As a kid, I used to love watching movies like 'Tora Tora Tora" and "Battle of Midway". I spent hours reading up on the naval battles of Leyte Gulf and Guadalcanal. My pocket money was spent buying Air-fix models of battleships and aircraft carriers.
I was ecstatic when I learnt that there were the Advance Nitrox and Decompression Procedure courses being held, with an expedition to the HMS Repulse planned in mid October. I was on my way to the realisation of a long time dream to dive some sunken World War II wreck!
The tech courses turned out to be one of the most physically and mentally challenging courses I have ever taken. Wearing twin tanks together with stage bottles for the first time, I felt so clumsy in the water. In the pool sessions, we were taught drills to familiarise us with our new equipment, whilst emphasizing on maintaining your bouyancy and knowing what to do under extreme scenarios (like out-of-air and blackout). During the two open water trips, we had to be constantly alert, running through all the possible scenarios and the course of action to keep us 'alive' (the instructor would declare you 'dead' if you could not react safely to the scenarios). Added to this was the feeling of narcosis for those of us who have never dived so deep before. All in all, although the learning curve was steep, it was a really rewarding course because of the sense of achievement you get from completing it.
My diver friends have asked me: 'Why did you do it? Are you crazy? The tanks are so heavy!'. Ok, looking at wrecks may be my thing but it doesn't really do it for everyone. It is a common misconception that tech diving is just for people who want to dive wrecks and caves. This is not true. Just imagine how much more you could see with a bottom time of 40min at your fouvourite 30m dive site? Or safely descending to 50m and staying for 20min on the drop-off to wait for the whalesharks and catch those mantas resting on the ledges. Instead of blind luck and hoping you have enough air to last you until your Mosquito will let you ascend, isn't it much better to plan and know for certain? It need not mean having to carry twin-tanks every time - sometimes just a deco bottle is enough.
In the just-concluded Olympics, athletes sought to go 'Higher, Faster, Stronger'. I guess for the group of us, we are constantly seeking to push our own diving limits, safely. So, if you too share our passion of 'Deeper, Longer, Safer', why not consider joining us in the next tech course?
chewbacca
PADI Divemaster #481069
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