International Training is pleased to announce the appointment of Michal Piskula as a member of the Training Advisory Panel.  A well respected, veteran TDI/SDI/ERDI Instructor-Trainer with vast experience in all aspects of SCUBA diving, Michal operates the Eastern Europe Regional Office of our organization in addition to running his own successful diving school.

He was instrumental in establishing TDI and SDI programs in the region and recently certified the Czech Police Diving Team under ERDI standards, helping grow the increasingly popular range of public safety diving programs internationally.

His contributions to reviewing training standards and materials are noteworthy and he has provided invaluable input to the development of new programs, including the professional rating of IT Staff Instructor, which was successfully trialed in the Czech Republic under Michal’s expert guidance prior to general release.

An extremely skilled wreck and cave diver who is also a renowned underwater photographer (see photo below), Michal brings a wealth of diving knowledge to the Training Advisory Panel.  Welcome, Michal!

The Training Advisory Panel (TAP) is charged with the responsibility of helping to develop, maintain, and enforce the training standards and educational materials used by divers and instructors teaching for and recieving training through, SDI, TDI and ERDI. The members of TAP are dive industry professional who have widely recognized experience as divers, dive educators, explorers, authors and photographers.

Technical Diving allows experienced divers to dive deeper, enter overhead environments such as a wreck or caves or dive for longer bottom times with specialized equipment after gaining expert training.

Big Blue Tech provide this expert training by combining the knowledge and skills from a variety of certification agency taking the best from all theories including hogarth equipment concepts, GUE buoyancy skills, DSAT buddy emphasis, TDI Independence and including BSAC strict adherence to performance to provide a well rounded, confident and experienced technical diver.

For those moving into the technical diving sport for the first time or those who already have experience but want to enhance their skills and education we provide a comprehensive and clear path through our custom education system. We also provide warm safe training environments in our tropical waters with access to challenging conditions as your experience grows based on the idea that if you train hard then you will dive easy.

Our staff stay current and dedicated to this sport and are always learning new and better ways to train technical divers by learning and studying the art of technical diving. Our staff are members of GUE (Global Underwater Explorers) NSS-CDS (National Speleological Society - Cave Diving Society) and follow their philosophy of underwater conduct and training,

All our technical diving education is conducted to strict adherence to diving standards and safety. Alcohol and recreational drugs use is prohibited during diving and training activities through our school.

Enrollment does not mean certification and as instructors we will never carry you through training. We give you the tools to perform but you must perform on your own.

For a more in depth look at our training and courses read our news from past training events and expeditions.

Choose the course your interested by selecting from the list below. For more information contact us at info@bigbluetech.net

TDI
Solo Diver
Full Face Mask Diver
Nitrox Diver
Intro to Tech
Advanced Nitrox
Decompression Procedures
Extended Range
Trimix Diver
Advanced Trimix
Semi Closed Rebreather
Closed Circuit Rebreather - 1
Closed Circuit Rebreather - 2
Closed Circuit Rebreather - 3
Cavern Diver
Intro to Cave
Cave Diver
Gas Blender
Advanced Gas Blender
O2 Service Technician
Technical Divemaster

DSAT
Tec Basics Specialty
Tec Level 1 Diver
Tec Deep Diver
Tec Trimix
Gas Blender
Trimix Blender

BSAC
Advanced Nitrox Diver
Tech Advanced Nitrox Diver
Extended Range Diver
Full Face Mask Diver
Compressor Operator

APNEA FREEDIVING
Freediver Basic
Freediver Advanced

TDI Resources (Technical Diving International)

Liability and Release Form

Medical Form

Physician Form

Semi Closed Rebreather Diver

Solo Diver

Air Dilluent CCR Diver

Mixed Gas CCR Diver

Advanced Mixed Gas CCR Diver

Cavern Diver

Intro to Cave Diver

Full Cave Diver

Gas Blender

Advanced Gas Blender

Oxygen Service Technician

Nitrox Diver

Advanced Wreck Diver

Nitrox Diver

Intro to Tech

Advanced Nitrox Diver

Decompression Procedures

Extended Range

Trimix Diver

Advanced Trimix Diver

CMAS Resources (Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques)

