The ISC Megalodon is a Variable Volume, Mixed Gas, Constant PO2, Closed Circuit Rebreather used by Technical and Military divers worldwide.

In short it means that you are diving with the most technically advanced diving system on the planet..

A simple explanation is; Closed Circuit Rebreather’s or CCR’S are underwater breathing systems designed to recycle the exhaled gas back into a breathing loop where the CO2 is removed and Oxygen is added to maintain a constant PO2.

A CCR is basically a Nitrox blender on your back, giving you the perfect blend of Nitrox at any given depth.

CCR’s have the added benefit of diving silent. Without bubbles you don’t scare the fish… giving you the most out of your underwater experience…

Discover Rebreather Diving Includes: 1 Confined and 1 Open Water dive..
Only: 4000 THB
*Try Dives are available to anyone with an Advanced Open Water Certification or higher.
*Open Water divers must have minimum 20 dives to qualify.

Davy Jones Locker Diving is to be the first dive school in Thailand to adopt the new BSAC Sports Mixed Gas, Advanced Mixed Gas and Explorer Mixed Gas courses.

These courses are designed to incorporate helium into the breathing gas in progressive amounts and at progressive depths.

The sports mixed gas diver course will allow the diver to use a minimum of 20% O2 and a maximum of 30% helium content, decreasing the effectiveness of narcosis and CO2 retention normally encountered on air dives to 50 metres.

Tim Lawrence at Davy Jones Locker commented that the new BSAC materials have up to date information on decompression techniques used when diving helium profiles. The helium content on the first course is controlled to avoid problems with isobaric counter diffusion and the depth is limited to 50m to avoid the normal problems encountered in air diving.

At present we intend to give our customers the option after completing the BSAC advanced Nitrox course of completing the existing extended range course using air to 50m or switching to the sports mixed gas diver course to 50m. We believe that using tri mix will always make diving to more than 40m less problematic than diving with air due to the cost of helium and the financial constraints placed on diving professionals which make up the majority of our courses. There is a high chance that our customers will dive to 50m on air, consequently it’s better to teach these divers the dangers of narcosis and CO2 retention to prepare them for this eventuality. We do however fully embrace the BSAC philosophy using mild helium blends to enhance the safety of this type of diving. We feel that by giving our students the opportunity to chose between these two courses is a more realistic approach in our market place at present and intend on giving them the discipline they require to progress into tri mix and become better tri mix divers.

Davy Jones Locker Pricing details for these new BSAC courses are as follows:

Sports Mixed Gas Diver – 25,000 baht, plus gas costs (diver must have complete advanced Nitrox course)

Explorer Mixed Gas Diver – 20,000 baht, plus gas costs

Advanced Mixed Gas Diver – 80m depth required, price depends on dive sites chosen POA

For more information please contact kris@seaexplorersclub.com

The following day however things were about to get a little more testing. Upon arriving at 9 we were told we were going to have to biuld and place two gates for an underwater orienteering course. Definitely something new to get our collective heads around. While Frank was in charge of the design, Frankie and Tim were there to help create and place the gates in the water. As the dimensions had to be 2m by 3m and had to maintain an exact depth of 10m to 13m this was requiring a lot of thought and team work. However Frank came up with a siutable system and after a couple of hours we seemed about ready to get the structure under the water. This was unfortunately where the team came up short, as when placed in the water the lines we were using became entangled and we were unable to properly deploy the two gates. That said a lot had been achieved and more importantly a lot had been learnt.

A couple of days later we were all debriefed individually and I’m very glad to say that all three candidates passed!!. So with one part out of the way we look forward to the theory exam in coming months. Good Luck to everyone and we hope we will see them celebrating a new achievement soon.

So after a couple of days of drumming up divers and preparing the site, we were all ready to go.  Heading out bright and early on the morning boat, the sun was shining and a gentle hum of chatter and preparation on what was a very busy boat.  Arriving at the site, conditions as often are at this time of the year, were great. Little current and good visibility.  Descending to the top of the pinnacle we were greeted by a big school of yellowtail barracudas intermingling with some big trevallies. You might all remember from a previous post when cleaning nets from the pinnacle we were lucky enough to see two whale sharks and once again Chumphon didn’t disappoint.

The normal size for these giant pelagics in this area is usually around 3m, so we were gratefully surprised to see larger specimen of nearly 5m. For a lot of the divers on the boat this was their first sighting and being in a playful frame of mind, they were able to spend nearly the entire dive with this graceful creature. A special moment for anyone present.

Back on the boat we began the ride of about 30 minutes back towards Koh Tao.  The team having done some reconnaisance earlier in the week had marked a number of areas on the reef that needed particular attention.

Heading towards the shot line at the site, it was clear that we had managed to hit slack pretty well and there was very little surface current. But as expected visibility was fairly murky. Good conditions for seeing sharks. Chumphon Pinnacles is known for its shark sitings and that morning it didn’t let us down. As we headed around Barracuda Rock out of the thermocline  at about 25m came a big female bull of about two and a half metres followed by a smaller one of about one and a half . As it was my divers first experience with these impressive predators it was a special moment for them.  We hovered in the same area for about 10 minutes and then swam back towards the main pinnacle all the time the sharks were below us occasionaly moving up to our level of about 18m and then darting back into the murk below. As we surfaced there were woops of joy from Markus and Philip and we still had another dive to go. This was shaping into a really good morning.

