One of the most popular pastimes available of the Samui islands is Scuba diving. The Gulf of Thailand is a great place to learn how to dive; there are dozens of dive schools offering all the professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) approved courses. PADI is an American base association that has become the industry's most widely known and accepted governing body. All PADI instructors have completed an Instructor Development Course (IDC) with a certified IDC training center and all PADI Dive Centers have complied with PADI requirements. Many schools have reached 5-star status, which generally means they have successfully trained a large number of divers without any complaints over an n umber of years. A good gauge is that the school has been around for a while-there are always fly by night operators-and that their instructors are consistently competent. There are also dozens of dive sites to choose from: the best sites are all around Koh Tao, which has become a real diver's paradise as they are all less than a 30-minute boat ride from Mae Haad, meaning that ardent divers can squeeze four dives into a day and still have time for a night dive There are also enough good sites within range of Samui and Phangan to keep most divers happy, but the boat rides are longer, limiting you to a maximum of two dives a day.

Baan Talay Resort - ( Koh Samui Hotels )