In between dives

Getting back on board with 4 tanks requires quite an effort actually, but the deckhands are there and quickly help me unload the stages. After which I just sit down and take a couple of deep fresh air breaths before slowly taking off the rest of my gear. My body's still off-gassing. No sense in shaking up more bubbles.


A quick rinse to wash off the salt crystals, a rehydrating cup of water & some food: English breakfast or Thai style lunch. Bring it on! After that, it's truly time for a post dive rest... On the shaded upper deck, watching the sea rolling by, I doze off into yet another world.

Trimix dive

Jamie's found the HTMS Pangan's officers mess and is planning a treasure hunt together with Stewart. Michael's spotted some brass port-holes ready to be hammered out of the wreck's rusted steel hull. My plan is to get further acquainted with the wreck and shoot some pictures of the encounter. The sea's almost as flat as a mirror, reflecting the few clouds in the sky. With a bit of luck the viz won't be too bad. While the crew keeps diving on free air, I decide to go on expensive trimix. After two days of diving on air I'm still getting pretty narced. And while I do think it's a great 'Shadow Divers'-like experience, I would like to remember a bit more of my dives.

Batteries recharged and the camera carefully replaced in its waterproof housing, I'm ready to get seriously wet once again. But first I need to analyse the gas in all my tanks, a precaution not to be neglected without potentially fatal consequences. Satisfied with the oxygen percentage readings, I then suit up and strap on all my gear.

↓ 5m. My trimix being hypoxic, I breathe nitrox for the swim to the down line and for the initial descent, only switching to my trimix back gas around 5m where it's safe enough. Nitrox regulator stowed away, I wet my camera's wide-angle lens, pressurize my oxygen tank's 1st stage and check all my instruments: depth & pressure gauges, dive watch & computer. 10m. Lots of things to think about & do when beginning the dive. 15m. 20m. All the while sinking deeper and deeper, equalizing regularly and monitoring my breathing, as there's a bit of mid-water current and I actually need to pull myself down along the line. 25m. 30m.


↓ 35m. The wreck's already clearly visible, at least for my twilight adjusted eyes, parts of its structure sticking out mysteriously from the silt cloud enveloping it. 40m. Jacks are circling around and around on top of the wreck. 45m. I inflate my wings to brake my descent.


↓ 50m. There's no current on the wreck. Cool. I take my bearings, unhook my camera and head off. Thanks to the trimix, there's only a hint of narcosis - and that probably only because of the task loading. So my head is remarkably clear compared to my previous air dives. And the viz is good enough that I don't need to use a reel. Unleashed, I'm free to wander about at will. Having planned for a max-depth of 60m, there's no risk of me dropping too deep, unless I start digging. Still, I constantly monitor my depth, time & gas consumption.


↓ 55m. The wreck's covered in silt, clams and fishing nets. It's pretty hard to recognize any detail from or object belonging to the old ship. There're plenty of swim-throughs and drop-ins, and this time I do venture inside, keeping in mind that entanglement is a real hazard here.


Every now and then I stop and try to take a couple of pictures. The ambient light however is barely enough for snapshot photography and lots of the shots come out blurry, but some are acceptable and will do as souvenirs.

Soon I've almost used half of my back gas. Time to find the ascent line again.

Having a fixed line of ascent is really a great advantage not to be underestimated. The alternative, a blue ascent with SMB deployment is always a risky business. Currents might take you for quite a ride, requiring patrolling chase boats with an alert crew on the look-out for your SMB. Especially in heavy seas. SMB deployment is an art in itself. If something goes wrong (read: your reel jams) you might end up being jerked up by the buoy accelerating towards the surface. Thereby potentially breaking one or more deco ceilings.

↑ No worries here however as I slowly, hand over hand, climb up the anchor line. Switching to my deco gas as soon as I can. As the current grows stronger in mid-water, all I have to do is release my tight grip just a bit in order to be pushed up along the line like an elevator to my next stop. Cool, but tiresome. Each time I move up I also release some gas from my wings to remain neutral. I try to focus on one stop at a time, not thinking about the total remaining time to surface. Keeping an eye on both my timers. Minute by minute. Staring into the blue. Down the line disappearing into nothing. Watching plankton drift by. A sea snake undulating its way down again after having taken a fresh gulp of air. Changing my grip to avoid tension build up. Watching rising & expanding bubbles from divers somewhere down below.


