We’re back.

After a long and relaxing week off in Bangkok, we’re happy to be back on Koh Tao, especially when we’re greeted by the sunny clear skies and warm sea.

The past week has been quite eventful, as many already know the Bangkok Airport was closed by protestors stranding thousands of tourists and weakening tourism for Thailand in general. However, that’s over now and the airport should be open to full business within days. However we would recommend people fly to Kuala Lumpur and then travel here from the south for the remainder of this year.

The month of December appears busy as not every booking has canceled, we look forward to seeing you all in the next few weeks.

In addition we also welcome consulting ANDI Instructor Trainer Bruce Konefe to the team, he will be heading the CCR and Cave Diving aspects of our training and diving programs starting in the new year.

We also have a Tech Similans on the 15th for some deep oceanic coral and wreck exploration on the similan islands, spaces are limited and some spots are still free for those interested (certified technical divers only)

Below are some pictures of the resort from today to compare to what it was like when we left.

Our favorite Technical Diving Students Malin (”fishy”) and Oskar have returned from the tundra of Sweden to become Padi Open Water Instructors.

Oskar had actually returned a few days ago giving us time to get him back out into technical gear for a bit of a refresher.

Malin only arrived today so she’s straight on to the IDC.

The IDC course is about 2 weeks, as soon as their done we all know they’ll be itching for some real diving. Great to have them both back on the island!

As for Oskars refresher, the weather and diving conditions were horrible, as you can see from the pictures below.

My Experiences With Big Blue Tech

My experiences with BBT began when I started to get tired with conventional diving and wanted to push my limits. I started to look for a means to do some of the speciality courses that PADI offers and thus I came upon BBT.
I began by doing my Nitrox and Deep diver courses and had a great time doing them and still wanted to do more. During these courses I noticed that my instructor, James Thornton-Allan, was wearing twin tanks, obviously this made me curious and so I asked about it and was told about tech diving.

Tech diving sounded like a new means to push my diving further than recreational levels so after a glowing sales pitch I was hooked on the idea and signed up for tech level one with the possibility of tech deep diver at a later date.
During my tech level one I encountered some of the other aspects of tech diving on the island that BBT has available such as trips on MV Trident and also encountered the other instructors on the island such as Niall Mackenzie.
The course consisted of some complex learning but I always had the support available from James and Niall if I became stuck on any particular aspect to help me get to grips with some of the new concepts that tech diving introduces.
Throughout the courses, the friendliness and welcoming nature of the instructors always made me feel like the course was good fun and the important aspects were always made very clear to me and it was always regularly re-iterated to me to ensure I remembered but not in a strict manner so I never felt as if I was being told off if I didn’t remember.

It was these aspects and the amount of fun that I had during the course, in a large part down to the teaching, that convinced me to continue to do tech level two and complete my tech deep diver course.
It is also these elements that make me increasingly willing to drop everything and head back out to Thailand to continue doing more tech diving with BBT!

Alice Newstead suspends herself on shark fishing hooks in the window of a central London cosmetics store to highlight the use of shark products for cosmetics and food stuffs.

Alice Newstead performs with a group called Constant Elevation, whose members specialise in hanging from hooks pierced through their skin Photo: GETTY

Alice Newstead took the drastic action in protest at the practice of finning – where sharks are impaled on hooks, before their fins are sliced off to harvest meat for shark fin soup. The sharks are then thrown back into the ocean still alive.

A crowd gathered outside the Lush cosmetics shop in London’s Regent’s Street to see the 26-year-old impaled by hooks in her back and gasped as blood trickled down her back.

Miss Newstead said: “I am doing this because the demand for shark fin soup and other shark products is wiping out the shark population.

“I have had my torso, legs, arms, stomach and knees pierced before so that I could hang from them, so this is no big deal.

“Being hung from the chest is more painful than the back because it restricts your breathing, but as long as the piercer knows what they are doing then it is completely safe,” she said.

Shark finning has been blamed for pushing many species of the fish to the brink of extinction and since 1970, several species have been reduced by more than 90 per cent.

