Impian Divers
Impian Divers
5
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Monday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Full view
About
Impian Divers is a friendly Dutch dive center, having opened its doors in 2006. Located in Mae Haad just a couple of minutes walk from all the main arrival piers We teach scuba diving courses of all levels from try diving and Open Water up to professional level dive training, including a wide range of specialty diving, as well as fun diving trips on a daily basis. We are the only dedicated Dutch-speaking dive school on Koh Tao, although of course, other languages are accommodated too. To guarantee consistency in quality and safety standards, all courses and fun dives are guided by full-time staff, no use freelancers.
Similar Experiences
Travelers talk about
(14 reviews)
Contribute
Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
Popular mentions
5.0
878 reviews
Excellent
841
Very good
22
Average
3
Poor
8
Terrible
4
Tugan A
1 contribution
Mar 2022 • Solo
Did my open water dive certificate with impian divers. A diverse (genderwise and also BPoC's) Team with many different instructors. There is even a Thai person working so head ups really cool Team.
I did my course with John was absolutely great experience. Boat is not overly packed. In my case because there was the fullmoon party on KOH Phangan so i got to experience a very close interaction with john. Excellent teacher for both theory and practical. Skills & exams in both ways went smoothly .
The company is located very centrally between all the other dive shops.
They are very well organised and have their own boat and equipment. Aswell as they're handling the equipment with lots of care , regular maintenances are being taken seriously. I felt safe 200% trough out the whole time. Especially with my engineering background ; i can tell for sure for these guys safety comes first!!!
Big plus for me was that it is a LGBTIQ* friendly place.
Especially as a transman i get to asked many stupid question regularly. this was NOT the case very friendly and respectful Team 😉
I did my course with John was absolutely great experience. Boat is not overly packed. In my case because there was the fullmoon party on KOH Phangan so i got to experience a very close interaction with john. Excellent teacher for both theory and practical. Skills & exams in both ways went smoothly .
The company is located very centrally between all the other dive shops.
They are very well organised and have their own boat and equipment. Aswell as they're handling the equipment with lots of care , regular maintenances are being taken seriously. I felt safe 200% trough out the whole time. Especially with my engineering background ; i can tell for sure for these guys safety comes first!!!
Big plus for me was that it is a LGBTIQ* friendly place.
Especially as a transman i get to asked many stupid question regularly. this was NOT the case very friendly and respectful Team 😉
Written March 18, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
ImpianDivers
dear Tugan. Thank you so much for this excellent 5* review. I am happy to read that you felt welcome and at ease with your instructor and the rest of the dive team during your open water course. To get compliments related to our equipment from someone with engineering background is more than we could wish for! We all hope to see you back again one day for some more diving.
Written March 31, 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Eva M.
5 contributions
Feb 2020 • Solo
I did my Open Water Certificate with Impian Divers. We were a small group of 5, with me being the only non-Dutchie, but that was no problem at all. Our instructor Jeff was awesome, as was the rest of the team! Everyone was just super nice and explained everything in English to me. I had a great time and would for sure recommend them if you are looking for a professional dive school with small groups and great instructors.
Thank you Impian Divers! :-)
Thank you Impian Divers! :-)
Written February 14, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Thank you so much for this wonderful 5 star review.
We are happy to read that you enjoyed your diving course with us Dutchies :-)
Written February 21, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Lotte
3 contributions
Jan 2023 • Solo
Absolutely loved doing my open water course with impian divers. Great teachers with good teaching skills. They made me feel safe and comfortable all the time. Special thanks to John, you were amazing :)
Written January 23, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Roos T
2 contributions
Nov 2022 • Solo
I did an introduction dive day, but immediately did the IDD course as well. Sometimes it was a bit scary since i’m not a big fan of water. But the instructors John and Bas were very skilled and friendly. Had an amazing three days and now I can dive!!! Def recommend
Written November 5, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
ImpianDivers
Hi ! Thank you for this great review and positive rating. We appreciate your 5 star rating very much . In addition, it is always nice for John and Bas to hear they did (as usual) a great job.The most important thing remains that you had a good time during your open water course with us . Thank you again for having chosen Impian Divers.
