Diving Phuket is one of the safest places on the planet to have a fun and stress-free dive, and the level of professionalism is higher here than in most any other dive destination around. But let's examine the case of John Doe, who did develop a case of DCI (Dive Compression Illness).

John was diving with friends and family in Racha Noi, which is one of the best local Phuket dive sites. Racha Noi is renowned for jacks and tuna, manta rays, beautiful hard coral formations and even whales. But in John's excitement over the spectacular underwater beauty, he forgot to follow some of the basic tenants of having a safe dive: he did not drink adequate water and became dehydrated, he had ignored his dive calculator and subsequently made his ascent too fast, and had also ignored the no-decompression limit and had dived too deep for safe decompression.

John had unfortunately become an injury statistic: just four in ten thousand come down with DCI, and he was one of them.

John knew he was in trouble when he surfaced and began to feel nauseous, and his usually flawless tan turned all blotchy. He was feeling weak, suffered from a shortness of breath and felt numbness in his fingers and toes. Then he began coughing like he was smoking two packs a day, only he didn't smoke at all.

And then he began to feel even worse: weak and restless at the same time, he decided he needed help before severe pain set in, as he now was going over in his head what he had done wrong during the multiple dives of the day.

But fortunately for John, he was rushed to one of the three diver decompression chambers available to Phuket divers in need. You see the Sub-aquatic Safety Services International Recompression Chamber Network (based in Texas) has partnered with the Hyperbaric Services of Thailand to staff and maintain several facilities that treat DCI.

These facilities use the latest in DCI technology, and John soon found himself being ushered into a large chamber that also had access for the medical staff from the outside of the chamber. He was given the proper recompression treatment using a mix of hyperbolic oxygen, and was pleased to find company in the large chamber...as Jane Doe had also contracted DCI that day while diving the nearby King Cruiser Wreck, where she had gone a tad bit too deep.

Both the "Does" were impressed by the skill of the technicians and by the fact that there was a placard on the wall that mentioned that this chamber had a fire deluge system that would be activated in the unlikely event of a fire. "No smoking!" they teased each other.

So in the case of Does with DCI, all turned out well thanks to the folks at HST, which can be contacted below for more information:

HST Phuket Town (Andaman Sea): 44/1 Moo 5, Chalermprakiat Ror 9 Road, Vichit, Muang, 83000 Phuket.Phone: +66 (0)810 819000, Fax +66 (0)76 612660

HST Koh Samui (Gulf of Thailand): 34/8 Moo 4 Bophut, Koh Samui, 84320 Surat Thani. Phone: 0810 819555, Fax: 077 427377.

The writer lives on the Andaman island of Phuket, Thailand's most popular tourist destination. He operates CarHirePhuket.com, a local website comparing car rental at over 35 locations throughout Phuket and Thailand. Popular Phuket pick up locations include car hire at Phuket International Airport and Patong car rental.