Back in the deep for more lovely Trouble

Dita is back (aka Trouble) sadly sans Chaos, but one is plenty for us - a wonderful woman ful of mischief and an excellent diver! Today Alan is taking Dita for a nice deep one off Gozo, getting back into the swing of things ready for the Stubborn and Le Polynesien over the next week or so!

As the recreational season starts to run at a slightly easier pace, its the perfect time for Teccies to drop in and enjoy some quiet and beautiful dives on the deeper sites of the island.

We'll fill you in on how Dita enjoys her diving this week as she goes.
For now, we're filling a whole bunch of twins and stage for the Guinness World Record attempt training taking place on the Divewise side of things.

Extending the Maltese Technical Community - Instructors Become Students Again

Its never too late to stop learning, as our latest set of students prove - they're already instructors and well experienced in the dives of Malta - but they've taken on the new challenge of learning to go deeper, longer and safer.

Sadly, its well known on the island that many divers visit depths past 40m without proper training and equipment. Its something that we don't tolerate here, and our instructor friends from around the island don't do it, of course, but with growing numbers of enquiries into these deeper sites, centres everywhere want to start showing people how to do it properly, which means enabling their staff to do it!

Techwise steps in, offering especially tailored courses to fit round the hectic schedule of those working in the diving industry - which translates to night classes and spreading the course dives over time to allow instructors to use their days off to learn more. We're flexible and just happy to get as many people diving safely as possible. We love that these instructors want to set a good example to their students and clients - everybody wins!

Wild Weekends with the Lock/Fearn Franchise

More returning friends are lighting up the Techwise shop once more. Gareth and Howard slipped over for a sneaky weekend of awesome technical diving on the best wrecks of Malta. The Polynsien, The Southwald and the Stubborn graced the menu - proving that even on a long weekend you can really get some depth and see some sights!

Poor guys, they go home and only today our two Italian technical friends spotted TWO Mola Mola Sunfish off the side of the Polynesien. Jammy!

Its unbelievable how fast the season is passing - blink and you're already into next week and a new set of tecchie divers! Soon it will be Autumn already and time for a return visit from Mr Collard, one of our favourite rebreather boys!

Can't wait guys, come on back any time!

Reccie - Techie its all the same now!!

Our newest family member - the Poseidon recreational rebreather! These lovely little fellas are making their way to Divewise as we type... and it could mean a whole new era for diving...

OK, so it's recreational - but look at this shiny new kit!
B E A Uuuutiful!

You don't have to be a technical diver to try this fantastic new bit of kit - you don't even have to be a diver! With the recreational rebreather you can BEGIN your diving adventure on a rebreather.

The difference between this shiny little number and conventional open circuit SCUBA is that when you breathe out on SCUBA, your exhalation is lost into the ocean - rebreathers recycle your breathe, adding just the right balance of Oxygen to let you breathe it again - less waste, less air carried - more time in the water!

Sounds good eh? We're ridiculously excited to bust them out of their boxes the minute they arrive and start getting to know them inside out - we'll keep you posted about all the neat features and benefits - our dives on them and when you too can book on to ... what shall we call it DRD? - Discover Rebreather Diving!

Gozo the Great - Technical Diving on the Honey isle!

Back from another awesome day out on the waves - today Techwise was over on Gozo getting deep and dirty - really getting inside of the 2 wrecks of the Cominoland and the Karwela. Down the stairways, through the body of these great machines - nothing can top it - and all under the careful watch of a top-notch tec instructor and dive guide.

Of course you need to be fully qualified and skilled up to perform such feats under a bit of depth - but all those courses are available from Techwise too - TDI, IANTD, SSI TEK XR and DSAT - Lots of capitals and acronyms - and lots of lovely learning to be done.

Meanwhile, Richard is slavering over the Helo 2 and considering a nice little pre pre pre Christmas treat! Love it!

Ah, but its late now and there's gases to be mixed... so off we pop, into the night... ready for more fun tomorrow.

Getting Back into the Tec way

This week we had a Divemaster and Technical qualified customer roll up to our doors - he was well supplied with certs, but it had been a while since he'd been diving, even in a recreational sense. Originally he only wanted to dive recreational, but after seeing the places that our tec divers were going out to - the bug suddenly bit once again!

So how do you get back into the Tec way after a bit of a break? Luckily for us, we're flexible, even up to the last minute - originally booked for a recreational , our customer was able to dip in on the reef with some other tec trainees and bust out a skill circuit or two. This is really essential - to get back in to complicated manoeuvres and specialized skills within the safety of the house reef and a great group of friends and instructors - there to help should you struggle.

From then on its just edging your limits back up to your previous standards - start night and easy with a shore dive at Gozo maybe - take in the Inland sea as you simulate deco-stops on your way up from the reef. Then when you're ready for something meatier - check out the Blenhiem Bomber or the Stubborn, and finally whip-cream topping your week with a jolly on the Poly! Well - we'll see - he has a wife on holiday with him after all!

This array of diving makes Malta JUST the island to tempt teccies back in after a stay away... and luckily for them Techwise is JUST the centre to get them back into the swing of things safely!

Tying up your Technical on a bit of Tickle

Ok hands up, I've been neglected the blog a little! You just can't believe how busy we are! We have Richard right through from Deep course into Tec levels all the way to Tec Deep, and even finished his course with a trickle of tickle in his tank - as per the new standards and course arrangements can allow! Now he's onto his IANTD Normoxic Trimix! Talk about a voracious appetite for learning!

Felix is visiting for some skills circuits and is being joined by Marco who is having a bit of a technical scuba review, just busting out some drills on the reef. So we can look forward to a week of excellent technical dives to get those two into the swing of things!

We've also become part of yet another training association - widening the range of course we can offer to our customers. Our new friends at SS Teck XR will be featuring more and more on Techwise website in the future as we start to offer their courses along side those of TDI, IANTD, DSAT & Paul Toomer Rebreather Training.

Diving the Southwold, Polynesian and... the Britannic???

Techwise is a flurry with divers this week. As I sit and type, I'm up keeping our gas blender 'sanity-company' while we work magic with the molecules late into the night. Demmand is so high for technical gas fills and rentals that a bit of midnight mixer panel mischief is actually neccessary!

Its great to see the rising interest in Technical Diving in Malta and around the world. Frow what we see here, it is spanning generations and genders too! Only today we certified yet another female Tec diver on the first rung of her IANTD ladder. Meanhile, reporter-photographers Gareth and Howard are checking out the Southwold, with the Polynesien lined up for tomorrow - using their technical skills not just to go deep for deepsake, but to spend time getting great shots and helping to show the world what's down there.

Of course, we've got plenty worth reporting coming up too! Paul Toomer, out rebreather expert has been invited to make a dive on the legendary Britannic! Eons of planning preparation go into a project such as this (and it is a project, a mission and much bigger than a simple dive) so we'll be keeping you up to date with progress as we hear all about - so will you!

The Rebreathers Return!

The infamous Paul Toomer is back on Maltese shores and beginning a new rebreather course today with a fresh faced student.

There are many reasons why people use rebreathers, with a system that cleans your exhaled air and makes it breathable for another use - only small amounts of gas can be made to last for hours. This is a real plus when you're diving deep and expect to be hanging around in deco for quite some time.

There's also the more gentile benefit that in closed circuit, no bubbles are produced. This means that you are less offensive to the sensibilities of underwater organisms that might shy away from open circuit divers.

Whatever the reason you decide to go Closed Circuit, it's a heavy investment in time, equipment and education, so make sure to take your time in preparing for this transition. Then, when you're all set - give us a call and get the best training in town!

Poly by Golly

Ohhhhh yeaaaaah. Techwise just got back off the Poynesian and everyone is beaming as usual. This is the kind of dive that makes the trials fothe Trimix course allllll worth it!. At 60m, Trimix training is a must. But down there waiting for you are Barracudas amongst other wildlife and a fantastic wreck.

Joanne Simms of Odyssey Dive Centre Manchester dropped in with us and had a blast. There was a bit of moment of madness. Jo looked down to perform her NOTOX switch and found the 'permanent' marker had rubbed clean off during the dive! Luckily a bit of back up masking tape with biro revealed the mix and all was well!

A little bit of current made the team glad they'd set their deco mixes to the partial pressure to allow for a little exertion, butall in all, everybody agreed that it was a great morning. No doubt this was compunded by a leisurely lunch in Marsa Skala before returning.

Sweet and Stubborn!

Oh my goodness me... so forgive me in advance because I'm about to gush.

This week, as a newly qualified Tec Deep Diver, I was taken with some of our customers and highly experienced tec diving staff to enjoy a pleasure dive on HMS Stubborn of the beautiful Maltese coast.

I'd probably gotten into Tec diving for a less than fantastic reason - working in various diving centres, I'd acquired a lot of equipment in lieu if payment during harder financial times (dry suit, 2 regulators). Add to this some suggestive gifts from an old flame who wanted to convert me (back plate and harness) and a loaner from friends who were hell bent on me enjoying the deep quarries of Britain... I was sat with a whole tec set bar the twins!

I love to learn, and after becoming an Instructor, I felt it was time to become a student again (for the rest if anything!). Continuing to learn is so important for instruction - it gives you new enthusiasm, more skills and knowledge and also an empathy for those who are meeting challenges on their courses.

And that's how it began. I liked all the ideas behind Tec Diving - highly organised, backed-up and always in the aim of utmost safety.. but I wasn't sure how it was going to reward me in a sense of something to be passionate about. I'm not a massive military history fan, and cold, dark boxes of slate didn't thrill me either.

Despite this, I began the course with close friends both as my buddy and instructor. Even if I never Tec dived after the course, I will always treasure the fun we had on all those weekends of drilling and straining - learning to dive all over again!

I made it to Tec Diver Level 1 just in time to move to Malta for a summer of fun. Under the expertise of Techwise staff, I reached Tec Deep Diver and enjoyed the change from 4 degrees and limited viz, to a warm 20 on the temperature and metres of blue to enjoy. We'd seen the beautiful scenic dives around Gozo's Blue hold and Inland sea - but everyone kept telling me the best was yet to come. I wasn't sure how – wasn’t one wreck just like another - a place for life to grow into an artificial reef?.

So I had my doubts as we powered out to the site by boat. Would it be worth the fettling and equipment tinkering, the analysing and the sweating in a dry suit on the surface?!?!

The answer, of course is an elated YES! Absolutely amazing and now I can't wait to return! The beautiful rush of 'sky diving' down into the blue and watching the great hulk of the HMS Stubborn silently appear from a misty outline turning to a real and beautiful sight to see. The peaceful empty ocean surrounding us. The feeling of sneaking a peak where so few others have been, and even better to share it with close friends. This is a dive I could never have done on recreational gear - those who have I would call crazy. Barely a minutes view of the wreck and all of the danger added! Who would do that!? But now the effort of the training paid off, 20 lovely minutes wander up and down its length, the fish flitting by our eyes as we scanned the carcas of this wartime machine, perfectly preserved by the seas cocoon, almost untouched by time, but for the growth of pretty algae.

Even as we left, we continued to grin and enjoy the commradery. Nine of us floating effortlessly at the deco lines, smiling and signalling how great the dive had been! I saw it now... darkness and cold didn't really bother me. Bravery I can do... but not bravado... here we were all equal - newbies and old hands, all alike in our joy and wonder at the treasures that the deeps hold, and the joy of diving!

Gas Giddy

The Techwise boys are out to Gozo today to dive the Blue Hole and the Inland Sea. They are clocking up Tec Dives 10 and 11 for students on their Tec Deep Diver Course. Its a truly beautiful place to dive deep, white sandy bottom, then up folling the reef with an amazing array of colourful coral and algae. As you enter into the passage to the Inland Sea, look out for John Dory Fish.

As they prepare for the dives, the shop floor is a flurry of activity. People mark their slates, while others analyze their gas mixes in stage cylinders that will help them to exit the water a little quicker after loading Nitrogen at such depths.

Understanding the behaviour of gases and their relationship to your body during dives - its an essential component of Technical Diving, even more so as you progess to Trimix Courses and dives. It requires an almost paranoic care in checking and rechecking the mixes for your safety at depth. Analyzing the mix of gases is each diver's personal duty, just like on the Enriched Air Diving Course from the recreational specialties.

One way to understand gases in a more intimate way is to take the DSAT Gas Blender Course, which enables you to mix TextEnriched Air, and - with an extra course - Trimix. You understand better the way that gases interact with each other, their characteristics and considerations. It also means that if you decide to be ultra-careful, you can even see the making of your gases from start to finish, giving you full control of your safety.

So as the final strips of gaffer-tape marks the mix and MOD, we wish the Techwise staff and students all the best and the greatest success on their course dives.