The Divers Boat
French-speaking SSI dive school at Mae Haad, Koh Tao, founded 2016, capping every guided dive at 4 divers per guide.
Last updated September 2026
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About
The Divers Boat is a French-speaking SSI dive school and boat operator that set up at Mae Haad, Koh Tao, in 2016, one of the newer arrivals among the island's dive shops. It runs two boats out of Mae Haad: one carries only training and try-dive groups, the other is reserved for certified fun divers, and a third boat runs a daily Sail Rock trip from a second base at Chaloklum, Koh Phangan.
Every guided dive is capped at four divers per guide or instructor, a fixed rule the centre applies even on a full boat. Its Try Scuba product allows up to three dives in a day for a first-timer, the first capped at 5 metres and the second and third at 12 metres, and its Open Water course runs over two days; the centre says three days is the norm elsewhere on the island, a comparison of its own that has not been checked against every neighbouring shop.
The course ladder runs from Try Scuba through Open Water, Advanced Open Water, a specialty set covering deep diving, navigation, buoyancy, wreck, night, nitrox and search and recovery, Rescue Diver, Divemaster and Instructor training. Full equipment is included and stays stored aboard the boat between dive days, so nothing needs to be carried to and from the shop, and every trip includes a hot lunch plus fruit, snacks and drinks. Instruction runs in French and English.
What divers say
Reviewers converge on the same themes: a large, rotating team of named instructors and divemasters, each singled out individually across dozens of reviews; small groups and attentive safety briefings; bilingual French/English teaching; and hot on-board meals. Several recent reviewers reported a whale-shark sighting within their first couple of days of diving with the centre.
The sample read (a curated highlights panel plus the newest full reviews) surfaced no negative pattern; it is a partial slice of the centre's review base, not a read of every entry on file. Two independent review bases agree closely, at 5.0 and 4.9 out of 5 across substantial review counts on each, a stronger signal than either alone.
Dive Sites (5)
Facilities
Pricing
We do our best to show current pricing, but rates may change without notice. Last verified September 2026. Always confirm the latest prices on The Divers Boat's official website before booking.
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Courses
Guided Dives
Other Services
Full equipment is included in every course and dive price; no separate rental line is published.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many divers are in the water with one guide?▾
The centre caps every guided dive, whether it is a training dive or a certified fun dive, at four divers per guide or instructor, and states this holds even when the boat is full.
Where does The Divers Boat actually operate from?▾
Diving departs from the centre's base at the Mae Haad pier on Koh Tao. A second, smaller listing for this centre a couple of kilometres north on Sairee Road belongs to a lodging and yoga annex it also runs, The Divers House, not a second dive-operations branch.
Is the centre PADI or SSI affiliated?▾
The centre names SSI as its training affiliation throughout its own pages, and no PADI affiliation appears there. One of its other public business listings additionally names PADI courses alongside SSI for this centre, a detail not confirmed on the centre's own site; treat SSI as the confirmed affiliation and PADI as unconfirmed until the centre states it directly.
What are the opening hours?▾
Most current listings for this centre show continuous hours, 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM, seven days a week. At least one training-directory listing instead shows a midday break, closing from noon to 2:00 PM. If you're arriving outside a straightforward 9-to-6 window, message or call ahead to confirm.
Can a first-time diver do more than one dive in a day here?▾
Yes. Its Try Scuba product allows up to three same-day dives for divers with no certification: the first capped at 5 metres, the second and third capped at 12 metres.
Does this centre visit Sail Rock from Koh Tao, or only from Koh Phangan?▾
Both. The Koh Tao boats include Sail Rock in a rotating three-site combo trip with Southwest Pinnacle and Shark Island run several days a week, plus a standalone Sail Rock package. A separate boat based at Chaloklum, Koh Phangan, runs a dedicated Sail Rock trip daily; that Koh Phangan operation is a distinct base from the Koh Tao one.
Is there a best season for spotting whale sharks with this centre?▾
The centre advertises Koh Tao as having no real low season, citing January to April as the best window for a whale-shark encounter at Sail Rock, with turtles, barracuda and rays described as present year-round. That is the operator's own claim, not independently corroborated, and the wider Koh Tao area's dive-season guidance points to a different peak whale-shark window in March-May. Treat it as one operator's read, not a settled fact.
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