IANTD Trimix Diver -upgrade-

Instructors	Dave Ross (academics+skills) Sam Collett (training dives)
Dive center	Tech Asia, Small La Laguna, Puerto Galera, Mindoro, Philippines
Duration	4 days
Dives	1 confined water session 3 trimix dives to max 80m
Price	300 USD + about 240 USD for Helium (incl. the instructor's)
Requirements	IANTD
Comments	Having done the normoxic trimix course only a few weeks ago with the same instructor team, this course was just an upgrade to full trimix. In order to go yet a little deeper, there are some new skills to master and some additional risks to consider. The main one being the fact that the bottom mix is now hypoxic at the surface and shallow depths. Actual bottom time gets even shorter and decompression time longer (e.g. about four times the bottom time for medium deep dives). As more Helium is needed in the mix in order to keep a clear head, the price tag per dive goes up accordingly too. Dave and Sam are great dive professionals who take their job seriously and do it thoroughly, gladly sharing their knowledge and experience - they're truly an example to follow. Remark that the full trimix course would normally take longer, require more dives and cost more.

TDI Advanced Wreck Diver

Instructor	John Bennett
Assistant	Mark Cox
Buddy	Steve Bates
Dive center	MasterDive (used as a base only), Subic Bay, Mindoro, Philippines John Bennett and Mark Cox run the Tech Dive Academy in Port Douglas, Australia
Duration	5 days
Dives	1 confined water session 8 wreck dives on air or nitrox
Price	750 USD
Requirements	TDI
Comments	More than just an introduction to overhead environment diving. The skills are very much the same as for cave diving, but the environment and its hazards pose different challenges. Again, buoyancy control is crucial to perform the line laying, following and retrieval skills, through narrow to tight horizontal, vertical or inclined restrictions. Propulsion technique is very important to avoid silting up. And of course one has to be very aware of one's air reserves. Contrary to cave diving, we were never totally gone from daylight sources, except for a short shaft penetration. Gear configuration is very much an issue here, as anything dangling or sticking out could be a potential entanglement hazard. And believe me, things do get tight in there, I've never felt so big before. Though the skills must be mastered, they're relatively easy to learn. The main challenge really is mental. To remain in control when things don't quite go as expected. With six divers (one instructor, one assistant and four students) we got to practice no viz exits a lot. With that many divers working their way through narrow corridors, silting up is almost inevitable. Bubbles cause falldown, holding on to a coral encrusted corroded beam causes clouds of rust particles to swirl around, just looking at something intensively might cause it to crumble. In these no viz situations, the guideline truly becomes a lifeline. My hands must have a hundred small cuts from feeling my way around and my fingertips are pretty much worn off. The equipment seriously gets roughed up too from all the bumping and scraping. My corrugated inflator hose didn't last very long before being punctured. My wetsuit still bears rust colored marks on the thighs, from when I clammed myself in doorways. And my fins have several new scars. The visibility outside the wrecks varied from around 3-5m to an amazing 8m the last day. A pitty really because one can not get a sense of the size of these great wrecks. Nor that some of them are actually battleships. Visibility inside the wrecks was usually better than outside - that is, untill we messed up everything. John Bennett, current world record holder of deep scuba diving on mixed gas (308m!), is a sympathetic man, who knows what he's doing. He's a good instructor, but being four students was a bit too much to my taste. We did get a lot of training dives, but not as much actual line laying/retrieval practice as necessary in my opinion. Especially if you've never done this before. The course itself wasn't somehow as structured as the cave course I did in Mexico. There wasn't e.g. as clear a progression in skill difficulty or general understanding. There's no exam by the way. We only used MasterDive as a base, it being located conveniently close to the wrecks. Having our own equpment all they provided was doubles with air or nitrox. The doubles were in a rather sorry condition and they didn't have enough of them. They've got no gear storage space to speak of nor adequate rinsing facilities. But what can you expect from a dive center squeezed in a cargo container. I can't honestly recommend them. They're not very well organised and the way the local shop assistants mistreated our precious life-support equipment was beyond stupid carelessness. I've actually never seen anything like it. I couldn't have subjected myself nor my gear to their care a day longer then required. My doubles were bubbling from the right tank valve in a rather noisy way (loosing 40bar overnight), but all one of the guys in charge could say was: "He'll survive". A pity really for I would have liked to do some non-training wreck dives after the course.
Training wrecks	El Capitan: Large freighter about 80m long lying on its port side between 6 and 21m. A nice wreck where we did our initial line laying, following and retrieval skills.
	USS New York: WWI battle cruiser about 100m long, sunk in 1941, lying between 18 and 21m. Ideal for wreck penetration training. Some passages have barely recognisable permanent line.
	LST: Land Support Transport vessel lying upright in 36m deep water. Allowing multi-cabin penetration, after getting through a short but narrow stairwell. We used a deco stage here, left outside the wreck during the actual penetration.