↑ As my 9m stop comes to an end, I turn around and let the current push me towards the deco rig, making sure I maintain a level depth. With more than half an hour on pure oxygen, it's good to have it surface supplied. Though I do carry an oxygen tank, it's only meant to be used in case of an emergency (read: blue ascent). Surface supplied does mean somebody up there must keep an eye on the supply! With up to four divers decompressing at the same time, even big surface tanks do get sucked empty, in which case a fast switch to a new tank is required. Pure oxygen is strong stuff, so after about 20 minutes I temporarily switch to a lower oxygen percentage for a so called air-break. A couple of squids are hovering nearby. Distracting me from the endless wait.


After almost 90 minutes of decompression, I finally resurface, with a camera full of snapshots. Jamie & Stewart come up with a bag full of china. Michael loaded with a heavy brass port-hole. Mission accomplished. As you can, I hope, tell from the pictures.

Letting go

After the last dive on the wreck, Michael goes down to untie the anchor line & release the M/V Trident. As the thinner drop line was pulled up already previously, he can't use it to come up. In stead, he inflates & lets go of his SMB, so the surface crew can keep track of him during his blue ascent, should he be drifting away with the current.

The M/V Trident by the way has a chase boat at the ready during dives, should the need arise. And a drift line of course trails behind the ship in case a surfacing diver misses the ladder after decompressing.

More wrecks

After the HTMS Pangan, Jamie decides to investigate one of his little book's unknown marks located in the vicinity. On site, the sonar signature promises something big. Local fishermen say it's only a small wooden wreck. Guess who's right.

Too tired from the previous days multiple deep air dives to risk going down for nothing, I decide to wait and see what Stewart, down doing the tie-off, will have to tell. As it turns out the visibility is excellent, the whole wreck visible from 30m, but it isn't too interesting, just an old wooden fishing boat covered in nets. At least at first sight.

However, we're not staying around for a more in-depth exploration, moving in stead towards another nearby wreck, still unidentified, nicknamed Big Boy.

Big Boy rests in peace entirely below 55m, too deep for my camera. Not that it matters, the viz is so bad I feel compelled to use my safety reel so as not to get lost. Orientation remains difficult though. I'm not even really sure where I am on the wreck. I let myself drop down to 66m, before heading up again and reeling my way back to the anchor line. None the wiser. But then, it usually takes quite a few dives to get a feel for a new wreck.


During my last stop, I witness a trevally doing an apparently crazy bubble eating dance, but it turns out it's actually being pulled up by somebody on the ship and fighting for its -literally- expiring life.

Aboard the M/V Trident, the crew's indeed fishing. And giant trevally are biting one after another.

Return journey

As we head back towards Koh Tao, the sun slowly sets. For me, it's been a great trip and a lifetime experience.

Risks & dangers

Both deep and wreck penetration diving require specialized training. Each has its own particular risks and dangers. To mention but a few: nitrogen narcosis, oxygen toxicity, carbon-dioxide build-up, gas mix-up, out-of-gas, decompression sickness and silt-out, disorientation, entanglement hazard, brass-fever, structural collapse, equipment failure, etc.

Deep wreck diving indeed is not without risk. People die. No matter their experience level.

On the trip before mine, an experienced closed-circuit-rebreather diver died. Another diver, on open-circuit scuba, got badly bent trying to save him. Luckily, despite the Thai navy's helplessness, he got away with it after several hyperbaric chamber treatments.

My own trip got cut short when the other paying trimix diver got lightly bent, even though he'd followed his dive plan. For twelve hours, most of them breathing oxygen, he had to lay down, convulsing in pain each time the decompression sickness waves hit him, until he got to the hyperbaric chamber on Koh Samui. Luckily for him, one five hour treatment was enough. Followed by a shorter one for good measure just in case. After which he felt like nothing had happened.

I myself got some 'niggles', deep divers jargon for decompression stress, in my left fore-arm, probably due to the strain of holding on to the line in strong mid-water current, preventing normal off-gassing. A bit more and it would have been decompression sickness too. Requiring hyperbaric treatment. Live & learn, as Michael would say.

That said, I consider my daily bicycle trip to & from work, 5km through the Copenhagen city traffic, as a dangerous activity too, not to say a hazardous enterprise, considering the frustrated, aggressive & irresponsible behaviour of some automobile drivers. Indeed, in the traffic too we venture in an environment we do not fully control, in conditions we do not fully master. But it doesn't stop us from going out there!

