Shes not only such an informative instructor but became such a great friend of ours. She was on top of all the instructions, made sure we knew what the hell we were doing and made our experience amazing. Although, we never got to see a whale shark (inside joke ). With a such great instructor and experience and providing us lots of confidence in our skills, it really encouraged us to do our Advanced.For that we Thank you soo much kira :) with lots of love.
Third, we met such amazing people along the way, we ended starting only doing an open water course with 5 people and we decided to finish our advance together. This program really pushes to build good relationships and become social with people scuba diving. :)
For those who are considering this scuba program, I suggest you a 100 percent to go here :)
Crystal dive is the best place to go if you re interested in scuba on Koh Tao. Did my open water here and stayed on to do my advanced. Shoutout to Dav, a great teacher and an all round good lad.
If you're looking to dive in Koh Tao then definitely go to Crystal Dive and ask for Marie Suzanne-Houbiers. She was by far the best instructor I've ever had.
I went strictly for my open water certificate but after learning so much from her I ended up extending my stay and taking the advanced course as well.
I wish I had three hands so I could give her three thumbs up!
2 weeks ago I did my open water course with crystal dive. Big up for Youri which everything very calmly explained and made me feel at ease even though I was scared at first! Was such a great experience that I then decided to also immediately my advanced open water course to do.
Awesome course and great instructors, they really do their best so you can feel safe and have fun on your first steps into the world of scuba diving. I had trouble with some of the skills but our instructor sue was super sensitive to my anxiety and managed to get me to the point where I felt confident and really enjoyed being under water. Bungalows are a nice add on, nothing fancy but everything you need. Did my open water PADI cert. there and will return for the advanced course, thx a lot!
Went from Open Water to Advanced with Crystal Dive. It was absolutely fantastic and I feel more than confident in my diving skills thanks to the high quality training provided by Torben. Thank you until mext time
Very professional diving school! Forget diving factory. Etc. Very serious and high quality dive center. Made My MSDT and Staff Instructor here. Without a doubt the best decision. IDC with Course Director Matt Bolton and Andrea Warren is simply an enrichment, pleasant atmosphere with lots of fun through the days.
I just completed my 4 day Open Water Course with Crystal Dive and am beyond excited to say that I am a certified Padi diver! I had so much fun and such a great experience right from the minute I walked in the door at Crystal Dive.The staff are super friendly and very knowledgeable and always willing to help and the bungalows are clean, spacious and comfortable.
The dive centre is conveniently located right on the beach and is only a 5 minute walk from the pier.
I must give a huge shout out to Steve (Scuba Steve) for guiding me through the course and being extremely patient, supportive and encouraging every step of the way. Although I had a few struggles and a bit of fear I always felt safe with Steve and I felt as though I wouldn't have been able to complete the course without his guidance and constant support.
If you're considering booking with Crystal Dive don't hesitate and book today !!!
I can't wait to return to the beautiful island of Koh Tao and do my next level of certification. See You soon Crystal Dive
I can definitely recommend Crystal Dive to anyone. What a super good organization. There is a very nice atmosphere and it is very cozy. In addition, they are very good at what they do. Last week I got my padi from them and I had lessons from instructor Bo. He made me feel safe and explained everything well. In addition, I also enjoyed the fact that I could get lessons in Dutch. So if you are on Koh Tao and want to go diving, I definitely recommend you go to Crystal Dive! Crystal Dive and especially Bo, thank you very much!
Very professional and fun diving school! I enjoyed five days of diving with them and was able to have lovely and very competent instructors (Youri for the open water course and Anthony for the advanced open water course). Make sure to go on a night dive, it s a unique experience.
This is probably the best school in Koh Tao. The school is near the boat and have the staff that prepare everything. This is not the case for other schools in the island. We can see people from other schools moving around by car, transportating heavy stuff to a small boat, then go to a bigger boat. With Crystal Dive, you just need to walk on a beach for 2 minutes and your are on a big boat.
We were a group of 4 with 2 instructors + 1 supervisor. So the formation was very personal. They take care of everything.
The school have a bar, a restaurant and multiple rooms with AC.
They also offer the possibility to record a video of view while diving. The video is very professional and beautiful.