Miss Newstead, who was born in Northampton and lives in Watford, left her job as a Lush sales assistant in June, so she could work full-time as an artist. She performs with a group called Constant Elevation, whose members specialise in hanging from hooks pierced through their skin.”

Written By James Thornton-Allan (Instructor) and Hannah Lusby (Diver)

James:

Opening my eyes I could hear the rain hitting the hull again. Another dark and wavy day awaited me. However Stewart shouted “It’s bright and sunny outside” which lead me leaping out of bed and running upstairs to greet the glorious day. Stewart is a liar, it was as I thought initially, dark, wavy and cold, Stewarts plow to get everyone out of bed worked, next time I won’t be so trusting. After a coffee it didn’t matter because it was time to dive. Hannah was destined to get a sink, not sure why a sink was so important, must be a woman thing, but none the less if she wanted a sink then a sink she will have. Arriving on the bottom we found a sink with a lovely brass tap. It proved a bit heavier then it looked. One of the honours of retrieving things is if you find it then you lift it. This lead to an onslaught of narcosis in Hannah so the item was lifted together. However I must thank Hannah for all the flapping about because it kicked up a 7.62 with a brass tip bullet, unfired and intact. I look back on my life and remarking 2 specific events that I thought were particularly dangerous one was joining the British marines and the other one technical diving, so it’s fitting I find this on one of my most frequented wrecks. Deco all done and back on board Jamie was going “awww that’s lovely, that would look great in my house” Hannah didn’t budge so it stayed hers. Everyone else was back on board and it was time to either head back to land or hit the pottery.

Arriving at the pottery site the waves were minimal and there was no current. We would be using the shot line as our descent line leaving the trident free to hover for pickups and drop offs. This is the quickest way to tech dive. The boat was broken into groups of 4 with 4 in, 4 ready and 4 support. It worked really well and everyone had a decent 15 minutes bottom time at 60 meters. 15 minutes goes by very quickly. I recall diving on local dive sites and think an hour has gone and only 5 minutes has elapsed. I guess time does really fly when you’re having fun. A few giggles here and there could be heard during the mad dash for pottery. Net bags topped to the brim with pottery we began our way to the surface. I was able to find a few really nice items under the surface of the site which still had glazing and very little marine life on it. Remarked as being one of the nicer pieces recovered so far.

Earlier in the year these pieces have been appraised in the UK at some great value as they would surely not survive the hundreds of years on the surface, only diving and retrieving them can they be displayed as art or as monetary value. Mine however will be split between Christmas presents home and a nice flower pot for the girlfriend.

This being the last dive of the trip it was time to drink beer, clean gear, swap loot and head home. Koh Tao could be seen in the distance although it won’t be until dark that we arrive.
I personally think this has been the best trip this season. Perhaps because all the instructors are looking for a bit of a break and wasn’t so intense as the past one. Perhaps it was because Hannah became a perfect technical diver, with a lot still to learn, but far more capable and confident in her conduct then I have seen in others walk off these trips. Or perhaps it was the another flawless trip conducted with support of the Trident and other technical agencies from Koh Tao that made this a remarkable and enjoyable liveaboard.
The way the weather is right now it appears this will be the last trip of the season until mid January. However the weather is lovely on the west coast (about 2 hours away) so we’ll be doing the next liveabaord over there.

Hannah:
We woke up this morning to the sound of more rain and wind, you who have thought it was monsoon! But there were bigger things on the agenda today, a sink! I had spotted a lovely porcelain sink yesterday on our second dive, which had now become our mission. OK, I realise that a sink to some my be a strange thing to want to bring up from the wreck but I had my heart set on it, so off we went.

Once we located it, James stayed outside and I went to pull the thing out, welcome to the world of narcosis! Once your focused on something and working to get something out, breathing heavily all the time the hit comes! But out it came! James then told me to take it to the down line before continuing our dive, but the sink proved a little heavier than I expected and the effects of narcosis where definitely impairing my judgement. So James came in and helped take it to the down line. Mission completed, up the sink went attached to lift bags on the down line, as after waiting for it to be recovered, it was safely on board the Trident, and what a lovely sink it is, with taps and everything. So from now on, when anyone asked if I’ve packed everything but the kitchen sink, I would have to say no, including the sink!

