One of the busiest months on Koh Tao starts off with a bang.

Koh Tao, Thailand - Big Blue Tech was very busy today with the combined effort of most staff working around the clock with different activites.

Dean Jenkins was out taking the divemaster interns out for a dive on one of our local wrecks and tooks some time out for some diving in tech gear. Ash and Andrew were working together to complete a Search and Recovery Specialty for Felix including search patterns, lift bags, knot tying and scenarios. Helen is teaching advanced level courses and spent most of the day in tech gear and analyzing nitrox.Thomas was out on the rebreather. Duncan and James had the day off so played football on the beach.

This might not seem very hectic but tomorrow is the start of a tech course from beginner to extended range followed by more technical diving leading up to a trip at the end of the month.

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

Technical Divers Explore Asia’s Deepest Cave

Krabi, Thailand - Today Big Blue Tech conducted 2 dives inside the deepest cave in Asia called Sra Keow cave in the province of Krabi in Thailand. This cave is famous for recent penetrations to depths of 240m and continued expeditions are planned for further exploration.

Our goals were simply to check out the cave and see what they’re like. The surroundings are stunning and this would be a good chance to see some alternative diving and explore a system that has received a lot of attention in the past. Keeping with air depth limits we would only enter to maximum of 60m at which point narcosis and partial pressure of oxygen inspired would be too much of a risk or concern for overhead diving.

On our first dive we were surprised how the entrance to the cave begins almost immediately on descent. Clearly tied permanent lines were helpful but we ran our own initially until we knew the lines could be trusted. The cave itself is very silty and dirty; it’s basically a mud pit with limestone shapes. Every single move had to be calculated as the visibility was easily disturbed. Inside the cave itself it’s quite easy to navigate around as it’s a very large system with enough room for 2 dives to enter and exit easily. Additionally the installation of arrows are placed well except for the nasty line trap on ascent which can’t be avoided.

After the first dive we headed to see Dave at OneStop Dive centre for air and nitrox fills. While waiting we bought too much technical diving gear from him and generally took over his store kicking the tires for a few hours.

Our second dive of the day was was completed to a maximum depth of 60m staggered with surface support and then we went for a walk through one of the surface caves in the area.

In general we thought the cave was perfect for people who like dark, dirty, silty, smelly holes in the ground (like us) but not so great for people who like pretty open caves.It was also very cold which was quite shocking in our 3mm wetsuits.

The cave is also technically difficult with the aspects of narcosis, decompression and a whole host of hazards and it’s not reccomended for novice divers.

The team moves on to Phi Phi tomorrow for some sea caves off the coast before heading back up the west coast for our final leg of our tour.

Special thanks to OneStop and Bruce Konefe for their advice and support.

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

Today Big Blue Tech celebrates the graduation of Matt Payne and Emily Billingham from their TDI Decompression Procedures course on Koh Tao, Thailand.

The course began with advanced decompression techniques with running schedule with required stops along with buoyancy, gas switching methods, lift bag deployment, while on the small wreck at Japanese Gardens dive site. Emily had completed her Advanced Nitrox over a month ago and required a minor refresher but Matt had just completed his course the following day and was rolling through the curriculum with ease.

After 2 hours of diving we returned to the dive shop to plan the following days diving at Chumpon Pinncale with a dive profile of 45m for 30 minutes. Because the students excelled in their buoyancy control we allowed them to use pure oxygen for decompression for stops 4.5m and shallower.

This morning Big Blue Tech cruised to Chumphon Pinnacle and jumped in to the water early in the morning. Descending to 45m the visibility was in excess of 30 meters. Cruising down to depth we could see the recreational divers above pointing frantically out into the blue. Looking out in the direction they were point we could see a large bull shark skimming the thermocline. Moving away from the shark area Emily pointed out two lion fish huddled at the base of the pinnacle. The students followed their schedule bringing them safeyly to the surface in just over an hour. The students were also given a Suunto Vytec gas switching computer as a backup to their slates.

Finishing their accelerated decompression the divers were met by a Box Jellyfish which has been reported stalking divers around the pinnacle for a few weeks now.

Matt continues on to Khao Sok for his TDI Cavern Course and Emily returns to teaching recreational diving for Big Blue with plans to continue on to Extended Range in the Similan Islands.

