January 2007

JP and the team happy after locating a large steel wreck site in adverse weather conditions.

During January 2007 a team of DJL divers travelled down to the deep south of Thailand, checking out a number of fisherman's marks.

Commandeering a local fishing boat as a dive vessel, the trip ran out of Songkla - a Thai port on the western coast of the Gulf.

Conditions were very difficult, a strong breeze moved in and created up to two metre wave heights. Despite this the team managed to locate a large steel ship wreck in a very shallow area.

The wreck appears to have suffered heavy damage, probably the result of a collision or explosion.This team reported diving three seperate sections of the wreck, seeing seperate bridge and bow sections. Shallow depth, sandy bottom and large waves meant that the dives were made in almost zero visibility.

Due to the demanding conditions, the team only endured one day of diving on the wreck, but will return to investigate further when the weather is more favourable.

March 2007

Aboard the luxury yacht, it's all jacuzzis, fine cuisine and extravagant sleeping quarters!

I can't wait till the Sampai Jumpar get's back into the Gulf of Thailand!

At the start of March, DJL staff Tim & Gary, joined by UK wreck diver Leon, returned to Songkla to check out more marks and return to the previously located large steel wreck.

Gary Reports: We carried out two days of diving - conditions were much better than during the previous Songkla expedition, so investigated more distant marks, travelling up to 4 hours out of Songkla.

Our first day of diving turned up a 30 metres long , wooden hulled wreck with steel internal structure. The wreck rests at 30 metres depth - it has mostly collapsed but still made a nice dive. The most predominant feature with a porcelin toilet standing on the deck!

On the second day we returned to the larger steel wreck located by the previous DJL mission. With slightly better conditions we got a better look at the wreck.

It is heavily damaged, and quite substantial. It sits inside a hole in the sand. The average bottom of this area is only 20 metres yet around the wreck we reached 25M. A lot of the wreck is burried under the silt. By probing down into the silt we discovered a large debris field lying hidden.

The wreck appears to be quite old - it's possible that the damage was caused by a collision or explosion. An alternative explanantion is that this wreck has been deliberatly cleared for navigation. Given the shallow depth, high shipping volume in this area and the fact that the wreck sits inside a hole in the sand , this poses a more plausible explanantion. We will check this out.

March 2007

Unfortunatly little remains of the ship, but it's existence alone is encouraging news!

Returning from the above mission we spent some time talking to the local fisherman.

It turns out that a Japanese war vessel was beached just outside Songkla - it is still there lying in just 4 metres of water. Unfortunatly the wreck has been very heavily salvaged. Now little remains other than portions of the hull lying just off the mainland.

This does however offer great encouragement, affirming evidence of the WW2 action that took place in this region. More research and we'll be back for more.

We also got news of a WW2 aircraft on the Andaman side. Again we'll follow up this lead, combined with other sources an interesting expedition is taking shape for the end of the year - watch our expedition calendar!

November 2006

Palm branches suspended above the wreck

Night falls during the long ride home

Mid November 2006, a DJL Tec expedition located a small steel cargo vessel, just three and a half hours off Koh Tao.

Tim Reports:

We set out at 12 o'clock on the night of 15th November 2006. The forecast was for one metre waveheights and steady for the next 24 hours - unusual for this time of year.

We were off to investagate a mark from Captain Daoo - a hooker fisherman, so were quite excited about the prospects of what we would find. We arived on the mark at 0700 an were confronted with a lot of palm trees standing upwright in the water (the fishman do this as it attracts smaller fish and squid similar to flotsom or jetsom). For us it could be an obstical as leaves tied to the line and weighted to the bottom may reflect as a wreck on our sonar.

Anyway we picked up a large return straight away and droped a shot on the mark. We kitted up and jumped in. The visibility was great all the way to the bottom at around 50 metres, and by 35 metres I could already make out the shape of the ship.

She apperes to be a small cargo vessel about 40 metres in length with a 5-7 metre beam. There is an engine room evident amid ships but no sign of the wheelhouse. The cargo seems to be buried in the silt.

We plan to revisit this wreck, (along with the other big wrecks north of Koh Tao) on a Tec liveaboard towards the tail end of summer. Check out the expedition calendar for more.

October 2006

The juvenile whale shark was about 6 metres in length, and remained for our entire deco schedule.

Whilst ascending up to deco stop depth after of dive on the Torpedo, a DJL team was joined by a juvenile whalshark.

Unlike many of the sightings around Koh Tao, the whale shark stuck around for the entire duration of the deco stops - about 45 minutes. We think this is due to the extra discipline and control of technical diving - the animal doesn't percieve any threat as we remain stationary on the line. Over the past couple of years we've had several encounters like this one!

