Entry level technical diving course completed today in Thailand

Koh Tao, Thailand - Big Blue Tech celebrates the graduation of Magnus Baer from the TDI Intro to Tech Diver Course which is the first element in the 4 course technical diver program.

The TDI Intro to Tech course is designed to offer students the skills found in the GUE Fundamentals Course which focus on strict buoyancy and trim along with skills in the water without moving. While other organizations allow skills to be mastered sitting on their knees in the sand TDI Courses put emphasis on the ability to remain horizontal without making contact with anything underwater which illustrates control.

One of the more interesting skills to help you take control of your environment is the advanced propulsion techniques of backwards finning where you remain horizontal but kick in a backwards frog kick style and move away from objects without using your hands. Additionally the practice of bailing to back up mask, out of air, sharing air, gas shut downs and lift bag deployment all while neutrally buoyant gave Magnus the ability to progress on to the TDI Advanced Nitrox course which starts on Monday after the weekend.

Like all our courses, Magnus was issued with his certification because he excelled at the skills in the water and performed above expectation.

Technical diver training begins on Koh Tao

Koh Tao, Thailand – Today Big Blue Tech starts a tec course for Magnus Baer who comes from season and has been travelling for the past 4 months on a round the world trip.

Magnus has been to Koh Tao before working on the Island as a diving instructor so this would be a familiar setting for him t o learn more challenging diving.

Magnus’ tech diving course will include the ‘Intro To Tech’ , ‘Advanced Nitrox’ , ‘Decompression Procedures’ and ‘Extended Range’ modules from TDI (Technical Diving International) which is the leading and most recognized technical diving certification agency in the world. TDI’s motto of ‘We lead, Others Follow’ is indicative of their and our style of technical diving.

While Magnus joined us for specifically TDI training it was the small touches provided by Big Blue Tech which made the difference. The equipment provided for use during the course is staggering and top of the line.

Magnus was issued the following equipment today for use for the duration of his course.
-    Boots, OMS Slipstream Fins, 3mm Wetsuit
-    OMS 60lbs Double Bladder Wing with Aluminium Back plate and Comfort Harness
-    Oms Thigh Pocket, 2 lift bags, OMS Cavern Reel, Finger Reel
-    Titanium Knife, Wrist Slate, Primary and Secondary Torch
-    Backup and Primary Mask
-    Uwatec Bottom Timer and Depth Gauge
-    Suunto Vytec Ds, Compass
-    Apeks XTX 20 back gas regulators
-    Scubapro decompression regulators
-    Personal O2 tank, personal twinset, personal lean mix tank and hardware
-    OMS deco clip hardware and rigging

This is the standard equipment issued to all our students and fun divers. The choice to use this equipment has been based on years to testing other types to fail.

In addition to equipment, Magnus was taken through a refresher of his dive theory including basic physics and physiology to help bring him up to speed with the coming theoretic knowledge needed to succeed on this course.

At lunch Magnus was also taken out by James, Ash and Andy from the team for his 800m swim test which was completed under the required time of 10 minutes.

Tomorrow would be the start of the shallow water skills with his Intro to Tech course which focuses on buoyancy, trim and water control, which is a required foundation for all future technical diving.

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.

Big Blue Tech and Big Blue Diving Khao Lak joined forces recently for the installation of a continuous flow nitrox blending system on our new liveaboard the Mv Pawara which will be providing liveaboard trips to the similan islands.

This combined effort was done to create a vessel that could support technical diving for the upcoming season.

Big Blue Khao Lak is the only technical diving facility in Khao Lak offering technical and cave diving course through the instruction of Big Blue Tech. All our training and diving will be done from our new vessel so it had to be installed correctly.

The blending system was organized by Samui Easytek and shipped to the area for installation. The existing ventillation system on the massive liveaboard had to be replaced along with compressor oil replacement from mineral oil to synthetic.

The installation took two days and was tested with 0.1% accuracy. (no leaks)

The install comes just in time as the first trip leaves the shore in just a few days.

In addition to the install, Big Blue Khao Lak is also opening a second shop to support it’s additional 2 speed boats which will be taking people daily to local dive sites.

As a side note, the larger more robust divers of Khao Lak are celebrating the opening of McDonalds directly across the street from the Big Blue Khao Lak office.

Today Big Blue Tech completed a TDI Advanced Nitrox Course for Martijn and Emily which took 2 days with 4 dives.

This course is designed to train divers how to use the basic technical diving equipment, dive to 40m and handle advanced mixes of nitrox up to pure oxygen.

This course is a non-decompression diving course giving the students the option of diving on nitrox, in twin tanks at depth.

The dives began with simple buoyancy, beginner skills and air consumption moving slowly to more advanced and complex skills challenging the divers and creating confident and comfortable tekkies.

Although moments of being attacked by fish, Emily getting caught waving at bat fish and Martijn forgetting his computer it was all relatively smooth.

This course was assisted by Christos Kardana and Andy Holdaway who are working to progress their professional skills for their upcoming examinations for further technical instructor ratings.

The TDI Advanced Nitrox course is designed to train the divers in the benefits, hazards and proper procedures for utilizing Enriched air nitrox through to one hundred (100%) percent oxygen for dives not requiring decompression To a depth of forty (40) msw, one hundred thirty (130) fsw.

The popularity of this course can further be illustrated with the recent shift in PADI’s technical diving arm DSAT to adopt the TDI style of courses which is to be released September 1st.

The course in itself gives the student many great new abilities as a diver. Of those include certification to 40m, above 40% nitrox use and the ability to dive in technical diving gear.

Yesterday Big Blue Tech completed such a course for Andy Holdaway , Panos Iosifoglo and Jean-Louis Rocheron. This course was also assited by Christos Kardana who was documenting the event with his under water camera.

The students excelled at the new gear and learning that extra buoyancy skills was introduced to help improve their confidence in the gear, these skills are typically found in the TDI Intro to Tech or GUE Foundations courses. This is essential for Panos and Andy who are continuing on to their TDI Cavern Course in a few days and later to more progressive technical diving course, they will use their new certification diving with twin tanks in the fresh water caves of Khao Sok National Park. Jean-Louis benefited from the extra skills and time to practice because he returns to work in France and might not have much time to dive again until next holiday.

Below are some pictures of the course.

Action Asia Magazine publishes a dive planner guide annually. This year “Action Diver” features a comprehensive guide to diving around south east asia.

Under their Thailand section they gave us a good write up and plenty of contact information for travelers who pickup the free publication to reach us easily.

as written.

“Big Blue Diving is one of Thailand’s longest-running dive centers, with a d ive resort on Koh Tao on the east coast and a dive centre offering trips to the Similan and Surin islands from Khao Lak on the west coast. Big Blue Diving on Koh Tao offers accommodation from dormitories to luxury bungalows on the beach. With three large dive vessels departing twice a day they can offer up to 12 different dive sites daily. Big Blue Diving also offers tuition for technical diving and cave diving at the Khao Sok National Park. Their west-coast dive operation services the Similan and Surin Islands by speedboat and by liveaboard. Boasting a choice of liveaboards departing daily, Big Blue Diving Khao Lak is quickly becoming a popular choice for divers on the west coast”

We love that last bit since all our technical diving is done on the west coast during that time of year. imagine graduating from your technical diving course amongst manta rays at 50m.