I've been coming to Crystal Dive for about a year now. I've returned on so many occasions due to the overall quality and professionalism of the school; the well-priced and relaxed island lifestyle of Koh Tao; and the outstanding quality and experience offered by all of the instructors and staff. However, to me one member of the staff stands out and that is Master Trainer Hana Cho.
My journey at Crystal started last year when I came to Koh Tao for my PADI Open Water certification. I completed my OW with George Scott, another outstanding instructor of Crystal's. After my OW I went on the complete Advanced Open Water, Rescue Diver, a bunch of specialty courses.
I then took the real plunge when I aspired to a professional rating as a PADI Dive Master. This is when I had to choose a mentor and I chose Hana Cho. I chose Hana due to the experience I had with her during my Rescue Diver course. Hana pushed me when I needed to be challenged, assisted me when I needed help, and made sure that she got the best out of me on all occasions. Furthermore Hana has a chirpy, smiling, and ralaxing presence at all times. This is exactly what I needed and what all scuba diver should seek when they are going through training and development. With the help of my mentor and the excellent Dive Master development team (with Manu Valdes and Tina Major to note) I was able to achieve my professional rating as a PADI Dive Master.
I recently returned to the island and requested Hana to train me for my PADI Deep and Wreck specialities. This was an excellent choice and I was so pleased that she was available. As expected her knowledge, skills, and experience helped me through a pair of the my most challenging specialties to date. A very rewarding time during which I had a great sence of personal achievement and adventure...
I completed my Rescue diver and Divemaster course at Crystal. A friend recommended them to me and right from the beginning I knew it was the best choice. Although it's a big dive centre, Crystal has a family feel to it and I was welcomed with open arms. They helped me find long term accommodation, told me the best places to eat and drink and lots of other island information that you wouldn't find in any guidebook which helped me to get settled in very quickly! As a DMC I had to choose a mentor, I picked Manu, the big Mexican dude. He was to guide me though my course, help me with any issues, keep me on track and he was always there whenever I needed anything. There is a lot to do on the course but you can do it in your own time and never feel rushed. After completing the course I was able to do a 2 week internship which really gave me more insight into how a dive centre is run and I was actually given a full time job at the end of it!
I will keep going back to Crystal year after year and plan to one day do my instructor course there.
Very easy spot, great chilled social vibe, strongly recommend! A great thanks to Martin and Chris for their enthusiasm and entertaining course! Been a pleasure...
Wonderful place! Had an awesome time doing the OWD course here. Big thanks to Tobi, Laura, Vic, Kiwi, Sergei and Fran. Thank you for introducing me to the awesome underwater world! And Tobi is just the best instructor. Keep up the good work guys. Thanks again :)
Had a great time! Beard was knowledgeable and patient. He was an absolute delight to learn from. We weren't able to sleep well due to roosters in our free room, they changed our room hassle free and it helped a lot. We were also able to do an early check out after arranging it with the front desk. Great service.
Myself and my girlfriend did the Padi open water and loved it so much we went on to do our AOW.
We were nervous about diving initially but felt completely at ease with our instructor Nina (who is an incredibly calm, professional and a fantastic instructor).
Crystal dive were very accommodating with us rescheduling our course half way (due to a tropical storm) which allowed us to complete it. All our 9 dives were exciting, safe and very well organised. The onsite accommodation was perfect and suited our needs as it was close to the dive meeting points as well as the piers.
I'd highly recommend anyone to dive with crystal, there are only good words!
Special shout out to Nina for making us divers, as well Ryan and Andra (who are also fantastic instructors).
I have one big complaint - why did you let us leave!!!!!
Had a great few days with my children doing the open water course with Luke. Highly recommended, all staff were welcoming and friendly - but a huge thanks to Luke for taking such good care of us.
I'm just going to talk about the Hotel, the rooms, the diving, I've heard good things but I did not take any courses here. About the hotel, I have rarely seen anything like it. We arrived at 20:00 to the reception, 5 More
I would highly recommend diving with Crystal Dive after recently completing my Tech 40 course with my instructor Andrea. Highly professional and passionate instructor who I would definitely recommend to anyone. The facilities at crystal were ideal, with large classrooms and swimming pools.
