Once you dive with doubles (or a twin set), you will never want to dive with just one tank again; this is because of the security of knowing that you have such a large supply of air and also because of the positioning that you have in the water. The simplicity of the back plate and harness make it feel like you are aren’t wearing anything at all and with super streamlined positioning you will glide through the water with ease.

No need to worry about heavy equipment, Octopus Diving Tec offers the same VIP service to our Tec divers as we do to all our divers, this means we will carry all your equipment to the boat.

With a total of 4 dives and with a minimum of 4 hours open water dive time (and one on one tuition with Chris) by the end of your course you will be prepared as a proficient and safe Tec diver. With Octopus Diving Tec the dives can be spread over half days and can be tailored to suit your schedule allowing you time to explore the beautiful island of St. Martin, or spend time with your family.

We will supply all equipment required for the course, including:

• Backplate and Hogarthian Rig The Hogarthian Rig is pure simplicity and adjusted to suit you. No plastic buckles or touch fasteners the rig is composed from one piece of 2” webbing threaded through the backplate. The stainless steel backplate removes lead from your belt so when diving we use virtually no weight, even with a wetsuit.

• Wing We use the latest Dive Rite EXP 50lb wings which give more than enough lift with doubles and a stage.

• Double Manifolded 80 Cu Ft tanks Redundancy – we always calculate our Surface Air Consumption and use this to plan our dives. When using 4800liters or 160 Cubic feet of gas you will have plenty of gas to get to your destination, explore it and return to your first 21 meter / 68 foot Deco stop. If not we adjust our times accordingly when dive planning.

• Long hose and short hose regulator configuration

• Our Regs are Scubapro Mk11 with DIN fittings, R395 second stages and “Highland” solid brass gauges manufactured by Termo in Italy.

• Stage tanks and rigging

• Stage Regs are Scubapro MK25 with solid brass gauges and 5 foot hoses.

• Other equipment includes, Knife, Reel and surface marker buoy, torch, fins, wetsuit.

For more information and scheduling please email chris@octopusdiving or arrange a good time for Chris to call you.

Here is a testimonial for doing the IANTD Advanced Nitrox course by one of our favorite students, Siobhan.

“Technical diving….
So there I was thinking “I know I’ll go for a dive on my time off in St. Maarten” when before I know it I’ve been signed up for a technical diving course with Octopus Diving Tec! I’ve been diving with Octopus Diving in St. Martin before and had a great time so I knew I was in for a treat but ended up completing a course that was way above my expectations.
I completed the theory and after some decent mathematics lessons from Chris I conquered what I found the most difficult part of the course. Once I had it right in my head it all seemed to make sense!
Then came the fun part…diving. After spending time at the dive centre learning how to mix the correct gas and set up my Double tanks and harness, we learnt how to use all the different parts. Technical diving is much like regular diving with a little bit more equipment! Once I’d figured out my left post from my right post and where to clip my Deco tank I was good to hit the water.
For the first day we were taken on 2 shallow dives to learn how to complete all the necessary procedures, like gas shutdown drills, precision buoyancy control and gas switching in order for us to go on the deep dives. Two 1hour dives in the bag and we were done for the day. Shattered but very happy was the end result.
On the second day we planned our dives, calculated the correct mix, filled the tanks and hopped into the dive boat. Diving on this day was amazing. Clear waters and 2 wrecks, what more can you ask for. The first dive was to 35m / on the Fusheng and on arriving at the wreck 2 reef sharks were spotted! Diving at depth and not being in a rush to see what I could in a short period of time was such a relief, we did a 30 minute dive at 115feet something you can never do as a Recreational diver!
Completing deco time on the way up was great fun with Chris trying to attract barracudas to come and play with us…not my cup of tea! The second deep dive was just as amazing. We got to tied off our deco tanks to the wreck and headed through the engine room, check out a massive stingray and chill out on the wreck. Again deco time was fun and once back on the boat I couldn’t stop talking about the dive.
Technical diving was an insight into something way more than regular run of the mill diving.
So much more can be experienced that can only be touched on diving on air even in the Caribbean. I cannot wait for my next dive and think that if you’re a good diver, technical diving is definitely something worth exploring. Thanks to the guys at Octopus Diving Tec for making an intense subject look easy and such fun. I hope we manage to complete many more technical dives in St.Martin / St. Maarten soon.”
-Siobhan