Among Thailand’s dive community there are a select few people who’ve achieved a reputation as being a “genius” in their particular area. When it comes to service and technician services, one of those people is Steve “SB2″ Burton, an acclaimed technical diver in his own right and also the man behind Samui EasyTek.

A friend of Steve’s has paid a visit to the Pattaya office of Samui EasyTek and brought along a camera so you can see for yourself the hosptial lab-like environment has created. His ASSET courses, which can be booked through us here at Aquanauts, are first rate and his exacting nature both leads people to bemoan the state of their own gear and nod in respect to his training. Read the rest of this entry »

A team of divers from Davy Jones Locker in Koh Tao claim to have been the first to have located a shipwreck in the Penang straits of Malacca. They say the wreck is an unknown cargo vessel of approximately 2500 BRT.

According to a post on Scubaboard from a DJL employee, the wreck was discovered accidentally while searching for the wreck of a British World War II submarine. Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »

A watch. That’s what we’re talking about. Not a dive computer. Not a depth gauge or bottom timer. Simple right? If you think so, you’ll want to have a read through Duane Johnson’s latest “how to” post. Read the rest of this entry »

Ayesha Cantrell, one of Thailand’s best-known technical divers due to her long list of published articles and photos, is back again, this time on the DSAT Chat blog with another look at Khao Sok National Park, which we talked about yesterday, and, in particular, the sunken villages there. Read the rest of this entry »

Although Aquanauts may be based in Pattaya, we do cavern, cave and rebreather courses for divers all over Thailand, including for some of the country’s highest-certified and experienced PADI professionals. For the past couple of months, ANDI Instructor Trainer (and PADI CD) Roger M. Smith has been training PADI Course Director Jonas Samuelsson of Bans Divers and Peter McCarthy PADI Trimix Instructor of Master Divers and other Koh Tao-area students first in cavern and, now, cave diving.

Below is an diary from Aquanauts’ own Tec Rec Instructor Dan Beldon about the group’s Intro to Cave course in August at Khao Sok national park. Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »

A big announcement from tech-equipment maker Halcyon. Today the company announced a broad recall of products across its product line for fear they may pose a drowning risk.

Halcyon Manufacturing Inc. in cooperation with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission has initiated a voluntary recall of select Eclipse, Evolve, Explorer, Pioneer and CCR35 buoyancy compensator’s (BCDs) manufactured between January, 2006 and September, 2008. In addition, select Halcyon inflatable devices (Lift Bags, SMBs, DAMs, Surf Shuttles and Diver Lift rafts) may also be affected. Read the rest of this entry »