Technical Diving in Thailand and Koh Tao

Renowned technical diving instructor trainer joins with Big Blue Tech

Koh Tao, Thailand

Big Blue Tech welcomes Ben Reymenants to the team as our in house instructor trainer for instructor level technical programs. Ben is an instructor trainer with TDI (Technical Diving International) and SSI TXR (Scuba Schools International Technical Extended Range).

Ben has a long history in technical diving along with holding the deepest dive at one point with a dive to 202.5m in the Blue Hole in Dahab, which at that time was a world record. Ben is also a training director with TDI and contributes to course development and has contributing author signature on most of the TDI manuals we see today.

He’s best known for being the dive medic and chamber operator in Phuket, if you were in such an unfortunate situation to meet him you will find him to be professional, respectful and a great guy to have a beer with.

Most recently Ben was in the media or reaching a depth of 240m inside Sra Keow Cave in Krabi, Thailand, making it one of the deepest cave dives in history. With those achievements Ben is also in the final stages of introducing technical diving to the Maldives.

While Ben’s activities keep him traveling around the world he is based in Thailand and we’re happy to have a diver and instructor of his caliber join our already stellar team.

Big Blue Tech will be releasing instructor level programs as of next month.

High mixes of oxygen used to cheat decompression in Thailand

Koh Tao, Thailand

Big Blue Tech celebrates the graduation of Thomas Lanik from his TDI Advanced Nitrox course which concluded over 4 dives and 3 days on Koh Tao Island in Thailand.

The Advanced Nitrox Course teaches the student the skills required to use high mixes of oxygen combined with technical diving equipment to avoid decompression and extend their diving limits for much longer no-decompression dives.

Thomas learned how to handle the high mixes of oxygen and the proper procedures for switching to gas at depth and handling stage cylinders at depth. Thomas also learned about gas management, advanced dive planning and task loading associated with complex technical dives.

Thomas will remain with Big Blue Tech and continue to gain experience in preparation for his Decompression Procedures course in the future. He’s already signed up to our wreck trip on Friday to give him exposure to the benefits of technical diving.

Recreational divers receive their TDI Intro to Tech Course in Thailand

Koh Tao, Thailand

Big Blue Tech celebrates the completion of the TDI Intro to Tech Course for Todd Massel, Christian Ruckl, Martin Edvardsson and Jennifer Cronin who received their certification after completing 4 dives over 2 days on Koh Tao, Thailand through Big Blue Diving Resort.

The TDI Intro to Tech Course is the entry level technical diving certification which gives the student the ability to wear a twin set with isolator manifold to their own recreational depth limit. This gives the diver the freedom and comfort of technical diving equipment with the investment of money or time in a full tech course allowing them to progress through the modular system of TDI in their own time.

Additionally this allows the students to rent a set of tech gear and continue learning at any location around the world.

The skills covered in this course include advanced propulsion techniques including the infamous backwards frog kick, gas management, isolating problems and using redundancy along with trim and control in technical gear.

The students return to the realm of recreational diving, we’re confident they’ll return soon for the next challenge.

Divers discover closed circuit rebreather diving in Thailand

Koh Tao, Thailand

Big Blue Tech took interested and curious divers into the shallow confines of a swimming pool on a discover rebreather dive. The discover rebreather dive conducted by Innerspace Megaladon Instructor Ben Reymenants showed the students the function, benefits and assembly of the rebreather followed by a dive in the swimming pool where they could experience the radical difference in buoyancy and silence associated with the complete absence of bubbles.

One diver, a Instructor, called Halvard said “It’s completed opposite to what we have experienced, i breathe out and i go up, then i breathe in and go down, very weird”. Despite the experience being referred to as weird it was also a first for many divers and an experience that peaked a lot of interest in the future of diving.

The CCR Megalodon Rebreather is delivered in two versions, either a computer controlled Closed Circuit Rebreather (e-CCR) or a mechanically or manually controlled Closed Circuit Rebreather (m-CCR) with a 2.5 kilo Carbon Dioxide (Co2) axial absorbent canister that filters the Co2 out of the breathing gas circulating inside the breathing loop.

In the electronic controlled APECS version an computer controls and changes the oxygen partial pressure (Po2) in the breathing gas circulating inside the breathing loop to the demand and input of the diver. In the mechanic or manual controlled COPIS version the diver is reading the Po2 in the loop via a Po2 readout and injects manually the oxygen needed to maintain the desired Po2 into the Rebreather.

The Megalodon CCR can be used as a nitrox unit, normoxic trimix unit and is trimix capable to a depth of more than 500 feet / 150 meters. The CCR Megalodon Rebreather is currently used for a wide range of diving applications such as recreational diving, cave diving, wreck diving or technical diving.

Diving Rebreathers can result in serious injury if not done correctly. Proper training and protocol is required to prevent hypercapnia, hypoxia and hyperoxia. Training and purchase of a Megalodon CCR is available with Ben Reymenats through Big Blue Tech.

