Big Blue Tech - Technical Diving Thailand - Celebrates the graduation of Ash Dunn, Mark Slinn and Andy Cavell from their TDI Decompression Procedures Course conducted over the past few days off the coast of Thailand on and island called Koh Tao
The TDI Decompression Procedures course is best described by the TDI/SDI website as:
This course began before the christmas break with some new skills to help train the students to a level appropriate for entering the next step. The students will start their next course, TDI Extended Range, on our Similans Islands Liveaboard in the new year.
The highlight of the course was the abundant marine life on every dive. With large 2 meter Bull and Gray Reef Sharks around us during all our dives the excitement of diving was forced back into every sense we had. The sharks at Chumphon Pinnacle Dive Site seem to disapear during some months and then come back in large numbers without warning. Sharks can be seen hunting and stalking prey but always keeping a safe distance from divers. This safety is kept in part from the prevention of shark feeding so no shark has associated food with a diver.
All of the students excelled at their skills and conduct in the water and received their certification after completing a written examination.
Below are some pictures from this event. The next open space for this course is in March 2010
This morning divers on Koh Tao were treated with the presence of a Whale Shark at the local dive site Chumphon Pinnacle.
Mark Slinn who is enrolled in a technical diving internship with Big Blue Tech was utilizing his SDI Solo Diver Certification this morning when he spent quality time with the whale shark. Mark experienced one on one interaction without any other divers.
This is not the first time mark has dived with whale sharks but it is his first time alone which made this a unique and special diving experience. When he got back to the boat, teh dives on board didn’t believe him and after all there were no witnesses, this remained the case until Yvonne Fries Big Blue Tech Crew arrived on the boat after completing some deep training dives and had also seen the shark.
So congratulations to the divers that saw them and .. sorry, maybe next time to the ones that didn’t.
Here is some stock footage from Ace Marine Images about Whale Sharks of Koh Tao
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 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.
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