3 Srar Diver

2 Star Diver

1 Star Diver

Rescue Diver

Children and Youth Diving

Mixed Gas Diver

Normoxic Trimix Diver

Overhead Scooter Diver

Closed Circuit Rebreather Diver

Semi Closed Rebreather Diver

Standards and Procedures

Unerwater Navigation

Trimix Diver

Training and Diving

Underwater Scooter

Cave Diver

Gas Blender and Service Technician

Extended Range Diver

Scientific Diver

PADI Resources (Professional Association of Diving Instructors)

Gas Blender Release

Blender Fill Log

RSTC Medical

Liability Form

Release Form

Release for Nitrox Diving

BSAC Resources (British Sub Aqua Club)

Combined Nitrox Diver

Gas Blender

Advanced Nitrox Diver

Sport Mixed Gas Diver

Extended Range Diver

Advanced Mixed Gas

IANTD Resources (International Association of Nitrox and Technical Divers)

Normoxic Trimix

Technical Diver

Trimix CCR

Gas Blender

Air CCR

Liability Form

Advanced Nitrox

Technical Cave

Nitrox Diver

Release Form

Military Diving Resources

U.S Navy Diving Manual

Contaminated Water Diving Manual

User Operation Manuals

ISC APECS Operation Manual

VR3 Quick Reference Manual

US DIVERS Service and Cleaning Manual

AP Inspiration “Vision” Closed Circuit Rebreather Operation Manual

Sentinel Closed Circuit Rebreather Operation Manual

Sofnolime Reference Guide

Azimuth Closed circuit Rebreather Operation Manual

AP Inspiration “Classic” Closed Circuit Rebreather Operation Manual

Drager “Dolphin” Semi Closed Rebreather Manual

Azimuth Closed Circuit Rebreather Brochure

Drager “Ray” Semi Closed Rebreather Manual

Ap Evolution Operation Manual

Ap Inspiration Operation Manual

Nexus Quick Reference Manual

Suunto D6 Owner Manual

Nexus Closed Circuit Rebreather Operation Manual

Reference Material

Reduced Gradient Bubble Model

Deep Diver Workbook

Physics, Physiology, And Medicine Of Diving

Occupational Diving Cometance

Understanding M-Values

Learners guide to CCR

Texas University Diving Saftey

Confessions of a Mortal Diver

Oxygen Toxicity Calculations

Understanding Deep Stops

Understanding Setpoints For CCR

Cave Divers Are Mortal

Rebreather Blunders And Malfunctions

Boom Scenario

Basic Equipment For Cave Diving

Diving Terms and Explanations

Dive Profile Safety

Diving The Hms Repulse

Diving Incident Report Form

So You Want to Technical Dive

Predive Checklist

In Water Recompression

Depth and Gas

Book Reviews

Rebreather Fundamentals

Dive Medic Resource Manual

Complex navigation in the cave environment is critically important. Taught at the Apprentice Cave Diver level, it is further refined at the full Cave Diver level. At the Cavern and Basic/Intro Cave Diver levels we discourage complex navigation and train divers to stay on the main line. No jumps, no circuits, and no traverses. Cave diving fatalities have occurred when team members mismanaged complex navigation and lost their reference to the direction of the exit.

Skill Review

In the last couple of issues of the Underwater Speleology I have reviewed “How to” scenarios: How to relocate a lost buddy and how to relocate a lost guideline. I encourage you to re-read those articles with special attention paid to the primary sources of trouble: lack of awareness in the cave, failure to use a continuous guideline, and the direct link between increased task loading and decreased awareness.

The modular programs in cave training take advantage of compartmentalizing chunks of training and, by design, save complex navigation for the latter half of training. The reasoning for this is that the task loading cave students undergo at the cavern and basic cave levels (things such as how to properly deploy a reel, buddy awareness, line awareness, overall situational awareness, and dive technique) should be mastered and in muscle memory before more complex dive plans are made and students begin using one third of their gas supply for penetration.

