Congratulations to Franky & Clare who have recently qualified as technical divers with DJL Diving.

Both came from Koh Tao Dive professional backgrounds. Clare did her PADI Divemaster training with Island Dive Club, before working as a freelance Divemaster for several dive shops. Franky has been teaching as a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor with Coral Grand Divers at the north end of Sairee Beach.

Under Tim’s tuition, both Franky and Clare took the BSAC Advanced Nitrox course, Franky then going on to also complete his BSAC Extended Range Diver Training.

The course concluded with a days deep decompression diving visiting the WW2 Japanese Schooner and Unicorn ship wrecks north of Koh Tao, Thailand.

Franky will be joining us on our tech diving liveaboard to the South China Sea this May – we hope that Clare also continues to exersise her technical diving skills.

If you’re interested in finding out what’s involved in deep technical diver training, contact DJL Diving or visit the tech diving section on our website.

DJL Diving [Koh Tao Thailand] will remain open throughout November 2007, continuing to provide PADI / BSAC / SSI Scuba Diving Courses & Fun Dives for certified divers.

Many Koh Tao Thailand Dive Shops close during November, to allow for boat maintenance following our busy Summer period.

At DJL Diving, we’ll remain open throughout November. If you’re traveling to Sairee Beach Koh Tao, looking to do your PADI Scuba Open Water Diving course or any other scuba diving during November, we still have availability. [Contact DJL Diving with your individual enquiries].

We’ll be sending our big boat in for renovation during the first half of December 2007, but don’t worry – we’ll still be diving in Koh Tao off our high speed RIB. As the prevailing wind shifts to start blowing from the North East, we’ll be able to moor our RIB in the shelter of Sairee Beach, allowing us convenient fast access to the best dive sites in Koh Tao.

We aim to get the big boat finished and back to Koh Tao Thailand by mid December.

After a combined technical scuba diving course & dive liveaboard expedition, we’re happy to announce that we have two new BSAC Extended Range Divers here at DJL Diving.

Image; The first female Extended Range Diver trained by Tim, Leona on an ERD training dive

Retired concert organist, William Hudson (from Alaska), joined us from a cave diving background. William went through the BSAC Combined Nitrox & BSAC Extended Range Diver Courses. He was joined by Leona Goh (Singapore), who’s taking a diving internship through to PADI Divemaster with DJL Diving.

Image; Alaskan William Hudson gets to grips with a twin set and side tank.
Despite some challenging moments in training, the guys have turned out as competent deep air divers. They’re both now qualified to undertake decompression dives to 50 metres, using multiple tanks and nitrox blends up to 100% O2 for accelerated decompression.

Image; William on the deco bar during an Extended Range Diver training dive

At the end of their Extended Range Course we put their skills to the test, taking them on the South China Sea Dive Expedition (see below). They both got to enjoy diving on the HMS Repulse, right down to 50 metres.

Image; Remove and staging deco cylinders on the ERD course

Congrats to both William & Leona, and thanks to Ginger Ayres for providing the photos.

If you’re interested in getting into tec diving, whether you’re an experienced diver or not, contact DJL diving and we can discuss the best options for you.

Ginger Ayres (BSAC Advanced Instructor, Marine Divers, Hong Kong) has visited Koh Tao, Thailand, hooking up with DJL Diving for BSAC Instructor & Extended Range Diver Training.

Image: Les prepares Matt, Arne & Tom for their BSAC Instructor Exams

PADI Instructors Arne and Matt have been completing a BSAC Instructor Crossover under the instruction of Les & Ginger. Also joining the group is PADI Divemaster Tom Snooks, making the step up to BSAC Open Water Instructor.

Over the last few days the guys have been practicing academic presentations, learning how to break down scuba skills for entry level divers and brushing up on their technical teaching such as search patterns, using lifting devices, shot lines etc.

The guys also just completed their BSAC Boat Handling course, learning how to handle a small boat, specifically for scuba diving applications. The course includes a mix of boat handling theory and driving experience – mooring, man overboard drills, picking up divers, rough sea training, coming alongside a dock or larger vessel plus much more.

Image: Ginger gets ready for an Extended Range Diver training session with Leona, William & Tim.

In parallel with this, Ginge has been sitting in on one of Tim’s technical diving courses. In preparation for our upcoming wreck diving liveaboard in Malaysia, students William & Leona are being put through their paces on the BSAC Extended Range Diver Course (ERD). Lots of shallow skills and drills followed by depth experience dives, getting the guys ready for their deep air deco dives next week!

Ginger has been joining these courses to build up more experience of top end BSAC training courses – in preparation for him to proceed through to BSAC National Instructor. Good luck to Ginger with his NI exams!

After an extended ‘break’ Tim is back to teaching tec here on Koh Tao, Thailand. DJL Diving Intern Leona Goh (Singapore) and William Hudson (USA) are taking BSAC technical diving courses with DJL Diving.

Pictured: Tim guides William & Leona through twin set configuration and shut down drills before taking them on their first shallow water training dives.

Both William and Leona are taking BSAC basic & advanced nitrox, William then continuing on to BSAC extended range diver. Both will be joining liveaboard diving expeditions later this Summer.

If you’re intetrested in technical diving or taking a scuba internship that gets you involved in dive exploration check out the DJL Diving website.