BSAC Technical Diving Courses

[BSAC Technical Diving Training]

Taking BSAC technical diving courses with DJL Diving will enable you to undertake deep decompression dives, right down to 50 metres.

You'll learn to dive with a twin set and stage/deco cylinders, using up to 100% O2 enriched air blends to accelerate your decompression schedule, or enhance the safety of your dive.

As a BSAC Centre of Excellence [one of very few outside the UK], & active in wreck & technical diving, where better to take your BSAC tech training than here in Thailand with DJL Diving.

Although not for everyone, if you're the right kind of person deep technical diving is an exhilarating challenge. By taking your BSAC Tec training with DJL you'll get the opportunity to make deep wreck dives around Koh Tao, plus the option to combine with tech liveaboards further afield.

On this page we explain our BSAC Technical diving training in detail.

[Modular Structure | BSAC Advanced Nitrox Diving & Extended Range Diver]

Rather than one single course, our BSAC Tech Training consists of two tech modules. Those are:

1. BSAC Advanced Nitrox

2. BSAC Extended Range Diver

At DJL Diving, you can take one course at a time or get a great deal if you go through both tech diving courses together.

The tech courses must be taken in sequence [i.e. BSAC Advanced Nitrox is the prerequisite qualification to enter the Extended Range tech course].

To join the BSAC Advanced Nitrox course you must be :

Certified as a BSAC Sport Diver + 20 dives or equivalent [i.e. PADI Rescue Diver]

Certified as a BSAC Basic Nitrox Diver [or equivalent].

If you're not sure if you meet the prerequisites, contact us to find out!

Total duration will be 10 days [total 12 dives]. This isn't 'rigid' - if you need more time, we'll put the extra work in to ensure you qualify as a safe, competent technical diver.

[One important point]. Technical training is more demanding than recreational diving. You pay for the training, not just the certification. We'll do eveything we can to make you into a competent technical diver BUT we can't guarantee that you'll pass the course - that depends on you.

BSAC Advanced Nitrox & Extended range tech diving courses @ DJL are taught primarily by seasoned technical diving instructor Tim Lawrence.

Tim is passionate about technical diving, and has owned & run dive centres throughout the world, teaching & working in diving in 9 differernt environments.

Throughout this time, Tim has been responsible for locating many deep ship wrecks. Highlights include a 2000 year old Roman wreck, several tankers, two aeroplanes, a number of WW2 wrecks plus many more recent commercial vessels.

Tim's vast experience and continued motivation make him a great teacher to learn tech diving from. Applying his own personal experiences to the BSAC tech course outlines, you're certain of 'top-notch' tech training.

Training with Tim is strict/disciplined - after years of technical diving Tim has a deep understanding of the dangers & perils of tech diving. He ensures everyone he trains reaches the required level of performance before certification.

[1. BSAC Advanced Nitrox]

The BSAC Advanced Nitrox course trains you to plan & execute decompression dives using nitrox blends up to 50% oxygen, as both a dive and deco gas.

This is a mix of theory and practical application making open water dives.

Theory topics covered in the BSAC Advanced Nitrox Course include:

[Pressure & Nitrox mixes]
Dalton’s Law, Calculating ppO2, Maximum Operating Depth and Nitrox mix

[Nitrogen and Nitrox Diving]
BSAC Nitrox Decompression Tables, Nitrogen Narcosis, Decompression - good practice, equipment, Carbon Dioxide Toxicity.

[Oxygen and Human Physiology]
CNS & Whole Body Toxicity, Monitoring Oxygen uptake

[Equipment for Nitrox diving ]
Decompression equipment and configuration, Dive Cylinders, Regulators, Other diving equipment, Oxygen Service

[Nitrox Mixing and Analysing]
Ways to Mix / Blend Nitrox, Advantages, disadvantages, Practical Gas Analysing

[Dive Organisation & Management]
Dive Marshalling, Pairing divers, Decompression planning, Accident Management, Dive planning

[BSAC Advanced Nitrox - in water practical application]

In the water, over the course of several dives you'll master the following skills and procedures:

Predive self & buddy check
Fitting of stage cylinders - [back mounted, upright or inverted]
Regulator switching
Self & buddy monitoring during a dive
Gas and time management during a dive
Gas switching during decompression stops
Gas consumpion checks
Deployment of delayed surface marker buoy both on the bottom and in mid-water.
Regulator switching
Body positioning and techniques during decompression stops
Gas management
Simple underwater navigational techniques

You're first dives will involved skill demonstrations and practice. Once you'mastered the skills, the tech instructor will make an assessment of your ability.

