For many years El Galleon has provided top rate accommodation at what we are told are very reasonable rates. What is not so well known though, is that 150 meters from El Galleon is a very special complex called Waimea.
This complex is owned by El Galleon and specialises in providing top of the line accommodation for people who want to be out of the gaze of the general public. This is one reason why the guest book of Waimea reads like a Whose Who in the movie and TV world.
Waimea is very private and inside a walled garden with just one entrance which is policed 24/7
For honeymoon couples this has to be one of the most wonderful settings Asia. I could go on and on about how lovely Waimea is but this movie will allow you to see for yourself.

For further information on prices and availability please drop us an e-mail to admin@asiadivers.com mentioning your interesWaimea.

Wow!

When the new pier and store was opened in front of the Point Bar at El Galleon, we were promised that it would be the center of much entertainment and fun and that has proved to be the case. There was a big Christmas party on the deck and some pictures were shown in our blog a few weeks ago about that.

We were told that the first ‘event’  would be a Salsa dance night and the staff of El Galleon entered totally into the spirit of the night.

Allan and the El Galleon staff ready to start the Salsa evening.

The event was very well attended and the following short video will give you some idea of the fun which our El Galleon guests and staff enjoyed.

So many beautiful ladies.

Girls just want to have fun

There was much food, more than a little drink and an excess of fun.  Here you can see Allan saying ‘Thank you’  to some of those who made the night such a success.

No blog ever seems totally complete without a caption competition.

What is Allan Nash thinking ? That is Allan at top right.

Entries  for the ‘What’s Allan thinking’ competition can be submitted at the end of this Blog entry.

The next event we are told is a 60s night which will be held probably sometime in the 3rd. week of February.  After which we are TOTALLY open to suggestions.  Send us a note with your ideas and I promise every one will be properly considered.

Terry

Asia Divers are happy to see one of our main supplier getting recognised for their great effort in designing wetsuits for the diving market. We at Asia Divers have sold the W1 suit since the second half of 2009 when it first got released.

Waterproof Diving International AB based in Gothenburg, Sweden, has been awarded with the prestigious Swedish Grand Award of Design 2010 for their W1 wetsuit.

As good as they look and how many products can say that ?

The jury’s verdict reads:
”With one foot in the water and the other in the office, Waterproof has succeeded in creating an industry ”top-of-the-line-product”. Key words when creating the W1 wetsuit were organic, technical, floating lines and surface structure. The inspiration came from the sports, automotive and footwear industries. The result is a fantastically crafted product that makes both diving pros as well as land-lovers take an extra deep breath.” 
The Grand Award of Design highlights business successes that utilise integrated and consistent design. It is awarded to a Swedish company annually by Teknikföretagen, the Association of Swedish Engineering Industries in association with The Swedish Industrial Design Foundation, and The Swedish Society of Crafts and Design. The jury assesses the commercial success based on innovation, product significance, product customization, effectiveness, ergonomics and eco-requirements.

Now that the silly season is upon us why should we be any different?   So, we have decided to have a series of silly but fun competitions.

Something I had wondered for a long time is this.   Suppose I was sitting fully dressed in El Galleon and suddenly decided I wanted to go diving and to explore a small wreck. How long would it take before I actually was exploring a sunken boat?

So we had a competition among the staff of Asia Divers to do just that. From the starting whistle each entrant had to locate his dive gear and change into it, get and check his air and then get to Sabang Wreck and show his name to our camera man. The prize for the person doing it in the fastest time was a dinner for two at El Galleon.

Here we can see the starting line up.

Our competitors

There was a lot of hustle and bustle at the start with everyone rushing to change and get their kit on.

Jamie in the background looks like Superman and about to take off !

Almost ready chaps.

We created a movie of the whole event which is a hoot, so I won’t spoil the ending by saying who won the dinner for two but will give you a link to the movie in the next day or two.

In the meantime, HAPPY CHRISTMAS everyone and may you all win the lottery and come and stay with us in 2011.

It is true that everything is in a state of change and few things more so than scuba diving and the Internet.  In recent years we have seen great changes in the diving world with things like dive computers coming in, then Nitrox and Trimix and the same has been true of web sites.

We now believe that any web site that relies on .jpg pictures and words to explain anything as interesting and exciting as scuba-diving is destined for extinction.

El Galleon and Asia Divers have spent the last year trying to improve our ability to communicate with our customers and potential customers and to that end some enormous work has been done on the Asia Divers web site.

Now we are happy to unveil our latest step forward in the field of video. We would love to hear your opinions of what we have done so far or suggestions of things you would like to see us do.

Take a look at what you can expect to see when diving here in Puerto Galera. Diving movie.

Until next time.

Terry

The long wait finally ended this week and Allan nash having returned to Puerto Galera the draw was done.

