Technical divers explore caves and caverns in Thailand

Khao Sok National Park, Thailand - Big Blue Tech completed the cave and cavern diving portion of their expedition with the certification of a TDI Cavern Diver certification for Helen Artal, Thomas Hallstrom, Fanette LeGoarand and James Rickert during a 4 day/ 3 night expedition in Khao Sok National Park which hosts a man made lake with hundreds of undiscovered caves and cavern systems.

The course included all entry level skills including found in overhead diving including how to use a reel, deal with limited visibility and working as a team. In addition they also had to get used to fresh water buoyancy and diving in remote areas.

After certification the divers explored new areas and discovered some new caves in the 10 - 18m range which will be explored at a later date. On one dive a team covered over 1km of submerged limestone wall looking for caves.

On the final day the team departed from Khao Sok National Park and returned to Koh Tao on the 20th.

Technical Divers head to Khao Sok National Park for cavern and cave diving

Khao Sok, Thailand - Divers on the Valentines Tech Expedition leave Khao Lak for Khao Sok National Park for the overhead diving portion of the expedition which includes cavern and cave level diving.

The Rajjaprabha Dam (also called Chieo Lan Dam) was built in the 1980’s flooding the valley of large limestone cliffs creating a large man made lake. This lake submerged caves and caverns making it perfect for cave and cavern diving and cave diving training.

Also in this lake is a submerged village with a temple which was deserted before the flooding. This temple was discovered during a expedition by Big Blue Tech in June of 2009 - “Wat Lies Beneath”

Big Blue Tech will be in Khao Sok for 3 days and 3 nights before returning to Koh Tao. A full report and pictures will follow.

Divers advance to the level of conducting decompression dives

Koh Tao, Thailand - Big Blue Tech celebrates the graduation of Yvonne Fries, Helen Artal, Thomas Hallstrom and Duncan Tyler from a TDI Decompression Procedures 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 Decompression Procedures course is designed to train a diver who has training in technical diving in the methods and skills involved with decompression diving. Recreational diving is considered no stop which means you can leave your depth and ascend to the surface at anytime (optional safety stop recommended), with decompression diving the diver has absorbed into their tissues (muscles and blood) a lot of gas which is forced in during deep and long duration diving of compressed air. Because the tissues are saturated with nitrogen it’s mandatory that decompression divers stop at certain depths for certain periods of time to let the nitrogen bubble leave the body safely. Failing to do this safely can cause the bubble to expand to fast causing decompression sickness or “the bends”. To those unfamiliar with diving, our atmosphere is made up of a concentration of 21% oxygen and 79% nitrogen, divers use this air in our tanks after a filtration system, it’s the concentration of nitrogen which effects the divers at this level.

The skills the divers had to learn were varied from following a complex schedule itemizing their stops and time, buoyancy skills like oral inflation of their wing at depth to deployment of back-up mask. Other skills continued throughout the 4 dives of this course which lead the divers to receive the coveted certification which is the most recognized internationally as a entry level technical diver.

The students were issued certification after and exam and progress on to their TDI Extended Range course tomorrow with a trip to the similan islands and khao sok national park. You can read more about the Decompession Procedures course here: TDI Decompression Procedures Diver Course

Divers train for a expedition for the month of February over valentines day.

Koh Tao, Thailand - Big Blue Tech started the orientation and introduction for 4 new students who will be working over the next few weeks to be trained as technical divers to depart koh tao on a technical diving liveaboard and cave diving in the Similan Islands and Khao Sok National Park.

The students consist of Duncan Tyler, Yvonne Fries, Helen Artal and Thomas Hallstrom who are all diving professionals. The course is being conducted by technical diving instructor James Thornton-Allan and assisted by future technical diving instructor Andy Cavell and Ash Dunn.

The goal of the next week is to certify the students for TDI Intro to Tech, TDI Advanced Nitrox, TDI Decompression Procedures and TDI Extended Range followed by TDI Cavern Diver and TDI Trimix.

