Locations
Chuuk (Truk) Lagoon: Technical Diving the Hailstone Fleet
More than 50 WWII wrecks from 3 m to 64 m, a volunteer-run chamber and a 2025 oil leak. What technical divers need to know before diving Chuuk's Hailstone fleet.
Author
Tech Diving AU
Locations
Émergence du Ressel
A river resurgence in south-west France that has drawn cave divers for decades. Shallow galleries lead to deep shafts, and the dive can be as simple or as serious as you make it.
Locations
Chuuk Lagoon
A Japanese fleet sunk in 1944 lies in the warm water of a Micronesian lagoon. It's one of the world's great wreck-diving destinations, and one that deserves respect.
Locations
Scapa Flow
The German High Seas Fleet scuttled itself in this Orkney anchorage in 1919. The remaining battleships and cruisers are among the best-known cold-water wreck dives in the world.
Locations
Mount Gambier
Clear water, limestone sinkholes and a history that shaped cave diving in Australia. South Australia's karst country is one of the world's most distinctive cave-diving regions.
Gear
Backmount, sidemount or CCR?
The platform you choose shapes almost every other decision about your diving. What each one does well, where each one struggles, and how divers choose.
Gear
Standardised or personalised?
Should every diver on a team use exactly the same configuration, or should each diver adapt their kit to themselves and the site? One of the longest-running arguments in technical diving.
Gear
Long hose or octopus?
How you donate gas to an out-of-air diver affects how you both get out. The long-hose method dominates technical diving, but it's not the only option.
Gear
Two computers, or tables?
Dive computers now run full trimix decompression. Should you trust two of them, or plan the dive on paper and dive the plan? Most divers do some of both.
Safety
The Blueprint still holds
In 1979 Sheck Exley looked at why cave divers died and found the same few mistakes again and again. More than forty years later, his list still explains most accidents.
Safety
Rule of thirds or minimum gas?
Two ways to decide how much gas to keep in reserve. One is simple and proven in caves. The other is calculated for the dive. Here's how each works, with a worked example.
Safety
Deep stops after the NEDU trial
For years, stopping deeper was thought to be safer. A 2011 US Navy trial challenged that, and decompression practice has been shifting since. What the evidence says, and what it doesn't.