Author Archives: Asia Divers

Diving

Hoppin Holy week!

Posted on by Asia Divers

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PG has had the perfect conditions for the big holiday…. It was all sunshine and smooth seas and amazing visibility! It’s been great to have lots of old and new friends here enjoying our piece of paradise. Victor and Christina Maningo had not been diving in four years since doing their OW course so they decided to do a refresher and then get out for some nice dives with their friends in the afternoon. Congratulations also go to Iggy (Ignacio Javellana) for completing his nitrox course…better late than never!

Diving

What’s up at iDAP

Posted on by Asia Divers

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Peter continues to advance through his PADI Instructor Development Course with some great help from Bruce, Brad and Jan mar16c4

Time for Peter, Jamie and the boys to chill out after a satisfying day of IDC

Up coming IDC’s in 2016:

May IDC: 9 to 26 of May with the IE the following 2 days and the MSDT Prep. Course from the 28 of May to the 1 of June

June/ July IDC: 28 of June to the 15 of July with the IE the following 2 days and the MSDT Prep. Course from the 18 to the 22 of July

September IDC: 13 to the 30 of September with the IE the following 2 days and the MSDT Prep. Course starts the 3 of October and ends the 7 of October

November/December IDC: 20 of November to the 7 of December with the IE the following 2 days. The MSDT Prep. Course starts the 10 and ends the 14 of December

Diving

Accessible Diving at Asia Divers

Posted on by Asia Divers

mar16b1

It was a pleasure to have Frank Devriese 53 from Belgium with us recently. When he was 21 years old he had a motorbike accident since that time he has been paraplegic.  12 years later Frank came in contact with diving for people with a disability and decided to try it out and since that time he’s addicted to it. Dive trips abroad are usually 3 to 4 times a year out of Europe where it’s nice and warm. Frank checks the location to see if it’s accessible for people in wheelchairs and then can start to plan his trip. If it’s possible he will return with a whole group later in the year including between 3 and 6 people with a handicap and also the carers or partners. This time he stayed and dived with us at Asia Divers/El Galleon Dive resort. He enjoyed the different types of diving here and the wonderful marine diversity. It was a bit of a learning curve for all of us here, but were looking forward to make the resort more accessible so Frank and a group will be able to come over later in the year. Congratulations to Frank who did his 800th dive on this holiday!

Environment

Sea Base Life

Posted on by Asia Divers

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This blog is about interesting sea life that has been sent to us by SeaLifeBase. The one is about “Ocean Giants: Giant Isopod”. Please see: http://sealifebaseproject.blogspot.com/2015/03/ocean-giants-giant-isopod.html

All you underwater photographers out there….Become a SeaLifeBase collaborator. Please see below:
WHAT is a “SeaLifeBase collaborator,” and WHO can be one?

In a nutshell, SeaLifeBase collaborators are the people who help us by: a) sending or alerting us to references and photos, which we have not yet used; b) assembling data from published sources using a preformatted template; and/or c) verifying or correcting data that we have extracted and incorporated into the information system.  Some of them are — but not limited to — biologists, taxonomists, scientists, and other experts.  Some are aquarists, photographers, businessmen, and marine-life enthusiasts.  Truly, we welcome contributions from anybody who has a passion for marine life.  http://sealifebaseproject.blogspot.com/p/collaboration.html

Diving

Good Bye to Calvin

Posted on by Asia Divers

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Well the time has come for Calvin to leave us an make his way back home. He has been here for the past 3 months and has achieved a great deal during that time, completing his PADI Divemaster Course, Emergency First Response Instructor Course and most of all he became a PADI Instructor with a bunch of specialties to go with it. As Calvin was here for quite a while he also had the chance to put his new accomplishments into practice, independently teaching his close friend how to dive and guiding some divers around our beautiful reefs. It was great to have you Calvin we all wish you a happy journey on your new career and hope to see you again soon.

News and Events

9 years and counting!!

Posted on by Asia Divers

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The Dubai American Academy has spent the past week here with kids doing diving courses or learning sailing. Along with that they also got to experience many other wonderful aspects of the Philippines. Five kids and one teacher completed their PADI Open Water course, six kids and one teacher did their PADI Advanced course and 23 learned to sail.  A big thank you to all the teachers; Hardy Fichardt, Teresa Cantu, Ryan Erickson, Jibola Ajayi, and Ruby Bergonia who made things run so smooth for us. We look forward to our tenth anniversary with you next year! mar16a2

Here are the proud DAA Sailors showing off their certificates. The kids learned to sail through the Puerto Galera Yacht Club thanks to Bob Johnson, Daryl Calbert along with their whole team.  They also enjoyed a day of sightseeing around the area by jeepney.

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DAA visited a school at Verde Island as part of their community service activity. They had a great day with the kids! We had Frank Devriese our paraplegic diver joining us with a lot of interaction with the kids (Frank is a reading teacher back in Belgium) and with a lot of help from the boatman and the kids, we managed to get him up the stairs and over walls to get him around the island. It was also interesting with a little help from the Perth Subiaco Rotary Club, we managed to donate a generator for the school. The old generator they had was on its last legs, it was in fact broken for months, they did get it going but it struggled to keep running, so when we arrived with a generator they were very excited. Not only that, we managed to simply plug the new generator in and turn the key and away it went. The DAA donated a lot of school supplies and clothing, all well received by the school. The kids then broke into groups of six and went off to different grade rooms and played games with the different classes. It was very good to see the way the kids interacted with one another. Finally it was time to leave, so all kids came out of the classrooms and started playing games outside, then it was a big farewell with a group photo and off we went, Frank and all, to the shelters on the beach where we had a wonderful BBQ, games on the beach, lots of fun before leaving to head back to El Galleon.