We had the absolute best time doing our Open Water Divers at Crystal Dive! Out instructors Mira and Dav did an amazing job and took all our fears right from the start. We were divided into a small group with two more students (greets to Marie & Marcus!) and had loads of fun from day one that we spend practicing in the pool. The next day we did our first dives in the sea and could not wait to put everything we learned into practice. From the beginning we felt safe and spotted lots of amazing fishes and corals on the dive site "junk yard". Even after the dives Mira and Dav listened carefully to our questions and explained the marine life including all the signs for fishes to us. We would have loved to stay longer to do our Advanced Open Water Diver but we had to leave... I can't think of anything i disliked about our experience with Crystal Dive. So if you think about doing your OWD in Koh Tao, I highly recommend to go to Crystal Dive :-) Love, Lara & Tom
I would definitely recommend Crystal Dive to anyone interested in completing any form of PADI Pro training. Their IDC program headed up by Andrea Warren and Matt Bolton is an experience I will never forget. The time, patience and expertise Andrea has and shares with every single candidate is simply amazing! The training you receive gives a strength and confidence to go on and become a competent and skilled instructor. All the while improving your diving skills and self confidence! Get on board! Get to Crystal!
We went to an advanced diving and didn t liked it at all. The people at the reception are very nice and all is so professional but while we was at the diving, the guides wasn t nice to us at all. There was no personal connection of the guide with the group and looks like no one really care.
Great diving centre, monitors were awesome and open water license course was a lot of fun. 100% recommend it. Would've gotten 5 stars if there was a bar on the boat for after diving!
Hello, I was on Easter last week in Thailand on vacation and I went to Koh Tao to get my diving license, I am very happy to have chosen Crystal dive, I have had a great time with the people there, all the staff is lovely and the Very well trained instructors, the equipment was in perfect condition, the boat is very large and there is enough space to enjoy sunbathing while going to the dive sites or talking with the other people who are going to dive, and the best of the whole bar On the beach of the school that all divers gather at sunset to drink beer while they put scuba diving videos on a movie screen, a wonderful day.
6 out of 5 stars for Crystal! First day there and I realised my 1 week stay was way too short!! That's how impressive they are!! I CAN'T WAIT TO COME BACK!!
An amazing team of highly professional and passionate scuba lovers! Courses are run to the highest standard with top quality instructors. Fun dives are well organised, always led by highly experienced staff, maximum safety with maximum fun!
Boats are well maintained, well equipped with facilities and very spacious & comfortable. A huge and super organised equipment room, gears are in excellent condition, very well looked after too.
I arrived on Koh Tao the day before Easter, to begin my course on the holiday itself. The office is located only a few hundred meters from your first step off the ferry, and check in was a breeze. Accommodation is included in the price for the duration of your stay, which simplifies the experience greatly. The rooms seem to vary in upkeep and layout, but that's to be expected on a small island.
The classroom session dragged on a bit, but there's nothing the staff can really do to alleviate that issue. Once you're in the water, the fun begins.
I was in a class of three students including myself, all in my age group (24), under Steve Byrnes. Steve is a fantastic instructor, and after the first half of the pool class we felt confident in our basic abilities. This meant that the second half of the day was solely for reinforcement, which Steve guided with insightful suggestions and pointers. His patience and laid back nature helped the three of us relax, even while we were practicing emergency drills at the bottom of the pool without our regulators in or trying to clear a flooded mask.
When we got out onto the boat, we knocked out the skill checks in the first part of the dive, meaning the second half of our air tanks was more of a guided tour through beautiful underwater ecosystems. Both ocean days went without a hitch, and all three students were certified without any hiccups.
The day after the course, I booked a "Fun Dive" through Crystal and requested Steve lead it, which he happily did. While down, we saw all kinds of tropical sea life, and had no problems making two lengthy dives. At no point did I feel there was anything more I could have expected from Crystal Dive Resort or its employees.
My only regret is that my flight itinerary didn't allow me time to do my Advanced Open Water course, but I hope to be back soon to complete it.
Absolutely perfect experience here for the Open Water. This is probably the best center of the Island and i had the chance to learn diving with Matt (everyone calls him "Benno"), a very professional and attentive instructor. Crystal also offer courses in many languages but i am not a english native and I had no problem at all.
