100 meter technical dive!

July 23, 2012

Archive post from 23 July 2012. Some details have changed since then. Since 2022 our daily thresher shark dives go to Kimud Shoal, not Monad Shoal, and we see threshers there every day of the year. For diving on Malapascua now, see our thresher shark guide and best time to dive.

Update: This post was written in 2012, when the thresher sharks were at Monad Shoal. Since 2022, the thresher sharks come to Kimud Shoal every day, and are now only rarely seen at Monad Shoal.

TSD was recently very proud to recently receive the PADI Tec Rec Center Award and become the only Tec Rec center on Malapascua.

Since then, we have been busy, busy, busy with technical divers. Nathan Coldham, a very experienced PADI Tec Rec Instructor, has recently moved to Malapascua to head up TSD Tec and has been loving every minute.

In amongst teaching plenty of PADI Tec Rec courses, Nathan has found time to get in a few fun dives as well, and recently, Nathan and TSD diving guest Fred Headley successfully hit the 100 METER MARK on Monad Shoal, home of Malapascua’s famous thresher sharks!!!
Fred, an avid technical diver back in Australia, came to the Philippines with a determined intent of reaching the depth of 100m. So without further ado, Thresher Shark Divers was pleased to help make this happen.

Fred and Nathan started with several run-in dives and the date for the 100m dive on open-circuit trimix was set for July 10th, 2012. During the preparation dives, plenty of additional training and drills took place in the form of skills circuits, bail-out drills, logistical requirements and of course, absolute perfection in the blending of the gases and dive planning.

On the big day, the conditions could not have been better: the sun was out, the ocean was flat and the currents were non-existent.
After a thorough briefing with all the support divers, Nathan and Fred entered the water. It took a 4-minute decent over the ledges of Monad Shoal passing gigantic seas fans and spectacular coral formations that could still be admired even with the lack of natural light.
Nathan and Fred spent their 11-minute bottom time diving alongside schooling snappers and groupers and following the wall and ledges along Monad Shoal before having to make a start on their 110 minutes of decompression stops.

At 40 meters they were met by their first support diver Chris Fanning to ensure everything was going as planned. As they ascended to the top of the ledge at 24 meters, Fred’s wife Jane and support diver Richard were there to meet them.
With everything going well, they then made their way to the mooring line where support diver Melissa Moss met them and they completed the rest of their decompression obligations.
Upon breaking the surface, with a perfectly executed 121-minute of dive and decompression time, everyone in nearby could hear the cheers and screams from both Nathan & Fred whom has just completed TSD’s first open-circuit trimix dive on Malapascua! Once everyone was back on board the atmosphere and energy was both incredible and inspiring.

What made this all the more special – This 100m dive was Fred’s 2000th dive!!!… What a great way to kick-start Thresher Shark Divers newly formed PADI Tec Rec Division.

If you want to learn about technical diving drop Nathan a line at dive@thresherdivers.com or see http://www.malapascua-diving.com/Tec/padi-tec-rec-dsat-courses.html

About Andrea Agarwal

Andrea Agarwal is a PADI Master Instructor and the founder of Thresher Shark Divers on Malapascua Island, Philippines. Originally from the UK, she moved to the Philippines in 2003 and built what is now one of the largest and most respected dive operations in the country. TSD is a PADI 5-Star Career Development Center (CDC) and the only PADI TecRec facility on Malapascua. Malapascua is the world's best destination for daily thresher shark encounters, and Andrea has spent over 20 years diving its waters and making sure the world knows it.