DJL Diving Blog » tim

team of tec divers shot new video of the seacrest drillship

tim — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 12:37:21 +0000

MSDT INTERNSHIP

tim — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 06:41:42 +0000

Rory Completes his MSDT Internship

Despite getting top marks in my IE, I felt it be wise to get some practical experience doing a teaching Internship with Davy Jones’ Locker, especially as I’d be more employable with a little experience under the weight belt (the first question you’re asked as a Dive Instructor looking for work is: How many Certs do you have?)
The MSDT internship kick-starts your teaching career with your first 25 Certifications (and possibly more) plus it includes all the Specialty Instructor Courses that I wanted to do and would have had to pay for anyway. For example to become a MSDT (Master Scuba Diver Trainer) you need the 25 certifications and 5 Padi Specialty’s but at DJL I received 7 for the same price. I chose Wreck Specialty Instructor, Nitrox Instructor, O2 Provider, Night, Search and Recovery, Deep and Digital Underwater Photography but there are many more you can choose from. So for not a lot more money, I could also get those Certs, a foot in the door of a great dive shop, and some first-class experience and feedback in one of the most competitive dive environments around. It is possible to pick up freelance jobs on Koh Tao, but there’s no guarantee the work will flow and there’s no guarantee that you’ll be the Certifying Instructor (Freelancers who aren’t known by the Dive Shop are at the bottom of the food chain here).
The IDC teaches you how to go about imparting dive knowledge both practical and theoretical to prospective students. Out in the real world actually controlling a new group of under-water babies is a totally different matter and the skills learnt get put into practice straight away. Attentiveness is key.
Holding onto a student’s BCD with one hand and putting your other hand in front of their regulator whilst they remove and replace their mask in open water becomes something you do as a matter of course not just something to impress the Examiner (the acting “students” in your IE aren’t suddenly going to panic, spit out their regulator and make a breath-held bolt for the surface).
In fact, I think I learnt more shadowing a Senior Instructor for my 1st Open Water course here than I did in my whole IDC. Every Instructor will tell you that they made mistakes at the start and that they learnt on the job. Doing an Internship provides a safe environment for this. I’ll admit I’ve made some mistakes in the past few weeks; fortunately, they were corrected by the Senior Instructors before they could become a possible issue. No damage done, happy customers, lessons learnt.
I’ve now shadowed and part-taught 2 Advanced and 4 Open Water Courses. Before I began I already had lots of general teaching experience and was confident of my abilities, but now I am also confident that I’m a safe Instructor. Though rare, accidents do happen, especially in the OW course. I don’t want any on my watch.
As far as the length of the course goes, I’m taking a slightly more leisurely pace as I’ve got time to play with, but if I was in a rush I think I could have done the whole program to MSDT in around 3 weeks. Also, like the other Internships here if there’s space on the boat there’s free fun diving and as a part of the Dive Team, there’s always a group of people to go out for a beer with after hours. I couldn’t recommend it more.

Are you feeling cold and bored?

tim — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 05:43:29 +0000

C47 Civillian Transport Plane

tim — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 03:49:00 +0000

Tim, Kris, Marielle and a new trimix student are out technical diving again around Koh Tao, looking to take advantage of the unusually calm weather we’ve got at the momen. We’ll be diving on mild tri-mix to take the edge off at 60m. We will be shooting some video and trying to find out what the cargo was, if any, as we’re having trouble finding out about any of the history of the C47 civillian transport plane.

We will be putting are findings, along with videos on our website www.davyjoneslocker.asia

Investigating New Marks!

tim — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 09:42:45 +0000

DJL Diving are proud to announce the latest wreck expedition in the Gulf of Thailand.

Tomorrow evening we’re off to dive the Pangan wreck which is 52 nortical miles to the north east of Koh Tao.

We are then off to investigate 2 marks which we received from separate fisherman which hopefully will be previously undived ship wrecks.

The team will comprise of 6 technical divers, 5 will be diving on open circuit tri-mix gases and 1 will be diving a CCR Megaladon unit.

We plan to shoot videos of our findings so stay tuned for the latest DJL discovery!

