This has been printed elsewhere online before, but Bruce Konefe’s “Diving in Thailand” ran in Thursday’s Bangkok Post in a nice spread that highlights the increasing popularity of technical diving in Thailand.

Konefe, a freelance instructor who was worked with Aquanauts off and on for years, got a great platform to introduce tech to a broad population and may even entice some to try it out based on the way his story was edited to appeal to the masses. (more…)

We love good tech-diving photos, no matter which dive shop the photographer worked with. So when we learned of a new Flickr gallery from ex-Big Blue Tech crew member Christos Kardana we just had to check it out. (more…)

She is prolific, that’s certainly one thing you can say about tech instrucor Ayesha Cantrell. In another post to the DSAT TecRec Blog, she talks about what its like to be a woman among the many men in technical diving.

Female technical divers certainly seem to be in the minority and I always seem to be stuck on a boat with guys comparing hose length and discussing penetration. Imagine how happy I was to teach my first female student and have an all girls tech team. That prompted me to try and understand why there are considerably less of us and maybe break down some of the barriers. (more…)

For the fourth year in a row, Aquanauts Dive Career Development Centre, Pattaya, Thailand’s only British-owned PADI 5-Star Career Development Center, will be exhibiting its technical diving courses and trips at the largest dive show in the United Kingdom. Dive 2009 will be held at the NEC in Birmingham, England Oct. 24-25. (more…)

A Thai bulk cargo ship went down in during storms in the Andaman Sea Aug. 23 about five miles from the Phang Nga Naval Base, about 55 kilometers north of Phuket. All hands were rescued but the ship sits at the bottom of the ocean while owners and authorities sort out the insurance issues.

Will the ship become a new wreck for diver? Unknown at this point, but there’s some talk of salvage, according to the Phuket Gazette. (more…)

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 opening of the Tarutao National Park and the encroachment of the market economy has rapidly changed their lives, the traditions of women running their society while men journey far from home to fish lives on. (more…)

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 down there again. Big Blue Tech reports: (more…)