Heeding customer feedback and finally bowing to market pressures, PADI’s DSAT technical diving arm is preparing an overhaul of its TecRec Deep and Trimix courses that will lower the entry barriers to the course and give instructors more flexibility.

Although final course outlines have not been finalized, the Tec Deep course will be broken into three parts, tentatively called “Tec 40,” “Tec 45″ and “Tec 50,” signifying the depth in meters students will be certified to dive. The current Tec Trimix course will be similarly broken into two parts, dubbed “Trimix 65″ and “Trimix 75.” DSAT hopes to introduce the courses by the end of the year.

Speaking at DSAT’s forum in Pattaya June 21, PADI Instructor Examiner and TecRec Instructor Trainer George Wegmann stressed that the final look of the revamped TecRec program has not been finalized, but that DSAT now had a “strong direction” for 2009. The organization formed the basis for the tiered technical program from feedback at previous DSAT roundtables in Australia and the U.S. While still soliciting input from PADI professionals, the agency is now traveling around the world with its “Essential Change ‘09″ presentation. (more…)

The following is a trip report by Lance Robb of Closed-Circuit Divers in Australia which last month chartered Koh Tao’s MV Trident for a week-long tech liveaboard. If you’ve got a great Thailand tech diving trip report, use the Contact form to let us know.

Stuey next to the forward deck gun USS Lagarto

The MV Trident usually operates out of Koh Tao and considering the distance we had to travel to get to these wreck sites the boys decided to take the boat to Koh Samui, so we all made our way there to join the boat.

That afternoon had us assembling our equipment pumping tanks and generally settling in for the week ahead. That evening around 7.00pm we slipped the lines and we were on our way and motored all night and into mid morning before we arrived at our first mark. We arrived on the position all very excited with most of us in the wheelhouse glued to the sounder looking for the big red lump protruding from the normally flat sandy bottom of the Gulf. (more…)

With aisles full of over-the-counter medication, self-dosing a stuffy nose, burning stomach or aching back is all too common. In Thailand, and other third-world countries, where the corner phamacy will gladly sell you prescription drugs usually only available after a doctor’s examination, it’s even easier.

While we all know of people who down the Actifed before a recreational dive to beat congestion, popping pills as a technical diver is a mch-different situation. As a post on South Africa’s Liquid Edge’s excellent technical diving blog points out, techies are more prone to side effects due to depth, longer exposures and higher partial pressures of oxygen. (more…)

Just a reminder that PADI’s DSAT technical diving division will host a roundtable forums in Pattaya June 21 to gather suggestions and ideas on the future of the agency’s tech courses.

DSAT has been doing forums around the world to map out what its instructors want for future tech-diving courses. As part of these discussions, the agency has already made some changes to its programs and standards. (more…)

Reels are essential equipment for technical divers, particuarly for those diving wrecks and caves. Yet, as any experienced techie will tell you, they’re a pain to use. Even the best reels will jam, foul, tangle, warp, drop, swing, trap, ratchet, keyhole, bind and bascially drive you nuts.

Today’s TECHnique post attempts to make reeling in a good dive easier by teaching you how and when to deploy a reel and which type of reel is the right one for the job. (more…)

Southeast Asia’s oceans are full of ancient wrecks, many of which contained beutiful and rare pottery. Technical divers around Thailand, with the folks at the MV Trident in Koh Tao at the forefront, have found and explored many of these wrecks. But in Vietnam, underwater archeology is still in its infancy.

In a post today on the ArcheologyWorld blog, Nguyen Dinh Chien, chief curator of the National Museum of Vietnamese History in Hanoi, looks back at the first three major wreck finds, including one containing a treasure trove of 15th century Thai pottery.

(more…)

Today marks the first post in a new section on Thailand Tech Diving called “TECHnique,” devoted to tips, tricks, education and “how to” information for the technical diver. While not Thailand specific, we think all of the knowledge can be of use to tech divers in- and outside The Kingdom.

Any (good) technical-diving classes will teach students to track their oxygen exposure. Both deco and bottom mixes can subject divers to high partial pressures of oxygen, so measuing PPO² is essential to avoid CNS oxygen toxicity. (more…)