Tims walkabout continued

tim — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 01:26:36 +0000

A few years back I remember reading an article written about a diving area in New Zealand called Poor Knights, the image that accompanied the article of manta rays filling a valley where the vis’ went on to infinity and the walls dropped off to 50 mtr burnt into my memory. Jacques Cousteau called it one of the worlds top 10 diversities, the top of a volcanic island on the edge of the continental shelf allowing upwellings of nutrient rich water to fuel an eco system in the shallow areas reminded me of another area Sipadan in Boreno and the topography spectacularly drops off to 1000mtr and the sea is full of life. After asking around some of my dive buddys I was given Jeroen,s phone number at divetutukaka.com who kindly hooked us up with one of his boats. Skippered by Craig we meet up with him in the morning and headed off for the Poor Knights islands. We had a comfortable run out there with the sea state running at 1 mtr pooping us, the skipper Craig had time to tell us some of the history of the island, which was allegdly named after a pudding topped with preserve by Captain James Cook; when the flowers bloom atop the island it resembled the dish. We entered a bay edged by huge cliffs of volcanic rock, the sonar read 50 mtr and Craig manoeuvred the boat to anchor on a small outcrop of rocks surrounded by deep water – not an easy task. The dive site, known as The Northern Arch, looks very small at the surface but opens into a huge arch under the water line. We entered the water and were greeted by 21 degrees, 30 mtr vis’ and arched swimthroughs and larva tubes, all caritureistic of Gran Canaria, which is where one of Davy Jones Locker’s previous dive centres was situated. All these things combined to make me feel right at home here.We entered the arch and dropped down to 30 mtr looked up into large schools of fish and red snapper, as we smam through the arch a large sting ray, around 1.5 mtr, swam past certainly making the dive a memorable one.

Diving in Koh Tao you get used to warm water and I was feeling the cold at the end of the first dive; a chilly 21 degrees, but we warmed up on the boat and during the surface interval entered a very large cavern. Legend has it that during the second world war a japanese sub’ used the cavern to effect repairs away from the eyes of the NZ navy patrols. Our second dive was made just outside the cave around kelp forests and swim-throughs. Cracking couple of dives in the Poor Knights; shame we have to move on, thanks to the Jeroen and the team at diving.co.nz for making us feel so welcome. One more stop off and its back to Tao and some more diving expeditions…

Tim’s Annual Walkabout

tim — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 23:20:00 +0000

Well, it’s that time of year again and just before the summer rush of diving in Koh Tao and expeditions planned for the Asia region, I thought we would get some other diving ingredients into our diet. So off we went to Australia and New Zealand to have a look at what their diving has to offer; our first stop was Cooktown to look at the museum and area which Captain Cook first landed in Australia to affect repairs to his stricken ship. Then onward to Cairnes. As this is the first time I had been here, I was suprised to see how small it was; a point which was pushed home when we bumped into an ex DMT internship candidate and Aussie, Heersham Garroun, taking some time out before finishing his Masters in Marine Biology. We booked up to do a livabord to the outer reef, which was then cancelled due to two cyclones that were closing in on the coast. So our only option was to book a day excursion with one of the larger catamarans; this we did and headed off to a dive site on the outer reef known as the ‘Table Top’. On the way out we had a 3mtr swell coming on our nose forward quarter starbord, making it a little bouncy – even for the 20 mtr catamaran. But after the outward trip, which lasted an hour, we arrived and were impressed with the way the Barrier Reef did its job breaking up the huge swells created by the cyclone; our gain today, which has been the downfall for many ships trying to navagate through to the calmer water behind one of the many sections which make up the outer reef . We moored up into the lea and jumped into the welcoming 28 degrees of water and were pleasantly suprised by the vis’; which we expected to be low and was up to 15mtr in places. A small blue spotted sting ray and white tip reef shark were also around to welcome us into the underwater world. We dropped down to around 28 mtr and turned the dive when we started to feel the effects of the swell at the edge of that section of the reef. All in all a pleasant experience made more enjoyable by the friendly face of an old irish friend of mine when we hit the surface the dive industry is small sometimes… nextstop New Zealand and the Poor Knights Islands.