While the majority of the training dives will be conducted in Koh Tao the team departs early in february to the west coast of thailand to board our liveaboard the Mv Pawara for 4 days and nights on the luxury vessel diving in Similan Islands we a few days in the end for some wreck diving and cave diving which builds from last months successful “Golden Horseshoe Expedition”

Today covered equipment organizing for all 7 technical divers and a refresher of theory with the introduction of technical diving specific information, the students were also tested on their water stamina with swim tests designed to ensure they have the basic fitness for the stress of this style of diving.

Our next expedition is planned for the end of February, to join or to receive more information you can contact us at info@bigbluetech.net

Technical Divers return home from the 3 week expedition in Thailand

Koh Tao, Thailand - Big Blue Tech concluded their 3 week expedition on January 25th after ariving at the sea port of Koh Tao Island in Thailand.

Over the past 3 weeks students and instructors from Big Blue Tech have been travelling around Thailand tech diving in the best destinations throughout the country.

The expedition took us through Khao Sok National Park, Khao Lak, Similan Islands, Krabi, Phi Phi, Ao Nang, Sra Keow and Surin Islands.

During the 3 weeks the team conducted technical dives in caverns, caves, fresh water, salt water, hot water, cold water, night time, bad visibility, perfectly clear visibility, strong current and no current. We did this all from shore, longtail boats, dinghies, speedboats, luxury liveaboards, back of a truck, tug boat and a peir.

Over the 3 weeks we found a clear divide between technical divers and recreational divers as many places we went had never seen a twin set let alone knew how to operate one which gave Big Blue Tech a great chance to expose areas to this style of diving. Along with that clear divide we also got ourselves into plenty of mischief which comes with any road trip.

Returning to Koh Tao the extension is almost finished which is designed to house more divers and their equipment, Ash was more then happy to see us as he’s been looking after the Koh Tao office all alone for 3 weeks.

The next few days we be consumed with servicing all our equipment and regulators to be ready for the next course start on January 30th where we’ll return to our liveaboard for another Similans Expedition in February.

On January 4th 2010 Big Blue Tech arrived at Rajjaprabha Dam on Chiew Lan Lake in Khao Sok National Park to head out towards the raft house which would accommodate use for the duration of the TDI Cavern Course and BSAC/TDI Compressor Operator Course. The course was taught by James Thornton-Allan for students Andy Cavell, Mark Slinn, Emily Billingham, Piotr (Peter) Paulo and Malgorzata (Margaret) Babiak

As the team arrived at the resort we set up the area for the compressor and charging of the torches and then it was time to head out to the diving area to start the skills of the course.. The course needed to be staggered to maintain a ratio of 4 to 1 for the instructor which meant James took Peter and Margaret for their first training dives while Emily, Andy and Mark practiced their buoyancy in fresh water with their technical diving gear. The buoyancy and control came naturally to Peter and Margaret who come from Poland where the majority of their diving experience is in freshwater, additionally both Peter and Margaret are diving professionals who own Asian Divers in Phucket. Peter himself is a PADI Course Director and a Tec Deep Instructor Training for PADI/DSAT. For all divers the skills which need to be performed with comfort include using a reel and line to run a continuos guidleline, propulsion and finning techniques, loss of visibility and primary flashlight / torch failure and various other skills to make the diver comfortable in this ovehead environment. Addition to these skills all diver require 2 sources of artificial light, to reels and 2 sources of air supply.

On the 5th Peter and Margaret completed their course and received their certification followed by Andy, Emily and Mark on the 6th.

For Andy, Emily and Mark these newly developed skills would be further put to use in the coming days of the expedition when we explore shipwrecks on the west coast of Thailand. The Advanced Wreck and Cavern skills are quite similar as they both illustrate the procedures for dealing with an overhead environment.

