Posts tagged ‘koh tao’

DJL explores the Phangan

By djl_team, 18 March, 2011, No Comment

Having obtained marks from a local Thai Captain, DJL’s Technical team and the Trident set out to discover what was in the position. When they reached the area they had a big return on the sonar and dropped the shot-line on the mark. Jamie went down to tie-in to the wreck, followed by Tim and Gary. As we passed Jamie on the mast he gave a sign to indicate that the ship was big. The team originally thought the wreck to be a World War Two Maru, however on the first dive Tim took the compass off the bridge in order to try to identify the wreck. When the compass was cleaned up, Thai script was found indicating that the ship was in fact a Thai vessel.

On subsequent dives on the wreck the team cleaned up letters on the Stern and took it in turns to write the Thai letters on a slate. This was presented to the Captain of the Trident who translated it and confirmed that the wreck was the Phangan.

The wreck lies approximately 60 nautical miles from Koh Tao, on her Port side in 60 metres of clear water. The top of the wreck is a 48 metres, approximately 60 metres in length, with a 10 metre beam, approximately 3000 GRT. She has twin screws and when we located her had a lot of port holes and telegraphs which have since been removed.

Located relatively close to Koh Tao, with good visibility, she is a beautiful wreck for technical diving, with lots of overhead environment possibilities.

The Bangkok Post told us she was a Royal Thai Navy wreck, built in Japan before WW2. Carrying ammunition and gunpowder for disposal, she reportedly sunk in a storm. There was no loss of life.

According to the captain’s report, a large wave hit the ship and the cargo (ammunition and gunpowder for disposal at sea) broke loose and rolled to the port side. She was then listing heavily to port and taking waves over the side. The water swamped the engines and the pumps also failed.

On the first few dives the team found that the metal on the stern was blown and very easy to cut into. This would indicate that the metal had been heated and cooled very quickly. This raises the possibility of a fire in the area just before she sank. This fact appears to have been overlooked in the Captain’s original report.

Check out our video and see the wreck for yourselves…

DJL Tech Divers explore the HTMS Phangnan

New line on Unicorn wreck

By djl_team, 23 February, 2011, No Comment

With the increasing number of technical divers around Koh Tao the need to maintain a permanent line on the Unicorn shipwreck has arisen. We at Davy Jones’ Locker usually like to shot and tie-in each time we visit the Unicorn as it teaches the student these valuable skills. However the changing face of technical diving has meant that there are higher volumes of beginner tech divers with a need to hold up their profiles to 40 and 45 metres respectively. To facilitate this, making it easier for all the instructors to run the shallower courses on the Unicorn, a permanent line was placed on it by Kris, a technical diving instructor from Davy Jones’ Locker, a few weeks ago. The permanent line was run from 3 metres under the surface to the top of the mast and from there to the bow of the ship. This enables the instructor to maintain a shallower profile with his students which is necessary because often when you shot the Unicorn wreck the line ends up at 48 metres and has to be lifted in to the top of the wreck so that it can be tied-in. This has meant that the instructor has had to run a decompression profile for a deeper dive.

Unfortunately, fishermen have not always been pleased with such arrangements and they frequently cut the buoys of the mooring lines that we set up. So when the last line was cut, a team of experienced tech divers, Tim Lawrence and Kris Harrison, returned to re-set the permanent line from 3 metres under the surface to the top of the mast and then to the bow. This task was complicated due to poor visibility around full moon which was approximately 1 metre. Despite this we shot the wreck, then lifted the shot-line in to the shallower part and tied in to the forward mast. Then we located the original mooring line and ran out the bow line to the bow. Following this, we set a permanent distance-line along the length of the wreck at 45 metres. We returned to the mast and untied the shot-line which had already been prepped with a lift bag for recovery. We ascended the shot, straightening out the original mooring line which was still secured to the mast. Completing our decompression profile and gas switches we refixed a permanent buoy to this line at 3 metres. Finally, we entered the boat, recovered our shot and returned to Koh Tao. Completing this task should make it easier for shallower tech courses to be run in the future – until the next fisherman cuts it. While completing this exercise, we also cut some of the ancillary lines which strewn the unicorn wreck, waiting to entangle unwary divers. This task is constantly required on the Unicorn because local fishermen are constantly snagging it with lines. The job is made easier when all the schools join in, helping to make the wreck safer to dive. Davy Jones’ Locker Technical Dive Team.

Kris Harrison

Shot-line tied in to the mast with the original mooring line run through it

Tim Lawrence

Team of divers from SE Asia Explorers club remove nets from dive site and had the pleasure of seeing 2 whale sharks

By frankie, 13 December, 2009, No Comment

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.

The Torpedo

By frankie, 7 December, 2009, No Comment

The ship got its name from the look of its cargo. The Thai fishtrap fishermen that originally found her saw the teak logs in her hold and believed them to be torpedos. She is a cargo vessel of around 1000 tonnes and is believed to have sunk due to her being overloaded, reducing her freeboard allowing her to swamp with water.

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.

The Unicorn

By frankie, 7 December, 2009, No Comment

This wreck is also known as the Dog Food wreck. She is believed to be an insurance scam and was lost in the 70’s. A local eye witness report stated that as she pulled offshore the conditions were flat and calm. Then over a period of hours she slowly sank. An insurance scam was suspected and when the salvage diver from Mermaid Marine dived her to check on the cargo the tuna fish she was caryying in her manifest turned out to be inexpensive dog food.

She sits upright in 48m of water listing slightly to the port. The top of the bridge is at 42m with amidships in around 45m. The port handrail sits below the silt at 48m and the starboard slightly shallower at 45m, whilst the top of the bow is at 42m. Penetration on the wreck is not advised as the silt has built up inside and the areas are small. Although on the outside there is a abundance of soft coral growth making her a very picturesque wreck. The large superstructure at the stern with two holds is also teeming with fish life. This and her proximity to Koh Tao makes her a perfect dive site for tech diver training.

SEA Explorers Club