Written January 13, 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
vin048
London, UK5 contributions
Jun 2014 • Solo
I had a mixed view of this diving place, it was ok but I had two very bad experiences:
1) They teach you the basics including what to do if your mouth piece comes off. Unfortunately this happened to me (a fault of my own) and as a beginner I panicked and forgot the proper procedure (and when your deep in the water you do tend to forget these things when your mouth piece comes off!) I started to drown. The instructor had been preoccupied with his other two customers the whole day (who were on the 3 day course as opposed to me who was on the 1 day course) and so did not see me. Had it not been for the trainee instructor I would probably have drowned! Worst, when he realised what had happened, there was no acknowledgement or apology (even afterwards) just continued as if there was and had been no issue!
2) I left my wallet with the manager, who said he'd lock his draw. He also made a joke about making sure I check how much I had in there. I wish I had, and counted it in front of him! Upon return, I realised that 200 Baht had been taken! Confronting the manager, he naturally denied taking anything, stating that it would be silly to take a small amount and risk a negative review. In my view thats not a valid defence, in fact its a perfect alibi to take a small amount! So yeah, nice try mr manager.
I side with the average reviewer on here who said that the atmosphere was more of "polite disinterest", unless your Dutch. There were times where I was more or less just left to be on my own and not much effort was made by the instructors to be inclusive. Don't get me wrong, the instructors were good and relaxed, but I felt they were too relaxed. Coupled with their Dutch favouritism (yes, the other two I was diving with were Dutch!) and its quite easy to see how they could miss someone nearly drowning in front of them!
Funnily enough, its not the drowning that makes me give a bad review (after all maybe I was just unlucky), its the manager stealing from my wallet that really let this day down for me. I'm very good with keeping track of my money (almost to the point of being OCD about it) and budgeted precisely to be able to pay for the course and have 200 Baht leftover for a small bite at the end. Well no food for me but I do hope people learn to count their money in front of the manager before leaving it with him!
Or better yet, avoid this place completely. There are loads of diving places on Sairee beach which offer the same services as this place, minus the two bad experiences that I had!
1) They teach you the basics including what to do if your mouth piece comes off. Unfortunately this happened to me (a fault of my own) and as a beginner I panicked and forgot the proper procedure (and when your deep in the water you do tend to forget these things when your mouth piece comes off!) I started to drown. The instructor had been preoccupied with his other two customers the whole day (who were on the 3 day course as opposed to me who was on the 1 day course) and so did not see me. Had it not been for the trainee instructor I would probably have drowned! Worst, when he realised what had happened, there was no acknowledgement or apology (even afterwards) just continued as if there was and had been no issue!
2) I left my wallet with the manager, who said he'd lock his draw. He also made a joke about making sure I check how much I had in there. I wish I had, and counted it in front of him! Upon return, I realised that 200 Baht had been taken! Confronting the manager, he naturally denied taking anything, stating that it would be silly to take a small amount and risk a negative review. In my view thats not a valid defence, in fact its a perfect alibi to take a small amount! So yeah, nice try mr manager.
I side with the average reviewer on here who said that the atmosphere was more of "polite disinterest", unless your Dutch. There were times where I was more or less just left to be on my own and not much effort was made by the instructors to be inclusive. Don't get me wrong, the instructors were good and relaxed, but I felt they were too relaxed. Coupled with their Dutch favouritism (yes, the other two I was diving with were Dutch!) and its quite easy to see how they could miss someone nearly drowning in front of them!
Funnily enough, its not the drowning that makes me give a bad review (after all maybe I was just unlucky), its the manager stealing from my wallet that really let this day down for me. I'm very good with keeping track of my money (almost to the point of being OCD about it) and budgeted precisely to be able to pay for the course and have 200 Baht leftover for a small bite at the end. Well no food for me but I do hope people learn to count their money in front of the manager before leaving it with him!