On the 7th of January the team heading off the lake after a few thrashings of rain where Mark commented “I started the day off with possible heat stroke and now I think I’m coming down with hypothermia!”, we loaded the truck and headed off to Khao Lak which would the our base for diving for the next week.

Big Blue Tech will be conducting a 4 day  Cavern Course in Khao Sok National Park. The following dates are available.

January 3rd - 7th ( 4 spaces )

This trip includes the option of up to 10 dives.

This trip will be open to divers from around Thailand.

Pre-Requisites: Must be minimum Advanced with 20 dives ( Redundant Breathing System Provided)

Conduct: The course will be done on site in the national park over a 4 day period of 10 dives with academic plus dry land skills. Certification as a Cavern Diver will be received after completing 4 dives and a final exam with 6 experience dives to follow.

Included:
- Ferry to and from Mainland Thailand (if required)
- Transport to and around Khao Sok
- 4 nights accommodation in a 4 star resort inside the the National Park
- Manual and Certification
- All gas and cylinder fills
- All equipment (Reels, Torches, Dive Gear)
- All food and drinks (non alcoholic)
- Park Entry Fee
- Boat Fees
- 4 Training Dives
- 2 “fun” Experience Dives

Not Included: Beer

Tekkies: Technical gear is available for those certified, included in the course price.

Certified Cavern Divers:
For those certified we will be running exploration trips in conjunction with this course, this will allow certified divers to use the boat and compressor to conduct 4 days of diving

Gas:
Nitrox, Trimix and boosted oxygen available on site, on request.

Prices: 19,800 Baht

Today Big Blue Tech started a Full Face Mask course on Koh Tao. The Full Face Mask course from TDI is designed to get divers comfortable using a full face mask and understanding the benefits and advantages. The divers who joined the course was Ash Dunn (staff) and Mark Slinn (Intern). Andy Cavell was supposed to join us but instead took his girlfriend fun diving in the afternoon and then he’s leaving to take her back to Bangkok.

The full face mask we use for training is the AGA Divator mask. These masks are the most popular choice of full face mask for public safety divers around the world. One of them came from a dive in the Canadian navy who was kind enough to bring it to Thailand for us.

These masks are perfect for cold water, television or film work, low visibility or chemically sensitive water. The mask covers your entire face allowing you to breathe through your nose or mouth, additionally it helps people who have a cold or any kind of dental, nose or eye problems.

While we were working in shallow water getting used to the skill of removing and replacing the mask other staff were busy loading up for the afternoon of diving and even Emily (big blue staff) came by to give the mask a try.

In the afternoon the staff and interns were busy cleaning the Apeks regulators (xtx 200 series with environmental series) and assembling new equipment recently purchased for the upcoming busy season.

Although today is Thursday, we’ll be closing for a long weekend as Andy Cavell is away in Bangkok, Mark moves into a new flat and Ash is celebrating his Divemaster Graduation (pictures coming).

Big Blue Tech starts again on Monday with the TDI Intro To Tech and Advanced Nitrox Course followed by a trip to Khao Sok National Park for a TDI Cavern Course just before Christmas break.

In 2010 Big Blue Tech will begin distribution of the OMS Side-Mount System called the OMS ‘PROFILE’. Big Blue Tech saw this system first in February of 2009 while it was being trialled in the caves of Khao Sok National Park by one of it’s developers.

Along with the release of this new system will also be in the introduction of Side Mount courses including cavern, cave and technical diving specific course for the Side Mount popularity.

Side mount systems have been growing but because of problems importing the products to Thailand it has been difficult to get the market leading manufacturers products causing a slow reaction to this growing trend.

The official details can be found on the OMS website;

This system has filled a void and will offer the “at home” and traveling diver freedom from the weight concerns of handling “back mounted” doubles. Side-mount allows individuals with limited physical abilities and lower back issues to enjoy the redundancy of two tanks and two regulators by minimizing the amount of weight on the lower back and lowering the center of gravity for increased stability when entering/exiting the water. Additionally reaching behind your head to shut off or turn on your manifold valve is a thing of the past as both cylinder valves are near your hands. Traveling divers can relax knowing that easily available single tanks are all they need to enjoy redundancy and adequacy of gas supply for any dive around the world.