After a cup of coffee and a chat on the boat we arrived at our second port of call, White Rock. This a shallower site closer in to Koh Tao, but still known for its abundant marine life, especially stingrays. Visibility was still not perfect but still close to 10m. As it was we had a very enjoyable dive, seeing moray eels, stingrays and of course the resident triggerfish but as we neared our deco stop I heard a constant banging not far away. Signalling my divers to follow me, we went too see what all the fuss was about. Then I saw it heading straight towards me, the mecca for all divers, the whale shark!! It was only a baby, maybe 3m, surrounded by ramoras and shark suckers, but these fish never seem to leave you in anything but a state of awe. Gracefully gliding by and then turning swimming up and over our bubble trail. Even under the water I could see the glee in Markus and Philip’s faces.

As we were getting low on air we had to surface after about 10 minutes, but it had still be an incredible experience to end what had been a brilliant mornings diving. The chatter on the boat as we headed home was non-stop. So to Markus and Philip wherever you are, I hope you enjoyed a great days diving and come back and see us again soon.

Now of course we could get on with the good stuff, in the water. Within the programme we hd to complete a number of different dives, dealing with many different skills. Starting slowly with a check up dive it was clear that John had done a lot of diving. He was of course enjoying the fact he didn’t have to wear a dry suit and 14kg of weight for once!!. So it made for a nice change in conditions for him.

As we progressed through the training dives he seemed to take each one in his stride and was constantly looking for new challenges within the course. One dive in particular stands out, when he navigated us from no-name to twins (2 different dive sites) in current and in no more than 2m visibilty. No mean achievement. The more we dived together the more we enjoyed it and a real diving friendship between the two of us developed.

Towards the end of the training, we headed onto the dry practical lessons and with this experience and by this stage, knowledge of our shop and boat, had a great time running things and working with the other members of the club and boat crew. When his time finally came to an end, it was of course sad to see him go. However its always pleasing to see another happy and enthusiastic diver head on to pastures new, with hopefully some good memories to go with him. So good luck John and we will be diving together in Scotland in the near future, can’t wait!!!

Wolf Wolvekamp, NATO Scuba Diving Club Brunssum, The Netherlands

Finally Koh Tao!  After a week  I was back on the “Turtle Island”.  This time not alone but joined by my wife Sylvia (not diving) and daughter (Iris) , finalising her Dive Leader training.  I clearly remember my previous stay. SE Asia explorers club was based at DJL which was still in Mae Haad.  A tiny shop, two instructors (Les and Tim).  I found the SE Asia Explorers club on the internet when I was looking for a BSAC centre with an Advanced Instructor.  I wanted to finalise my Advanced Diver course and the required AI are very scarce in the Netherlands.  This time was great.  Les went through the theory and he did part of the practical lessons.  Together with Tim I did the Expedition planning which we executed the next day.  We dived on a just discoverd wreck ‘The Unicorn at 48m and that experience was the reason for my return this year.

But many things had changed.  Mae Haad had become Sairee Beach.  The tiny shop had become a well developed dive centre, teaching almost all BSAC courses.  Two staff had become a pool of instructors involving single courses and internships; what a surprise. Not that I really needed BSAC instructors because in the past year I became an instructor myself and only recently passed the Advanced Instructor exam, so signing off Iris certification book could be done myself. I did enjoy their knowledge, expertise, equipment and boats. Especially the comradeship and the help of the instructor team was great.

Just a few more days before we need to move on, but I am sure that it will not be three more years before we return. When I return I may do some more technical diving where I again will need their teaching support. Looking forward to the future here at SE Asia Explorers Club.

Whale shark at Chumphon

A team of divers from the SE Asia Explorers club yesterday removed a fishing net which had been covering a large portion of one of the main dive sites on Koh Tao, Chumphon Pinnacles.  Unfortunately in the surrounding area there is a lot of fishing and sometimes the inevitable happens and one is caught on these underwater sea mounts.  Having previously dived Chumphon the day before the team had already seen the destruction left by the net on the reef and decided that it needed to be removed.

The team met the following day to discuss the best way to remove it safely. The net was attached along a wall section of the pinnacle from a depth of 25m up to 14m and obviously there was a risk of divers becoming entangled.  As a result it was decided to attach a number of lift bags along the bottom of the net and then gradually peel it from the reef all the time keeping the divers below the net and out of harms way.

We headed out in the late afternoon so as to be the only boat there. Conditions  were a little choppy but otherwise pretty good. As we descended there was a little current but soon we were in the lee of the pinnacle and began attaching the lift bags to the bottom of the net.  Naturally the team were concentrating on the job in hand but as we came towards the top one of the team spotted a large whale shark passing behind clearly checking we were doing the job correctly.  We finished removing the net and began to head back to the line, but as we did so out of the blue came another whale shark! This time it was a baby of only about 3-4m, and as we hovered there it continued to swim around and over the team.  This was a wonderful encounter especially as we were the only divers in the water. We reached the surface and found the net and lift bags and then dragged it to the RIB.  The trip home was a little bumpy but after such a successful afternoon, no-one really minded.

She sits upright in 53m of water and can be dived amidships comfortably at 48m.  The top of her superstructure at the stern is at around 42m and is around 70m long.  This wreck is around 17 nautical miles from Koh Tao and is easily accessible.