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.

Today Big Blue Tech completed a TDI Decompression Procedures course for Andy Holdaway, Panos Iosifoglou, and Steve Jeffs under the instruction of James Thornton-Allan. Additionally the course was joined by Nathaniel Weiss who is perfecting his skills under supervision of Technical Divemaster Christos Kardana

The TDI Decompression Procedures course, which was combined with TDI Advanced Nitrox, covers a variety of unqiue skills and training to allow the diver to complete decompression dives up to 45m using a variety of oxygen based gas mixes.

The course began with advanced buoyancy skills, equipment orientation, gas planning, task loading and handling advanced mixes of nitrox.

Today the students completed 2 accelerated decompression dives at Chumphon Pinnacle dive site in Koh Tao Thailand. The goal of all dives was to not touch the ground at any point or make contact with any object using their newly honed buoyancy skills. It was also essential to deploy a lift bag on every dive, the lift bag and reel can often lead to problems with loosing depth control or entanglement.

The students final dive exposed them to a 24 minute stop at 4.5m. Although they had already cleared their schedule according to their Suunto Vytec DS gas switching computer (provided as standard on all courses) it was essential for the students to build up tolerance to hanging in water in a controlled manner.

Tomorrow begins the start of the TDI Extended Range course which will begin with advanced oxygen handling, simulated in-water recompression procedures (full face mask), decompression buddy breathing and a variety of unique skills found only in the TDI syllabus. The TDI Extended Range course will then hit the road for Khao Sok where the students will complete their TDI Cavern Course and finish the deep dives on the sunken village in the middle of the national park. This option for training is only open to the most comfortable technical student due to it’s remote and challenging environment.

All images copyright Christos Kardana - Big Blue Tech

September 11th

A US Marine Officer, former US Airforce Engineer and a Private Security Consultant joined Big Blue Tech today for some decompression diving. All three men hail from New York and came to Big Blue Tech for different reasons but all dived together this morning.

Mike Borneo, US Marine Captain joined Big Blue Tech to get his TDI Advanced Nitrox but quickly moved on to complete his TDI Decompression Procedures course as well. Mike is on cultural attachment to the US Embassy in Thailand before his next deployment overseas in the new year.

Steve Papapanos, former US Airforce Engineer is travelling through thailand and came to Big Blue Tech for the same reasons as Mike and will continue his travells through the rest of Asia.

Nathaniel Weiss, Business Consultant for Private Security Companies overseas joined Big Blue Tech for his TDI Extended Range course and Khao Sok Expedition at the end of the month but came out today to receive a Technical Refresher before going straight into the course. Nathaniel will join 3 others later this month to start his extended range.

The course was conducted over 4 days and exposed the divers to accelerated decompression to 45m. The divers learned complex dive planning, equipment configuration and new diving techniques to allow them to dive deeper and longer than before.

The students enjoyed the diving so much the signed up for some additional experience dives right after the course. It was a great pleasure hanging out with these lads since we’re very much an ex military school and wish them all the luck in the future.

August 9th 2009

Big Blue Tech found itself with a complete day off with the end of one course and another series of courses scheduled to begin. The Tech Crew used this say to service equipment, order new gear and plan for the series of incoming students and events.

Some of the activities included working more on one of our project rebreathers slated to be dived on next month. We’ve taken a old Drager Dolphin SCR and converting it to a side by side tank system with a mounting unit for a backplate and wing. Currently being engineered is a flexible manifold found already on the Halcyon rebreather. On this day we sorted out the scrubber and checked all the major features like possitive and negative pressure, flow rate and bubble check before taking it diving. The advantage of this little breather is for shallow caves and recreational diving. The film Sharkwater was created using one of these rebreathers so we’re hoping to integrate this unit into our future technical videography courses.

In addition to getting the rebreather organized was boosting pure oxygen to 200 bar for our remote technical diving expedition in Khao Sok where getting oxygen fills on the dive site will be difficult. This was also a chance for crew to show our intern how these systems work and how to operate them.

And much like any normal day at Big Blue Tech the local staff and divers came by for a coffee and a chat in  our relaxed atmosphere.

Tomorrow will be very different with the start of an Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures Course.