Exciting 2013 News – New Lipe shop!
2013 News! – One of the most exciting pieces of news is that the Blue View family was expanding with a new dive shop on Koh Lipe called Adang Sea Divers!
We are the proud “parents” of our new shop on Koh Lipe, Adang Sea Divers! You can now come to visit us on two beautiful islands on your next visit to Thailand. You can spend a few days diving with us at Blue View Divers, Koh Phi Phi then head further south to Adang Sea Divers, Koh Lipe. Expect the same friendly service just under a different name, or as they say in Thailand “same, same but different”. We also have rooms attached at our ‘Eco Lodge’.
**2020 UPDATE** Now we have a Vegan/Vegetarian Beachfront Restaurant and Bar attached!
Read about our Lipe Dive shop HERE! Check out our website and then “like” us on Facebook.
Trash Bins around Ko Phi Phi
For those who have visited Koh Phi Phi boefre 2016 one of the major complaints is the litter and lack of trash bins. This is quite a common problem around South East Asia. In low season of 2012 Kris had a brilliant idea to help combat the problem on our doorstep at least. The staff of Blue View Divers, with a help of a few kind volunteers, took rubbish bags and bins to the streets of Koh Phi Phi. We chose the street leading up to our dive shop and placed a few bins along the street to try to stop the amount of rubbish being dropped on the ground by tourists and locals. We took an afternoon to clean the area up then placed the bins along the street.
Blue View Divers would like to thanks our staff Caroline, Alexandra and Simon. Our Divemaster trainees Jess, Jo and Luke and our divers Fionn and Claire for their help cleaning up the area. We would also like to thank our current staff for continuing to empty the bins everyday which we know is sometimes a smelly task. Check out our Album of the fun day of litter picking.
Congratulations to Narong our newest PADI Divemaster
In other 2013 News, our newest member of our Thai Internship Program ‘Narong’ completed his Divemaster Course!
We would like to say a huge congratulations to our team member and newest PADI Divemaster Narong. If you have fun dived with us in the past few months Narong probably was your guide. After months of training and studying he has now completed all the requirements to become a PADI Divemaster.
The PADI Divemaster course tests you physically and mentally testing your dive skills, having to complete stamina tests and learning dive theory. Narong was tested further with English not being his first language and not having Thai materials to read from. He considered throwing in the towel a few times but persisted until he finished.
If you have every considered become a professional PADI diver there is no better place to do it than at a 5 star dive centre on the beautiful Koh Phi Phi, Thailand. Go to our Divemaster page for full details of the course.
Once again congratulations Narong your an excellent Divemaster and maybe you’ll be an instructor next year!!! View our dive trips page to book a fun dive with our Thai Dive Interns.
Long-tail Boat Storm Appeal – November 2013
On 23rd November 2013, Koh Phi Phi suffered a storm which savaged Tonsai Bay and destroyed many boats. Luckily nobody was injured, however hotels, long-tails and dive boats sustained damage.
Blue View Divers were really very lucky to have minimal damage to our two dive longtails ‘Kathleen’ and ‘Alfie’. However, for the local ThaiBoat men of Koh Phi Phi, it was a bad start to the season. Without their long tail boats, the boat men were without a chance to earn money in the high season months, which are crucial to earn a living.
Since Blue View Divers opened we have worked closely with Bang Ben who is the longtail ‘guru’ on the island. Additionally he is related to many of the boat men who lost their boats during the storm. Local boat men here help each-other anytime a boat needs assistance for example if an engine needs salvaged or somebody needs a tow. We have benefited from this in the past as these locals help out any time we need.
So what could we do to help ?
A second hand longtail boat costs around 60,000 THB. This is a lot of money for the locals, so we decided to start an appeal to raise 60,000 THB to replace a boat for one of Bang Ben’s family members. With the help of friends, family and customers from around the world, we were able to meet this target over the following month.
There was a phenomenal response and we would sincerely like everyone who helped by making donations big and small.
The final total raised was 55,000 THB which helped two captains in purchasing a new long-tail each. Both captains were very grateful for generous donations given from Blue View Family around the world.
We cannot thank you enough for all your efforts, support and help in our longtail appeal.