The big fish circled around, and even remained when we finally got back onto the boat, swimming around our dive boat! It must have liked us!

Another unforgetable experience!

September 2006

Beautiful whip coral structure growing out from the hull of the deeper 'Inverted Wreck'.

A DJL diver peers into the interior the 'Dumb Dumb Maru'

Diving off a speed boat out of Chumphon the DJL Expedition team was lucky enough to locate two new wrecks in one day.

The first is thought to be a WW2 sloop of about 300 tonnes. The wreck lies inverted on the seabed at 40 metres, is about 30 metres long and has a large single bronze propeller sitting proud of the sand.

Because this wreck has been down for some time she is covered with fantastic coral growth and lots of colorful marine life.

The second wreck found lies much shallower, with the sand at only 26 metres. She is a steel cargo vessel around 40 metres in length, with the top of the bow at only 20 metres. She sits upright and has good penetration on the stern.

Immediatly after diving the wreck we believed here to be a small Japanese ship (matching a war report of U.S. Baleo submarine 'The Bergal' sinking a similar vessel in this area).

Later investigation showed that the wreck was actually of Thai origin and was carrying a cargo of wood.

We have many interesting war reports of the sinking of small japanese ships, tugs and barges in this area. Chumphon province is an area that we will continue to explore - watch our expedition calendar for future exploration in this region.

By Les Skelton

DJL becomes one of only twelve BSAC Centres of Excellence worldwide!

Now offering instructor training and crossovers.

"Davy Jones Locker" has recently been awarded the highest school status within the "British Sub Aqua Club" (BSAC).

Over the last 2-years "DJL" has been operating has a "BSAC Premier Centre" together with its "Technical" and "Seamanship" centre status.

Under the new centre, "DJL" can now offer the BSAC Instructor training programs and assessments.

Currently there are only 12 - BSAC Centre's that hold this status, eight of which are based in the UK. This year, "DJL" plans to offer a range of instructor courses from the entry level "Instructor Foundation Course" Theory, Practical instructor assessments and the Openwater Instructor Exam.

The centre is also running BSAC Instructor crossover programs. These programs are designed for instructors from other agencies who wish to gain BSAC Instructor qualifications.

With these new instructor events, "DJL" can now add these courses to its comprehensive listing of the SDC's - Skill Development courses.

By Les Skelton

BSAC Korea gets involved with Korean astronaut training

Not just your average Ocean Diver Class!

Over the years the "British Sub Aqua Club" (BSAC) has always been involved in many leading edge projects such as, the discovery and the raising of the Mary Rose galleon, wreck expeditions to Nova Scotia not to mention the many Marine biology & conservation projects conducted by some of the UK's best known marine Biologists. But now the BSAC has decided to get involve with a project that goes a little further a field; like the international space station for example!

BSAC Korea; a member of the (BSAC International), has been selected by the "Korean Aerospace Research Institute" (KARI) to train its 8 astronaut candidates to scuba dive. Part of the astronaut training program is conducted underwater and therefore all astronauts need to be able to scuba dive.

Scuba divers experience the same weightlessness that astronauts experience in space. Mr. Jongsub Park, BSAC Korea's Chairman, plus 2 other highly experienced BSAC Korean instructors are responsible for conducting the initial training of the astronauts.

There were two diving agencies considered to perform this diver training however, after further inspection the Gararin Space Centre selected the BSAC as the most suitable agency for its project.

Out of the eight candidates, two women and six men, only two will be chosen for the August 2008 mission to the International Space Station. Once the astronauts have completed their BSAC training they will then travel to the Russian Gararin Space Centre where they undergo their space training. The BSAC has already benefited from a good deal of Asian TV coverage.

The final candidates will have the BSAC Neptune logo patches on their training gear and space suits, taking the BSAC into space!

The BSAC Korean team will be on the BSAC Stand at this years 'ADEX 2007 Expro Dive Show" in Bangkok. So if you would like to know more about this project, then please call in and see them.

By Les Skelton

BSAC Confined Water training

A buddy check!

The "British Sub Aqua Club" has announced the results of a three-day audit that was conducted by the "European Underwater Federation" EUF. At the end of the audit, the EUF accreditation awarded accreditation for 3 of the BSAC Diver grades. The 3 qualifications are,

. Ocean Diver

. Dive Leader

. Open water Instructor

The "BSAC Ocean Diver" qualification is now validated to the EN 14153-2 - 'Autonomous Diver standard, the BSAC Dive Leader to EN 14153-3 - 'Dive Leader' and the BSAC Open Water Instructor to EN 14413-2 -'(Instructor Level 2'.)

The benefits to our members will be that the above diver and instructor qualifications will be recognised in all EU countries and when the EN becomes an ISO, (International Standards) in a few months time, that the qualifications will be recognised world-wide.