Or better yet, avoid this place completely. There are loads of diving places on Sairee beach which offer the same services as this place, minus the two bad experiences that I had!
Written July 24, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
dear Mr Vinoth,
I remember you. Some pretty heavy feedback you are writing down there but its all freedom on the internet and you can write whatever you please.
However, just a few remarks about your review as it is not 100% complete. Since you want to inform fellow travelers.
About your dive. You mentioning only 1 dive. According to our records you made 2 dives.....First a try dive with 2 other trainees and on the same afternoon /same boat trip an additional pleasure dive.
You made that decision yourself as the 2nd dive is an optional dive. So it could not have been so bad after all. People who don't like it, or feel uncomfortable with the dive professionals never make 2 dives.
Your 2nd dive with was with our British dive master: Sophie and the other trainees were not diving a 2nd time.
Another important information you left behind in your review. About the 'manager' stealing 200 Thai baht from you, leaving you no food left to eat.
That person you talk about is the owner of the dive center. Why would I remove 2 notes of 100 Thai baht from your wallet from which you said yourself there were only 4 notes of 100 Thai baht it in? And nothing more.
Why you mention you could not eat anymore? But what you should have said instead is that you could not pay the balance of the dives with the initial amount you brought with you. By the way, you left Koh Tao without paying that balance ..
Your review gives a bad image to the credibility of TripAdvisor, my dive center, the dive professionals involved but mainly to yourself. We reported this as slander.
Written July 26, 2014
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
CrossThatBridge
Lindau, Germany77 contributions
Jan 2013 • Couples
We did our Open Water course here, and unfortunately can't share the enthusiasm of other reviewers. Sure, there were good things about the school:
-5 nights of free accommodation (a double with fan close to the school, that would otherwise cost 500Bt/night)
-close to the port
-very small groups (we ended up having the instructor just for the two of us)
-snorkeling gear free to use
-discounts in both fun and adventure dives after you finished the course with them
Please note that most of the schools on Koh Tao offer similar things, so there isn't really anything from the list that stands out.
What we didn't like:
-we didn't expect to find buddies for life but the instructors weren't too friendly, only in the beginning when we were signing the papers. Later almost every time we went to the school we felt like we were bothering them. There was no friendly vibe, just uninterested politeness at most. On the other hand, if you're Dutch, that's a different story altogether, you'll get a great service and many smiles.
-the experience. Many of the instructors were ex students of the same school and some of them have only dived in Koh Tao, nowhere else! Honestly that didn't make us feel very safe. When during my deep dive I shot up to the surface accidentally without doing the safety stop, I was freaking out quite a lot, but nobody really cared and we went straight for another dive.
We chose Impian divers based on the reviews here, but we wouldn't do it again. Not that the school is so bad, but it just didn't work for us. There really are dozens and dozens on the island, come, walk around, talk to the people in the dive shops and see which you like best. I read the same recommendation somewhere before going to Koh Tao but ignored it, unfortunately. I believe now it's important that you feel good and confident about your instructor, and you can't get that from any review.
-5 nights of free accommodation (a double with fan close to the school, that would otherwise cost 500Bt/night)
-close to the port
-very small groups (we ended up having the instructor just for the two of us)
-snorkeling gear free to use
-discounts in both fun and adventure dives after you finished the course with them
Please note that most of the schools on Koh Tao offer similar things, so there isn't really anything from the list that stands out.
What we didn't like:
-we didn't expect to find buddies for life but the instructors weren't too friendly, only in the beginning when we were signing the papers. Later almost every time we went to the school we felt like we were bothering them. There was no friendly vibe, just uninterested politeness at most. On the other hand, if you're Dutch, that's a different story altogether, you'll get a great service and many smiles.