Plan Your Dive

Once a dive plan is made that includes jumping off of the mainline onto another line, the following procedures help the team stay focused on the task of more complex navigation and helps prevent them from “going the wrong way” during their exit.

Divers should always run a reel to the main line and for all jumps. Proper directional markings are essential for safely navigating to the exit. Relying upon memory or someone else is not the safe way to do this. In low or no visibility we realize that it is very easy to become disoriented and go the wrong way.

Dive Your Plan

Once in the cave at the agreed-upon jumps, one teammate designated to install the jump reel should locate the line they are jumping to. He/she should deploy the jump reel, tying in to the other line, to make a continuous guideline back to the exit. The other teammates should wait on the mainline providing light for the teammate deploying the reel, as well as verifying that the jump is done correctly.

Most popular jumps have double line arrows indicating both that a jump exists in the vicinity and indicates the nearest exit direction. If there are no arrows on your jump, place one that can be identified as yours by sight and touch once you return to that line/jump point. Once the designated teammate installs the jump reel he or she will OK the other teammates with his or her light and only then do the other teammates cross to the new line. Once crossed the teammates should inspect the tie off also inspect the reel to ensure they can identify it as their team’s reel once they return. Reels should also be prepared in such a way that they can be identified by touch.

The team is then safe to continue into the cave until someone turns the dive and the team begins its exit. At this point the team’s approach to safely navigating out of the cave is critical, partially dependent upon how the jump line was initially installed and marked.

Safe Exit

After the team turns the dive and once the team reaches the point where the jump was made all teammates, except the team member running the reel, cross to the other line and wait for the reel person on the exit side of the jump. This helps set up the proper exit direction and the proper team order is not changed.

The person responsible for pulling the jump reel should wait at the reel and ensure his/her teammates have each made the jump and are waiting on the exit side before untying the reel from the line. Once all teammates are on the exit side the team member managing the reel can remove it.

Low- or No-Vis Exit

This method is relatively simple and works very well in good visibility. If the team is exiting in low or no visibility the reel(s) should just be left in place. These procedures help ensure that each teammate is thinking about the navigation and is not just following another teammate. Each cave diver is verifying and validating this phase of the dive, as they must also be doing during all phases and transitions during the dive. — Text by Jim Wyatt (photo by Jill Heinreth)

Holding the world record for distance travelled in underwater caves as well as being the first person to cave dive in an Antarctic iceberg, Jill has been at the top of her game for 20 years.

Expert at traversing pitch-black freezing tunnels, full-time cave photographer Jill carries up to 300 pounds of equipment with her on each expedition.

Using technology more advanced than average scuba diving gear, the Florida based adventure cave diver makes use of electric heated wetsuits and unique carbon dioxide recycling aqua-lungs.

“The images of me with my team from Antarctica still bring back the excitement of that unique expedition,” says Jill, who lives in the much warmer climate of High Springs in Florida.

“That was a National Geographic jaunt to the B-15 iceberg, which at the time was larger than Jamaica.

“The aim was to become the first people to cave dive in an active iceberg.

“To say that it was fraught with danger is an understatement.”

The 2001 trip was denied endorsement by the United States National Science Foundation because they deemed it too dangerous.

As a result they had to travel under the flag of New Zealand whose government accepted the risk of the party

Travelling the 12 days by boat from New Zealand to the Ross Sea area, Jill and her team including National Geographic photographer Wes Skiles entered the dramatic caves.

“The thing with the iceberg was that it was constantly moving,” explains Jill who works as a professional photographer and filmmaker in Florida.

“Entrances and creases were opening and closing as the iceberg went through the motions.

“What didn’t help as well was the -1.2 degree sea temperature, that was something else.”

Usually carrying up to £30,000 of torches, cutting tools, rope, special ‘re-breather’ aqualungs in triplicate on her cave journeys, Jill’s motto is to never be unprepared.

Due to the delicate nature of cave diving even a series of bubbles released from her aqua-lung could cause rocks or ice to dislodge and trap her.

“The most obvious thing that could go wrong is to get stuck, in the dark and without any idea which way you are facing,” says Jill.