New blue ribbon challenge for Koh Tao

tim — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 06:03:52 +0000

Since Davy Jones Locker introduced its high speed rhib to Koh Tao more and more dive schools have followed our example and made an addition to their fleets, giving the more experienced divers the opportunity to enjoy all the benefits of small groups and diving in areas a little bit less accessible. It also gives us the ability to teach the Diving Coxen qualification, recognised by the Maritime Coastal Agency, the European Governing Body, and is accepted world wide.

While talking to one of our friends over a beer (Tim at Good Time Adventures) he mentioned he had circumnavagited Koh Tao in 19 minutes; we reckoned we could do it faster and in the sprit of friendly competition the gaunlet was thrown down. That afternoon I set out to have a rekki with a 0 .5 mtr sea state blowing into the east coast, we knew the record wasn’t on but we still managed to get around in a respectable 24 minutes. We reckon if we reduce the weight by removing the 5 passengers, and by getting the right amount of fuel on board and with a flat sea state we will get around in 15 minutes; watch this space…

Just after circumnavigating Koh Tao

New villa accommodation for our diving customers

tim — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 05:55:45 +0000

View of Sairee Bay from villa balcony

We are pleased to announce the completion of our villas on Koa Tao. This accommodation is intended to give our customers the chance to enjoy all the benefits of luxury in paradise. The two bedroom villas have air-con and satelite TV, although with the amazing views over Sairee Beach you probably wont want to watch it. They also have a private pool and complete seclusion. There is a kitchen with breakfast bar, maid service and the option of having your own chef to prepare you some of the best of Thai cuisine. If you would like to book one of our villas or for further information contact phil@daveyjoneslocker.asia

View of bedroom from balcony

View of balcony and pool from bedroom

Breakfast bar and kitchenView of lower and upper balconies

View of upper and lower balconies

DJL research marks for new wreck diving expedition in the straits of Mallacca

tim — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 06:25:03 +0000

Tim and the team from Ko Tao were up to old tricks in the straits of Mallacca recently, on an as yet, undisclosed island talking to fishermen for an upcoming expedition to look for a WWII Japanese shipwreck, The Maru which was lost in an action by the submarine, The Tally ho in 1943. The official War record report has the chart datum 50 metres in the area, so we’ll probably be running the expedition using a tri-mix. We were also there to secure logistical backup for Oxygen, Evac and boat transportation to the mark with another diving company in the area. When the team arrived we set off to talk to some fishermen and came across a Thai vessel which looked promising, Tim jumped on board the boat and was met by a group of irate Thais all wondering what this Farang was doing on their vessel; but soon had their tongues loosened and put their knives away when Tim pulled the chart out and offered cigarettes and whiskey. We managed to procure some very interesting new targets in the area. The trip is planned for the next neaps which is at Christmas time; watch this space…

The team comprised of Tim, Juliet and Fri.

We incorporate this type of research into our exploration diver package which is an add-on to the divemaster internship.

new gapyear internship options

tim — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 05:27:35 +0000

After the overwelming success of our internship program this year DJL are proud to announce a new catagory option that will involve learning about the ecology of the reefs around Koh Tao and basic surveying techniques. It will help us to accurately record and track the impact divers and eco tourism have on the reefs in this area, giving us a different slant on diving here. The program will give our students valuable skills to take on to schools in other regions around Asia so we can better understand the impact eco tourism has on these fragile environments. The program is to be called Eco Diver and will be running alongside our very popular Divemaster Internship Program for the summer of 2010. Look out for the full itinerary on our website.

New Look For DJL bar

tim — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:07:45 +0000

The Monsoon has been very light this year so theres been a lot of great diving being done which has left less time for getting the bar ready for another high season, but with time moving on we have been thinking of themes for the bar and have decided to go with the old theme of shipwrecks. Using the pieces collected over 20 years of looking for wrecks that we had originally displayed in the museum on Koh Tao that we closed when the shop moved to Sairee beach, as our philosophy has always been to display to the public the compasses and portholes ect with the history and picture of the shipwreck so that its memory can be preserved and the lessons learnt from it loss better understood by future seafairers, instead of leaving the artifacts locked away in a cupboard to deteriorate over the years. We feel this will be a visually stimulating and educational asset to the DJL group and give a fantastic backdrop to the parties we have all enjoyed here over the past years.