News from El Galleon Dive Resort & Asia Divers, Puerto Galera

The Aussie Fundraiser is shaping up to be a big event and we are all very excited. Flying to Sydney on the 24th of August, our schedule is set, our dates for our cleanups (see below) are done and our partners in these cleanups are working hard to make this something for us all to remember.

From Sydney we have St George Underwater Center, Melbourne we have Vision Divers, Adelaide we have Adelaide Scuba, Perth we have Perth Scuba followed by our presence at the ODEX show in Brisbane on October 8 (raffle on the 9th being conducted by Dive Adventure) and last but certainly not least, the gold coast we have Devoceans. See details of these cleanups and be sure to be there, its going to fun with a BBQ to follow the cleanup. Then a raffle or auction to follow where you could end up with a very cheap holiday to the Philippines or some great dive gear supplied by our excellent dive manufactures.

We will be giving away at each cleanup (and ODEX) the following:

• One week at El Galleon Resort with unlimited Nitrox diving with Asia Divers
• Cressi Leonard Dive Computer
• Waterproof’s new W2, 5mm wetsuit
• Tusa mask and fins set
• A collection of DAN books
• A surface marker from Surfacemarker

There will be T-Shirts and all sorts being offered so don’t miss out on this great opportunity to be a part of something that will make a difference to many lives, maybe even yours!

How was your sleep?

I bet you did sleep well on your soft and very comfy bed. Look at these pictures; they are typical children of the streets. The reality of the street child is the naked and vicious face of poverty, sickness and exploitation. The tragedy is, that those who bear it are themselves innocent, lonely and frightened young children.

Force to work at an early age, struggle to survive. They would do anything to have an ample amount of food to share with their family.

We are so lucky to have a better life, being able to provide for our kids, having a roof above our head, better clothing. And most of all, we can provide for ourselves in time of sickness, not these so young and innocent.

So, it’s time to share our blessings. Come and join us on our advocacy to help these kids out. Click this link to see what you can do to join our efforts and make a difference.

by: Angie

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HHH

The Hash House Harriers (abbreviated to HHH, H3, or referred to simply as Hashing) is an international group of non-competitive running, social and drinking clubs. An event organized by a club is known as a Hash Run, with participants calling themselves Hashers, or, Hares and Hounds.

Each week people all over the world run for the HHH, playing different games during the run and at the end having the ON ON which is where they all get to know each other and again have games and fun with a lot of drinking!

Check out this link for more information on the Hash House Harriers, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_House_Harriers Check and see if your nearest HHH club will be running to support the Aussie Fundraiser, every cents you can give will go to saving the oceans and helping street children.

by: Rhuby

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Where debris meets the sea

It’s still fresh in my memory, the good old days together with my family every weekend morning, as my parents together with my younger brother and I went to LUNETA (national park) twenty-minute ride from our house. We would stroll around park, go jogging, have picnics and go swimming near the shoreline at the end of the park. The shore is not the same as sand beaches like Puerto Galera or other famous beaches in Philippines, but with waters as clean and clear, with beautiful giant rock formations around, it had become the favorite place of regulars and families who visit LUNETA. You could swim and relax in the beautiful crystal clear salt waters while enjoying the outstanding view of the city and watch a magnificent sunset on Manila Bay. As a child, If I had a small cut or wound I would put it in these waters to heal it quickly, while playing with the small fishes and crabs hiding at rock holes.

Years have passed and this same area is now very polluted. The water that we used to swim in and heal my wounds with now looks like a garbage landfill site and it is most certainly dangerous to our health. Unpleasant smells of the surrounding area, dirty waters with floating garbage, plastics and human waste materials are everywhere along this same shoreline. It seems that society today can have an attitude that many people are comforted by the fact that they can afford to waste. The more ‘developed’ we get, the more we throw away. Do you know that average garbage of a man is about 1.3 pounds a day or 468 pounds a year! If there are millions of people in a country and average collected is only up to 40%. Imagine how long our planet can sustain itself? Sooner the 70% water fill of our planet will decrease to become a large garbage island.

