Look at our January! No snow to shovel, no ice to scrape. Contact us at admin@asiadivers.com for your escape. Thanks to Russell Weiner for this stunning photo.

Happy 1015 everyone! We hope you celebrated and had as much fun as we did. The weather cooperated and we were able to enjoy a fine night of dining at El Galleon and then on to the Point to ring in the New year with an amazing fireworks display.  May 2015 be a great year for everyone and we hope to see you all here! Now it’s time for all of us here to off gas …

The Chefs did an amazing job with a delicious spread for 86 people on New Year’s Eve.

It’s been a busy time for all the staff, but the happiness and humor continues on.

It’s been great to have Cy and Bonny and their family here and especially nice to help celebrate Cy’s birthday with him.

There are many activities and events to keep the whole family busy in Puerto Galera. One yearly event is the The Malasimbo Music and Arts Festival. It is the first international music and arts festival of its caliber in the Asia-Pacific and it’s set amidst the tropical gardens of Puerto Galera..

The festival debuted in February 2011 to a stunning turnout of 1,500 individuals. Attendance more than doubled on year two as the festival drew in over 3,500 tourists. The festival is recognized by the Department of Tourism Philippines as a prime catalyst for the country’s continued advance in music, arts, and culture. It is highly publicized in local and international media for its awe-inspiring landscape and unique eco-cultural program.

Bob Marley would have turned 70 in 2015, so the reggae singer’s family is marking the milestone with a yearlong commemoration of his music and legacy. His son Ky-Mani Marley will be performing at there!

Tickets can be purchased at El Galleon, cash only.

Despite the wet conditions we had around here, everyone has been having a fine time celebrating the season. Santa and his elves arrived at El Galleon on the 24^rd and delivered heaps of toys to the local kids for the 25rd year in a row! Along with Santa came a new helper who gave out dresses to the little girls. Christmas dinner at El Galleon was a delicious feast by Antoine and the crew, and now the kitchen is starting to get things rolling for the New Years dinner. Wishing everyone a very healthy, happy and prosperous New Year…and hope to see you here soon!

Although it was a bit wet, the kids showed up very excited in anticipation of Santas’ arrival at El Galleon.

It was a great night to get together with family and friends!

The Christmas Day underwater treasure hunt line-up! Thanks to everyone who got up fairly early on Christmas day to go search for “treasures”.

 Santa has arrived on the platform!

Troy lookin all Christmassy even after a big night’s celebration for his birthday

We’re all getting into the festive spirit now for sure. It’s been great to see many familiar faces arriving over the past week; Veronique and Nicolas, Jerry, Julie and Jenny, Bev and John, Stephanie. On the 24th Santa will pull up the sled to El Galleon to give toys out to the local kids for the 25rd year in a row! As usual, we will celebrate the season with a wonderful dinner at El Galleon prepared by Chef Antoine. To get everyone wet on Christmas morning we will also be doing our annual underwater treasure hunt. This is the perfect appetizer before our Christmas lunch! Plenty more happening over the next few days…we’ll keep you up to date with next week’s newsletter. Merry Christmas from all of us to you and yours!

We’re happy to let everyone know that Asia Divers/Ocean Dive Supply are now open in DUMAGUETE at 101 San Jose Street, Dumaguete City, Oriental Negros. If you’re in the area please do come by for all your diving supply needs. 

Congratulations go to the following students taking the Cressi-sub service seminar presented on 12^th December by Andy Norman at Asia Divers Puerto Galera: Chris Stephenson, David York, Ian Darroch, Andrew Duke and  Mostafa Lotfi

Course started just after lunch with theory and introduction of the cressi-sub AC2,

1^st stage and Cressi’s compact 2nd stage with complete strip down, theory of operation, repair, rebuild and fine tuning of regulator set up.

Second part of the course was again spent going through the theory of cressi-sub’s MC5 diaphragm regulator to show the very simple overhaul  and service procedures that one again took students a little by surprised by the speed in which this unit can be stripped down and reassembled.

Important to note and emphasised within in the Cressi course that proper operational theory of regulators should be encouraged before attempting to make proper assessment and repair work on any diving related equipment.  Therefore if wishing to seek further information of this course, please contact Andy Norman on andy@asiadivers.com

Also to make mention that apart from the standard Cressi certification, additional certifications were also handed out to David York and Andrew Duke to making some parts of the regulator disappear towards the floor….its ok, we always achieves the extra award ….

Preparations pre-typhoon included cutting down the coconuts

The diving platform was all prepared for the worst

As most of you know the Philippines just had typhoon Hagupit or Ruby as it is called in here come through. Up until the last moment it looked like it would be coming through Puerto Galera. The good news is that …it didn’t!! Yes, we had lots of rain and wind, but it could have been much worse. We had completely battened down the hatches but luckily for us, it passed quickly and quietly in the whole scheme of things. In-fact, by mid afternoon the day after the typhoon we are already diving and the conditions are back to our normal lovely now.  We know that not everyone in the Philippines got off lightly though and do feel for them.

In line with upgrading program in Asia Divers compressor filling station is the first of two new compressors that was installed by Andy Norman to replace two out of four of its aging units.

The newly installed unit is an 570 Ltr/min compressor manufactured in Germany by Lenhardt &Wagner. The unit is sound insulated therefore emitting very little noise and while in operation can hardly be heard from platform or point bar, which makes it a little more satisfying on the ears not to hear the noisy start up or the blow down condensate drains of the old compressors.

Delivering 570 Ltr/min or 20 cubic foot of free air per min roughly translates to filling 20 tanks per hour, its fully automatic for both condensate drains, auto shut and full remote operation from the filling station on the platform.

For filtration and cooler system, the 570 is capable of filling an estimated 3,000 tank fills on one filter change.   Now I guess saying 3,000 tanks does not seem that many tank fills from a single filter cartridge but when considering the recently removed compressors only done 100 tank fills or 10 hours between filter changes you can get to see the first of some real advantages of the new compressor.

Looking forward to 2015 New Years gift of a compressor that is the second and last of the upgrades for the compressor room at Asia Divers Point shop.