Category Archives: Diving

Niklas (Carl) and Angelica Lundgren have had a very busy but fun time here this past two weeks, but this was not Angelicas first time here. She actually came here 14 years ago with her father and did her Open Water course with Tommy. Check out her c-card below! So after many years of being a fish out of water she has come back with her husband on their honeymoon and decided to get back into the swing of things and do her certification again. They also did their Advanced course, joined us for our company pre-typhoon Christmas party and pick up heaps of new  t-shirts from the Point Bar. Troys’ liver is relieved to see them go….but hopes to recover soon enough to get them back again.

Now here’s a old c-card!

Wonderful to have Anthony Weston back with us again! Tony has been a long time friend of Asia Divers and we really enjoy diving with him and having a pint or two together in the Point.

Our group of the week pictured above came all the way from Sunny Poland. They had a splendid time diving all our sites including a great trip to Verde Island. Tour leader Kataryna (centre) came to visit us back in 2006 and recons out reef is even better now than then. Please don’t leave it as long to visit us next time as we want to have fun with you again!

What an amazing week it has been with “The Dive Centre” from Dubai. It was a week filled with thrills and spills not only under water but on land too, with motor bike rides around the island, zip lining through the mountains over 400m high and a few nights out dancing on the dance floor. The week was all wrapped up with a final dive to Sabang Bay where we spent over 30 minutes watching the giant sea Turtle eating up all the sea grass, then swimming over to the Floating Bar where everyone did selfie’s with the GoPro while sliding down the slide, what great fun.

We’ve been coming to El Galleon and diving with Asia Divers since 2001. We stumbled on it by chance when the British Foreign Office suggested that our original destination of Indonesia was no longer safe. AND what a find Asia Divers was !! We never even unpacked our cases on our first visit and it was dive: dive: dive. The beautiful Canyons dives reminiscent of UK diving (minus the dry suits) with the exhilarating currents, lush soft corals and abundance of large fish in the deep cool Fish Bowl. We just loved it all and have returned so many times often bringing lots of UK divers with us.

SO what is our favourite dive site and could we ever even agree. For me it has to be the Hot Springs at Chicken Feather Island; Terry can’t be persuaded in any direction other than Verdi Island and Brian just loves the high energy drifts of the Canyons  – so long as he is going with the current !!!. (Brian not being one for exerting himself at the best of times :-)). And as for Queenie – well all the dives are simply ‘Just the Bollocks’ which translates as totally 100% FAB.

We have been here at least 9 times and are already planning our next trips. This year diving with Alison has been excellent and she gets our 5star rating and lots of thanks from all of us for planning a great dive itinerary. It was also good to catch up with Pete, Dave, Sam and the crew at El Galleon and Asia Divers many of whom were here when we first visited.

Looking forward to seeing you all again next year – Caroline and Terry Birtles , Brian Anderson and Jane Poole (Queenie)

Tom and Kristina earned their open water diver certifications in 1995 from Tommy, who came to the U.S. Embassy in Manila to teach a course to Embassy officers.  “Once certified, we logged over 60 dives each with Asia Divers from 1995-1997, including a fabulous 4-day trip with Tommy to Tubbataha Reef on the Tabibuga.  Once we left the Philippines in 2007, we worked back in Washington and at embassies in Europe, including Brussels, Moscow and London.  Lovely places, but not a lot of diving opportunities. We finally made it back to Southeast Asia in 2013, when we moved to Bangkok. And in October 2014, after 17 years, we came back to El Galleon and Asia Divers to happily find changes only for the better, diving as good as ever, and (as always) wonderful dive masters and fellow divers.  We hope to make it back again soon – no more waiting 17 years!”

This months’ cover photo for our weekly newsletter (called “the Monday News”) is from Beth Watson. We know that she has had a lot of our cover photos for the Monday News, but her photos of Puerto Galera  are just so amazing that we think they need to been seen! Check out her website to see some of her amazing images. http://bethwatsonimages.com/  or Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/BethWatsonImages

If you would like to subscribe to our weekly newsletter please email us at instructors@asiadivers.com to let us know.

A big congratulations to Jeannette Tam for completing her PADI Open Water course with us after doing the eLearning at home in Hong Kong. By doing the eLearning Jeannette was able to join in on some fun dives after the course. This meant that she left here very comfortable in the water and with a big smile on her face.

Congrats to the Rescue Diver team Crispian Farrow, Ferdi and Troy. Crispian did the eLearning beforehand and came here to do the water work for the course. Because of the eLearning he had some extra time, so he also did his Deep specialty course and had even more time to join in on the fun dives after.

Wonderful to have Klaus back with us for the second time this year but too bad that Gabi had to stay home for work.

This past week finished off a holiday in China and Hong Kong and we’ve had wonderful diving conditions to make everyone who was here very happy. Looks like the weather is staying like this for a while now so grab you bags and come on down! With the “Blood Moon” last week it was also a chance to put down the cameras and enjoy some great drift diving.  Canyons and Kilima have been very popular dive sites!

Sometimes it’s great just to be able to go with the flow…

Nico Dijkstra and Paul Warren enjoyed the rides for sure!