So with some lunch and a break, we steamed towards our second site; pottery, which pretty much say’s what it is, pottery, everywhere. Straight down to the bottom, bags at the ready and grab the pots. Our bottom time was fairly short ,just 15 minutes, but plenty of time to get some last minute souvenir before heading home. There was lots of laughing and flooded masks, and a very good and funny way to end a wonderful trip.

So we head now back home to Koh Tao. For me it has been the most fantastic 3 days. The diving has been amazing. To have such a learning curve in such a short amount of time is incrediable and I certainly couldn’t have done it, if it had not been for fantastic instruction from James. (Oh and thank you James to introducing me to yet another expensive hobby!). There also has to be a huge thank you to everyone at Trident (Jamie and Stewart). And of course all the boat staff who work so hard to make gearing up and getting back on the boat so much easier. This is definitely the start of bigger and better thing to come! When’s the next trip?????

Read more about the HTMS PANGAN

Written By James Thornton-Allan (Instructor) and Hannah Lusby (Diver)

James:
I was woken periodically throughout the night. At 5 the boat started rocking, at 5:30 I could hear the rain hitting the hull, at 6 I could smell diesel and then knew we we’re going to have a challenging day of diving.
In the hull I couldn’t tell how bad the weather was until I came up into the dry room and everyone was hiding from the wind, 2 meter swells and sideways rain. Even getting a coffee was a mad dash topside and trying to stir a cup faster then I was getting wet.
Looking at the ships radar the storm surrounded the Trident and didn’t appear to moving in any specific direction. Perhaps this would be the end of the trip, when does safety override the completion of the diving?
No one wanted to go diving, in fact I think many felt robbed because they were even out of bed. In true tech form, after breakfast and a few cups of tea, a movie with Keanu Reeves about being a good cop or perhaps a bad cop with a terrible ending , everyone was rearing to go. The rain had subsided and the waves slowed down and it was off in groups of 4, down to the wreck below.
Surprisingly the visibility was good, the sea below the surface was calm. No current and if you hadn’t been topside before you wouldn’t even know there was a small storm. We we’re hoping to circle the wreck along the sand at about 60 meters. We didn’t get very far around it. We checked out the props and the stern area but got consumed with the radio found outside the wheel house. It was written in English which leads me to believe the Thai Navy probably had problems operating it, perhaps that’s why it went down with very little information, the poor operator couldn’t tell which one was the on button.
All the deco was done but getting back on to the boat was another thing entirely. The waves were making the trident jump like a bucking bull. The dive deck was rising and falling about 2 meters, crashing into the sea and throwing any unsuspecting diver back into the rough waters. With careful coordination and timing we all got back on board safely. There was no handing up fins or passing up gear, fins were looped onto our wrists and once we got on the ladder we got up as fast as possible with all 4 cylinders on. Hannah unfortunately broke a nail, not joking, she actually broke a nail while wearing gloves, but she learned a very good bit of experience and training that good conditions wouldn’t of taught her. Happy to be back on the boat and happy to be out of the rain. The TV was fired up and House put on. Let’s hope the afternoon pans out to be calmer.

Hannah:
When we woke this morning it really was Blackpool weather! Wind and rain going sideways, everyone walking in the drunken, sea legs kind of way. Diving started a little later today so we could see what the weather would do, so after a somewhat lazy start of bacon sandwiches, porridge, mugs of tea and a movie, everyone was ready to get wet. On the surface the waves were still coming in strong. Sea legs are useful things to have; especially when geared up, you want to be quick and well timed, waddle like a penguin and get the hell in the water. No time to natter on the surface, just in and down. Once under, there was no current and the visibility was far better than expected. We were taking in the full tour this time; our bottom time was 25 minutes, which got eaten up a bit by a radio we found on the sand, something to go back for on the next dive! Although 25 mins seems like a long time it’s amazing how quickly the time goes, the shear size of the wreck, and the constant preoccupation of finding something and trying to prize it free soon eats up your time.
Deco in this weather is a little less relaxing, the line is going up and down, and you can feel like being on some sort of fairground ride, but once you’ve found your place you can just relax into it and the minutes tick by.
On the surface, it’s all a timing game to get back onto the boat, as the back deck rises up and crashes down in front of you. There’s one thing getting up a ladder in rough seas with one tank on, but quiet another with 4 tanks on! Having first tried and failed to time the waves right I was pushed back out to sea, but no problem for Trident, Stew jumped in and gave me a hand to the ladder (thank you very much Stew!), then it’s a one, two, three and up and out I come – breaking a nail in the process. What a girl!!! Oh and then punching James in the face! (This was an accident!)
Then it’s back to the usual routine on board, people find places to lie down and sleep or watch back-to-back episodes of House or Prison Break. Lunch is served, which gives the eyes a break from the TV, then back to lounging position for an hour or so until your slot comes along. Then its’ off to get some loot!

