Archive: July, 2009
Pro-Tech Phuket Upgrades Facilities, Adds Courses
Changes are afoot at Phuket’s Pro-Tech Dive College with the opening of new facilities the boss gaining new closed-circuit rebreather ratings. Construction of Pro-Tech’s new facility in Chalong has taken about six months, but is now complete, the company says on its Tech-CCR News & Events blog.
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Diving Grave Wrecks: How Great the Difference?
When it comes to diving shipwrecks, some feel there’s a distinct difference between diving wrecks sunk as artificial reefs (or insurance payouts) and wrecks on which people died. Many of these underwater tombs are only accessible to technical divers who both feel the thrill of seeing history close-up, but feel the weight of the events [...]
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With No Training, Thailand’s ‘Sea Gypsies’ Successfully Treat DCI
With no technical training, indigenous fishermen of Thailand Andaman Sea have successfully treated nearly two-thirds of those who suffer decompression illness through in-water recompression. The Urak Lowoi, better known as Thailand’s “sea gypsies,” make their living fishing using surface supplied air on the islands of Phuket, Phi Phi, Lanta, Lipe, Jum and Adang. While the [...]
Read moreHow to Use the Finger Spool
Another of our “how to” TECHnique columns. Today we again visit with Duane Johnson who gives us a primer on finger spools, which can be very useful tools when used properly. But they can be a total nightmare if you aren’t paying attention.
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Technical Diver Dies Off Koh Tao (Updated)
Editor’s note: The story below, while tragic, should not be construed to mean that diving the wreck mentioned in this post is any more dangerous than any other wreck. Properly trained, diving any wreck is safer than riding a bicycle. But, even with good training and conditions, accidents can happen. Some, as events in the [...]
Read moreBudget Dive Travel to Thailand: Thai Airlines Launch Low-Cost Fare War
Encouraging news today for those living or traveling in Southeast Asia. Both Thai Airways International and Bangkok Airways have launched an assault on low-cost carriers such as Air Asia, offering discounts of 20 percent on individual journeys and booklets of tickets good for a year in and around Thailand.
Read moreTrimix Narcosis & Calculating Your END
How narced do you want to get? If you’re upcoming dive plans include helium you’re paying for out of your own pocket, then the question of how much nitrogen narcosis you can tolerate is a relevant one. If money were no object then, studies show, heliox would be the obvious choice. But when you’re footing [...]
Read moreDouble Tec Deep Course Puts Students to Test
Aquanauts today wrapped up another two DSAT Tec Deep courses, this time for Dharshana Jayawardena of Sri Lanka and Gary Smith, one of Aquanauts’ PADI Instructor and technical-diving interns. Both found the course extremely challenging, but hugely satisfying. We joined the two students and TecRec Instructor Dan Beldon on Saturday for the final day of [...]
Read moreIt’s a Little Windy Down in Koh Tao
One of the best thngs about tech diving in Pattaya is that it has the best weather of any Thai dive area. It’s not seasonal — so dive sites don’t close — and the waves and wind are much less severe than Koh Tao / Koh Samui. It seems the wind is whipping things up [...]
Read moreDSAT Officially Acknowledges Coming Changes to Tec Rec Program
While executives from the DSAT technical diving arm of PADI have been doing roadshows — like this recent one in Pattaya — informally describing plans to change its Tec Rec program, there have been, until now, no official word from the agency itself other than to say DSAT was considering various bits of feedback. Today, [...]
Read moreMV Trident Dives HTMS Pangan
The deep wreck explorers at Koh Tao’s MV Trident are back home after their early July expedition to the HTMS Pangan. The three-day, three-night tech liveaboard hosted tech divers from various Koh Tao schools. Rediscovered in August 2005, the Pangan is Royal Thai Navy ship bult in Japan before World War II. Carrying ammunition and [...]
Read moreAyesha Cantrell Showcases Koh Sok for Under Water Photography Magazine
Ayesha Cantrell, perhaps the best-known female technical dive instructor in Thailand, is giving diving in The Kingdom some more good press with a photo essay on the impressive caverns of Koh Sok National Park in the coming issue of Under Water Photography magazine. Cantrell, who worked a number of jobs in the U.K. and abroad [...]
Read morePoseidon Recalls Besea W50 Wings Due to Drowing Hazard
Manufacturer Poseidon of Sweden and U.S. distributors Poseidon West, of West Lake Village, Calif., Poseidon Central, of Conroe, Texas, and American Divers Division, of Alexandria Bay, N.Y., have announced a voluntary recall of defective Poseidon Besea W50 Diving Wings. The inner bladder located inside the diving wing can break, causing the wing to fail to [...]
Read moreMV Trident Liveaboard to HTMS Pangan July 2-5
The wreck hunters at the MV Trident will sail again July 2 for the HTMS Pangan on a 3-day, 3-night tech liveaboard trip. Rediscovered in August 2005, the Pangan is Royal Thai Navy ship bult in Japan before World War II. Carrying ammunition and gunpowder for disposal, she reportedy sunk in a storm in 1961. Fire damage [...]
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