A visit from a classmate…

Was a nice thought of Sandi O’Donnell taking 6 weeks holiday from her home town of Southampton in England to pay a visit to Andy Norman who was school classmate at Manor Court School in Drayton, Portsmouth from 1965 -1972. Having been in same class in certain subjects from age of 11 and travelling with Sandi and friends throughout Europe this was her first time to travel to Asia and the cultural way of life that was very different from the average English high street.

 

While in UK, during those slightly younger years Sandi always enjoyed sports with the youth club we were both at so only natural that she’s do the PADI Open Water course with us.  Must admit, Sandi done very well, something she can add towards the memories of the Philippines when returning to England.

Actually, reminiscent of Fell (hill) walking in England in the 1970’s, we took on a little bit of fell walking in the mountains north Philippines in the rice terraces, however, importance was not of speed or who could climb the highest as we did at the age of 18, but of the slower country walking pace geared towards a slightly older generation.

Sandi is a professional artist and during her travels throughout the country, she was able to take on some very nice sketch drawings that hopefully will go on show in UK.

From all the staff…. and especially from your old classmate from Portsmouth, thanks Sandi for being with us at Asia Divers.

Hot and Sunny in Puerto Galera!

This is the view from our office right now! Beautiful sunny weather, calm water and great vis under it…what more do you want?!  Many folks get frightened off coming here because they think the weather is bad during this time of year, but they are so wrong. We get some of our best diving over the months of June to September and the water temp will stay around 29-30 degrees. So….Come on down!!

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A great week with Dolphin Scuba

This week we welcomed Dolphin Scuba all the way from Australia Perth. The guys at Dolphin Scuba heard about Asia Divers a couple of years ago when they met Allan and Tommy on their tour around Australia, so they decided to come over and find out what all the fuss was about. It’s been a fantastic week with great weather and even better diving with sightings of Hairy Frog Fish, Soft Coral Crabs and Pygmy Seahorse, not to mention the great drift dives at the Canyons and Verde Island. Special thanks to Emma and Ben for putting the trip together.

Allan’s Adventure in Tulum Mexico

Allan is back in Tulum for the second time this year to do some cave diving with Kelvin and Annabel. Below is a brief report from him.

This is a photo before the three of us did a 160min dive into the Blue Abyss a sinkhole in a cave system in the Cenote call Pet Cemetery. This dive was full of small restrictions, amazing decorated cave that would make any national geo reader sit up with excitement. The scale of some of the rooms with massive white stalagmites and stalactites some two meters in diameter joining together and making amazing columns to small tight rooms that you would have to be so careful not to damage the fragile decorated ceilings, truly amazing and something to be said, it was a life changing experience with a lot of WOW!

This was the first set of stairs we had to carry our equipment down to the entry point.

Take a look at the map. Note where we started the dive at the top right hand side of the map and we swam through the system to the Blue Abyss on the lower left of the map. It was about a kilometer into the cave to get to the Abyss. We entered the Abyss at 9m and came over a sinkhole, we descended to 30m and it kept going down to what I understand is below 240′. The circling was at about 3m bloody awesome place!

Annabel listening with anticipation as it was her first time to this Cenote.

Annabel listening with anticipation as it was her first time to this Cenote

Kelvin giving us a pre dive briefing.

Kelvin giving us a pre dive briefing.

Kelvin and Annabel before the big dive in Pet Cemetery.

Kelvin and Annabel before the big dive in Pet Cemetery.

 

Sarah does 50 dives!

The Averett family has been enjoying their diving in this part of the planet for a change. It’s been great to have Mark, Janell, and Sarah with us this past week. Sarah earned herself and very special t-shirt by doing her 50th dive here…Congratulations!

Steph’s documentary

It was a very quick visit for Stephanie Scawen and her team as she came here on a mission for only one day. The mission was to do two dives and get it on film…mission accomplished…with smiles all around! This is by Steph: “I’ve been coming to Puerto Galera and Asia Divers for over 13 years. Sam taught me to dive. Alli helped me through my Dive Master and then I completed my Instructor rating. In that time I’ve always worked in TV, but I never imagined I would come here to film part of a documentary for Al Jazeera television about me and what it is like to be a disabled diver with Multiple Sclerosis. But here I am. Diving with MS is possible! And thank God it is because it keeps me sane. I have to thank Francis for his brilliant way of getting me on and off the dive boat. Hope I haven’t crippled him 🙂 You can see MS & Me, the Search for a Cure on Al Jazeera later this year as part of the Correspondent series.”