This just in from the crew aboard the MV Giamani on 6 May 2012

Friday and Saturday dived the IJN Haguro, Japanese heavy cruise in the Strait of Malacca, 200 meters long sits upright. This wreck falls into top 5 wreck dives, simply spectacular. Unfortunately dive times limited by short slack period but Stewie says "just bloody awesome, we only scratched the surface with this one".

Check it out!

Here's the final trip schedule for the 1st May 2012 you can opt for the full trip or for the shorter trip which will drop off and pick up passengers in Tioman Malaysia.

Tioman is relatively easy to access through daily flights from Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

This is a great opportunity to dive many world class wrecks and also search for the Akita Maru.

Unfortunately due to helium logistics required for this trip we have limited spaces for mixed gas OC divers.

30th April - Arrive Phuket and clear immigration

1st May    - Departure transit to Langkawi/Penang

2nd May   - Dive IJN Hugaro Japanese heavy cruiser 65 mtrs

3rd May    - Dive Sun Vista passenger liner 68 mtrs

4th May   - Transit Mallaca - Singapore

5th May  -  Transit Singapore

6th May  -  Dive Maritime Fidelity freighter 48 mtrs

7th May  -  Dive Seven Skies tanker 65 mtrs

8th May  -  Dive HMS Prince of Wales battleship 69 mtrs

9th May  -  Dive HMS Repulse battlecruiser 55 mtrs

10th May - Tioman drop off and pickup point

11th May - Dive HMS Prince of Wales battleship 69 mtrs

12th May - Dive HMS Repulse battlecruiser 55 mtrs

13th May - Dive IJN Hatsutaka Japanese minelayer 32 mtrs

14th May - Dive HIJMS Shigure Japanese Destroyer 55 mtrs

15th May - Dive Taiyru Maru NYK passenger cargo 65 mtrs

16th May - Dive USS Lagarto US Submarine 79 mtrs

17th - May Dive Tottori Maru POW Transport 75 mtrr

18th - May Arrive Koh Samui and clear immigration.

All above dives will be subject to local conditions on the day.

TechThailand - The MV Giamani

MV Giamani is now at last  in Koh Tao and available for technical dive training, wreck and exploration trips. Giamani is a much newer more comfortable vessel than the old Trident. Cabins are spacious and airy with double beds if required. Each cabin has an en-suite bathroom and A/C. We plan to have no more than two guests per cabin.

Specification- wise she is similar to the good old Trident, steel hull, twin engined, de-salination plants, so she is able to carry on our long range trips. We are currently in the process of putting an updated schedule together for the forthcoming months, which will include an extended trip late September when we return the Giamani to Phuket.

We are now also able to train CCR divers on Inspiration/Evolution

Please contact us if you are interested in joining us for any of the trips listed.

MV Giamani - Technical Diving Live-aboard

M.V.Giamani was built in 1998  to IMO standards.  She is a stable, comfortable vessel with lots of room to relax in between dives. During technical dive expeditions guest numbers are limited to 12 divers on each trip to ensure that there is always plenty of space for all guests onboard.

We have 2 Standard cabins and four Deluxe cabins. The two air conditioned standard cabins are situated on the upper deck behind the wheel house; these spacious cabins  each have two single berths and share 1 bathroom.

On the main deck we have four Deluxe cabins,  Each deluxe cabin has it own air conditioning unit, en suite bathroom and the cabin door opens to spectacular sea views

Accommodation is in A/C twin bunk cabins. Charging points are all round the boat, 220V.

For open circuit technical divers we can blend any Trimix blend, Nitrox to 40% and deco bars supply oxygen at 6m and shallower.

For CCR rebreather divers we can supply sorb and oxygen boosted to 200 bar - and a clean dry place to repair your rebreather unit.

TechThailand runs both scheduled technical diving trips and is available for tech diving charters for groups open circuit or technical CCR diving.

MV Giamani Specifications:

As part of MV Trident's discovery of the lost WW2 submarine USS Lagarto and subsequent identification dives together with the US Navy, our teams of divers recorded detailed information on the condition of the sub. Underwater footage and data gathered has contributed to a film documentary.

'Lost and Found' investigates the loss of the USS Lagarto, focusing on the submarine's history and crew, events leading up to her sinking, and heart-felt memories and perspectives of family members.

"We are delighted to announce that on Saturday night, 7 November 2009, the documentary, "Lost and Found", about the submarine USS Lagarto was awarded three Emmys. It picked up up 5 nominations, including one for outstanding cinematography, and went home with 3 awards. We are proud to have been involved in such a spectacular and significant film and could not even have imagined that our underwater footage could have helped to bring about such acclaim."

Images: Norma, Chuck and Harvey on the Podium for the Emmy Award presentation

The film picked up the awards for the categories of Historical Documentary, Musical Composition/Arrangement and Writing in the Regional Emmy's for Chicago, Midwest Region.

Here's a trailer for the Emmy winning documentary - if you're interested in getting hold of a copy visit http://www.wisconsinmaritime.org/uss-lagarto.html#dvd

Jamie spoke at the USS Lagarto memorial in Manitwoc, Wisconsin in May 2006. The event was attended by three hundred family members , WW2 Submarine Veterans and USN officers from Pearl Harbor.

Admiral Cassias, Commander Submarine Force US Pacific Fleet, thanked the MV Trident team for locating the submarine, and at last an acknowledgment that it was probably the USS Lagarto.

The story was told on National TV on Memorial weekend, see CBS News

John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, the Deep Sea Detectives, have done it! They came and did 4 days of hard core CCR dives with us on the USS Lagarto. And they loved it!

Look out for our documentary with them as the front men and the camera crew from the US under the direction of Harvey Moshman and Chuck Coppola.

See the preview on youtube

We are expecting both of them back very soon and we look forward to it. Model customers and a bunch of great guys!