James:
The waves have calmed down a lot, the clouds are breaking and the waves are settling down. The plan was to do a lesser bottom time but Hannah’s gas consumption was so good we extended it to 25 minutes rather then 20 minutes. We had two missions: recover a brass pressure gauge from the boiler room and recover a radio box from the sand. Hopefully we could get both done but not a concern if we ran short on time. We had some sort of curry slash chicken soup thing for lunch which was filling and tasted good but could have been a bit more variety. After which we jumped in and headed down to the wreck. The first mission was to recover a pressure gauge from the engine/boiler room. Hopefully the pressure gauge needle would be fixed giving us a greater indication of how it sank. As I entered I could see the gauge from a great distance reading zero. With not educational value we left that in place and exited the engine room. Arriving an the radio the idea was to see what channel or frequency the radio was tuned into and recover the whole item. Unfortunately the radio was very heavy and required some greater planning to recover it. This planning needed to be done topside so we went on an exploration of the wheel house. Hannah caught the sight of a sink, a very old style sink with beautiful brass taps. This sink is not attached to anything but is in a difficult area to penetrate. We decided we would discuss this option topside as well. The dive ended with a small penetration in the hull of the vessel giving Hannah even more time to explore the levels of the massive wreck. However our time was cut short and it was time to make our way back up with a total elapsed bottom time of 25 minutes. After all decompression was done we surfaced to be greeted by blue skies, finally. This meant there was a slim, a very slim chance we might be visiting the pottery wreck which would be done live (shot line only) so the weather needed to be decent at least.
Back on board it was shower and dinner time, everyone chatting about the various recovered items from below and then the Trident slipped into a quiet hum with just the generators grumbling and paper pages turning.
Off to bed early, tomorrow is early again with getting up at 7. We want to be done diving and on our way before lunch so we can either get back to land on time or so we can get to the pottery wreck on time. My hope is for a final dive on the pottery wreck but it’s not worth it at the cost of safety in bad weather.

Written By James Thornton-Allan (Instructor) and Hannah Lusby (Diver)

James:
Woken by Hannah’s dreadful phone alarm at 7 am. It was time to have a wash and get top side and jump into our dive window. Things in the morning are always a bit slower then planned the night before. A lot of bushy eye’s and staring into coffee cups. Thankfully it was a dry night and the weather is a bit cloudy but still sunny and warm. After an hour or so on the boat it was our time. A dive briefing and some checking of gear and we were off making our way slowly down the line to the Pangan. Arriving on the wreck Hannah was able to identify which way to the bow right away. She pointed out the direction and area we were going to explore based on the briefing. We traveled to the bow looking at the forward gun, engine for the winch and the telegraph on the bow. We had a limited dive because of the standards with this being a training dive for her course. The point of this dive was to get used to the wreck, depth and exposure and a general awareness for navigation. We had finished exploring the bow area with 2 minutes to spare so we made our ascent, saying goodbye to Jez who was down there looking for portholes that had fallen out of the wreck and into the silt. Coming out of the thermo cline at 45m you could feel the increased warmth of the water instantly and with that you knew you were on your way back to the surface and in the clear, I could see other divers above on the deco station at 6m or mid line on deep stops. We completed our schedule in a comfortable 50 minutes runtime with an 18 minute bottom time at 50 meters. We had used a computer dive planner for our profile but both had double Suunto Vytec computers with gas switching so we had many sources of information and reference throughout the dive.