Excellent experience with my five friends, really patience instructors and very friendly. We want to thank specially to our instructors Tony, Louis and Gus for all that they have teach us. Highly recomended place to do your open water course!!!
Amazing place to learn to dive. The team are professional and friendly. Can t recommend enough! Will be back to do more diving in Koh Tao ASAP, and I ll dive with these guys again!
We had a great experience spending 8 days at crystal dive! My boyfriend did the open water course, and I joined them for two fun dives on the last day. The staff at the resort are friendly and accommodating. Our dive instructor, Tyler was friendly, cool, and all you could ask for in someone that you are learning from! It was very hard for us to leave this place. Thank you crystal dive!
Both my girlfriend and myself got our Open Water here, and Luke our intructor was so wunderbar that I decided to continue with my advanced as well. If you are looking for the best diving experience on Koh Tao, Crystal is the way to go. The friendly staff, the location, the service and the general vibe are all straight A's.
Accommodation is included in the 9600 baht the PADI Open Water costs (4 nights), however the rooms aren't all that great. Be prepared for a small bungalow with a fan to cool you down. Then again, you're here to dive, not to sit in your room.
I did my advanced for an additional 7650 baht (10% discount because I did my Open Water here as well). This included another 2 nights of accommodation.
I just finished my Open Water Course at Crystal Dive. I had a really good time there. Beard was my instructor. He was super duper patient. He lead my course on a very professional way. Thank you for giving me a great experience of under-water world and helping me on my problem of equalization. Thank you loads Mr. Beard!!!
I gotta say thank you to Matt Bolton for helping me areanged everything on my diving trip at Crystal Dive, especially swimming class.
The staffs at Crystal Dive were very friendly.
I would definitely come back to Crystal Dive for my Advanced!!!!!!!!!!
If you are thinking about getting your PADI open water or advanced open water you should definitely get it at Crystal dive! I started the course with worries, and the open water was far out of my comfortzone, but with Youri's calm and professional guidance i had so much fun! After the four days open water course i started directly the two days advanced open water course, I highly recommend everyone to do this directly after the first dives. There is so much more to see deeper in the water here in Kho Tao. Crystal dive is Eco friendly, the instructors are friendly and professional, the equipment are all in good conditions, there is a possibility to film your last dive of the open water course made by a professional videographer (AMAZING!), the rooms are clean and close to the good atmospheric bar. I started with a fear for open water and now I feel confident about diving. Shout out to Youri Koyen and the videographer Pavol Da ko!
Crystal dive resort was such an awesome place to get our open water certificate. I went with 3 other people, myself and my friend stayed in the free room and it was fine for us. My sister upgraded to the air conditioned room for 1000 baht a night and thought it waa totally worth it. Our instructors were Jess and Makka, they were fun, patient and really made the trip. Despite the first few days being spent in a classroom or pool, it was totally worth it.
Great location, great instructors, just wanted to do my open water but ended up staying and doing the advanced and a few specialities. And the bar after spending all day diving is right on the beach and the beers are cheap, what more could you want. Cheers to Vic and Rob A-grade instructors!
A full service dive center offering the full range of PADI beginner and Pro level scuba diving courses. Located on the beach just two minutes from the main pier.
All the diving I have done here has provided me with memorable experiences for the level of customer service, operational organisation and the flexible schedule they provide to their divers.
They have their own dive boats with up to 4 boats going out each day, morning and afternoon plus night dives every second evening, weather permitting.
I got open water and advanced open water certified at crystal. It was an amazing experience! Fralex was my instructor, he was extremely knowledgeable and made the learning process fun and enjoyable. I felt very safe diving and training with him (and DMTs Max and Warren) during the advanced open water course. If you are interested in diving here I would highly recommend it; nice clean & reliable equipment, friendly staff, calm inviting atmosphere, and a very skilled instructor.
