Month: September 2025

  • My journey so far.

    My Journey to Tec CCR 100 in Malta

    From Stoney Cove and Dorothea Quarry to 100+ metres on a Hollis Prism2

    If you’re reading this, you’re probably an experienced diver thinking about going deeper – into technical diving, rebreathers, or both.

    I’m Jason Trott, a Tec & Rebreather Instructor based in Malta, with 500+ hours on the Hollis Prism2 and thousands of logged dives. I didn’t start out on trimix in the Mediterranean – I started as a 12-year-old kid in Egypt, completely hooked after my first Red Sea dives.

    This is the story of how I went from junior diver in Egypt, through cold Stoney Cove weekends, to 106 m in Dorothea Quarry, and eventually to achieving PADI Tec CCR 100 in Malta at 27 – very likely one of the youngest to do it.

    I’m writing it from my perspective so you can see what a realistic path into technical and CCR diving actually looks like, with all the plateaus, cold water, and quarry hours included.

    Early Days: Getting Hooked in Egypt (2007)

    I made my first dives in the Red Sea in Egypt in 2007, at age 12. Warm water, good viz, colourful reefs – the usual story – but for me it clicked hard. I went back to the UK completely addicted.

    Back home, I did what a lot of keen young divers do: pushed right up against the age limits.

    • Trained up through the junior levels as quickly as I could.
    • Reached Junior Master Scuba Diver while still too young to do half of what I wanted.
    • Spent a lot of time waiting for birthdays so I could sign the next bit of paperwork.

    By 18, the second the age restriction allowed it, I was:

    • Divemaster
    • Tec 40
    • On a clear path toward deeper, longer, more complex dives.

    Stoney Cove, UK – My Real Training Ground

    Most of my real development didn’t happen on holiday; it happened at Stoney Cove in the UK.

    If you’ve dived there, you know it’s not glamorous – cold water, limited viz, and a lot of repetition – but it’s an excellent environment for building discipline.

    At Stoney Cove I:

    • Cemented my core skills: buoyancy, trim, gas management, valve drills.
    • Worked my way through Tec 40 and Tec 50.
    • Got comfortable being cold, wet, and doing the same skills over and over until they were boring – which is exactly the point.

    Looking back, those weekends in a quarry did more for my technical diving foundations than any single warm-water trip. If you’re reading this from the UK thinking “I only have quarries” – that’s not a limitation, it’s a training asset.

    Dorothea Quarry – First 100 m+ Dives (Max 106 m)

    From Stoney Cove, the natural progression for deeper training in the UK is places like Dorothea Quarry in North Wales.

    Dorothea has a reputation: deep, cold, overhead rock walls, and plenty of ways to get things wrong if you’re not prepared. It was an obvious step once my training and experience allowed it.

    I’ve dived and explored Dorothea to a maximum depth of 106 m.

    Those dives were significant for me because they weren’t just about “touching 100 m”:

    • They forced serious gas planning and bailout strategy.
    • They tested team discipline under real narcosis and deco stress.
    • They showed me very clearly where I wanted more redundancy and efficiency – which is where rebreathers started to make more and more sense.

    At that point I knew my long-term objective: HMS Britannic at around 120 m. To do that safely and repeatably, CCR wasn’t optional – it was the logical next step.

    Why I Moved Into Rebreathers

    The push towards rebreather diving was simple:

    • I wanted to spend more time on deep wrecks without carrying a ridiculous amount of open-circuit gas.
    • I wanted better gas efficiency and a more controlled decompression environment.
    • I had specific goals – like Britannic – that realistically require CCR if you want proper time on the wreck.

    Open circuit taught me discipline and respect for depth. But for the kind of 120 m-class dives I was interested in, CCR offered:

    • Constant best mix at depth.
    • Huge reduction in open-circuit gas logistics.
    • The ability to treat deep wreck projects as repeated, sustainable dives, not once-in-a-lifetime stunts.

    Moving to the Hollis Prism2 (2020)

    In 2020 I made the move onto the Hollis Prism2.

    I didn’t just want to dive the unit; I knew early on that I wanted to teach on it, so I approached it as a long-term platform, not a toy.

    Since then I’ve:

    • Logged 500+ hours on the Hollis Prism2.
    • Progressed through training all the way to PADI Tec CCR 100.
    • Qualified as a PADI Tec Instructor and PADI Rebreather Instructor on the unit.
    • Built a lot of those hours specifically on wreck and technical profiles, not just shallow bimbling.

    The Prism2 has become the backbone of my diving life, from UK quarries to Red Sea walls to deep wrecks in Malta.

    Red Sea and Malta – Warm Water, Real Dives

    While a lot of my foundational skills were built in cold UK water, I’ve returned to the Red Sea multiple times and spent extensive time in Malta.

    Red Sea

    In Egypt and the wider Red Sea I’ve:

    • Logged numerous recreational and technical dives on reefs and wrecks.
    • Used the clear water to focus on refining trim, buoyancy and situational awareness without fighting cold and low viz.
    • Enjoyed that contrast between holiday diving and the more serious project-style dives elsewhere.