Back on board Mikey was furiously making breakfast for the 14 divers. A mix of bacon, hash browns, porridge, yogurt and fruit was waiting the watering mouths and bright eye’s of everyone sitting around. After breakfast is was back into the general activity of the Trident which is sleeping, reading or chatting away. We would have a 4 hour surface interval and skip the high noon current with a plan to dive in the mid afternoon breaking up the day.

Hannah:
Having had a lovely night’s sleep, we woke up at 7am for the first dive of the day. After a cup of strong tea and a jump in the ocean we where off, down to the wreck. With James leading the way, we made our decent down to the wreck. As this was my first dive on this wreck and at this depth the nerves where there, but as soon as we came through the thermo cline and could see the wreck beneath us all that went away. An amazing sight to be seen, no matter how many times in future I may dive different wrecks in the future, this is one feeling I’ll always have with me.

James:
The second dive of the day proved to be shorter then planned. A 68 minute runtime after we had a 5 hour surface interval. Essentially diving with a clean slate. The visibility on this dive was worse, about 10m as opposed to the 15m from the morning dive. The plan was to explore the wheel house and stern section. However we got pre-occupied with the engine room and rear gun placement that we didn’t get to see the entire stern. Even with a 25 minute bottom time there’s still a lot of wreck to cover.
One nice thing about this dive was the chance to introduce Hannah to ever tech divers dream; penetration and every tech divers nightmare; silting. This showed Hannah that a penetration might look like a good idea on the way in but not the best idea on the way out. This gave Hannah who was completing her final training dive (12) a chance to decide if she wanted to spend more time on penetration training or more time exploring the exterior. She decided she wanted to get some depth experience and explore the sand while circling the wreck. So the plan for tomorrow is deeper and longer exposing her to more now that she’s a certified tec deep diver.

Back on board it was back to the normal routine of sleeping and eating. Lunch was served as a jacket potato with cheese and baked beans. I protested about the baked beans as many had enough gas as it was but my complaints were not taken into consideration.
As the sun set and a light rain spell the boat slowed into a quiet lull, a peaceful and relaxing trip. Many were showing the signs of serious diving by napping or dozing off while the smell of roasted chicken rose from the galley.
For me, dinner will be short as I’ll be heading to bed straight away to get some rest for an early morning. The early the day the better the “vizz” and that’s what we want.

Hannah:
Second dive and final training dive of the Deep Diver tec course! The second dive brought the wreck into a much clearer picture. The dove was a great introduction to penetration diving and seeing just how much the visability on a wreck disappears once you kick up some silt, it disappears, believe me!
Back on the boat the weather was starting to come in. Everyone settles into a corner of the boat and reads and watches TV. It’s going to be an early night!

Read Tomorrow for Day 3

Written By James Thornton-Allan (Instructor) and Hannah Lusby (Diver)

James:
“Arriving at Dirty Nellys Irish Bar in downtown koh tao I was met by Hannah (Big Blue Tech) and her friend Helen (Big Blue Diving). They were quietly enjoying a drink waiting for everyone else to arrive and get on with the trip. Slowly everyone else arrived, found somewhere to sit and ordered dinner and a few drinks. We’re hoping to get on to the Trident early and be under way at 7pm. On this trip are 14 people plus support crew of local Thai and Burmese staff. The Trident owners Jamie Macleod and Stewart Oehl will be conducting the trip and supervising the diving for myself and Hannah (Big Blue Tech) and several others from various diving schools and areas of Thailand. The trip would have the usual suspects of trident including Wilco, Jeremy, Ayesha and Mikey. Several other certified divers, friends and students were joining us as well.

A large dinner and a few drinks and it was off to stock up with chocolate, junk food, cigarettes and new books. I bought a few books military related about snipers and war and found that the entire boat was already full of war books. Most people on the boat are into a very few things, drinking, deep diving, war history and telling stories. On board were already a few military people including myself and Wilco who are both former marines from England and Holland. If you know the Royal Marine Commandos you know the Dutch work close together, which makes for good banter onboard.