As you can see here the winner was Emma Barba.  Good for you Emma and rest assured that when you come to collect your free nights ll our staff will make special efforts to see you have a specially nice time.

Emma Barba's ticket fresh from the hat.

Emma and her boyfriend tells us she came to dive with Asia Divers only after trying two other diving operations in Puerto Galera and that now they would never dive with anyone else.

Emma did her Rescue Diver course whilst her friends did a variety of other courses and dives.

Emma says that she very much enjoyed diving with our Peter who is now her favourite instructor.  Time for you to blush Peter!

Emma is hoping to visit us again in the New Year and we will ll do our very best to see that she has a wonderful time here.

CRESSI Frog Plus Fins

A new fin from CRESSI that has been created for those who are trying scuba diving for the first time or who dive occasionally and want to perform long kicks and dives without any specific training.

The mix of materials that has been chosen for the blade guarantees an undemanding, fluid kick with reduced muscular effort.

However, in keeping with the Cressi tradition, when needed, the fin shows its remarkable character, capable of helping the diver in any situation.

After been tested by Asia Divers Instructor Team it turned out its a very good fin even for professionals.

SRP:  127:00 US$

Its been two great weeks for Tommy and Allan as they set out for another DEMA (Dive Equipment & Marketing Association) show, this time to be held in Las Vegas.

After a long long flight from Manila-HK-LAX-Mexico City and onto Havana one was ready to either crash or look for a little fun. All hyped up after the flight and not knowing if it was morning or afternoon, a good feed of seafood was on the cards and a few beers to follow.

Allan Nash in Havana

That was exactly what I had, a large bowel of oyster soup (superb) and a serving of lobster, Cubana style. Then time to explore Havana. What a city, and incredible walk back in time, with old buildings with the facades still standing with sculptured artwork on building after building. The streets cobbled stoned and the quant little restaurants lining the streets with live music playing in many of the small bars and restaurants. The atmosphere is exciting and the feeling is overwhelming, you just cant do more than sit back relax and enjoy the ride, or after dark and when the time is right, get up and dance, Havana style, Salsa!  Great people, awesome buildings, crazy cars and transportation and the music, something you want to take home with you, absolutely outstanding musicians, its a must do, must see kind of place and now is the time to see it.

Such lovely architecture seemingly frozen in time.

Lots of music and the island of Cuba loves to party.

Las Vegas and the town that never sleeps was again the host of the DEMA show 2010. The show was held at the Las Vegas Convention center and there was little to no space left for anymore. It took me the best part of two days to get from one end to the other, along with my schedules with some of our very best friends in the dive industry. As always its a great pleasure to meet up with Ken and Tina from Island Dreams and Yasuko from Island Cruisers along with many more. The waterproof guys were there selling there latest dry suit, designed for ice diving, nothing we were immediately interested in, however a huge hit for the team selling out all there current drysuit stock. Waterproof’s line of wet suits were as always top of the list and a well sort after items. Waterproof have by far stolen the stage on wet suits, everyone is talking about them. So if you don’t have a waterproof wetsuit and are looking to buy a new suit, don’t look past Waterproof for excellence.

Other items of interest at the show were UK (Underwater Kinetics) lights and accessories, take your time and take a look at what this company has to offer. There new lights UK SL3 is about to be upgraded with a new bulb that is guaranteed to outdo anything close to its size. Already the SL3 has taken many by surprise, its size and durability is by fare more superior than anything else in its class. Asia Divers is taking slowly all its rentable lights and changing them to the UK SL3, that’s how good we think they are.

During one evening we decided to take a night off (something not easy to do at a DEMA show) and go see an old favourite singer song writer Rod Stuart, what a man, mid 60’s and still as strong as ever. Its been a long time since I have been to  alive concert (not to many visit PG) but I have to say I was overwhelmed by Rod’s voice, his energy and his simple way of having a great party at the Coliseum, go Rod, the man!

Four days of DEMA, lots of excitement, so many new ideas and lots of leads to follow up, it was time to leave and head for the airport for that wonderful flight back home. If your ever near a dive show, do drop by, you never know who you will find wondering around, its generally the beginning of another great night of meeting new friends and telling old stories. Till next year, Orlando Fl., DEMA 2011.

Cheers
Allan Nash
Managing Director
PADI Course Director

We have recently done major work to our web site and have now included this Blog to keep you up to date with the goings on and special offers and deals available from El Galleon and Asia Divers.

To enter the free draw to win 3 nights stay at El Galleon all you have to do is add this feed RSS to your mail program http://blog.asiadivers.com/feed and send an e-mail to blog@asiadivers.com

The winner will be pubicly picked in the Point Bar on 15th. November.

Good luck and thank you for following Asia Divers and El Galleon beach resort.