Big Bubble Dive Resort

Big Bubble Dive Resort on Koh Tao Island in Thailand is dedicated to the future of coral reefs. With their PADI AWARE Foundation Community Grant, they’re restoring corals and educating the community.

Big Bubble Dive Resort will offer coral planting activities to communities and tourists, bringing together many hands to protect and care for the coral reefs of Koh Tao.

Since 2017 in partnership with the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources Thailand, scuba divers have planted over 100,000 coral fragments around the island. In 2022, they used PADI AWARE funding to plant an additional 2,500 coral fragments. Data collection following the planting showed approximately an 80% survival rate after three months.

Following the initial coral plantings, the artificial reefs planted can serve as a resource for interested divers to learn more about coral reef conservation.

The reason behind their project is clear. When Big Bubble’s team thinks of the ocean, they immediately remember coral reefs, the marine life that lives there, and their own lives, said Pongphat Turasakul. Human life is fundamentally reliant upon a healthy reef and ocean. Therefore, in restoring the reef, the shop knows that they are also helping the local community and visitors to the island. 

Success for the project will be measured by the survival of restored coral and the number of citizen science divers who participate. 

These efforts are also “a case study for the future restoration of the reef,” Pongphat Turasakul added. With success, future restoration projects could become more realistic.

Education is also a big component of the project because it allows the work to continue long after the dives have ended. Visitors who connect with the mission behind the coral restoration project will bring that back home with them and share it within their communities. In this way, support for coral reefs and more sustainable ways of living grows. This effect can ripple out far beyond the island. 

“The oceans are too big for one single hand to protect and care for. However, if many small hands work together, our oceans will definitely get better,” says Mr. Chatsakul Kaewpanao, Big Bubble Resort’s General Manager. 

Want to see more of Big Bubble Dive Resort in action?

You can follow along with Big Bubble Dive Resort and their coral restoration project on their website, Instagram, Facebook, or on https://www.padi.com/aware.