If you’ve been following this story you would know that Hannah has been working hard towards this goal. In every technical course there are challenges and skills to overcome and master. With Hannah it’s been problem free and smooth the whole way.

Hannah is originally from England and is a recreational scuba instructor in her own right. Looking for more to diving and bored with the same in same out she wanted something that would challenge her and accelerate her learning beyond what recreational diving has to offer. In reflecting back on her previous life as an account director for an advertising agency she has found a life far better then one offered in England and diving far better then one offered in Koh Tao.

Unfortunately technical diving changes you permanently, we’re sorry but there’s no refund for the shock.
Moving from the bar to the longtail boat which will transfer everyone on to the trident and eventually cast off and head towards the HTMS Pangan wreck located about 60 miles north east of Koh Tao. Thankfully most of the divers on board had already set up their gear on the trip from the day before. However the dive deck was busy with gas analysis, dive planning, gear checking and generally sorting out gear for the early morning dives.

Everyone is holding their breathe for the weather. It’s coming into monsoon season, which means it could absolutely chuck down at any minute. This isn’t your normal “oh it’s raining” rain but proper “my head hurts and I have to take cover”. Heavy rain won’t stop the trip but it will change the general enjoyment of the surface interval.

Once all the little bits were sorted it was time to enjoy a cold beer and slowly steam towards our wreck. A lot of people consider drinking before diving bad. I agree, but have a few beers the night before a dive is not that much of a concern. For those who are new to technical diving we insist a non alcohol environment but the great thing about technical diving is you’re self sufficient and an adult. If you drink then be prepared for the consequences.

With the dive schedule sorter we would be number 2 to enter the water tomorrow at 8 am. Which means up at 7 so we’re ready for our jump window. Missing that window pisses off everyone and sets the morning off on a bad note. So off to bed early and excited for some proper rewarding scuba diving and finally away from the excessive conservatism of recreational diving.”

Hannah:
“Having said goodbye’s to friends and family, we cast off from Maed Hadd and on our way to the beginning of what we all hope to be some great days of wreck diving. A quick torch check from the Germinator (James’s girlfriend Yvonne) on land and we were off. Steaming on towards our port or should I say wreck of call, we all enjoyed our first night on MV Trident. A couple of beers in the evening to relax into the trip. But no more for a while – safety first!

James has even found a book for the trip, thank god it has pictures and large print otherwise things could get nasty!

Who would think 5 years ago while sitting in my office in Manchester dealing with advertising clients that I would be sitting on a boat off wreck diving for 3 days, finishing my tec course. Wonders will never cease! A little bit different from going to Blackpool for the weekend.
So our gear is all ready, dive plans sorted and we’re ready for tomorrow. Everyone is keeping their fingers crossed for good weather, although with the monsoon, rain is just part of the ride. Just hoping that it’s not the sideways, wind crazy hurting kind.

And Jez, who has been on soda water for the last 3 day’s (some random detox) has to decided in the wise words of any New Zealander to fuck it and have a beer!”

Read tomorrow about Day Two!

Yesterday was the completion of the local training for our DSAT Tec Deep student Hannah Lusby. From here on out it’s on to deeper waters where surface support is required to conduct this training safely. It’s fine to do beginner training on dive sites but without support the risk of an accident increases.

So on wednesday the 22nd of October we’ll dive the Unicorn Wreck aboard the MV Trident where we’ll use the comforts, support and crew to help conduct Hannah’s more difficult training in a safe and enjoyable manner.

Once that’s day is complete we’ll be off on the 3 day 3 night liveaboard to the HTMS (His Thai Majesty Service) Pangan to complete the course and do some experience dives.

Below are some images from diving yesterday at Chumphon Pinnacle.

In other news…unconfirmed… potential presidential nominee senator Barak Obama was key in helping the military come and identify the missing USS Lagarto back in 2005 because he was the senator of the state where the submarine came from. We couldn’t find anything on google.. mostly smear stuff about the election. If anyone knows a source for this story we would love to put it up.