DIR?

If you have a very set way of doing things, whether it's DIR or not, you should definitely check with the dive operator beforehand that your demands can be satisfied. But even if you have a more flexible approach to things, it's a good idea to check that you can live with the dive operator's way of doing things.


I mention this because things are not that standard when it comes to deep diving. The three places I've tried it so far: Egypt, Philippines & Thailand, each have their particular way of setting up gear, planning dives, using bottom gases & different deco mixes.

M/V Trident

The M/V Trident started its career as a German Navy coast guard cutter in the Baltic Sea, before being transferred to Thailand to first serve as a Thai customs ship, and later on, after being converted for recreational use, to be used as a dive tour vessel based in Phuket, before being bought by Jamie and Stewart.

The M/V Trident is an exploration ship, not a deluxe cruise ship. But while you may not get pampered, it's got everything needed for some great adventures.

The ship's lower deck has six dorm style AC cabins, with 2, 3 or 4 bunks each and two common showers with toilet. Thus providing space for theoretically up to 16 passengers. Practically the ship's big enough to accommodate up to eight tec divers comfortably, but not more.

Behind the captain's wheel house, the main deck currently has an unfurnished AC TV and luggage storage room, behind which is the ship's compact kitchen. All the way in the back is the dive deck, where up to four tec divers can gear up simultaneously, with direct access to the water.

Also on the dive deck are several large O2 and He tanks for convenient continuous blending of any gas mix, whereas the compressor's located below in the engine room. When anchored at a dive site, a deco bar is set up below the ship with four surface supplied oxygen regulators.

The upper deck is a spacious open air shaded sitting area, where most of the day is spent.

Meals & drinks
+ Early morning toast & coffee before the first dive.
+ English breakfast (eggs, beans, ham, bacon, sausages) after the first dive.
+ Late lunch after the second dive.
+ Dinner. Both lunch & dinner usually consist of Thai food.
+ Water, coffee & tea are freely available.
– Sodas (20 THB) & beer (70 THB) can be purchased.

Thailand & Koh Tao

Surf the net and you'll probably find some potentially useful snippets of information...

Technical live-aboard dive trip from 23 till 26/04

There's nothing like being out at sea, with nothing but water around you. At least when the sea is as peaceful as it has been on this trip and the sun is shining.


I kept it real easy, doing only one trimix dive aday, to max 55m for max 30' of bottom time (resulting in 110' dives including the many decompression stops). The M/V Trident was tied directly onto the HTMS Pangan wreck, lying 60m below, just sticking out of a misty cloud, reducing the visibility on the wreck itself to only 5m, but giving the whole experience a mysterious feel. Especially with a touch of narcosis, despite the helium. A small school of jacks circling above the wreck added to the fascination.


I definitely could get addicted to this kind of exploratory wreck diving. But depth is a dangerous factor not to be underestimated. A source of both stress and thrill.

PADI Open Water Diver course

18/04/2006 - I've started Bjarne's Open Water Diver training. Having already done all the theory and theoretical exam back in Denmark, we could jump straight into Buddha View dive center's small swimming pool for a first 2 hour session of basic underwater exercices: mask clearing, regulator recovery, etc, besides actually breathing underwater and finning around.

Yesterday we also went snorkeling in a nearby bay (so I could check that he can actually swim) and Bjarne saw his first sharks: black tip reef sharks cruising just 5m below us. Pretty cool indeed! So now he's really hooked for more.

19/04/2006 - Second training session, this time straight into the deep blue sea. That is, in a shallow protected bay. After completing the mandatory exercices, with curious fish swimming around us, we had a short sightseeing tour around a beautiful coral reef known as Japanese Garden.

20/04/2006 - First real training dives #1 and #2 (each 40' long with a maximum depth of 12m).

21/04/2006 - Bjarne is now an Open Water Diver, having successfully completed dives #3 and #4 of the course. Maximum depth reached: 18m. At South-West pinnacle we saw a dozen or more squids hovering in a neat line in the blue and a cloud of yellow fish. In Ao Leuk bay we got surrounded by a school of small barracudas and saw two blue-spotted stingrays, besides a whole bunch of reef fish. Not to mention hordes of other bubbling divers.

