Advanced nitrox divers graduate with bull sharks in Thailand

Koh Tao, Thailand - Big Blue Tech celebrates the graduation of Yvonne Fries, Helen Artal, Thomas Hallstrom and Duncan Tyler from a TDI Advanced Nitrox course conducted by TDI Instructor James Thornton-Allan and assisted by Andrew Cavell and Ash Dunn over various dive sites on Koh Tao Island in Thailand.

The TDI Advanced Nitrox course is designed to orientate the student about rich or high mixes of oxygen and their advantages while wearing technical diving gear. The use of low mixes to advance deep diving and the use of high mixes to add extra conservatism to optional stops during the dive.

The students learned about carrying a decompression cylinder, oxygen handling and analysis and vairous other skills. The final dives were conducted using nitrox to allow the diver to flow through a no-decompression schedule switching to different mixes of nitrox the shallower the dive went. This course certifies the diver to delve to 40m using up to 100% oxygen depending on the depth and if the situation is warranted.

The final dive was also held at Chmphon Pinnacle where we were met by Bull Sharks that live at that dive site creating an exciting atmosphere for learning and diving.

The students were issued certification after and exam and progress on to their TDI Decompression Procedures course tomorrow with a return to Chumphon Pinnacle for some more dive time with the sharks. You can read more about the Advanced Nitrox course here: TDI Advanced Nitrox Diver Course

Big Blue Tech have released a short video of our most recent technical diving course filmed by James Waller on Chumphon Pinnacle with Bull Sharks.

The video shows the graduation of the TDI Decompression Procedures course which was completed in December 2009. That story can be found here: “All I want for Chriistmas is TECH” During this course, underwater videographer James Waller joined us during his holiday break from working and filming in Wakatobi.

The video, filmed in High Definition (HD) shows the abundance of the marine life at Chumphon pinnacle with schools of barracuda’s and different types and sizes of sharks. James Waller being an experienced videographer and a SDI Solo Diver was able to leave the disturbance of other divers to focus on the film work on his own with a redundant breathing system or “pony”.

This is the first in a series of videos which will show more technical diving and sharks as the footage is gathered.

Today Big Blue Tech celebrated the successful completion of a TDI Advanced Nitrox Course for Ash, Matt and Andy.

The students come from different backgrounds and environments. Matt is a oil and gas worker based in Kazakhstan but frequents Thailand; he completed his SDI Solo Diver course last month and has come back for more serious diving. Ash is a Divemaster Intern with Big Blue and will soon move up to join Big Blue Tech in December. Andy comes from Denmark where he is actively serving in the Danish Army as a Sergeant and this is his break before returning home for overseas deployment.

The TDI Advanced Nitrox course is based on familiarity with technical diving methods and equipment, buoyancy, oxygen handling, mixes of nitrox above 40% and extended depth to 40m. Some of the highlights of this course included some wreck diving at Japanese Gardens, some cavern diving at Green Rock and diving with Bull Sharks at Chumphon Pinnacle.

Some of the students will continue on to Decompression Procedures which teaches the methods behind decompression diving and more advanced skills while others would continue to gain experience or return home.

In addition, Christos was awarded the TDI Semi Closed Rebreather rating after completing all the skills and requirements for the rebreather and accompanied the course for more experience and training on the rebreather.