    Malta

    Malta is where everything came together for me.

    Malta offers:

    • Shallow wrecks and training sites from around 5–20 m.
    • Classic tec wrecks in the 40–60 m range.
    • Serious deep wrecks out towards 100+ m.

    It’s one of the few places where you can realistically build a progression from your first tech steps to genuine expedition-style CCR dives, all from the same base.

    That’s why I’m now based in Malta and focusing my Tec and CCR training here.

    Working With Different Dive Centres and Teams

    I’ve been lucky to work with and around a number of different operations over the years. That mix has given me a wide view of how different teams approach technical and CCR diving.

    I’ve worked with:

    • DiverCity
    • Platinum Divers
    • Rec2Tec Diving
    • Blue Ocean Diving
    • Waterworld Malta

    Each centre has its own approach and culture, and spending time with different teams has helped me:

    • See multiple ways to solve the same problems.
    • Learn from other instructors’ successes and mistakes.
    • Refine my own teaching style and standards.

    In the next season, I’ll be diving with Divewise / Techwise Malta, continuing to focus on Hollis Prism2 CCR training and technical wreck diving around the islands.

    Achieving PADI Tec CCR 100 in Malta at 27 (June 2022)

    A key milestone for me was achieving PADI Tec CCR 100 status in Malta in June 2022, at 27 years old.

    Given how new rebreathers still are for a lot of divers, that makes me very likely one of the youngest Tec CCR 100 divers at the time – and quite possibly the youngest at 27. I’m not claiming any official world record, but it’s a detail that gives people an idea of how early and intensely I committed to this path.

    Tec CCR 100 isn’t just “another card”:

    • It formalises 100 m+ rebreather capability with serious decompression.
    • It requires real planning, discipline and bailout preparation, not just skill demos.
    • It demands a solid track record of CCR dives, problem-solving and team behaviour before you ever see the assessment dives.

    Doing that in Malta, on a Hollis Prism2, using the same wreck environment I now teach in, means my current courses are built on exactly the kind of dives my students eventually want to make.

    My Teaching Style: Calm, Methodical, Safety-Driven

    All of this history feeds into how I now teach Tec and CCR.

    A few key points about how I work:

    • I’m calm and methodical – no shouting, no theatrics, just clear expectations and repetition.
    • I focus relentlessly on margins – we don’t plan to the limit of what’s theoretically possible; we plan to leave room for the unexpected.
    • Bailout is central – gas volume, gas choice, realistic loss-of-loop scenarios, and how you and your buddy actually get out alive, not just on paper.
    • Team behaviour is non-negotiable – communication, positioning, role clarity and honest pre-dive checks, especially on CCR.
    • My background in IT and Open University teaching means I’m used to breaking complex systems down into logical steps and teaching adults who ask hard questions.

    My ideal student is not the thrill-seeker chasing numbers. It’s the experienced diver who wants to go further but understands that progression takes time, discipline and honest self-assessment.

    Why This Journey Matters If You Want to Train With Me

    When you choose an instructor for technical or rebreather training, you’re not just buying a syllabus – you’re buying into their experience, biases and habits.

    Here’s what my path means for you:

    • I’ve seen both warm and cold water environments – from Red Sea to Stoney Cove to Malta – and I understand how skills translate between them.
    • I’ve done the hard quarry hours, not just the photogenic dives, and I still believe in that kind of foundational training.
    • I know what it feels like to be at 100+ metres in a dark, cold quarry and on deep wrecks – and I respect that environment.
    • I’ve worked with multiple centres (DiverCity, Platinum Divers, Rec2Tec Diving, Blue Ocean Diving, Waterworld Malta, and soon Divewise/Techwise Malta), so my standards are built from a wide base, not a single “house style”.
    • I reached Tec CCR 100 at 27, but I did it with conservative planning, not shortcuts. That same mindset applies to every course I run.

    Thinking About Tec or CCR Diving in Malta?

    If you’re considering:

    • Moving from advanced / rescue level into your first Tec course.
    • Taking your open-circuit tech experience onto a Hollis Prism2.
    • Building towards 60–100 m wreck dives in Malta in a structured, realistic way.

    Then this is exactly the environment I’ve built my training around.

    On this site you’ll find:

    • Details of my PADI Tec 50 and PADI CCR 40 Hollis Prism2 courses (with CCR 60 coming soon).
    • Information on the Malta wrecks we use at different stages of training.
    • More articles breaking down bailout planning, course structure, and how to prepare before you arrive.

    If you’d like to talk through your experience and goals, use the contact form or message me directly. I’ll tell you honestly whether you’re ready, what you need to work on, and how we can build a safe, realistic training plan that moves you towards the dives you actually want to do – not just another plastic card.

    – Jason Trott, Tec & Rebreather Instructor, Malta