-the experience. Many of the instructors were ex students of the same school and some of them have only dived in Koh Tao, nowhere else! Honestly that didn't make us feel very safe. When during my deep dive I shot up to the surface accidentally without doing the safety stop, I was freaking out quite a lot, but nobody really cared and we went straight for another dive.
We chose Impian divers based on the reviews here, but we wouldn't do it again. Not that the school is so bad, but it just didn't work for us. There really are dozens and dozens on the island, come, walk around, talk to the people in the dive shops and see which you like best. I read the same recommendation somewhere before going to Koh Tao but ignored it, unfortunately. I believe now it's important that you feel good and confident about your instructor, and you can't get that from any review.
Written May 26, 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Cian O
Cork, Ireland18 contributions
Jan 2016 • Couples
I am so happy myself and my girlfriend chose these guys to do our Open Water Certification. We really wanted to learn to scuba dive but we were very nervous as neither of us have much ocean experience. We had a chat with the owner, Rob, and he was an incredibly calming influence. He thoroughly explained what would be ahead of us and how they were at hand to help us get what we were looking for. Although the company is Dutch run and primarily Dutch staffed everybody is fluent in English so there was never an issue of miscommunication or misunderstanding.
The course was spread over three days and our instructor Sjors was very knowledgeable and very patient. He explained a lot of theory to us in the mornings and in the afternoon we practiced the skills we had spoken about underwater.
Something like this is obviously a serious business and everything needs to be undertaken professionally and that is definitely the remit of this outfit. These guys knew what they were doing and were determined to get us to a competent level underwater. There are many stories abound of dive shops just churning people through as much as possible with the focus on quantity rather than quality. Nothing could be further from the truth here, classes are maxed at 4 people but we were lucky enough to have an instructor just for the 2 of us.
From a safety perspective the professionalism of your dive instructor is obviously of paramount importance but when spending three days with someone personality is also fairly important. Our guy Sjors was wonderfully likeable, he was seamlessly able to blend humour with informative content. Throughout the three days we did interact with the other instructors and did have a few beers with them on completion of the course and I would be extremely confident in declaring the lot of them a great bunch of guys.
If you're serious about learning to dive on Ko Tao then I'd look no further than Impian, these guys are a phenomenon.
The course was spread over three days and our instructor Sjors was very knowledgeable and very patient. He explained a lot of theory to us in the mornings and in the afternoon we practiced the skills we had spoken about underwater.
Something like this is obviously a serious business and everything needs to be undertaken professionally and that is definitely the remit of this outfit. These guys knew what they were doing and were determined to get us to a competent level underwater. There are many stories abound of dive shops just churning people through as much as possible with the focus on quantity rather than quality. Nothing could be further from the truth here, classes are maxed at 4 people but we were lucky enough to have an instructor just for the 2 of us.
From a safety perspective the professionalism of your dive instructor is obviously of paramount importance but when spending three days with someone personality is also fairly important. Our guy Sjors was wonderfully likeable, he was seamlessly able to blend humour with informative content. Throughout the three days we did interact with the other instructors and did have a few beers with them on completion of the course and I would be extremely confident in declaring the lot of them a great bunch of guys.
If you're serious about learning to dive on Ko Tao then I'd look no further than Impian, these guys are a phenomenon.
Written January 14, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
thedirtygerman
Hamburg, Germany1 contribution
Dec 2015 • Friends
Very nice instructors, good lessons in small groups and very flexible if you want to take a day or two off during the course. Definitely recommendable!
Written December 30, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Kevin M
1 contribution
Dec 2015 • Friends
Just got my open water certification through Impian Divers and I have to say they are one of the best. Extremely friendly, knowledgeable and they are all fluent in Dutch!
Written December 28, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Rolihlahla
Dortmund, Germany38 contributions
Oct 2015 • Couples
We were there for a fun dive and we really enjoyed it. The diving instructor was really great and we had a perfect day.
Thank you very much Impian Divers!
Thank you very much Impian Divers!
Written October 1, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
