Blog Archives

HBOI Tech Diver Team Completes Trimix Training

12/18/2014

The team hangs out on their deco stop at 20ft.

This week, the Harbor Branch Technical Diver team added a TDI Trimix certification to their repertoire of diving training. The team used advanced gas mixes including helium to reduce nitrogen narcosis and perform dives to 210ft. They dove on the Ande and Korimu wrecks off of Palm Beach. This training will come in handy when they participate in a NOAA technical diving research cruise at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary in May 2015.

Check out the pictures from these dives on Flickr.

2014 Global Underwater Explorers Conference

12/8/2014

On December 5-7, Joshua Voss, Michael Studivan, and Jimmy Nelson, HBOI Dive Safety Officer and Marina Manager, attended the Global Underwater Explorers Conference in Gainesville and High Springs, FL. The group continued to build on existing collaborations between HBOI, GUE, Project Baseline (GUE’s environmental research initiative), Halcyon, and Brownies Global Logistics. As part of the conference, the team completed training in the use of diver propulsion vehicles (see picture below) and quickly realized their awesome potential application for underwater surveys. Over the past 6 months Voss, Studivan, and Nelson have completed multiple advanced diving courses including Advanced Nitrox, Introduction to Technical Diving, Extended Range Diver, Decompression Procedures, Gas Blender, and GUE Fundamentals. Up next for the team will be Trimix training during deep dives in mid-December. In May, 2015 the team will be using its new skills to conduct technical research divers during a CIOERT expedition to investigate mesophotic coral reefs in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.