Today we are starting to see the effect of this in our marine resources. We commonly hear news about skin diseases, red tides, fish Kill, etc. Fish are dying because they eat the wrong food and are poisoned by our garbage. The oxygen content of the ocean is declining, which results in marine animals not being able to breathe underwater, then they die. We want the next generation to see the marine animals in real life, and not just in books. We want them to be able to swim and feel safe on beaches and rivers. It’s not too late… we can still save and help protect our marine resources, against debris. Let’s act together and help Aussie Fundraiser on their campaign to raise money for saving our oceans.

by: Joonee(Webmaster)

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Sponsor Update

Cressi sub started in Genova, Italy 1946 by the two brothers Nanni and Egidio Cressi and now 65 years later the company is still owned and run by the Cressi family. Asia Divers has been their distributor in the Philippines since 1997 and Cressi has a strong presents in the Philippines, being one of the major brand in the country. Cressi has kindly donated 8 pcs of their new dive computer Leonardo. We are very happy to have Cressi as sponsor for the Aussie Fundraiser.

TUSA Australia are a part of the Aussie Fundraiser by participating as a donator of some dive/snorkeling gear. TUSA (Tabata) is one of the original dive gear companies founded in 1952 by Kazuo Tabata. TUSA Australia have donated 8 sets of Geminus Mask, Imprex Hyperdry Snorkel and Zoom Z-3 split fins, all in a nice Mesh bag.We are very glad to have TUSA Australia as part of the Aussie Fundraiser.

We have got a new sponsor signed up for the Aussie Fundraiser. SURFACE MARKER is a company who has concentrate on safety products for divers such a line of different Surface Baloons, Lift Bags and Signal devices. Please see www.surfacemarker.com or www.divesupply.com.ph for more details about their products. We at Asia Divers have been selling this products since 2007 and have had a great result with this quality products. SURFACE MARKER have donated 8 pcs of Surface Marker WDS Deluxe to our list of raffle prizes for our event around Australia. We are very glad to have SURFACE MARKER onboard as one of our sponsors.

by: Tommy

Allan Nash and Tommy Soderstrom have set off to Vietnam in preparation for the Aussie Fundraiser in August…

Photos and Full Story here

At least, not in the case of Tommy Soderstrom and Allan Nash, but let me explain.

My Name is Terry Llewellyn and for some while I have been sitting on my bum in the UK working on the Asia Divers web site and wishing I was once again in the Philippines.

Tommy and Allan are about to embark on a monstrous undertaking in the name of two charities and with all the organizing and preparations going on here we could not expect them to drop everything and write blogs for us, so I have taken it on myself to try and explain what is happening and why and the progress being made.

Being an outsider here, I can tell you things which Allan and Tommy would not.  These two have taken $30,000 of their own companies money and are spending it doing a trip right round the coast of Australia to raise money for  PADI Projectaware and the Springboard Foundation.  The PADI project is to make people realize that we are killing our oceans.

For instance, there is a section of the Northern Pacific where the submerged rubbish is lumped together in a gigantic clump  Size  estimates vary with some saying twice the size of Texas .  Others say that is an over estimation but nobody disputes that it is at least the size of Texas.  The clump starts off Hawaii and finishes up off the Northern coast of Japan.

This clump whilst enormous in size is invisible to satellites because the clump is largely composed of degrading plastics just beneath the surface of the water. It is however very visible in places as you will see in this picture.

Look carefully and you will see a man actually walking on the rubbish and a second man sitting on it.

Unfortunately this is a problem not just in the Pacific, but there is a similar though smaller rubbish clump in the North Atlantic.

There is a very good  but short blog at this URL which if I had my way, every person on the planet would read.  Pacific Rubbish Vortex

You can imagine the hazard to shipping, but the danger to ocean life is devastating and is killing large amounts of fish, turtles and other marine life.

The other charity which Tommy and Allan are working for  is concerned with saving street children in the Philippines and for many years this charity has been quietly housing, feeding and educating hundreds of children in probably the only safe environment these children have ever known.

If you ever saw ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ you could be for thinking this was pure fiction.  The author may have been intended it as such but lots of homeless children in the Philippines are living lives very similar to Slumdog.

You can see the kind of valuable do by clicking on the picture here, but be sure to have a hankie at the ready.  There is a movie on the page that most will shed a tear for.

It is not until we see things like this we realize just how lucky we are.

Tomorrow, I will write more and tell you the companies that are sponsoring the trip for the charities named as well as just what Allan and Tommy are going to do during this monster bike ride.