Technical live-aboard dive trip from 12 till 16/04

It was a great experience to be on board the M/V Trident for four days of deep wreck diving in the Gulf of Thailand. And I'll need some serious e-time to write down the full story - so that will have to wait till I'm back. The trip was cut short, but to compensate for the two lost days, I've been invited on the next trip, from 23 till 26/04 for some more deep wreck exploration. So of course I'm on!

Koh Tao: Check-out dive

What should have been just a quick check-out dive actually took up most of the day. But I got wet, went 33m deep at Chumpon pinnacle, and got to make sure my gear still works. Well, some of it. My dive watch for example decided to inform me that it's running low on battery, and so it will no longer tell me the depth nor time I've been submerged. Now that I can't do anything about it. A real nuissance, since it's my back-up depth meter and bottom timer. You really want instruments whose battery you can change yourself!

The dive itself wasn't too interesting, there's just too many divers and the visibility's rather poor (less than 10m). I did find out some interesting things though. The tec guys here dive with double bladder wings. Use primary reels so as to be able to release SMBs from the maximum depth (e.g. the wreck), not just from 20m, which usually is the first deco stop. And, they actually do deep air dives down to at least 60m. Meaning each place I've been to so far for deep dives follows it's own rules.

After the dive I quickly checked out some of the dive gear shops. As I always seem to need yet another piece of equipment. Unfortunately their prices are not really competitive. But then, I haven't tried to get a 'best price' yet. Tomorrow however, I'll have to do some power shopping before the ship leaves!

Dinner at Baanyaay, on the sea front. Green curry (70 THB), plain rice shaped like a teddy bear (15 THB) and a rather tame Tiger beer (60 THB).

Koh Tao: Hanging around

I've just been hanging around, checking out the island, getting over the last bit of jetlag. The nights are not as hot as in Bangkok. But the humidity is pretty high here too. It's been kind of cloudy until now with a tropical shower every now and then.

The food is great (and cheap at 40-80 THB): green or red coconut curries, chicken with cashew nuts, fried ginger porc, sweet & sour porc, ... And they make excellent shakes with whatever fruit you may fancy (20-30 THB). Not to mention the banana pancakes sold by small street stall vendors (25 THB)!

I met Jamie yesterday at the Tattoo bar. He's the owner of the M/V Trident, together with Stuwart. Wednesday evening we'll be sailing out for a one week technical live-aboard trip. To do some deep dives on known but rarely dived wrecks in the Gulf of Thailand and we'll also try to find some new ones. I'm quite curious and looking forward to be out at sea.

Koh Tao

I don't know what I imagined it would be like. But it's worse than I expected. Something between Puerto Galera and Kuta beach. Long gone are the peaceful days by the beach. As a matter of fact I can't recognize anything from my first visit. With Songkran -the Thai new year- coming up the 13th, the place is packed. Luckily I should be out at sea by then.

The good news is that there are ATMs on the island now. And plenty of internet cafes. And whatever you may wish for. Like a paintball warshop. 7-11 stores. Scooter rental places. And more dive shops than I care to count. It's also still possible to have a Thai meal at a reasonable price: fried rice with porc (40 THB) and coconut shake (20 THB) at Yang's.

from Bangkok to Koh Tao

17:30 - After a cheap but very tasty early supper in an Indian restaurant (50 THB/person), we check out of the guesthouse and hail a taxi. The driver does not want to do the ride by meter and demands 100 THB! Maybe because it's rush hour, maybe because we're there with all our bags and need a ride now. Anyways we cough up the money. It's not worth the hassle of arguing about it.

18:30 - We arrive at the station in good time. The train is already waiting and we're allowed to board immediately. Departure however is delayed half an hour for some unknown reason. It's a no smoking train, which is pretty cool.

21:00 - Bed time. The seats are converted into comfortable beds, with pillow, sheet and blanket. Sleep is cut up in short naps, as I'm worried about missing my stop at 04:00.

04:55 - Arrival in Chumporn. No need to be nervous. Somebody actually comes by to tell you your stop is next. And the train actually remains in the station quite a while.

06:20 - It's possible to buy ferry tickets (550 THB) right in the train station. And an AC bus brings you to the ferry pier. A 25' ride. At least for the fast catamaran which departs from a pier out of town.

