Living Blue With Big Blue Diving Khao Lak
For divers who live and breathe the ocean lifestyle – spending days at sea, diving pristine reefs, and naturally wanting to protect the incredible marine world we’re passionate about.
The Ocean Lifestyle
Four days straight on the water. Multiple dives daily. Sleeping under stars. Waking up to pristine dive sites.
This is living blue.
When you spend this much time in the ocean — really in it, not just passing through — something changes. The reef stops being a backdrop and starts being a place you know. You recognise the turtles. You notice when something’s missing. You start caring in a way that doesn’t feel like effort.
Living Blue
No greenwashing. No corporate conservation speak. Just a small team doing real things that matter, in the water we call home.
Our Living Blue Projects (So Far)
Sea Turtle Conservation & Research
This is the one we’re most proud of.
In partnership with Andaman Turtle Watch — the Andaman Sea’s first public sea turtle photo-identification programme — Big Blue has become the single largest contributor of citizen science turtle data in the region. Not the largest liveaboard operator. Not the most well-funded. Just the most committed.
117
verified turtle sightings
submitted to Andaman Turtle Watch — more than any other dive centre
46
unique individual turtles
identified and documented
36
of the 92 named turtles
in the entire database named by Big Blue divers
64
recapture submissions
52
recorded feeding behaviours
contributing to critical knowledge gaps in regional turtle ecology
12
turtles in the database have only ever been recorded by Big Blue
without us, they’d be invisible to conservation science critical knowledge gaps in regional turtle ecology
Sam Hunt
#1 individual citizen scientist 42 sightings, 16 turtles named, 25 unique individuals recorded
We also launched the Andaman Sea’s first dedicated turtle conservation liveaboards — two expeditions with 42 divers, combining our normal dive standards with sea turtle ecology workshops, photo-ID training, and hands-on citizen science.
More planned for 2026–2027.
Our Resident Marine Biologist Eve Pilmore, founder of Andaman Turtle Watch, works closely with Big Blue as our lead conservation scientist. Andaman Turtle Watch is an open programme — multiple dive centres contribute, and we’re proud to be its leading partner without making it exclusive. Good science needs more eyes in the water, not fewer.
New for the 2026–27 season, we’ve developed an exclusive range of SSI Turtle Ecology courses and conservation packages that you won’t find anywhere else. Created around the work of Andaman Turtle Watch, they blend internationally recognised SSI certification with real research, real citizen science, and real conservation happening in the Andaman Sea today.
Ready to Live Blue?
Join our community of ocean-obsessed divers making a real difference through meaningful conservation
Teaching the Next Generation
One of Living Blue’s core beliefs is that conservation starts with education.
This season, we took that idea much further.
Turtle Conservation Trips
We’ve partnered with Andaman Turtle Watch to offer an unique 4-night conservation-focused diving experience in the Similan Islands. These educational expeditions combines our renowned diving standards with hands-on turtle research opportunities.
Perfect for divers seeking an educational adventure that makes a difference.
Check-out Our 2026 - 2028 Turtle Trips
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Similans – Surin – Richelieu Rock
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Similans – Surin – Richelieu Rock
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Similans – Surin – Richelieu Rock
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Similans – Surin – Richelieu Rock
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BOOK THIS TRIP
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BOOK THIS TRIP
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ROUTE:
Similans – Surin – Richelieu Rock
DIVES:
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RETURNS:
BOOK THIS TRIP
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BOOK THIS TRIP
Looking After Our Own
Living Blue isn’t just about the ocean. It’s about doing things properly — and that includes how we treat the people who make our operation work.
In the Thai dive industry, it’s common practice for migrant Burmese workers to fill tanks, manage equipment, and handle gas blending — jobs they do brilliantly, often for years, without any formal certification. The existing gas blender qualification is complex, technically demanding, and practically impossible to access for most of these workers. The result is a quiet but serious problem: skilled, experienced people doing safety-critical work without recognition or protection. And in the event of an incident, they become the easiest target.
We think that’s wrong. And we’re working to fix it.
Together with our manager Steve Boot and in discussion with SSI, we’re developing a simplified, practical certification pathway focused specifically on what these workers actually do — the relevant parts of gas blending for their real job, clearly taught, properly assessed, and formally recognised.
It’s in progress. There’s red tape. These things take time. But SSI are interested, and we’re not letting it go.
Our Burmese tank team are some of the most dedicated, capable people we’ve ever worked with. They deserve proper recognition and legal protection. Getting this right matters to us as much as the turtle data.
