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You might want to consider New Way Diving, in Sairee. Tell P'Pan I said hello! I you don't have accommodation when you arrive on Koh Tao New Way can help get you set up with a few different places. They are all on the budget scale, but clean and nice.

I think it was on my 3rd or 4th dive after being OW certified when I first swam over the edge of a reef and stared into the "the blue." It was very disconcerting and I actually got vertigo. I swam back over the reef, signaled the dive leader and while they dove for a bit along the wall I and my...

Slipstreams are the fins I use and I wouldn't dive without them. They are about the same weight as Jetfins.

Don't loot wrecks. Military or otherwise, but especially military. Those are the honored dead who should rest in peace.

*Shudder* So that's where the idea for Alien came from. Never, ever feed predators. It's not going to end well for the humans.

June-Sept is actually the best time to dive in the Gulf of Thailand. If you go to Koh Tao they are seeing Whale Sharks weekly in the area right now.

These are not necessarily all from my first 100 dives, or in any order, but... Buddy's alt hose ruptured at 8 meters. My LP hose ruptured at 15 meters. Forgot my fins. Forgot my weights. Lost a weight pocket. Got caught in current and had a kilometer surface swim back to the boat (no more...

You might want to consider this resort: Diving & Surfing Fiji - Waidroka Bay Resort - Unforgettable Fiji Adventure. I haven't been there, but friends of mine run the dive op and they are both top notch instructors with loads of experience.

It's been my experience, for certain types of divers, gloves encourage touching, for whatever reason. When I worked on Koh Tao the general rule was "no touching and no gloves." Although I did sometimes wear 2mm gloves during the winter months. 4 dives a day gets cold. Out of hundreds of...

Remember, if there are no smaller tanks available you can always sling an AL80. There's no rule that says you can't do that. I've done it a number of times.

I sometimes just tie a bandana across the top of my head.

When I did the SDI Solo course, when I was planning how large my bail out tank should be the instructor made sure I factored in a safety stop. I came up with a 6L/40cf tank will be enough to get me to the surface, with a safety stop, from 40 meters/130 feet with air to spare. So, yeah, if I'm...

It was kind of an accident for me. I went to Koh Tao, Thailand for a 3 month vacation of diving and additional training after I got out of the Peace Corps. Found a dive shop with a great staff of instructors and mentors and signed up for the DM course with the intention of really doing nothing...

I agree with everyone else. That's a good plan. The only suggestion I have for an addition is to assign actual buddy teams. Don't dive as a group.

I've only had to do it once. My tank band had come loose on entry and at about 15ish meters my tank had slid loose. One of my fun divers pointed it out to me, although I felt something was amiss. So I doffed my BC, secured the tank, and donned the BC again. Took about 90 seconds.

You should treat this as a lost buddy situation. If you can not get the attention of your "buddy" and get them to exit the wreck, you should wait no more than one minute then ascend and go back to the boat.

Been there, done that. ;-) I spent a lot of time swimming backwards signaling with my torch so the divers could see me.

All true, which is why I used the word "generally." Experienced divers will be able to work that out for themselves. When I was leading new divers on fun dives I'd tell them they shouldn't be farther than that away from their buddy. This is a way to try to instill a good respect for the buddy...

As a "vacation diver" the gear I'd suggest for you is fins, booties, mask, dive computer. You really don't need all that other stuff. Also keep in mind that all that stuff you put in the pockets of a rental BCD you've got to remember to take out of the pockets. If you're anything like me, you'll...

Generally, you should be close enough to your buddy so that you can both stretch out your arms and touch hands. And on a night dive, you'll both have torches so you'll be able to see how far apart you are.