Features:
• Allows the diver to utilize most harness and wing systems (with standardized 11 inch O.C. hole spacing)
• Over the shoulder design keeps the wing close to the divers back and allows air to travel freely from divers left to right
• Integral bib adds over 1/8” inch of abrasion protection to the vulnerable top part of the wing
• No changes to the fit of the harness throughout the inflation of the wing from empty to full capacity
• Permits the Rebreather diver to back mount the CCR scrubber and side mount the Oxygen and Diluent cylinders
• Enables the diver to back mount the bottom gas and side mount the decompression gases
• Streamlines the diver allowing access to tight, remote, hard to reach caves and wreck passage ways.

Below are some pictures from the OMS Website about the new product.

Thailand is described  as being “the new technical frontier“, Thailand has numerous world class sites for divers of all standards, making it an underwater adventure paradise. Some wrecks still remain unidentified and all sit just as they sank.

Huge freighters, POW ships, drill ships, tankers, munitions carriers and even a US WWII submarine can be counted amongst the historical wrecks littering Thailand.

The Andaman and South China Sea’s, all the wrecks listed have been located over the last five years and are truly untouched. Along with Caves and Caverns that are being discovered every day with untouched decorations and long rewarding penetrations.

The recent discovery of a sunken village in Khao Sok National park and the on going wreck discoveries in the Similan Islands open up Thailand to the technical diving community with more variation of challenges and adventures than any other technical diving destination.

To the right is a list of diving locations we use frequently for trips, training and planned expeditions for certified technical divers. The list is a summary of destinations, for more information about where we’re going and where we’ve been look at our news section and upcoming events.

Chumphon Pinnacle

Location: Koh Tao, Gulf of Thailand

Description: Underwater pinnacle used for training, warm up dives and experience dives. This is also the only place to see sharks large predatory sharks in the region.

Depth: 45 meters

Visibility: 20 - 25 meters (65 - 80 feet)

Rating: ****

Availability: Daily from December to October

Sharks, Sharks and more Sharks. This busy dive destination is used by everyone on Koh Tao. Although not suitable for open water dives since the site starts at 16m this dive site is one of our more accessible deep sites where 50m is found easily.

The main attraction is Bull Sharks, Gray Reef Sharks and Whale Sharks which can be found daily. We use this site for training purposes and for fun technical diving when you just want to watch the sharks go by for hours.

Gulf Of Thailand Wreck Liveaboard

Introduction:

This 3 day technical wreck expedition joins the MV Trident to the HTMS Pangan

These dives are in complete in tropical conditions at 50-60m

Pre Day: Travel from your destination anywhere in Thailand to Koh Tao where the Boat Departs in the evening.

Day 1: 2 Deep Accelerated Decompression Dives

Day 2: 2 Deep Accelerated Decompression Dives

Day 3: 2 Deep Accelerated Decompression Dives - Return Home.

* a optional warm up and check out dive is available if required prior to the trip.

Costs: 40,000 Thai Baht - When Booked Online (course or training not included)

Included:Food, Drink, Accomodation, Boat Fees, Nitrox, Oxygen, Equipment (Regulators, Wing, Backplate)

Not Included: Personal Diving Equipment, Diving Insurance

Water:Salt

Location: Gulf of Thailand

Availability: Montly February to October

Cave and Cavern Expedition

Introduction:

Our 4 day Cave and Cavern Expedition is designed not only for training but also for certified cave and cavern divers.

Pre Day: Travel from your destination anywhere in Thailand to Khao Sok National Park

Day 1: Reel and Line Practice, Jungle Trekking, Relaxing, Swimming

Day 2: 3 Fresh Water Cave or Cavern Dives - Water Fall Tour After

Day 3: 3 Fresh Water Cave or Cavern Dives - Trek to hidden lagoon.

