DJL Diving, Koh Tao have been visited by the British Ministry of Defence’s ‘Typhoon Squadron‘.

As part of the Defense Technical Undergraduate Scheme (DTUS), a group travelled to Koh Tao to complete diver training through to BSAC Sports Diver Level.

Organised by Lft Ian Sutcliffe, training was conducted by Sub Aqua Diving Supervisor (SADS) Pete Stone along with DJL Diving’s BSAC National Instructor Les Skelton.

Image: Feeding time aboard the Sampai Jumpa Sailing Liveaboard; Around the table (clockwise) OCDT Liam Wilson, Lft Ian Sutcliffe, Captain Bruce Scott, RAF Air Cadet Emma Dutton, SADS Pete Stone. Seated in the background; DJL instructor Les Skelton & Captain Darren Evans.

Training started off on Koh Tao, with diving theory and shallow water work, run off both our big boat and rib.

The guys then tranferred to the Sailing Liveaboard Sampai Jumpa for a five day – four night dive liveaboard.

Image : Sailing Liveaboard ‘Sampai Jumpa’

The group spent the first two days enjoying the dive sites around Koh Tao – Southwest Pinnacles, Shark Island . . . The liveaboard then sailed to the Chumphon Marine Park, north west of Koh Tao, where dives included building up depth experience and progressing through Sports Diver training. Stunning scenery, remote islands and great marine life.

Images:

1. A small island in the Chumphon Marine reserve

2. Hannah Adams makes a giant stride off the Sampai Jumpa

3. A jellyfish drifts by in the current.

For the final days diving the group sailed back to Koh Tao and made a dawn dive at the spectacular Chumphon Pinnacles. It was barely light as the divers entered the water, but the early start was worth it – lots of big grey reef sharks up around the pinnacle! The guys made a last dive at Mango Bay where they performed rescue skills to conclude their training as BSAC Sports Divers.

Image: From left to right; Officer Liam Wilson, DJL DMT James Crossley, Cadet Hannah Adams, OCDT Mitch Lawson & Officer Cadet Alex Rafferty.

Image at Sunset: From left; Officer Liam Wilson, DJL Diving DMT James Crossley, Officer Cadet Alex Rafferty, OCDT Mitch Lawson and RAF Air Cadet Simon Langley.

The guys have now taken the ferry across to Koh Phangan for a bit of well deserved R&R! We look forward to pairing up with ‘Typhoon Squadron’ again for future diver training expeditions.

Background

Here at DJL Diving Thailand, we’ve just returned from a day of wreck hunting – looking for a deep target north of Koh Tao.

Our objective was to locate a WW2 schooner, sunk during July 1945 by Baleo class submarine USS Bugara. Estimated at 200 tonnes (which would make her around 35 – 45 metres in length) we had converging gps marks from three Thai fishermen, close to the location given in the submarine log. If this information was correct, the wreck would be lying at a depth of 50 metres, around 14 miles north of Koh Tao.

Pictures :1. A Schooner Vessel of similar size to the ship wreck we located.

2. Baleo Class Submarine USS Bugara.

3. Chart of the converging GPS marks used to locate this wreck.

Expedition; 27th August 2007

Today, a team of five technical divers from DJL Diving headed out to investigate the mark using our high speed rib. Getting underway early, we reached the ship wreck site by late-morning, then proceeded to search the area using GPS & sonar.

We quickly got a good return, dropped the shot and jumped in – diving on slack tide, our first wave of divers located the wreck. We secured our shot line to one of the many ballast stones, before exploring the wreck.

The wreck lies upright at 46 – 48 metres. Descending down through the thermocline, visibility was limited to 2 – 4 metres, but we still got a good look around. The vessel is a wooden hulled schooner – it appears she’s suffered heavy damage and has broken into two pieces. During our dives we believe we dived the stern section. This was large, consistent with the size of ship we expected, and covered in artifacts.

Our divers recovered several pieces of china from the wreck (for identification purposes). Most of the china plates were identical (exhibiting a ’555′ stamp – we’ll attempt to discover their origin over the next few days. One of the more attractive plates was labelled with the manufacturers stamp ‘Yamashu Stone China – Japan‘.

Photos:

1. China plates recovered from the WW2 schooner shipwreck, after 62 years lying on the seabed.

2. Manufacturers mark on the back of one of the finer pieces.

Photo: The dive team, from right to left; Arne, Tim, Kieron, Gary & Pete (joining us at the end of the army diver training expedition with DJL Diving)

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Photo: Tim sporting a nice welt from a jellyfish!!

We’ll return to the dive site soon to further investigate the wreck, and attempt to locate the bow section.

If you’re interested in getting involved, check out the DJL Diving | Koh Tao website – also see our scuba diving internships pages, giving you the opportunity to get invoved in our dive expeditions.

Thanks to Pete (Stone) for the images.