Recreational sport divers try technical diving in Thailand.

Koh Tao, Thailand

Over the weekend, Technical Diving Instructor Andy Cavell took out two eager recreational sport divers for a try tech dive. This dive takes a diver with no technical diving experience into the ocean and shows them the thrill and excitement of diving in technical diving equipment, the skills involved and the challenges of different buoyancy and trim.

After 2 dives in technical diving gear the students progressed onto a deep diver specialty which taught them how to dive to a depth of 40m. During this course Andy took the students on our wreck the “Big Blue Wreck” for a full day trip of 3 deep, wreck dives over the period of the entire day.

Congrats Todd and Joakim, we’ll see Todd again for his TDI Intro to Tech course in a few days.

Scuba Schools International (SSI) technical program TechXR celebrates the graduation of technical diving instructors and divers in Thailand

Koh Tao, Thailand

Big Blue Tech celebrates the successful graduation of our own staff Yvonne Fries and Helen Artal from their SSI (Scuba Schools International) TechXR (Technical Extended Range) Instructor course. Yvonne was awarded the Advanced Nitrox and Technical Foundations Instructor level and Helen was awarded the same as Yvonne but continued on to Decompression Procedures.

Big Blue Tech has been hosting this event for over a week that saw Ben Reymenants, SSI TXR Instructor Trainer, issue 4 instructor level certifications and 2 diver level certifications. The course visited the best sites we have to offer including a full day trip to sail rock, multiple trips to Chumphon Pinnacle and a full day trip to our “Big Blue Wreck” which is a sunken ferry found earlier this month.

SSI TXR programs take strength from their materials which are very attractive and comprehensive. The student study pack includes an interactive CD which allows the student to manipulate technical diving equipment with the click of the mouse and seeing how the air flows in a manifold twin set system. In addition to the multimedia the materials are new and current allowing the best the industry has to offer with respect to valid teaching methods and theories.

Moe details about the courses we’ll be offering will be released on April 1st on our website.

Koh Tao Shipwreck plays host to final training dives of a technical course.

Koh Tao, Thailand

Big Blue Tech celebrates the completion of a TDI Advanced Nitrox course of Miguel Hilario who joined us for his course from the Philippines. Over the 3 day, 4 dive course Miguel was taught about the benefits of high concentrations of oxygen, advanced gas planning and technical diving equipment.

Miguel who began the dark side of diving with side mount cave diving in the 90’s finally too the plunge and received a respected certification. Miguel was looking specifically for a TDI certification and found Big Blue Tech would provide him with all the comforts of a traditional holiday along with great diving including a trip on one of our locals wrecks.

Miguel excelled at all the skills allowing more time for diving and practice with the majority of the course consisting of free time to dive and use the high mix of oxygen to extend his no decompression limits.

Technical diver training completed in the Gulf of Thailand

Koh Tao, Thailand -

Big Blue Tech celebrates the graduation of Magnus Baer form a TDI Extended Range course after completing his final 4 training dives on our wreck the “Big Blue Wreck” which is a sunken ferry discovered earlier this month.

Over the last 4 training dives we cleaned up the wreck removing obstacles and fishing nets to make it more attractive and safer for divers to penetrate and enjoy in the future. Not only were the tasks challenging it was also a great chance for Magnus to experience working underwater and keeping track of his environment and responsibility as the dive progressed.

The TDI Extended Range course is the pinnacle of deep air diving where the technical diver learns to explore to a depth of 55m using mixes of oxygen to handle the decompression stops.

Certain areas of the world provide spectacular dives at depths deeper than 39m/130 feet but you will not have access (or very limited access) to helium. The TDI Extended Range course teaches you the proper techniques for utilizing compressed air as a breathing gas and with a maximum depth of 55m/180 feet you won’t have to miss those dives. The Extended Range course will cover topics and skills such as

• Equipment requirements and configuration
• Decompression options
• Use of surface marker buoys
• Buddy rescue
• Narcosis checks and management

Although this is the end of the course it’s not the end of his diving and will continue to join us on trips and expeditions in the future to gain valuable experience as a certified technical diver which is essential after certification.

Scuba Schools International (SSI) Technical Extended Range (TXR) prgrams come to Thailand

Koh Tao, Thailand -

Big Blue Tech will be hosting a SSI TechXR instructor and diver course starting on Monday the 15th of March until the 23rd of March.

This event will be conducted by SSI TechXR Instructor Trainer Ben Reymenants who is best known for his work for the chamber works in Thailand, developing technical diving in Maldives and holding world records for different diving activities from depth to environments including caves.

During this event Ben will be training Helen Artal (Big Blue Tech) Yvonne Fries (Big Blue Tech)  and Mikko Paasi (Koh Tao Divers) to become SSI TechXR Instructors. The instructor training portion is combined with the SSI TechXR diver level course for 2 students from various backgrounds.