Day 4: 3 Fresh Water Cave or Cavern Dives - Head Home

Costs: 20,000 for certfied divers, to combine with a course see specfic course.

Included:Food, Drink, Accomodation, Transfers, Equipment, Torches, Reels, Park Entrance Fee, Boat Fees

Not Included: Nitrox, Oxygen, Technical Equipment (If Certified)

Water: Fresh

Location: Khao Sok National Park

Availability: Monthly year round.

Sunken Village Expedition

Introduction:

Our 4 day Sunken Village Expedition is designed for Technical Divers who want to try something completely different.

These dives are in complete darkness in water about 25 degrees at 50-60m

Day 1: Travel from your destination anywhere in Thailand to the National Park

Day 2: 2 No-Decompression Warm Up Dives with one night dive.

Day 3: 2 Accelerated Decompression Dives

Day 4: 2 Accelerated Decompression Dives

Day 5: 2 Accelerated Decompression Dives

Costs: 30,000 Thai Baht - When Booked Online

Included:Food, Drink, Accomodation, Transfers, Equipment, Torches, Reels, Park Entrance Fee, Boat Fees, Nitrox, Oxygen, Technical Equipment (regs, wings, plates), Diving Insurance

Water: Fresh

Location: Mainland Thailand

Availability: Montly year round

Similan Islands Technical Liveaboard

Introduction:

Our 4 day Similans Technical Liveaboard is designed for Technical Divers who want to explore the Similan islands in the comfort and style of technical diving with staff and crew who know how to accomodate you on our vessel the Mv Pawara.

Day 1: Travel from your destination anywhere in Thailand to the Khao Lak (free pickup from Phuket Airport is available. Depart in the Evening.

Day 2 :Up to 4 Technical Dives including night dive.

Day 3: Up to 4 Technical Dives including night dive.

Day 4: Up to 4 Technical Dives including night dive.

Day 5: Up to 3 Technical Dives arrive back in Khao Lak with transfer to airport or town.

Costs: 35,000 Thai Baht - When Booked Online

Included:Food, Drink, Accomodation, Transfers, Equipment, Torches, Reels, Park Entrance Fee, Boat Fees, Nitrox, Oxygen, Technical Equipment (regs, wings, plates)

Water: Salt

Location: Similan Islands

Availability: Bi-Monthly November to April

In 1980 the Ratchaprapha Dam in Khao Sok National park was created flooding the region creating what is now called Chiew Larn Lake. Surrounding the lake are large limestone cliffs characterized topographically with karst formations, dense jungle and diverse wildlife. The dam is popular for boat tours, kayaking, trekking and rock climbing and more recently as a technical diving destination used by Big Blue Tech. for conducting deep technical and cavern diving courses and explorations.

In February of 2009 6 technical divers from Big Blue Tech – a technical diving facility in Koh Tao, Thailand – discovered a sunken village 60m deep within the central region of the lake.  This discovery would open up more opportunities for future technical divers giving them the possibility to conduct serious expedition diving in conjuction with their course. We complete all our courses on wreck liveabords, sunken village and cavern expeditions or alternatively on a luxury Similan Islands liveaboard (as of December 1st 2009).

Our journey begins with a plan to re-visit the village and explore some caverns. The expedition was a combination of a TDI Extended Range Course and TDI Cavern Course. The members of the expedition team are James Thornton-Allan ( Instructor) Christos Kardana (Assistant Instructor) Andy Holdaway (Technical Diving Intern), Panos Iosifoglou , Steve Jeffs and Nate Weiss who are completing their training.

With any expedition comes logistics  and support planning. Emergency evacuation plans would have to be set before leaving Koh Tao to ensure the right people knew we were in the area and were able to respond in the eventuality of any incident. In addition, the success of the trip depended on a high level of equipment requirements and performance including primary and redundant  light systems, gps, sonar and technical dive rigs.

