Category — News

ProTec Dive Center & Advanced Training Facility in Tulum

We are happy to announce that in late Spring of 2011 we will open our new ProTec Dive Center & Advanced Training Facility in Tulum, Mexico. Tulum is located 60 kilometers south of Playa del Carmen and 120 kilometers south of Cancun. The ProTec Tulum Facility will be located on Av. Satelite and the corner of calle Tun-Kul in the downtown area of Tulum.

Features of our new ProTec Tulum Dive Center are a full dive gear retail section, dual classrooms, short and long term gear storage, dive gear repair service and workshop access to our guests, compressor and booster fill station providing air, Nitrox 32, Oxygen and mixed gas Trimix fills.

We will offer full Rebreather support and high pressure oxygen fills, Co2 absorbent Sofnolime 8-12 mesh and Micropore Extend Air Cartridges with a dedicated Rebreather assemble and storage area for the ever more popular activity of Rebreather cave diving. A number of selected spare parts for Rebreathers are available as well.

Our tank rental program ranges from 80 cft alm DIN isolator manifold doubles, 30, 40 & 80 cft DIN valve stages & DIN valve bailout tanks and 2/3 ltr as well as 13/19 cft alm DIN valve Rebreather inboard tanks.

Training programs will range from Essential diver programs up to Technical cave diver, Sidemount & Adv. Sidemount cave diver programs, Stage & Multi stage cave diver programs including DPV diver and CCR cave diver programs.

Instructor programs are available from Advanced Eanx Instructor to Technical Cave Instructor, Sidemount Instructor, Rebreather Instructor, CCR cave Instructor and Trimix Instructors programs.

We would like to welcome Kim Davidsson, Technical Cave Instructor and Tulum resident, who will join the ProTec Tulum Dive Center & Advanced Training Facility as full time staff and partner. Kim was born in Sweden and will support our Skandinavian friends with full Swedish language service. You can email Kim directly to kim@protectulum.com.

Stay tuned and visit our Facebook or Twitter page for updates. Please visit our new www.protectulum.com web site or email us for more information to our new email address info@protectulum.com.

Remodeling the ProTec Playa Store

After years of good use we have decided to remodel the front of our ProTec Playa Store. The move came due to an increased need for retail space and the feel that some items in the front store we did not really use anymore.

We have removed the old book shelve plus the table and chairs in the entrance area to gain more space. Unreal how large the store is looking now.

To make Rosalba’s work easier we have created a work station with reception area where all of her working tools and work area are combined.

To create more retail space we have installed two more tower glass cabinets in the center of the store. We moved all Rebreathers located in their own glass cabinet in the front of the store to gain more space in the classroom. Lastly we did change the wall retail presentation to wooden panels which give the store a cleaner look. Have a look for yourself and click here to see the new store front images on our web page.

ISC Megalodon CCR World Traveler Program

The manufacturer ISC of the Megalodon series of CCR has introduced the World Traveler program where Megalodon Rebreather owners can rent a Can and Radial Scrubber free of charge at selected World Traveler locations in order to ease the load when traveling to dive destinations.

We are happy to announce that ProTec Playa and ProTec Tulum are both members of the ISC Megalodon World Traveler program and traveling Megalodon owners diving our area can rent a Can and Radial Scrubber free of charge, courtesy of ISC, for the duration of their dive vacation. For more information about the ISC World Traveler program as well as more information about the new soon to come ISC Megalodon Predator and Pathfinder CCR Rebreathers please visit our www.ccrmegalodon.com web page.

ProTec Web Pages update

After years in good use and with our upcoming 10 year aniversary we have changed our web appearance into a new web page format where we can place larger images onto the individual pages and work offline during web page changes. At the same time we are able to update the pages more easily as well as track their web performance better.

ProTec Playa – Our Dive Center web page for Playa del Carmen www.protecplaya.com

ProTec Tulum – Our Dive Center web page for Tulum www.protectulum.com

ProTec Cozumel – Our dive destination web page for Cozumel www.proteccozumel.com

ProTec Diving – Covering all ProTec locations & destinations www.protecdiving.com

Visitors, Friends, Bits & Pieces

– We started to use the little Hero HD video cameras you can mount with a strap around your head or onto your Sidemount helmet. The little housing is good to 200 feet / 60 meters. We are using the SarTec flat dome version which is less distorting. Amazing what these little cameras can do. You can see the outcome on our You Tube channel. Check our You Tube link on top of this Sporadic Newsletter.

