PADI Advanced Open Water Archives - Asia Divers & El Galleon Beach Resort, Puerto Galera

Diving, News and Events

There’s still time to enjoy our July 2019 Special Offer!

Posted on July 4, 2019 by Asia Divers

04
Jul

It’s a great time of the year to be here with the warm water, and not so many people around. We are still running our “Off Season Special” for July… 20% off on accommodation with complementary breakfast on direct bookings only. Contact us at admin@asiadivers.com or use the contact page.

Spectacular panorama photo of Verde Island by Beth Watson. It sure does make me want to be there right now!

You can see more of Beth’s images at:
www.bethwatsonimages.com
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BethWatsonImages/
Instagram: @bethwatsonimages

Welcome back ‘H”!

It’s been great to have Heneage “H”, Peter and Philip Mitchell with us this past. “H” is a long time friend of ours and we were thrilled that he was able to come here with the boys to get them certified. Both Peter and Philip worked hard and did really well on their PADI Open Water course with Maria. A big congratulations you guys! It was also great that Snake was here to be part of the fun!

Happy birthday Rene!

It was quite the night in the Point as Rene celebrated his 60th birthday. Food, booze, family and friends…what more can you ask for! Thanks Rene for hosting such a fun night and to Leah and Jamie for preparing the food.

What’s been happening at Asia Divers & El Galleon Dive Resort?

Peter decided that he wanted to keep submerged and do his PADI Advanced course. Now he leaves here with another certification and quite chuffed that his ears are being cooperative!

Diver, diver, are you OK? Paul and Peter are back and they just finished their Rescue and EFR training with Maria. The course was challenging and rewarding, plus so much fun! Congratulations!

E-IDC update – Team “Cubicus” in action

The June/July IDC has started and the team found a name already. “Cubicus” refers to the species of cute little Boxfishes that we all love to see underwater. Of course the name needed to be celebrated in the Point Bar.

For more information about PADI Professional levels visit https://asiadivers.com/gopro/

That’s for this week folks, join us again next week for more news and stories from Asia Divers

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Diving, News and Events

Long Live the ‘Monday News’ & Underwater Photography Workshop

Posted on May 9, 2019 by Asia Divers

09
May

“The Monday News” is a great way to keep up to date on what’s been going on at Asia Divers and El Galleon Dive Resort. Before Facebook, Instagram, blogs and all other social media came into play, this was how we let our previous guests and friends know who’s been doing what and what new and exciting things were coming up.

We still get people giving us comments like

“I just love coming into work on an ugly Monday morning through a massive snowfall, and icy roads and than seeing your newsletter!”

Even with all the new social media options and technology there is still a group of people out there who enjoy seeing it every Monday….so we keep it going!

Every month we change the cover photo and this month’s cover pic is a stunning nudi branch taken by Sue Goodman. Sue has been living here for several years and has been taking some really beautiful and creative photos. She really captures the beauty of Puerto Galera’s marine biodiversity within her photography.

If you would like to get signed up for the Monday news just complete the form below:

Awesome dive conditions continuing on this week with lots of sunny calm days, warm water and thresher sightings are still happening!

What’s been happening this week at Asia Divers

It’s been a superb time having these guys here with us this past week. Iain Caldwell, Sarah Holmes, Danaka Shaver and Kim Nguyen got to see the best of P.G. and have some good fun and laughs along the way. Congratulations to Danaka for completing her PADI Advanced Open Water and Nitrox courses.

It’s been such an amazing time teaching Jack Jones, Benjamin Mansfield and Aspley Stevens to dive this week and of course to have Jack’s dad Ian Jones join in on all the dives. I’m so proud of all the hard work they did to get this accomplishment. Most especially to Jack who at eleven years old has completed the same course that an adult has to do and kept up with the big boys all week! Big congratulations to our new “mermen”!

Now this looks a bit dangerous….Ben and Aspley on the start of their T-shirt collection. The Point Bar is a great place to wind down or wind up at the end of the day.