Arriving at the national park pier we immediately noticed the water had rose 5m / 15ft from since our last visit. Loading the longtail proved difficult since the pier parking area was submerged. Everyone pictched in and in no time we were cruising along the lake towards our floating hotel as the sun came over the mountains silhouetting the mist trapped by the eclipsing limestone structures.

The hotel we would be based at is a modest “raft house” called the Prival Raft House providing basic accommodation, excellent food and stunning surroundings . This system off wooden planks and walkways proved a bit weak for Andy who by any standard is a rather large man and broke several boards daily. For the entire crew the resort was quiet, peaceful, beautiful and friendly making everyone feel very comfortable and welcome. Big Blue Tech booked the entire resort for this expedition giving everyone their own room and private area. This also meant we could take over the whole place to put our compressor, set up charging areas for flashlights, a dry area and a wet area for hanging wetsuits leaving the bar area for relaxing and reading and. A few poor customers arrived, to be quickly sent on their way by the roaring of the compressor and the hissing and testing of equipment.

Our first task was to get straight into the water for the cavern course, This was ideal since the diving that would come later would be pitch black and in fresh water those two conditions need a bit of practice. Everyone needed to tweak their buoyancy but by the second dive of the day everyone progressed through the skills and training with ease. Learning to become a cavern diver focuses on using a reel, laying a line during your dive, advanced dive planning, diver trim and control with more challenging skills to follow.

The following day waking with the rise of the sun and watching the mist roll over the lake was a peacful and refreshing way to get out of bed. The staff of the resort prepared a western style breakfast and then we were off for 2 more cavern dives followed by a night dive. The cavern dives were completed with ease, those who were already certified could explore the overhead environment while those under instruction practiced already learned skills and excelled at new ones. During the 5 hour surface interval James and Christos headed off to the dive site of the sunken village to tie on a permanent buoy line. The sonar showed 59m indicating the depth had increased with the change in water level. Christos had not dived in the morning so was fresh to head down to tie on. The gps mark was taken from a fixed reel and lift bag in February, this same reel was found 2 meters from the shot line showing excellent precision in the communication systems taken with us. Christos actually found that the sunken city was at 53m which is well within the training limits of the TDI Extended Range. For Steve who initially requested a DSAT Tec Deep Course was thankful he changed to TDI because of the 50m maximum depth restriction of the DSAT course. Christos tied onto a concrete pillar and returned to the surface. In opur absence the rest of the team had been sleeping, out kayaking and fishing.

Before the day would end it was time for a night dive. This dive would help the students get accustomed to task loading and skills in a similar environment without the obligation of decompression. This proved an essential addition to training on reflection the following day.

The following and 3rd day everyone was woken by screams and moans from the woods which was the wild gibbon monkeys in the trees swinging and calling to each other. Everyone compared how they normally get woken up from the sound of traffic to a phone ringing but this would be truly unique. The noise would continue for hours of the morning as we got ready for the next big dives. This morning we had some engine problems so rather then lose the chance to do two dives we decided to do one under the resort. This would give the team a chance at some decompression dives in the darkness while we waited for the boat to be fixed. The area under the resort is a dense forest littered with various things dropped from above. The most unusual things were clothes, a saw, pots and pans but the most common were simply beer bottles and bottle caps. The challenge for the divers was to navigate through the trees and dense canopy and still retain some idea of location and destination. Arriving safely at the surface the longtail was fixed, 3 hour surface interval and then off to the Sunken City.

