Canadians do more than just play hockey!

Posted on July 21, 2016 by Asia Divers

It was a fun time having this wonderful group from Canada with us and a chance for Alli brush up on her Canadian eh?! Most came from Edmonton area, but there were a couple from Ottawa and also from Quebec. A bit of a change from those cold lakes up there! They all got to experience the best of Puerto Galera including some lovely sunny calm days, beautiful colourful reefs, and some different underwater creatures. Highlight of the trip was Verde Island. Thanks to Kirby Feng, the group leader and to Fly & Sea Dive Adventures for organizing this trip here.

“Doc” Michael Chatenay and James Stewart both celebrated their birthdays with us.

Who’s been doing what this week

Posted on July 15, 2016 by Asia Divers

Imagine doing one of your DPV training dives on Verde Island! Yes…you can do it too. Congratulations to Long Long Turner, Michael Lee, Daniel Bristow, Jim Bristow, Tom Hardcastle, and Katie Lee for getting their PADI DPV certification. “To scoot is a hoot!”

Celebration getting their Enriched Air certification were Michael Lee, Katie Lei, Meiling Yip, Miranda Bristow and Tom Hardcastle. Congratulations!

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Way to go Edison Chan for earning your Advanced Open Water on your recent trip to Asia Divers!

A chip off the old block!~

Posted on July 14, 2016 by Asia Divers

Congratulations to Jacques Collins for coming “home” to do his PADI Open Water and Advanced Open Water courses with Ruben at Asia Divers this past week.
jul16b1 Jacques dad, Terry Collins did his Divemaster course with us along with another DM candidate Chris Viers back in 1997 and they haven’t seen each other since, but after connecting on FB they agreed to meet up ASAP. So when Jacques decided to visit the Philippines to visit the province with his Mum, Terry and Chris set a date to meet up in PG. Jacques was named after Jacques Cousteau who sadly died a few months after Jacques born. jul16b2

He was destined to become an Asia Diver from birth! The last visit to PG was when he was only 2 years old. Check out these photos of us from 1997 and the other one which was recreated this trip after he passed his Advanced Open Water course. Same location, same pose! It was wonderful to see you all back here again and hope it won’t be another 18 years…

Asia Divers Instructor Development….Start with a splash!

Posted on July 8, 2016 by Asia Divers

The July 2016 Instructor course gets underway with little dive in Sabang Bay finishing up on the Floating Bar for a slide down there slide to blow away any first day nerves and set the tone for the rest of the program. Check out the video on our here: https://www.facebook.com/asia.divers/videos/994285294027571/

Air Juan flights to Puerto Galera

Posted on July 8, 2016 by Asia Divers

This is another option to come down from Manila. Gets you here very fast with a fantastic view of the area as well!

Guidelines:

Valid until September 31, 2016. 2. Timings may change without prior notice. 3. Bookings are first come first served. 4. Minimum of 6 passengers per flight. 5. Baggage allowance of 10 kilos per passenger applies. In excess, a fee of Php 200.00 per kilo applies. Sports and diving equipment maybe accepted subject to additional fees and weight and space capacity. Client must advise special baggage at the time of booking. 6. Flights are non-rebookable and non-refundable. On exceptional cases, and subject to a USD50.00 fee per segment. 7. Payment should be made 48 hours after booking. For booking made less than 24 hours before departure, payment is due immediately. No confirmation unless payment is made before flight date.

Project AWARE certifications and limited edition cards

Posted on July 8, 2016 by Asia Divers

Congratulations to Beth and Steve Watson, Damien and Rob Jacobs, Hanno Jansen, Amit Kakar, Matt Hubball, Felicity Lee and Ross McLeod who have all successfully completed their “Project AWARE – Dive Against Debris Diver” Specialty certification and earned themselves a fancy limited edition 50 years PADI – Project AWARE certification card…(see picture)

These folks are certainly not letting their dives go to waste – and are now able to organize and conduct the ‘Dive Against Debris’ survey so it counts towards future policy development and implementation, while being very conscious of their buoyancy and applying good judgment on what to collect underwater and what to leave. We had especially great discussions about the impacts of plastics in the food chain and how debris can be avoided in the first place. Students apparently even had fun during the knowledge reviews – here is an example Q&A: Question: “List and describe criteria you should use when deciding whether to remove objects from underwater.” Student’s answer: “Is it debris or something I can sell on eBay, like pirate treasure”… B) Great recycling thought !

Have a look at the video of their graduation dive…

https://www.facebook.com/1720696354808939/videos/1733266430218598/

July in Puerto Galera

Posted on July 8, 2016 by Asia Divers

Just in from a wonderful day on Verde Island! Stunning dive conditions on the pinnacle, lots of sunshine, superb food, and a wee bit of beer and wine to wash it all down. Best of all…. the people: Adrienne, Long Long, Tom, Joanne, Mandy, Joe, Ida, Edison, Michael, Katie, Jim, Meiling, Daniel, Miranda, Tung, Connie, Kevin, Troy, Ichi, Ferdi, Alli, Allan, Paul, Kjell, Rhuby.

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Low season?! This was taken on Saturday just before the 8 a.m dive. Beautiful weather, great diving and lots of folks taking advantage of it all. Come on down!!

PADI Women’s Dive day 16 July 2016

Posted on June 30, 2016 by Asia Divers

Join divers around the globe for the second annual PADI Women’s Dive Day.

The inaugural 2015 PADI Women’s Dive Day event was a historic day for diving. In just its first year, PADI Women’s Dive Day featured events across 65 countries and all seven continents. Men and women from Alaska to Argentina, France to the Philippines enjoyed a day of diving together to celebrate the contributions of women to the sport. While the focus is on women, all are encouraged to get involved. It’s a great opportunity to get the women, friends, and family members in your life together for a fun day of diving! Alli will be around this weekend to encourage all you ladies to get diving!

Project AWARE – Dive Against Debris at Asia Divers

Posted on June 30, 2016 by Asia Divers

Great fun we had on the special event dive: a Project AWARE – Dive Against Debris !!
14 divers descended at the Sabang Wrecks on a ‘treasure hunt’ for debris items and were accompanied by a large green turtle, beautiful frogfish, juvenile crocodile fish, scorpion fish, a school of batfishes, rabbit fish, and lots of other reef fishes.
A staggering 32.6kg of debris was collected on this dive, while participants learned to identify what to pick up, what to leave on the bottom and what to appreciate even more. We collected a relatively new tire, rescued reefs and turtles from fishing lines, food wrappers, and little plastic fragments that don’t biodegrade… even a black bikini top was recovered. All items were counted and reported to Project AWARE where the data are used as statistical evidence for policy development and implementation.
We finished the dive on a floating bar for some celebratory ‘orange juice’ 🙂 and exchanged stories from the event underwater.

It was a lot of fun to have a great dive and at the same time contribute to the ocean health.
Thanks to all who joined the event… Beth, Steve, Sue, Hanno, Amit, Felicity, Rob, Damien, Khalia, Ross, Allison, Pete, Matt, and especially thanks to Sabine Henkel for organizing this and to Beth Watson for taking amazing pictures during our dive and Rob as our wonderful videographer. Enjoy the pictures…

For those interested, the report can be found here:
http://www.projectaware.org/debris-survey/ads142-sabang-bay-puerto-galera