“It sounds glib, but do not panic. If you do you increase your chances of dying dramatically.

“It is a real test of mind over matter.”

Stunned by her experiences in the pristine, unexplored Antarctic, Jill’s fame in the cave diving world has grown since the mid 1990’s.

“I have been scuba diving for twenty years, but when I broke the world women’s record for distance travelled underground, underwater, then my career really took off,” says Jill.

“I pushed 10,000 feet in a lateral movement 300ft down in the Wakulla Springs cave complex in north Florida in 1998.

“I was experimenting with a 3-D mapping device that cost the best part of £470 million.

“It is the technology that one day Nasa hope to send to the underwater caves of Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter.”

Living with her husband of three years Robert McCellen, Jill admits that he gets worried when she goes off on another adventure.

“We have an agreement,” explains Jill.

“I call him the minute I surface. That keeps his worry under wraps.”

Cave diving photography is one of the most challenging and potentially dangerous kinds of all human activities. A lot of things can go wrong when you go into a deep cave. Many more can go wrong when the cave is also filled with water. This said, imagine doing the last two while at the same time being occupied with the right angle and perfect lighting of a beautiful underwater cave shot. Not the easiest job on earth, ha? Naturally, this kind of activity requires special training and equipment. Cave diving is not a game. According to American Caving Accidents, a special yearly report of The National Speleological Society tracking cave diving accidents, 50 American divers have died in 44 fatal cave diving accidents since the year 2000 and until end of 2007 and the numbers keep going up. So, just to make sure - if you are not certified and trained for cave diving, don’t even think about trying it.

Gladly, in reality most underwater explorations end up with a satisfied diver and some very good stories, while some of them even have spectacular underwater photos to tell their stories for them. Following is a photo compilation from 6 cave diver-photographers who have followed the rules and came back to share their experience and photos with us. All images are copyrighted and are the property of the corresponding photographers. For more about Cave Diving see Wikipedia.

Wes Skiles

The underwater caving photographs of Wes Skiles are of the most well known and highly valued available nowadays anywhere in the world. Skiles is a professional high-definition nature photographer and film director and the CEO of Karst Productions, specializing in high-risk operations of nature exploration projects.

His clients include world leading media channels including the National Geographic with which he made quite a few amazing projects. During his career Skiles has won many awards including the HDFEST Deffie for Best Documentary Film (twice), Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival (finalist, 2003) Gold Aurora Award (2003), Crystal Reel Awards (2003) and Best Educational Film Cine Golden Eagle 2003.
http://www.wesskiles.com

Deighton

Deighton does not seem to be a professional cave diver yet he practices the combination of cave diving and photography and manages to obtain exceptional results with his photos. The above were taken during his cave diving journey in Mayan Riviera, Mexico on November 10-14, 2005. More photos from Deighton on this Picsa webAlbum.

Andreas W. Matthes

Andreas Matthes is a highly experienced Closed-Circuit Rebreathers Cave (CCR) Instructor living in Mexico who has been training CCR cave diving since 1997, conducting thousands of cave dives world wide. Matthes received the NSS-CDS International Cave Diving Safety Award as well as the NACD Wakulla Gold Award for 1000 completed cave dives, both in the year of 2001. For more about rebreathers technology see here.

Other than being a professional underwater cave diver and photographer Matthes is also an avid webmater. He runs a website dedicated to closed-circuit rebreathers (CCR) cave diving, a type of mixed-gas system, enabling descent to much greater depths than can be safely reached with oxygen rebreathers or normal compressed air equipment. For more about rebreathers technology see here. The above photos were taken in Mexico with an Olympus 3030 digital camera during a CCR exploration journey. The camera was placed into a Light and Motion Tetra housing featuring a screw-on wide angle lens converter.
http://www.andreaswmatthes.com

Allen Wooten

With a Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree Allen Wooten spends most of his time doing Corporate Accounting for a Fortune 500 Company in South Georgia USA. On other times, just about every other weekend, Wooten likes diving to the North Florida caves.