07:10 - The catamaran sails smoothly to Koh Tao in about 2h15 over a flat sea, including a stop at the Nang-Yuan resort.

09:45 - Master Divers is located close to the disembarkation pier on the right side. So I just drop my dive gear there and check out the place they recommend, called "Save bungalows". A stone bungalow up the hill, with fan, private toilet and cold water shower. No view to speak of, but it seems quiet. 400 THB/night, to be paid up front.

Bangkok: Copy bag

I need two cups of coffee to wake up, then head for the railway station (an 8' ride by taxi from the guesthouse, for 40 THB) to buy a train ticket to Chumporn for Marianne (2nd class fan sleeper, 420 THB).

Express river bus from stop #1 to stop #13 (18 THB). With all those travellers, there are plenty of bag and suitcase shops around Khao San road. My dive bag not having survived my last trip to Mexico, I buy myself a 110l Lowe Alpine copy bag for 1100 THB. It's got backpack style shoulder and hip straps, trolley wheels, an extra 10l zip-on city backpack and even a fanny pack... An unresistable offer. Probably too good to be true, but it's worth a try. Let's see now if it can handle the weight I'm lugging around. The test starts tonight as I finally head south towards Koh Tao!

Bangkok: A bit of sightseeing

River bus from stop #2 to stop #13 (11 THB). From where we head for Khao San road, the world's most famous traveller's hangout. And it's as busy as ever, besides having expanded quite a lot to neighbouring streets over the last 10 years.

After lunch we walk towards the Royal Palace, but just before getting there we get intercepted by a friendly young Thai man, who says we won't be allowed in in shorts and suggests some other interesting places to see. He even arranges for a trustworthy and at 40 THB very reasonably priced yellow-blue government tuktuk to do the tour. Smells fishy? Maybe, but we go for it anyway. First stop: a big sitting buddha in a very nicely decorated temple. A monk is teaching some students. Another one is meditating.


Second stop: a tailor. To please the driver because he gets a gasoline voucher for every tourist he brings in. Third stop: a TAT office. If we stay more than 5' he gets another gasoline voucher. We aren't too interested, but give in. The tourist office is 100% a travel booking office with no information whatsoever. The agent knows we don't want to be there. We're loosing our time. He's loosing his. We last 1'. The driver is disappointed. Fourth stop: a very tall standing buddha. When we get back to the street, our tuktuk is gone... He's not getting any commissions with us as we're not buying anything. So he's probably off to find some better clients. We don't really mind. It's only a short walk anyway to Khao San road and the river bus pier.

Bangkok: Day 3

02:00 - I can't sleep. So I drink some water, eat some fruit, chat via sms, do some exercices...

03:00 - Still awake.

10:30 - I wake up with a start by a knock on the door. It's the cleaning maid. I guess I fell asleep at some point... Bio-ritme is a powerfull thing. And it looks like my bio-clock just refuses to accept reality, stubbornly sticking to its own time, pretending the world is wrong and it is right. Two time zone shifts in short succession must have upset it.

11:00 - Metered taxi to Pantip plaza (65 THB), a rather chaotic hardware & electronics mall. Green curry brunch at one of the point-and-pay-with-voucher food stalls (30 THB). Sweaty walk to MBK, a huge multi-level mega shopping complex.

14:30 - Just for the fun of it I take a tuktuk back to the guesthouse (60 THB). But to be honest, a taxi is probably cheaper, less hassle and more comfortable. The driver of course offered to take me to a special massage place.

17:30 - Arrival at the guesthouse of Marianne, Bjarne & Annedorte.

Bangkok: Day 2

09:00 - While I had trouble staying awake yesterday, I just couldn't fall asleep last night... and then barely managed to get out of bed this morning. That's jetlag for you.

10:15 - 25' walk to Hua Lam Phong, Bangkok's railway station, where, in the advance booking office, for 600 THB, I bought a 2nd class AC sleeper ticket for the night train to Chumphon (leaving Friday 07/04 at 19:15 and arriving the next day at 03:58). Fruit stall vendors sell bags of freshly cut up jackfruit (20 THB for 300gr) and pineapple (10 THB).

14:30 - Another stroll around.

19:30 - Buffet dinner in the guesthouse (150 THB). Though I'm not that hungry, the food is so tasty it revs up my appetite: the fried rice with shrimps is excellent, the sweet & sour sauce delicious and the chicken wings are just yummy.