The final dive of the day would be conducted in 2 dives with constant surface support at all times. As we descended the water colour and temperature changed drastically. The water on the surface was green and 31 degrees celcius. As we descended the colour would change from light green to dark green then smoky green to light brown then dark brown and eventually black. The temperature would drop 6 degrees in the darkness with crystal clear visibility. The water was so still and so dark you lost the sense that you were underwater at all. Since the terrain was very much man made it felt like you were flying through the ruins of an old town at night. Our descent had taken 5 minutes. As this was a new depth for the majority of the team it was essential to head down slowly to allow the effects of nitrogen narcosis to come on gradual rather then sudden. Arriving at the bottom we had 10 minutes left before we would head back to the surface. Reeling off the down line and using it as a guide for the students we headed towards the village passing the old discarded reel left behind from the last trip in February.

All the divers buoyancy was perfect, at no time did any diver make contact with the bottom. Bouyancy and trim had been one of the focuses throughout the duration of the course and that allowed a clear and controlled dive. After moving past man made structures one member had reached their turn around pressure so it was back to the down line to make our ascent. The most shocking feeling during the ascent was the change in temperature from quite cold to very warm causing most divers to signal to their buddy “hang on a minute, i’m going to the toilet”. We were wearing tropical 3mm wetsuits which meant the change in water temperature would effect you in every way possible. Completing the decompression schedule and the mandatory additional safety stop we arrived back on the surface with laughter and smiles all fighting to tell their own story of the dive. Back on the boat and returning to the resort we would plan the following and final days dives and get to bed early. One of the significant changes most notice from decompression diving is the fatigue which combined with fun in the sun can make many sleepy.

Big Blue Tech enforce and strict no alcohol drinking on all our technical training and trips. The students have been dry since the very first day they put on a twin set with us and proves to be the key in minimizing risk in recreational technical diving, no matter how extreme of repetitive it may seem. Although many were too tired to drink anything this evening we did give Kayleigh (Panos’ girlfriend) a lot of grief for having a cold beer with dinner. Regardless of the rules it was to early celebrate since we still had two more dives to complete. One more dive being lead by the instructor which would be their final training dive and a final experience dive where the student would change roles and gain some confidence by leading their own dive leader.

The final day of diving was met with overcast skies and strong winds. The early morning dive exposed the students to even greater bottom time which allowed them to explore further from the down line looking at all the concrete structures and becoming more accustomed to functioning in the harsh environment. While the dives were being conducted the base camp of diving operations was being broken down and packed away from the journey home. The large 50L tank of oxygen and emergency kit was the only piece not stored away. The second dive of the day and final dive of the trip was conducted without problems. The students were exposed to dive times in excess of an hour and bottom times exceeding 20 minutes at around 55m.

Returning to the floating resort the students were jubilant in completing their TDI Extended Range Course and earning the title of being self sufficient deep technical and expedition divers

The expedition concluded with a road trip back to the Surathani pier followed by a night boat back to koh tao where the staff rinsed all the equipment and scheduled the necessary servicing before the next trip in October.

“Cheers for the Teck Diving. I had a great time. In retrospect, the training was everything I was hoping for and more.” Steve Jeffs – TDI Extended Range Diver

Today Big Blue Tech and divers under instruction for their TDI Extended Range course leave Koh Tao island for the main land for 5 days of deep technical diving in Khao Sok National Park. In Khao Sok National Park resides a sunken village and buddhist temple which has become a popular attraction for technical divers since it’s discovery by Big Blue Tech in February of 2009.

This expedition takes 6 technical divers half way across thailand for true remote diving.

Today consisted of boosting o2, servicing regulators, emergency planning and loading of massive pile of technical diving equipment needed for such diving which is enough. One diver alone will be equiped with the following.

3 torches, 2 reels, 2 lift bags, 1 o2 at 200 bar, 1 nitrox and 1 twin set. Double bladder wing, spare mask, cutting tools, gloves and pockets.

With 6 of us diving and 1 for surface cover you can imagine the day has been very hot and sweaty while sorting out the logistics. However, on the up side all the work and planning gives these divers a unique experience unlike any other.

During this time there will be no news. We will be back in contact on the 24th of September.