Wooten is a certified member of the NSS-CDS and DAN and practice various technical diving activities including sidemount, drysuit and scooter/DPV diving, as well as cave diving photography. He has a low-volume garage factory for gas mixing of nitrox, trimix, and deco bottles at home and has previously adopted 50 ft of cave passage in the deep section (165 ft deep) of Lower Lower Orange Grove Sink.
http://www.cavedivingrocks.com

John Blausey

With 14 years of dive experience John Blausey has a record of thousands of dives all over the world. He is the principal instructor and manager of AcmeScuba, a company specializing in various adventurous dive training including night dives, deep dives, search and recovery and underwater photography.

As a Master SCUBA Diver Trainer, Blausey provides a complete diver training program set forth by the Professional Association of Diving Instructors. The above photographs were taken Jul 24, 2007 during an underwater caving trip in Dominican Republic. The camera in use is a Canon PowerShot G7. More photos from this dive on Blausey’s Picsa webAlbum.

Nick

Not much is known about Nick except for his first name and the fact he is a skilled cave diver and a talented underwater cave photographer. The above photo selection was taken on Jul 31 - August 1, 2007 during Nick’s caving journey in Florida. More photos from Nick on this Picsa webAlbum.

by Christos Kardana

It’s easy to get excited about Khao Sok National Park. Astonishing areas of ancient rain forest, exotic rare wildlife and countless trekking routes provide the ideal setting for the avid explorer or outdoor enthusiast. It also provides the perfect backdrop for diving fanatics such as ourselves here at Big Blue Tech, were we are all about going ‘deeper and darker’.  Khao Sok National Park’s 165kmsq lake - created by a damming project in the early 1980s- provides a rare and challenging environment for advanced divers. The lake is mesmerising, with limestone sheer cliffs and pinnacles surrounding the immense body of water. The water itself is a layer cake of debris covered surface, sulphur induced mid water columns and finally crystal clear water engulfing submerged tree tops at 60m in what can prove to be the most serene and yet challenging diving site for many. Big Blue Tech returned to this favourite destination to conduct the August TDI Cavern Course, in what was our first visit since our successful Technical Temple Expedition back in June.

Cavern and cave diving is an exhilarating experience appealing to a wide array of divers from speleological fanatics exploring the limestone formations formed over years of natural weathering and water flow erosion to hardcore divers looking for the challenge of extreme dive exposure and expedition planning and logistics.

The Big Blue Tech TDI Cavern Course is a 4-day expedition with fee covering all costs involved during the length, including overnight boat and minibus transport there and back, food and drink cover and the certifying course and additional dives as well. The TDI Cavern course is the first step in overhead environment training covering all necessary skills for chamber diving within an ambient light source putting you on the road for full cave diver in the future if your up for the challenge. Starting at our home headquarters in Koh Tao it’s a simple and pleasurable journey to the Khao Sok National Park resort.

Surrounded by evergreen forest, flowing streams and peacocks, academic presentations and theory Q&A is covered followed by hands on practical reel work including tie-offs and placements, team diving contact drills and light and air source failure bail out techniques.

Day two means we can finally get in the water and after a delightful traditional long-tail boat ride through the lake; a full skill briefing is conducted before kit up, entry and penetration of our main training cavern, ‘Temple’ defined by its stalactite and stalagmite formations all but lost with history to what is now an astonishing underwater chamber. Students lead the dive itself practicing appropriate reel work and buddy and light techniques all under the direct supervision of our head instructor, James Thornton Allan. The skills are perfected on the second dive within ‘Peters’ Cave; home to a cathedral type chamber that divers can surface in floating through narrow corridors.

Day 3 completes the skills required for certification as a cavern diver, of which we will not mention (we cant ruin the surprise!), with Day 4 allowing for adventure dives at new sites within the park, providing the perfect situation for newly qualified divers to utilise there new found skills in the true nature and reason of why cave and technical diving evolved to what it is today…Exploration!

