We’ve put this forum up to allow you to ask questions about scuba diving & PADI scuba open water courses with DJL. If you have any queries you need answered, just post your question and the DJL instructors will respond. You can also view other peoples questions and comments.
Yesterday Mitch Lawson graduated as a PADI Divemaster, following his scuba diving internship here on Koh Tao.
Image: A group of us head down to Lotus Bar to celebrate the new Divemasters; from left Gary, James, Matt, Mitch, Alex, Mr Ali, Leona & Diane.
Mitch joined us as an Open Water Diver, and over the past few weeks has progressed through his PADI Advanced Open Water, Rescue Diver & DM courses.
As part of his course, Mitch has been guiding certified divers around the Koh Tao dive sites, and helping out with the running of the DJL Dive boat. He also got to deep dive the Unicorn ship wreck, completing an intro to deco diving course with DJL, – right down to 46 metres!
As a member of Typhoon Squadron, when the MOD group visited DJL for a dive training expedition last month, Mitch got to join the guys on the Sampai Jumpa sailing liveaboard. The guys got to enjoy a 5 day trip, around Koh Tao and up through the Chumphon marine reserve.
Adhering to the long established Koh Tao ritual, Mitch celebrated passing his PADI Divemaster Course by completing his ‘snorkel test‘ down at Lotus Bar on Sairee Beach. Joined by co-intern James, the guys drank a bucket of cocktail through a snorkel.
Image: Ready – steady – Go; Mitch & James taking their snorkel test!
Image: A messy affair!
Congratulations to Mitch – it’s been a pleasure having him as part of our dive team & we look forward to him paying us another visit in the future.
Image: Whip corals at Laem Thian, Koh Tao, Thailand.
These great underwater images were recently taken around the Koh Tao dive sites by Marc & Beate (Germany).
Diving with DJL Divemaster Tom Alden, together with Ben & Tash (UK) & Steffan (Germany) the guys enjoyed a series dives off our RIB.
Images: Macro photographs of nudibranch & tiny blenny, Koh Tao.
We managed to get the guys out to all the best sites, ‘out of sink’ with other Koh Tao dive operators – more fish and less divers! We also enjoyed the shallow diving on the quiter Eastern coast of Koh Tao – diving highlights included Laem Thian & the Hin Wong Pinnacles, Shark Island, the rarely dived Samran Pinnacles plus Southwest.
As you can see, Marc & Beate managed to capture some great macro photos of the nudibranchs and flatworms around the Koh Tao dive sites.
Image: Cowrie shell, scuba diving Koh Tao Thailand
Thanks to Marc & Beate for the photos!
If anyone else has anyone has any great underwater images of the diving here on Koh Tao that they want to share, just e-mail to DJL Diving and we’ll happily put them up on this blog page.
Image: Anyone know what this is called?
Off our new RIB, we’re running frequent wreck diving trips to the Unicorn Ship Wreck north of Koh Tao.
The Unicorn is a large cargo vessel, lying upright on the seabed close to Koh Tao. The wreck lists slightly to one side – the deeper side at 46 metres, with the sand off the side of the wreck at 48 metres.
This depth makes it perfect for us to run an introduction to technical diving – giving people a taster of decompression diving, allowing them to discover it they’re up to taking a full tec diving course.
We’ve just returned from an intro to tec session with future PADI DMT Rosie, Go Pro Intern Leona and retired Sairee Hut PADI Divemaster Storm.
Images:
1. DJL Diving instructor Matt and Storm on the RIB
2. A strong sonar return showing an image of the Unicorn Wreck standing proud of the seabed
3. DJL Instructor Arne prepares alongside Rosie & Leona for the deep wreck dive
We commence the intro to tec program with a theory session. This covers important concepts of deep diving – equipment, dive planning, decompression procedures, narcosis management . . . we normally run this session the evening before the dives are scheduled.
Images:
1. Many soft corals grow on the Unicorn Wreck north of Koh Tao
2. Colorful fish swim past a winch support on the Unicorn Wreck
On the day of the wreck dives, we load all the dive equipment onto the RIB then head out to the gps mark of the Unicorn Wreck. We time our arrival so that we reach the wreck during periods of slack tide to make the diving as easy as possible. First we locate the wreck using a sonar, then send two technical divers down to secure a line on the wreck (which we can then anchor our boat to).
We’ll then jump in for the first dive – descending down the line we plan for a 42 metre dive around the bridge area, for a planned bottom time of around 10 minutes. During the ascent, we’ll follow a simulated decompression schedule – we’ll make a 10 minute stop at 10 metres and conduct a respiratory minute volume check (RMV) to determine how much air you’re consuming. We’ll then step up and make simulated stops at 6 and 3 metres to assess your ability to control your buoyancy during decompression stops.
Images:
1. Coral crusted structure of the Unicorn
2. A beautiful soft coral growing on the wreck.
During the surface interval, we’ll look at the info collected on the first dive and project this into a second dive on the wreck. The second dive is likely to be a little deeper – in this case 46 metres for a 15 minute bottom time, with full deco during ascent. We’ll get to further explore the bridge and forward mast areas, taking a swim along the deck and inspecting the open cargo holds.
Images:
1. Tim deploys a lift bag during a dive on the Unicorn ship wreck
2. A ladder on the bridge of the Unicorn ship wreck.
If you’re interested in trying DJL Diving’s into to tec diving on the Unicorn shipwreck, contact us and we can discuss your wreck diving trip!
Images:
1. Rosie, Arne & Storm make a deco stop after their 46 metre wreck dive
2. Go pro intern Leona on a Unicorn Wreck dive
3. Rosie & Leona pose for a photo on the RIB mooring at Hin Wong Bay Koh Tao
Thanks to Stuart Shaw for the underwater images of the Unicorn Wreck.