I did my open water diver course in 3 days (in December'18, but missed writing this review), my instructor was Brian Starnes. It was a great experience, I would love to be back to get the remaining courses. Brian was such a great person, extremely knowledgeable, funny and smart. He made the course very interesting for me, he had his own ways which helped us learn things in an easier eay. At the same time, he was really patient all the time, he trusted that I could do it. Course content was apt. Crystal dive is just 5 minutes walk from the pier, friendly staff, good equipments, pool, boat. There is a restaurant near the office to have lunch, prices are quite normal. You also get some refreshments tea-cookies after your dive. I missed getting a video, but that's for another day.
I can only recommend crystal dive. After the discover scuba diving course, I was hooked and did my Open Water Diver s with Dirk and Freddy as the best instructors, I could have wished for - both really knowledgeable, experienced and fun at the same time. Still our safety was their number one priority, which is most important to me. The fact that both of them were from Germany just added to this amazing experience! Would always come back. :)
Late comments, the first time I learned to dive, and the first time I experienced the sea and the world, it is unforgettable! I am deeply in love with the diving activity, and I also thank the instructor for his careful teaching But the department may be the last class in 2019. Since January 1st, the time has changed from 4th to 3rd, and the course has become tighter. However, I enjoyed the whole process. I just had less time to visit the turtles. Island, there is a chance to go diving next time, and you should also take a good tour of the turtle island!
Very informative and knowledgeable instructor Atilla. 10/10. Patient , firm and friendly. I became a much better diver because of him! His quality instruction is worth every penny.
Took a PADI open water diver course there. Also stayed in one of their bungalows. Our instructors, Nina and Brian, were super friendly, anti-stressful and professional!
Good diving school with very competent instructors, staff is friendly. I did the PADI Open Water Diving course for beginners and it was good structured, maybe too much for one day. I would stretch it to 5 days because some people are not so fast in trusting the equipment and maybe need more time to practice in the pool or shallower depths. I managed the 4-day course. My bungalow was ok and also clean, but there were a lot of broken things and it looked a bit shabby on the first sight. There is no WIFI in the bungalows and the office where you get WIFI sometimes closes at 6 PM already so that you have to go somewhere else. This can be nasty if you need to do urgent things like flight bookings or banking transactions. Life is not only diving all day long. The bungalows are not serviced, so that there is no toilet paper or soap supplied. The location is good at Mae Haad Pier. You get everything you need in the surrounding area, even if it's expensive, but I guess whole Koh Tao is like that. You are a hundred meters close to the main Pier of the island and a lot of travel and tour agencies. I can recommend this diving school and would do my advanced PADI there too.
Had a great dive discover day with Crystal Dive. Our dive guide Maggie (Chinese speaking) is very kind to guide us through the dive 101 and guide us underwater to experience the zero G world. Had a blast on the dive boat with many of the divers. Special shout-out to Maggie! Thanks!
All good #Beard Open Water Diver course, overall a fantastic experience thanks to #Beard the instructor. All worked well at #Crystaldivekohtao, lovely people and amazing divesites for training. Awesome!!
Have been traveling for a few months now throughout Southeast Asia and Crystal Dive Resort was my favorite experience yet! Stayed on sight in a top notch private room and simply walked downstairs for scuba lessons. Our instructor Nina is the G.O.A.T. (Greatest of all time) of scuba instructors, making our lessons more than fun and giving us practical insight on best practices. If you make it to Crystal, ask for Nina and you are guaranteed to have a great time!
Just finished my open water course and It was the best choice I could have make! Zuzana was my instructor and shes simply amazing! Shes very professsional and she was always next to us, watched us and assisted with everything. Shes taking our safety as a priority and she made me feel confident under the water. I was really lucky to be in her group. Everyone who works in the school was nice and helpfull, we had small groups of 4 people per instructor and I also had a private bungaloo for four nights included in the price so it was a great deal.
Easy going atmosphere many young people, backpackers. Very many beginners OW + AOW here with 10-15 dives. Is therefore less fun for experienced divers. I made 6x dives with them of which 4 came up with +120 because someone was out of air, so that was pretty disappointing. Can be a coincidence, but it is only a matter of certification and not the number of dives or experience. Based on that, I would not recommend them for experienced divers. The staff is friendly.
Great first diving experience taking the Open Water course with Andra. Amazing instructor, detailed and clear explanations, would strongly recommend! Thanks :)
Perfect diving school, great climate, super professional, high quality.