Big Blue Tech’s August Expedition consisted of two students: English technical dive-master intern Andy Holdoway and instructor Panagiotis Iosifoglou of Greek German decent. Past students Sonia Scott and Yvonne Fries returned for a third and second time respectively for the love of the sport, adding further cavern dives to there log. As Andy and Panagiotis were already TDI Advance Nitrox Certified they were qualified to dive on a technical twin set rig, an addition they both agreed lent itself perfectly to the type of diving involved, while the girls utilised recreational kit with bail out pony cylinders across there torso.

Andy found the whole experience exhilarating stating “I feel alive again” with Panagiotis or ‘Panos’ as we call him, remaining speechless for the majority of the trip, every now and again doing the old “This is Sparta” routine before donning his tech kit. The girls loved the trip, as did we all here at Big Blue Tech, and the logistics and planning are already under way for our September Expedition.

If you are interested in our Khao Sok Cavern Expeditions or any of our training courses, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@bigbluetech.net

All photographs are © Christos Kardana / Big Blue Tech.

Waking in the National Park has a certain quality to it, seeing the wildlife like monkeys and wild birds around you gives a sense of wonder beyond imagination.

The resort we stayed in was perfect. A great restaurant, balconey facing the park, fridge and aiconditioning meant we had a good rest after the long days diving.

Today we would complete academics, meet John and do dry run skills of the reel and how to do Tie Offs. For some this was their first time using a reel, a redundant breathing system, diving from a small boat, fresh water and cave diving. There was a lot to cover but Bruce delivered it in a slow and easy manner for everyone to keep up.

Tonight would be an early night as we would be jumping in to diving tomorrow.

Today we departed from Koh Tao on a 2 hour ferry to Chumphon in mainland thailand to start our journey to Khao Sok National Park for a ANDI Cavern Level 2 diver course. Arriving in Chumphon we met up with the Truck we sent the previous day filled with cylinders to take us on our trip.

We let Yvonne sit in the front while the boys listened to Ipods and relaxed in the back. The road from Chumphon to Khao Lak takes a very diverse and scenic route giving everyone a taste of Thailands urban and rural wonders.

Leaving from Koh Tao at 10am, i wouldn’t be until 6 when we arrive in Khao Sok and met up with Bruce Konefe who would be conducting the course for the 4 students eagerly awaiting the challenge ahead.

Although many on the course had experience in overhead environments or had dove in caves before, this course would prove to be educational and rewarding for all.

Arriving in Khao Sok everyone had dinner and went to be early, awaiting the next day’s activites and the arrival of John from Siam Dive N Sail who was joining us.

A brief history of the National Park

In 1961…
The 401 road was constructed between Phun Pin (Surat Thani) and Takuapa (Phangnga). This opened up the whole area for settlements and plantations, the modern weapons and tools that came with the new peoples meant nature was in trouble. The logging and mining (tungsten and tin) industry soon followed, to the cost of the rainforest and the Sok river, which began to run brown with sediment runoff as a result of the soil erosion.

In 1970s…
Thai students, who had joined the communist insurgency groups, set up a stronghold in Khao Sok, since it was ideal territory to hide and operate guerilla warfare. Between 1975 and 1982 these students not only kept the Thai Army at bay, but also kept the loggers, miners and hunters out. Had it not been for this seven year occupation, Khao Sok’s forests may well have gone the same way as much of the rest of Thailand’s wilderness – up in smoke.

Also during this period there was considerable interest from the government and the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), since research had shown Khao Sok to be the largest watershed in southern Thailand. The National Park Division also carried out some research and established the fact there was still considerable biodiversity worth protecting in the region.

22nd December 1980
Khao Sok National Park was established.

1982…
EGAT established the Rajjaprabha Dam – closing off the Pasaeng river and creating a 165 square kilometre lake, inside the National Park Boundaries. This dam was built to guarantee a source of electricity to the south, which by now had become a major holiday destination. EGAT attempted the largest capture and release operation (to save the animals facing drowning in the lake) ever in Thailand. Unfortunately, this operation was largely unsuccessful and many of the species captured died from the stress. A World Bank study in 1995 revealed the loss of some 52 species of fish from the river, because they were not adapted to the deep waters of the lake.