– The Highway 307 overpass construction is not finished yet but we are coming to an end soon. All beams are in and work is being done on the pavement. Apparently there are three companies who did the construction. Two of them are done and one is dragging some feet. The overpass is scheduled to be opened in end of March 2011.

– Welmoed from the Netherlands came by for a bunch of Sidemount & Adv. Sidemount, Stage & Multi Stage, DPV & Adv. DPV, Survey and Cartography training.

– Dirk from Germany came by to dive his Megalodon CCR and scooter in our caves.

– Phillip from Dominican Republic came by for his Sidemount $ Adv. Sidemount training.

– Mia, Sami and friends came by from Finnland to dive the caves in oc as well as their JJ Rebreathers.

– Igor with friends came by from Kazakhstan to dive our Cenotes.

– Sergej from Russia came by with friends to dive our caves and take a CCR cave cross over course.

– Trendy and Iain came by to take a ccr cave cross over training program and then dive our caves with their KISS and Inspiration Rebreathers.

– Micheal from Washington was here to dive his Megalodon CCR in our caves.

– Ron and Ashley from Portland are here to dive their Megalodon Rebreathers in our caves.

– Christoph from Germany is here to enjoy the caves on his HammerHead CCR Rebreather.

– Tanja from Germany is here to enjoy the caves in opencircuit.

– Chris from Poland is back to push ” the Pit ” once more with his double HammerHead CCR Rebreather.

Continuing Education for ProTec Staff

Our staff went ahead once more with continuing education programs in order to provide better service and keeping us up to date and tuned with new developements.

Patrick went on to do a Rebreather cross over course on a JJ CCR Rebreather. Patrick became as well a IANTD Instructor Trainer for the Advanced Nitrox and Cavern Instructor levels in order to serve our European market better. Patrick will be cave diving in France with Welmoed from the Netherlands, Sami from Finnland and Dirk from Germany in the month of June. If you want to join please send Patrick a direct email to patrick@protecplaya.com.

Matt went to the factory of ISC Custom Rebreathers where the Megalodon Rebreathers are produced. ISC is located south of Seattle in Centralia, Washington State. Matt went to complete his Instructor Trainer rating with ISC owner Leon Scamahorn for the Megalodon range Rebreathers including COPIS and APECS Megalodon, Predator and Pathfinder Megalodon Rebreathers.

Scheduled Training Programs

March 2011

-CCR KISS cross over March 15 – 16
-CCR KISS Instructor course March 17 – 18
-CCR cave cross over March 18 – 21
-CCR cave tec course over March 22 – 23

April 2011
-Cave Survey & Cartography course April 5 – 7

May 2011
-Essential diver course May 20 – 21
-Cave course May 22 – 29

IANTD Instructor & IT Training

ProTec continues to conduct IANTD Instructor Developement Courses IDC’s, Instructor Evaluation Courses IEC’s and Instructor Trainer Courses ITC’s. The IDC’s and IEC’s are conducted by IT’s Nando, Patrick and Matt while the ITC’s are conducted by ITT Matt.

We would like to congratulate Santiago living here in Playa for his successfull passing of the Technical Cave Instructor evaluation, Trendy and Iain from the Philippines to successfully pass the Essential Instructor, Adv. Recreational Trimix Instructor and CCR Classic KISS Instructor training programs. Artur from Poland who passed his Adv. Eanx Instructor Program. Sami from Finnland for passing his Intro to Cave Instructor evaluations.

Our Instructor candidate Jason we wish all the best for his quest to become a Intro to Cave Instructor. Mauro and Jesus we wish all the best in their quest to become Technical Cave Instructors. Tanja Maier we wish all the best in her quest to become a Cavern Instructor.

ProTec Dive Center locations & contact info

ProTec Dive Center – Playa ProTec Dive Center – Tulum
Calle 4 between Avenida 25 y 30 Avenida Satelite corner Calle Tun-Kul
Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Q. Roo – 77710 Tulum, Mexico, Q. Roo. – 77780
Tel. & Fax +52-984-8031168 Tel. ++52-984.8762506
Email info@protecplaya.com Email info@protectulum.com

More information and links

We have published new articles on our ProTec blog www.protecblog.com covering a variety of issues and experiences. Have a look and let us know what you think.

For more information regarding Rebreather diving on the CCR Megalodon Rebreathers please visit www.ccrmegalodon.com , the CCR KISS www.ccrkiss.com , the CCR O2ptima www.ccroptima.com , the CCR Inspiration / Evolution www.ccrinspiration.com , the cave diving in Mexico www.mexicocavediving.info , Rebreather diving www.rebreather-diving.info , cave diving information in Spanish www.buceoencuevamexico.com , cave diving information in German www.mexikohoehlentauchen.com or CCR cave diving www.ccrcavediving.com please check out our web pages.

