The ProTec Chronicles
The baby is still growing – Cave exploration in Mexico
by Alvaro Roldan Many of you know how Caterpillar Cave System was found and how it looks today. (You can check out the QDT web site for more info). The entrance, a stone quarry is getting greener because of all the algae but, as soon as you get into the cave area all...
Memory lane – What’s behind a photo – Trimix diving Roatan 1995
By mid of 1994 I moved from Sharm el Sheikh – Egypt to Roatan – Honduras to look for a new area to work and live at as a recreational Scuba Instructor. In Egypt I was exposed to deep diving in a very informal way. By informal I mean a way that was back then, and might...
Memory lane – Whats behind a photo – Temple of Doom 1994
When looking through old images I can see myself almost back there. In this particular image taken 1994 at Cenote Temple of Doom I am just crawling up the make shift wooden ladder. I did have the option to climb up the tree roots though if the ladder should have...
The luck of finding the perfect dive buddy or dive team
Enjoying the sport you love doesn’t have a price, but doing it with the right buddy is priceless!! I moved to Mexico 3 years ago and have been cave diving ever since. I did have some great dives before but not like here, every day can be a different cave. My house and...
Teaching a Junior Open Water Course – father and son
This was my first junior open water course I have ever taught and I did teach it to my 13 year old son Jonathan. Not only was it my son and my first junior open water but it was my first open water course after some 18 years of teaching advanced forms of diving such...
CCR cave diver training Part IV – Down the hole with Trimix
Deep Sinkhole photo shoot preparation Part IV (last part)– After unit modification of his AP Diving Evolution CCR Rebreather, Essential prep training and the ccr cave diver course it was time to take the training with my student Paul Nicklen to the next level and ad...
CCR cave diver training Part II – Trim and Propulsion are key and the essentials
Deep sinkhole photo shoot preparation Part II – Once we had done the modifications to the AP Diving Evolution Rebreather it was time to get the unit including diver into the water to see how the trim actually was with the unit. The major goal of most...
CCR cave diver training Part III – Into the inky darkness
Deep sinkhole photo shoot preparation Part III – After preparing the unit for horizontal trim and sorted out propulsion and rebreather emergency drills such as the three H’s (Hypercapnia, Hyperoxia, hypoxia) and the boom drill (internal and external uncontrolled gas...
CCR cave diver training Part I – Modify a brand new Rebreather for cave diving
Deep sinkhole photo shoot preparation Part I – Modifying a brand new Rebreather for cave diving means being drastic and chop chop your new baby. Again I am working on a CCR cave diver training program. This time it is Paul Nicklen, a award winning National Geographic...
Cave Diving in Mexico – Whats new at Protec
After months of silence here we are again. God knows it was not laziness that kept me from blogging but having two super busy dive shops in high season and designing the latest and greatest in dive gear left me with zero free time. But no complains the last year ended...