[2. BSAC Extended Range Diver]

The aim of the BSAC Extended Range Diving course is to train you in safe deep diving techniques, To encourage a responsible and flexible approach to extended range technical diving.

The course will teach you to dive with multiple cylinders, using nitrox blends up to 100% O2 for accelerated decompression, executing deep decompression dives down to 50 metres.

Again, the BSAC Extended Range Diving course consists deep diving theory and practical application in open water.

Theory content includes:

[An Inroduction to Extended Range Diving]
What is ERD?, Why do it?, What does it require, the BSAC ERD Course

[Personal Preparation for Extended Range Diving ]
Awareness, responsibility, attitude, Training, self-reliance, physical and mental preparation, Managing stress, coping with narcosis

[Decompression Diving]
Tools – Tables, PC Software, Dive Computers , Run Time Management, Rich Nitrox mixes, Oxygen Tracking, Good Decompression Practice

[Personal Equipment ]
Bottom Gas Systems , Decompression Gas Systems, Combining systems, Configuring Regulators and Gauges, Buoyancy Compensators, Diving Suits, Support Equipment, Surface Survival, Equipment Rigging and Configuration

[Group Equipment]
The Platform: Hard Boats, RIBs; Liaison with skipper, Decompression Systems

[Extended Range Dive Planning]
Dive Team Agreements, Dive Planning, Support Divers, Emergency / Contingency Plans

[Open Water Dives on the Extended Range Diving Course]

Dives on the Extended Range course start shallow, and get progressively deeper reaching 50 metres by the end of the tech course.

This gives us the chance to get you diving on the Unicorn Shipwreck or WW2 Schooner north of Koh Tao [visit our wreck diving archive to view photos and find out details].

In the water, we'll concentrate on the following activities:

Pre dive self & buddy check
Visualisation techniques
Fitting of stage cylinders
Regulator switching
Out of air scenarios
Air sharing techniques
Self & buddy monitoring
Using decompression stage cylinders
Fitting & removing stage cylinders underwater
Gas switching
Swimming with side mount cylinders
Deployment of delayed surface marker buoy
Ascent skills
Buoyancy skills during decompression stops
Body position and techniques during decompression stops
Surface decompression techniques
Removal of kit in-water
Gas management
Use of run time slates
Use of lazy shot or trapeze decompression systems
Underwater navigational techniques
Deployment & use of distance lines
Gas management & control
Practice of extended decompression stops
Switching to decompression gas
Use of Jon lines
Use of emergency stage cylinders
Brief for support divers and extended range diver team
Assembly of deco station and emergency equipment
and more . . . . .

As you can see this is a very comprehensive tech course.

BSAC Tech training includes not just being good in the water - the course covers wider aspects of technical diving, so you have the skills and knowledge to execute deep tech dives.

Our BSAC Technical diving courses include:

BSAC Advanced Nitrox & Extended Range Diving Manuals
Use of all technical diving equipment
Certification
All required training dives & gases

i.e. no hidden extras!

The cost of the BSAC Advanced Nitrox + Extended Range Diving Course is 50,000 baht.

We can run the courses individually for 30,000 baht each.

This includes the Open Water dives, conducted on Koh Tao's local dive sites.

[Each May/June & Autumn, we run tech liveaboards to the South China Sea, diving some enormous WW2 wrecks [visit our tech liveaboard page for details]. For just a little extra we can combine your BSAC technical diving training with a liveaboard expedition.]

If you want more info or want to check availability for our BSAC Technical training, please don't hesitate to drop us an e-mail.

Or e-mail us direct using the following address: