Technical Diving Info

Tech diving... My facination with technical diving started with a burning desire to expolore "the rest" of our shipwrecks here in the northwest. It was kicked into high gear when I read that issue of aquaCorps Magazine that feature the "tech" diver on the cover. The diver was all decked out with tanks and regulators and all kinds of danglies and goodies whilst hanging a deco line. The caption read: "Imagine the surprise of the PADI deep diver, cautiously edging his way down a line to the 130fsw limit, only to find a south Florida wreck diver waiting out his first decompression stop, stage bottles in tow. Perhaps it would give him pause to stop." I started "extended range diving" diving in 1991, beginning with Nitrox taken at Bellingham Dive and Travel, from Larry Elsevier and Dick Rutkowski (so we could use nitrox for decompression on deep air dives) and from there, gaining much experience from the school of hard knocks, and in many cases modifying the "wheel" already invented by the East Coast Wrecker's and South Florida Cave divers to meet our own Northwest Diving needs. Very soon with our dark, cold water, it became apparent that it was time to get serious about what we were doing and start using Helium, For that, the original core group of three (Ben Beste, Steve Pearson and myself) had to head down to San Diego... The focus for my extended range diving has always remained the local Northwest area deep shipwrecks. True "technical" diving should be left up to real explorers, not the majority of "too much money, not enough brains, I wannabe cool and liked" divers out there now. In this age of c-card for cash, the consumer should take great caution when deciding a) why do I want to do this kind of diving, and do I really need to do it, and b) from whom do I seek that training. Nitrox Page Necessary Links These are a collection of technical diving links that I feel all interested technical diver types should look at. Global Underwater Explorers If I had to do it all over again, I'd certify through these guys. Hogarthian Gear Configuration. Understand how to "Do it Right". Assembling a Hogarthian Doubles Rig A good place to start. Jeff Bentley's HOW-TO cave page. Jeff's site truly is a gem! Nice work, Jeff! Woodville Karst Plain Project. These guys are the world leaders in technical diving. Confessions of a Mortal Diver - The Richard Pyle Story Not necessaryily technical, but a damn good story. Confessions of a Mortal Diver II - Pyle's recent 1998 dive trip to Necker Island. Years after his first incident and thousands of dives later (mixed gas and rebreather), Rich cheats death one more time. The TechDiver Mailing list Archives. A good way to waste your time. Extreme Exposure. They make outstanding cannister lights and other stuffs. Halcyon. They make quality technical dive gear. The Rebreather Website. A site dedicated to 'breathers. S.C.R.E.T - Submerged Cultural Resources Exploration Team (SCRET) promotes the exploration, identification, documentation, and recovery of submerged cultural resources, primarily in the Pacific Northwest. SCRET is a Washington nonprofit corporation that is operated exclusively for public and charitable purposes within the meaning of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.