It is with great pleasure that the Riviera Maya Dive Alliance announces the date of our second no entry fee* Xcuba Ha Photo Contest during the week of 4th – 11th of December 2010 in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico.

Take Advantage of low airfares and the excelent exchange rate value for the Peso. Enjoy free learning experiences and workshops. Every participant is going to win a prize, guaranteed. We welcome novice photographers as much as we welcome professionals. Check out our free underwater photography workshops in the schedule section.

Enriched Air Nitrox is available on all dives for trained nitrox divers.

PADI & SSI Underwater Photography specialty training programs are available throughout the Xcuba Ha. PADI & SSI Instructors can get their Underwater Photography Specialty Instructor rating at the end of the event.

For more info visit the www.divingphotocontest.com web page.

Categories

Professional & Amateur all Digital

1- Wideangle

2- Macro

3- Cenote (Cavern and Cave)

4- Open with unrestricted post dive image manipulation

5- Novice

Special prize for best Lion fish shot !.

Schedule of the Educational Xcuba Ha Photo Event

-December 4th: Arrival day with evening Inauguration of the event week with a wine and cheese event, inscription for the week to come, presentation of organizers, etc.

-December 5th: General Underwater Photography workshop by Len Bucko 8:30 – 9:30 with workshop pool session starting at 11:00 until afternoon covering basics in underwater photography.

-December 6th: Macro u/w photography workshop by Len Bucko 8:30 – 9:30 with workshop dive at 11:00. Diving activities until afternoon.

-December 7th: Wideangle u/w photography workshop by Len Bucko 8:30 – 9:30 with workshop dive at 11:00. Diving activities until afternoon.

-December 8th: Cavern – Low Viz – Limited Light u/w photography workshop by Len Bucko 8:30 – 9:30 workshop dive at 11:00. Diving activities until afternoon.

-December 9th: Cozumel reef diving day starting at 8:30 with great photo oportunities at the Island of Cozumel.

-December 10th: Pto. Morelos wreck diving day starting at 8:30 with great photo oportunities at the Pto. Morelos artificial wreck.

-December 11th: Deadline for image submitting December 11th 9:00 am. Optional diving activities in the morning, optinal land photography in Playa del Carmen (the images from this day cannot be submitted for awards). Closing ceremonie, BBQ dinner and awards presentation will be in the evening.

Rules

1. Registration deadline for participants is December 4^th 9pm. All images must be entered to the judges no later than December 10th 9:00 am.

2. The Riviera Maya Underwater Photo Contest is open to all photographers. Eligible photos have to be taken on a guided tour of the RMDA during the event by the person who submitted the entry to the event.

3. No pool or aquarium shots will be accepted. No still images from video cameras are allowed.

4. Ownership and copyright of all entries remain with the photographer and a model release must be obtained (if appropriate) Riviera Maya Divers Alliance reserves the right to publish the winning photos without compensation for educational purposes, in brochures or for future contest promotion. The winning photographs may also be printed and used as promotional material for future events. Credit will be given to all photographers.

5. Contestants are limited to 7 entrees for 5 days, 6 entrees for 4 days, 4 entrees for 3 days, 2 entrees for 2 days and 1 entree for 1 day of contest participation. The photos must be submitted digitally on December 10th 9:00 am.

6. Digital post image manipulation is not allowed (e.g. photoshop.) in any category but the open catagory.

7. Winners will be announced and prizes given at the Awards dinner on the 10th of December 2009.

8. Entrance can only win one prize so in the event of multiple winnings the awards can be traded in if succesful in another category.

Conservation Rules

Marine animals should never be stressed or endangered for the sake of a photo. Entries will first be screened by our judges. Entries exhibiting the following behavior will be placed out of contest.

1. Divers visibly damaging the environment (e.g. gear dragging or kicking up sand).

2. Animals with signs of stress (e.g. puffed puffers, inking octopus, animals in nets, cages or hooked on a line).

3. Animals moved to an unnatural environment or risky location.

4. Animals being fed artificial food from divers No feeding fish .

5. Delicate marine life being touched (e.g. coral polyps, seahorse tails). Marine life interaction has been (and always will be) good u/w photo subject matter but only when the marine life is not endangered e.g. holding a turtle.

6. Divers need to exhibit good buoyancy control to protect the marine environment and to minimize silt. Suggestions on weighting and trim techniques will be offered by the staff.