IANTD Normoxic Trimix Diver

Instructors	Dave Ross (academics) Sam Collett (skills + training dives)
Dive center	Tech Asia, Small La Laguna, Puerto Galera, Mindoro, Philippines
Duration	5-7 days
Dives	2 confined water sessions 2 training dives on air or nitrox 3-4 trimix dives to max 60m
Price	675 USD + about 180 USD for Helium (incl. the instructor's)
Requirements	IANTD
Comments	I might not be diving like a duck yet, but I sure can talk like one now. It took me a couple of dives to get used to diving with twin 12l tanks and two 5.5l deco-gas stages, while having to demonstrate all kinds of skills: total buoyancy control being the crucial one. But by the end of the course I kind of got most of it under control. A great course indeed, where I gained a lot of insight in decompression theory, thanks to Dave's ability to explain complex theoretical models in a very clear and simple way. Sam then put all the theory in practice, showing me how to safely plan and execute deeper dives. His very detailed de-breefings always to the point and crucial in improving my performances. Thanks to his good advice, I have indeed become a safer and more knowledgeable diver. I haven't been deep enough to notice that trimix breaths easier at depth than air, but then, I barely have any reference to compare with. Deep air diving definitely isn't my thing. Even with trimix I could still feel some narcosis, mainly because of the task loading I guess, and maybe also CO2 build-up, everything being new and me still having to actually think a lot instead of just doing it.

TDI Semi-Closed-Circuit Rebreather Diver

Instructor	Wessam El Sebai (academics, set-up, skills + training dives)
Dive center	Diver's Lodge, Hurghada, Egypt
Duration	2-3 days
Dives	4 training dives with a Dräger Dolphin
Price	350 USD
Requirements	TDI
Comments	It's fairly easy and straight-forward to put a Dräger Dolphin semi-closed-circuit rebreather together, but it does require attention to detail during assembly and safety checks. And compared to clamp-screw-plug open-circuit scuba, it is indeed a lot of hassle. However, it might be well worth the extra effort in order to get that little bit closer to marine life, when not blowing out those rather noisy bubbles. In my case, rebreather diving turned out to be much easier than anticipated. I had no buoyancy problems whatsoever and plenty of air even when finning hard over short distances. Actually, the only annoyance I had was too much saliva, the recycled air being pretty moist. I could definitely get used to diving with a rebreather. And I'm looking forward to the day I can try it out in a school of elusive hammerheads...

TDI Decompression Procedures

Instructor	Wessam El Sebai (academics, skills + training dives)
Dive center	Diver's Lodge, Hurghada, Egypt
Duration	3-4 days
Dives	2 confined water sessions 2 training dives on air to max 45m with 50% nitrox as deco gas
Price	270 USD
Requirements	TDI
Comments	More than just some theory about decompression, the course also includes underwater skill sessions with doubles, emphasis being put on the handling of 1 or 2 deco bottles and the deploying of an SMB. For the latter, I can really recommend the use of a spool in stead of a jam-prone reel. With actual bottom times of less than 15' during the decompression training dives, my focus was pretty much fixed on my computer most of the time in order to accurately follow the planning. Sight-seeing being reduced to the occasional glimpse around to make sure my buddy's still ok.

PADI Dry Suit Diver

Instructor	Patrick Magiera
Dive center	Aqua Sport, Copenhagen, Denmark
Duration	1-2 days
Dives	3 shallow training dives in 2°C seawater
Price	about 95 USD (theory, equipment, transport, dives, certification)