Posts by djl_team

Even Instructors fundive.

By djl_team, 9 March, 2012, No Comment

When time off allows the instructors here at Davy Jones Locker are not be found in the bar, but they will more than likely be found on the boat fundiving.

Fundiving is a great way for instructors to find new places on dive sites where interesting aquatic life lives. It also allows us to build on teamwork which is a very important factor in scuba diving. Finding new places that aquatic life is allows us to enhance our students experience.

Emilio and I often go fundiving working on our wreck diving skills on the excellent training wreck that is HTMS Satakut. Mike also when fundiving loves doing underwater photography and capturing the amazing life

So next time your on the boat here at DJL you will prob see some DJL Instructors fun diving.

Tom Warren

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PADI tec 40

By djl_team, 5 March, 2012, No Comment

Day 2 of Tec 45 & we dived the Sattakut for our 2nd training dive, our team of 4 was split into 2 teams. After completing our checks we descended the line to midships (sounds grand eh) & diver 1 tied off outside on the railings before heading inside. Now did he go left or right? I dunno, some tubby guy in black got in the way & I couldn’t see. I stuck my head in the door & found the line heading towards the bow, dive 1 a few metres in front. We looked left & right as we swam checking for points of entry & interest. 10 minutes into the dive & it was time to turn around & head back but then “disaster” struck. Don’t worry it was all part of the training devised by “The Evil One” instructor Dave. Phew! We all survived the emergency drill thanks to our training & headed back to the line for our simulated deco stops, with our buoyancy control looking very much like something choreographed by the Royal Ballet. Not a bad days training & only a few beer fines to pay…

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Another Happy IDC candidate

By djl_team, 2 March, 2012, No Comment

When I came to Koh Tao a few weeks back to start the IDC, the Instructor Development Course, I wasn’t sure what to expect. People had told me so very different things about the course: “It’s easy, you have nothing to worry about”, “it’s hard and you have to study a lot”, “it’s very intense with long days from 7 in the morning until 7 at night”, “it’s a piece of cake, anyone can do it”. I didn’t know what to think but chose to listen to the ones that told me it would be hard. That way I would come prepared for the worst and with any luck it wouldn’t be as bad as I had imagined it. Said and done. I arrived trembeling with fear, expecting the course director Pete to take out his wip and start covering me with homework and assignments as soon as he laid eyes me. But of course he didn’t. I was welcomed with a smile and a handshake and found myself off to a good start.

And over the course of these weeks it continued like that. Smiles and good times and some big laughs too. Of course there has been hard work involved: homework and classroom presentations and long sessions in the pool…
But the workload was always reasonable, the days not 12 hours long as I dreaded they would be and most importantly – it was fun! I have learned a lot and I’ve had fun in the process! As the IDC got closer to the end and the Instructor Examination was approaching I got more and more nervous. Was I prepared enough to pass all the segments of the IE: the theory and standards exams, the
classroom presentations and the open water and confined water presentations?

The only way to know for sure was to take the plunge, go the Nike way and just do it. And sure enough, it turned out that Pete had done a good job preparing us for the IE because all went well. I am now a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor and it feels great!

Up next is getting out there and actually doing it – teaching people how to dive! Thanks to Pete and DJL I feel confident that I am now ready for the challenge!

Stina Brännström

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PADI Tec Rec explorer day

By djl_team, 27 February, 2012, No Comment

This week started with a bang as instructors, dive masters and any diver who wanted to take on a new challenge came and attended Davy Jones Locker’s very own Tec Explorer Day. Presentations were done on everything from Cave diving in the beautiful Khao Sok National Park to deep wreck diving that can be done just outside of our island, Koh Tao. Next on the list of activities we had a chance to participate in a cave diving exercise where we got to understand and feel what it is like to use a reel to trace our steps into a cave and then be blindfolded and try to follow the line back out.

We all were put in pairs and learned how to communicate with your buddy (no talking, of course) so that you can both get out of the cave in a safe but timely manner. Between the laughing and the obstacles that were placed in front of the to-be cave divers, everyone managed to make it out alive.
By this time in the day the sun was getting hot so we took our next tech activity and got in the pool with Dave Polley and Tim Lawrence, we they gave us a chance to try out some tech gear and see what it’s like to have more then one tank on you. First we started with doubles, were you have two tanks on your back and is a diving configuration that is most commonly used in the tech diving world. Divers had the new challenge of trying to be neutrally buoyant with two tanks on their back then trying to do various open water skills while hovering on their front.

Sound easy? Think again! It was like my first day of diving all over again, and with it came a new interest and wanting to get back in the pool to master this kind of diving. After having the doubles on my back they were then moved to my side to try side mount diving, where you have a tank on each side of your body and can detach them from your hips to make it easier to get through tight restrictions mainly found in caves and wrecks. I found this to be my favourite part of the day, feeling the freedom of having the tanks of my back being able to move them around me and adjust my trim freely. Oh, and it looked pretty cool. The day ended with some drinks and a BBQ, courtesy of PADI, and everyone ending the day with a new challenge to take on in their diving lives.

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PADI TecRec Xplor Day at DJL

By djl_team, 23 February, 2012, No Comment

On Sunday 26th February, Davy Jones Locker will be hosting a TecRec Xplor Day in conjunction with PADI/DSAT. We will be running two seminars. The first starts at 10.00am and the second starts at 1.00pm.

During the seminars there will be the chance to find out more about the DSAT Tec40/Tec45/Tec50 training route. There will also be the chance to try diving on a full tech rig in our pool.

Our instructors will also be demonstrating cave reeling techniques, and there will be the chance to discuss the PADI Cavern Diver, DSAT Intro to Cave and DSAT Full Cave courses with our Tech Dive guru Dave Polley. You will also have the chance to try a side mount configuration in the DJL pool.

Our shop owner Tim Lawrence will be on hand to discuss some of the wreck finding expeditions Davy Jones Locker has been involved in and where you can take your new found skills once you’ve qualified. There will also be he chance to discuss Wreck and Advanced Wreck Training.

There will be an Advanced Equipment/Compressor Operator/DSAT Gas Blender workshop all under the headline of Dive Centre Operations. This course is essential for anyone who is considering going into the management area of the dive industry.

Finally you will have the opportunity to try diving on a Closed Circuit Rebreather (CCR), and find out about what rebreathers are all about in our CCR workshop.

There will be free drinks and a free BBQ for all those who attend. So pop into the shop over the next couple of days and sign up. We’d love to see you down here.

Neal

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