Did my MSDT with team teaching. Many long-term and experienced instructors, you get the best support and support, you get the full range and you can adapt perfectly to practice. No time pressure and pleasant climate
Did a professional course here. Course director Andrea is very good, but rest of staff... not happy at all with behavior and attitude - rude, aggressive, impatient (with us professional students, not regular diving customers)
I recently completed both my open water and advanced open water with Crystal and they were incredible. They teach the right way from beginning to end including training in a pool instead of shallow ocean which is much better in my opinion. Attila and Tanguy were superb instructors. The equipment was a little old and outdated, probably needs replaced soon but it all worked exactly how it should and didn t compromise my experience at all so no need to deduct stars. All around fantastic dive center!
I had never dove in my life and when I was going to Koh Tao I did a little research on all of the divesenters I could find online. Eventually I went for Crystal and it has honestly been one of the best experiences of my life. After getting my open water certification I continued right on to the advanced open water. The dives done on that course are some of the best experiences I've ever had. The teachers are phenomenal, the equipment is in great condition, I only have positive things to say. If you're going to Koh Tao and you're not going to go diving with Crystal you're doing yourself a disservice. Check them out!
During my fun dive with Crystal Dive, the hose of the regulator bursted and my air supply was cut. Fortunately I was able to keep calm and swam towards my dive instructor and got hold of her secondary. We made an emergency ascend to the surface.
I attached picture of the bursted hose below. This is clearly an equipment failure on Crystal diving side, and I expect the management will get in touch with me to apologise and follow up on the situation, hoping they will explain to me what is wrong with their gear, help me to understand and restore my confidence in diving and in them. A day and a half went by, I heard nothing from them.
So I reached out to operational manager Laura in the morning, I explain the situation to her and also ask for a reimbursement of the dive, since the dive was abrupt by Crystal dive s equipment failure. Instead of being apologetic and showing concern to what happened, Laura looks totally uninterested and said that she will need to talk to the my dive instructor before she can give me a reply.
Laura (In a totally unapologetic and arrogant tone) : I had talked to the instructor, and we cannot give you an reimbursement, this is the kind of thing that just happened and it s not Crystal dive s problem.
Me (Totally shocked by her appalling attitude and even more shocked by her unprofessional reply): Seriously?! So you are saying with Crystal Dive centre, regulator hose bursted during diving is the kind of thing that JUST HAPPENED? And it is NOT CRYSTAL DIVE as GEAR MAINTENANCE RESPONSIBILITY?
Laura: Yes, there s nothing we can do, these things happened, it s not our fault and it's not our responsibility to reimburse your dive.
Amount all the conversation I had with her about the incidence, not even once had she mentioned the word "Sorry". I guess she really wasn't sorry about the incidence at all, this is the kind of thing that just happened with Crystal dive.
The thing that shocked me most is in the era of social media and online review, Crystal Dive centre manager Laura knows very well that her respond is bound to be publicised online and seen by potential customers all over the world, but still she decide this is how Crystal Dive centre considered as an appropriate way to deal with the incident.
There are so many diving centres in Koh Tao and most of the dive instructors are great, with the flat rate across diving centres, what really make a difference is customer service and how the management deal with problems. If that tube bursting incidence never happened and I don t have to deal with Laura, I would have left a good review for Crystal dive centre, just like many others did. It took a lot of great effort from all dive instructors and staffs to get that many good reviews, but it only take one bad operational manager to ruin it. Most of the time, the problem is not the problem, the attitude towards the problem is the real problem.
Just remember, if you decided to dive with Crystal Dive Centre, expect your regulator hose will be bursted when you are 30 meters below sea level, according to Laura, this is the kind of thing that just happened , and if you didn t handle the situation as well as I did and suffer any injury or even fatality, Crystal Dive Centre Laura will tell your grieving family Yes, there s nothing we can do, these things happened and it s not our fault. And no, you are not gonna get a "sorry" or your 700baht back, say whatever you wanna say about them, Crystal dive centre value the 700baht (US$22) a lot more than their reputation.
I love all the dive instructors I encountered in Crystal Dive Centre, but as long as Laura is in charged, stay away from Crystal Dive Centre.