SSI’s TechXR is a well founded Technical Diving program and it was created to take the recreational diver to an extreme level for their diving adventures.  Whether you are looking for the excitement of deep reef diving or the thrill of exploring wrecks located well past 40m (130 feet), SSI TechXR is a way to learn the training and experience necessary for you to complete every new adventure with confidence and skill.

Whatever your current diving ability, extended range diving will challenge you with environments, depths, bottom times, procedures, and equipment not commonly encountered by recreational divers. You will be experiencing advanced levels that require extensive knowledge, enhanced diving skills, and considerable experience.

SSI has developed these specific learning tools: a manual, interactive CD-ROM, Technical DiveLog and Technical Dive Slates. In addition, you rinstructor may also require you to have a personal copy of an advanced dive planning software program.  The courses available for you to take are: Advanced Nitrox, Technical Foundations, Decompression Procedures, Normoxic Trimix, and Advanced Decompression Procedures. You can take each of these courses individually or all at once.

You will develop confidence and comfort with these new skills through repetition and supervised experiences. Training will be designed to match your goals and objectives. SSI′s signature training method′s the “SSI Diver Diamond “and “Comfort Through Repetition” have been applied to keep the programs consistent and provide the same high quality education as other SSI products.

Big Blue Tech will be publishing updates and news as the course progess and plans to release SSI TechXR Programs to the general public at the end of the month.

Technical divers and deep divers descend of famous dive site.

Koh Tao, Thailand

Today, in combination with the graduation of a TDI Decompressions Procedures course was the graduation of 12 dive master candidates who completed their Deep Diver and Nitrox Diver course with Big Blue Tech Instructors Thomas Hallstrom and Andy Cavell.

Over the 3 dives on the full day trip the students were exposed to 40m and the use of nitrox for the first time. This training is required for anyone wishing to join us on wreck diving trips coming next week.

While Andy and Thomas were in technical diving gear for safety the students, being recreational dive master interns, were in a single cylinder.

The course was combined with several different agencies which was based on the students preference.

On top of the 3 great dives it was also Martin birthday which he spent celebrating at the front of the boat from seasickness. I’m sure he’ll have a repeat performance tonight for his birthday party.

Big Blue Tech are one of the few schools who frequently conduct full day trips and this was the first one of the season after a pause from strong winds. Although the conditions at sail rock weren’t ideal it was different with soft and hard coral not seen on koh tao and an abundance of marine life not seen elsewhere.

In other news Technical Diver Nick was being lead by Technical Divemaster Ash Dunn around the site gaining more experience and continuing his fun diving with us after a day off wreck diving.

Technical divers progress to decompression diving techniques.

Koh Tao, Thailand
Big Blue Tech celebrates the graduation of Magnus Baer from the TDI Decompression Procedures course conducted over 3 days and 4 dives. This course continues from the TDI Advanced Nitrox course and trains the diver on the skills, procedures and methods for mixed gas decompression using enriched air nitrox to accelerate the natural process of decompression.

As sport divers planned decompression is not something that we do or have been taught. The TDI Decompression Procedures course prepares you for planned staged decompression diving. With a maximum operating depth of 45m/150 feet, this course is your first step beyond the normal sport diving limits. Your TDI Instructor will provide you with valuable information and skills, among the topics covered are

• Kit set-up
• Equipment requirements
• Decompression techniques
• Decompression breathing gases
• Gas management
• Contingency planning

The TDI Decompressions Procedures course combined with the TDI Advanced Nitrox course form the foundation of all other technical courses.  After these two courses and some additional experience, the stage has been set for you to move onto additional technical levels. Some of the materials you will be using include the TDI Divers Guide to Decompression Procedures, US Navy or Buhlmann Air Decompression Tables (made of vinyl for easy in-water use and storage)

Over the 4 dives Magnus was exposed to different conditions including overhead, current, large swells, chimney formations which all concluded on a full day trip to Sail Rock, a local favourite dive site.

After a few days off Magnus will continue to his TDI Extended Range course which will take him to 55m.

Recreational divers take a try dive in technical gear.

Koh Tao, Thailand

Big Blue Tech hosted a technical “try dive” this afternoon for some of our eager divemaster interns. BSAC Extended Range Instructor Andy Cavell conducted the afternoon which included ocean dives in the gear.

While many might of seen this already in a swimming pool at your local dive shows we thought it would be better to invest the time and energy to take the divers into the environment they would be diving in. Some skills include buoyancy and trim which would only be really experienced in their familiar surroundings of salt water.

Typically a try tech dive includes basic safety skills of equipment setup, self rescue, out of air and isolating problems. After the first skills the interns had the longest (albeit shallowest) dive every with some diving over 1 hour in some of our secluded bays.

Assisting Andy was BSAC Instructor and Technical Divemaster Ash Dunn and Technical Divemaster Thomas Halstrom who were all out for the afternoon with the 4 interns who were Johan, Tom, Martin and Jennifer.