tech diving: what's available nowadays?

[Makhno]

Greetings,

I plan to go back to Thailand in early July and would like to do some diving -- preferably tech diving, since the west coast liveaboards will be out of season and I've seen most of Thailand's other recreational dive sites already.

Is anyone running trips to the wrecks in the Gulf that Jamie MacLeod etc used to dive from the MV Trident? Are there other wreck dives available, other than the artificial reefs sunk off Pattaya and Koh Tao? Is anyone doing regular trips to the caves, or are those still basically just being used for training?

Thanks in advance for whatever info you can provide, Please feel free to PM me if you prefer that to posting.

 

[Skulmoski]

Zack at Simple Life, Koh Tao can develop some sort of an itinerary. He is a good TECH instructor and guide.

GJS

 

[Makhno]

Zack at Simple Life, Koh Tao can develop some sort of an itinerary. He is a good TECH instructor and guide.

GJS

Thanks, I'll track him down and get in touch. If he's on Koh Tao, does that mean he's running overnight or longer trips into the Gulf to dive the wrecks that Jamie and Stuart and those folks found? Or just day trips to the Unicorn, Chumphon Pinnacle, etc?

 

[Skulmoski]

Simple Life runs day trips to Chump, etc. But I heard that some instructors join other dive centres on occasion. You might ask Zak if he can work with another tour company for overnight trips.
Best
GJS

 

[crookshanky]

The Thai government just sank (21) fishing boats off of Tao a few months ago. I believe a third of them have been found. I'm not sure if anyone is doing regular trips out to them. I dive with Big Blue Tech when on Tao. They've got their own small boat so they might be able arrange something for you.

The Burma Maru was just discovered not too long ago. It's somewhere off of Koh Chang. The guys at Koh Tao Tec Divers would know more as a couple of them were on the expedition.

As far as caves go, the only ones I am aware of are the ones at Khao Sok. The caves were shut down for a while because of a diving fatality but have been reopened. Blue Label Diving does trips there but not sure how regularly.

 

[Makhno]

Thanks, crookshanky. In Krabi I've been to Sa Keao, Klang, Kontsai and Hong Song caves, but Khao Som was closed for diving. Maybe I'll consider that. Probably going back to Florida for caves in the winter so I am most interested in wrecks. It's too bad nobody's going to this wrecks in the Gulf anymore, but I'll certainly look into the Burma Maru wreck. Thanks for the info.

 

[Centrals]

You should try HMS Hermes (50m - 58m range) off the East coast of Sri Lanka. July is the right time to dive it.
Stay at Deep Sea Resort and the wreck is only 20mins away!!!!!

 

[Makhno]

You should try HMS Hermes (50m - 58m range) off the East coast of Sri Lanka. July is the right time to dive it.
Stay at Deep Sea Resort and the wreck is only 20mins away!!!!!

Thanks Centrals -- I already have. I was there last July for 6 days with a group organized by Sam and Dave of Tech Asia. Truly excellent wreck diving!

 

[DevonDiver]

Nothing mentioned on the thread thus far relates to the scale of expeditionary diving that the Trident boys used to do. I thought there was a new tech liveaboard running out of Tao after the Trident was scuttled? Master Divers, or someone connected to them?

 

[Makhno]

Nothing mentioned on the thread thus far relates to the scale of expeditionary diving that the Trident boys used to do. I thought there was a new tech liveaboard running out of Tao after the Trident was scuttled? Master Divers, or someone connected to them?

Yes, a few years ago I was in touch with a guy named Stewart or Stuart (not the Stewart from the Trident) who had Jamie's book of numbers and was running trips to the Gulf wrecks on the liveaboard MV Giamani in the summer. They sailed her through the Strait and stopped off to dive the HMS Repulse and Prince of Wales and then the boat did recreational trips to the Similans during the winter. But I was too late to get in on that. After I had delayed for a few years, he decided to get out of the tech diving liveaboard business.

I was hoping someone else had stepped in to fill the void, but I guess not.