Ever heard of Sidemount diving on Koh Tao? In years to come this will be what you learn your Open Water Course on.
Sidemount diving has been around for decades in the cave diving world, but was always seen as a very specialized and exclusive way of diving. This has all changed in the last few years as equipment manufacturers started to introduce much more practical methods for attaching diving cylinders to the diver. The result is that sidemount diving has really taken off, and is becoming more and more popular, for both technical diving applications and also shallow recreational fun diving.
When you first try sidemount diving on Koh Tao you quickly realize why. It’s a really comfortable way to dive. Where the BC is situated makes you want to be flat, and as the cylinders are tucked out of the way to your sides, you have a real feeling of freedom. Sidemount is an incredibly versatile way of diving and can be done using one cylinder or two. Cylinders can be easily attached when already in the water, so it’s ideal for people with back problems, and perfectly suited to shore diving or boat diving. Having a redundant gas source makes your diving a little safer too as you are less reliant on your buddy in the event of an equipment failure. This redundancy makes it the perfect platform for decompression diving, not to mention the feeling of comfort on long decompression stops. Moreover, as it is easy to unclip the tanks and bring them forward, you can have a lot of fun getting through tighter spaces when penetrating wrecks, caves or swim-throughs.
TDI’s technical sidemount course is a must for anyone wanting to either do more with their recreational fun diving, or advance on to become a fully qualified technical diver. You will learn diving techniques that are directly applicable to any type of diving, such as:
Equipment considerations
Dive planning
Gas management
DSMB deployment methods
Propulsion techniques
Trim and Buoyancy
Different water entries/exits
The Sidemount Diver course is strictly non-decompression with a maximum depth limit of 40m/130ft (or within the limit of the student’s current certification, whichever is shallower). Prerequisites to enroll on the TDI technical sidemount Diver course are: Age 18 (or 15 with parental consent), SDI Open Water Diver or equivalent.
Course Fees 12,000 Thai Baht. This course can also be combined with TDI sidemount diver at a cost of 20,000 Thai Baht.