Crystal Dive is a 5 star diving Centre of Excellence based in Koh Tao, Thailand that provides the full range of recreational scuba diving courses. Crystal is also a Career Development Centre (CDC) and provides professional courses and internships for people looking for a career or lifestyle change.
I have spent over a year around Crystal and confirm it is a first class venue with great people and a very experienced instructor team. It is a fully equipped dive centre, provides bungalow accommodation and has 3 dive boats operating upto 6 dive boats each day around the 26+ dive locations on Koh Tao.
The award winning Crystal Dive reputation is built on the quality of its customer service at the No 1 scuba diving training location in the world. If you are thinking of learning to dive - you have found the best. Highly recommended.
Crystal was the perfect place to get my open water certification! My instructors Dav and Tom were an absolute blast to spend time with and they really created a safe and fun environment to learn these new skills in. Highly recommended!
The best place to learn diving. Staff is very welcoming especially Ronald is the best teacher who is patient and helpful with knowledges. Recommended place for anyone want to experience diving. New class everyday just come and get advice before decide which class to take.
I have just done my PADI Open and Advanced Diver with Crystal and it was amazing. I would have thought with such a cheap price that they may cut corners somewhere or just not provide a very good experience and only cover the basics but it was far far from that. Firstly, Crystal gave me the free accommodation throughout my course which was so helpful on the wallet and were able to fit me on whatever timeline I needed. As for the actual course, it was brilliant. My instructor 'Derk' although German spoke perfect English and provided an exceptional level of teaching throughout. He was professional the whole time allowing me to relax and trust in all his instruction but he was also able to balance this perfectly with fun and humour to give me and great couple of courses and great memories for life. I will be back at Crystal next year to do my dive master and utilise there free fun dive for life once I've completed it, I can only hope I get Derk again.
Did my open water and advanced open water certification. Instructors, gear and facilities are amazing. Good to chill in the bar after a couple dives. Thanks Kat, Mangus and Victor for the unforgettable and once in a life time experiences.
We had a wonderful time getting our Advanced Open Water certification. Special thanks to our instructor, Mira, who was friendly, patient, and supportive above and below the surface.
My partner and I came to Koh Tao toying with the idea of maybe trying scuba diving (he was really keen but I'm a bit nervous and not very confident in water etc). While out for breakfast one morning we happened to meet a Crystal instructor (Steve) who gave us a couple of hours of his time chatting about diving in general, answering our questions and allay our (mainly my!) fears. This led us to take the plunge and rather than opting to 'try it out', we booked the full Open Water PADI course! (eek!)
We were really lucky and for our group of 4 students, we had two instructors (Heather and Nick) who were a great team. I was extremely anxious about the whole breathing under water thing but Heather in particular was so calm, encouraging and reassuring and if ever I had a little wobble, she was right beside me to get me through it.
I felt in such safe hands and am so proud to say we graduated yesterday as fully certified Open Water divers!! We have even gone on to book a 30m deep adventure dive for tomorrow - never thought in a million years I would be able to say that!
I'm so grateful to everyone at Crystal Dive for helping us have this amazing experience and would really recommend them to anyone who is thinking about diving, no matter how nervous you are. You won't regret it - there's a whole other world down there!!!
I did my Advanced Open Water course here. My instructor, Matt "Benno", was great. I feel that he did the best an instructor could with the tools he was given. He even did a make-up dive for a diver that was unable to do the Navigation dive with the rest of the class.
The problem is the horribly overcrowded dive boats and failure to adapt to changing conditions. On nearly every dive, we had an estimated 30-50 divers jumping into pretty heavy chop and current. A lot of us were doing courses like PPB which was made pretty difficult in those conditions. There are plenty of protected coves around Koh Tao that would have been more appropriate than the dive sites chosen. Our night dive was particularly stressful for the same reasons.
I want to place additional emphasis on the fact that these dive boats are CROWDED. You will be, quite literally, shoulder to shoulder. Trying to set up your gear, on a rocking boat in 2+ foot waves, stepping on each other's feet and sliding into each other, running up & downstairs for roll call and dive briefings. It's really just a mess.
Crystal may offer a good value if you are on a tight budget and understand what you are getting. Do not come here if you are expecting a boutique personalized experience.
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