Congratulations Jerumel Deveza on your PADI Open Water Diver qualification! The result of some intense few days and lots of determination…. Enjoy the underwater world now awaiting you as a qualified diver!!

It’s not too late to sign up for our Underwater Photography workshop happening June 16-23, 2019

Less is More ~ Negative space is a welcome element in photography. It does not matter whether it is a wide angle scene or a close-up macro image. Composition is the key when working with negative space. Learn about this and much more with Phil Rudin and Beth Watson.

Photo workshop will include:

Hands-on in water mentoring with short slideshow presentations throughout the week
Learn about lighting, composition, camera settings, equipment and much more
Learn macro and wide angle techniques using fisheye and rectilinear lenses
Daily photo critiques, Lightroom and Photoshop editing techniques
Learn creative lighting and advanced photography techniques
Full details about the course can be found here:

Contact admin@asiadivers.com if you have any questions or would like to make a reservation.

E-IDC update

Another PADI Freediver is born…

Congratulations to Romain for achieving the PADI Freediver certification! Romain has been snorkeling and skin diving before but now wanted to get training in Freediving and came out with great achievements, for example a static breath hold time of 3:35min after an initial 2min in the pool. Fantastic! And on our open water dives we were surrounded by wide mouth mackerel, rainbow runners and schools of fuseliers…

That’s all for this week folks, visit us again next week for the latest news from Asia Divers and El Galleon Dive Resort

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Diving, Environment, News and Events

Summer is here and we have the skies to prove it!

Posted on May 1, 2019May 1, 2019 by Asia Divers

01
May

It’s that time of year when the sky is showing us her amazing colours in the evening. Elly shot these photos last night in the Point Bar while many others were also running out to catch the fire in the sky! Summer time in Puerto Galera is awesome.

Email us to arrange your escape to paradise: admin@asiadivers.com

Or send us a message on the contact page

Join the Blackwater Diving revolution at Asia Divers

Join us for the “greatest migration on earth, which happens every night, right in front of you!”

Find out all about Blackwater diving with Asia Divers on the Blackwater Diving page

What’s been happening at Asia Divers this week?

Asia Divers and El Galleon Resort are proud to be recognized for our environmental practices by Project SEAyasat and Save Philippine Seas!

Congratulations to Alan Lo who completed his PADI Open Water and Advanced Open Water this week. Seeing him in the water you can tell how comfortable he is already!

philippines scuba diving at asia divers in Puerto Galera — Very nice to have father (Jacky Lo) and son (Alan) diving together this week.

Charolotte and Zaid did a refresher when they first arrived to get back into the diving swing and sure enough it got them all excited to continue on with doing the PADI Advanced Open Water course.

Paul Stripp and Paul Mounsey had a blast on their Diver Propulsion Vehicle (DPV) course with Jamie.

E-IDC update

PADI Instructors learning Freediving…

PADI Instructor Magnus Peterson and his daughter Veronica teamed up to explore the underwater world on one breath with the PADI Freediver Course. And in short amount of time they doubled and tripled their initial breath hold to an astonishing 3:07 and 2:13 min static. In the open water both went beyond the required 10m depth easily on second dive and practiced rescue scenarios specific to freediving.

See a short video clip about their adventures here on our YouTube channel

Did you know…?!

The PADI Freediver certification also counts as one of five Specialties for your PADI MSD – Master Scuba Diver certification.

That’s all the news from Asia Divers for this week folks, see you next week!

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Diving, News and Events, Social & Community

Valentine’s Day Dinner, PADI Freediving, and a Divemaster Graduation

Posted on February 13, 2019 by Asia Divers

13
Feb

People all over the world consider February the love month. Filipinos are not immune from the Valentine’s Day fever! Apart from Christmas, Valentine’s Day is considered one of the biggest holidays in the Philippines. We just LOVE seeing you all here!

padi advanced open water diver sabang puerto galera — Taking advantage of the Chinese New Year holiday it was time for the **Kitching** family to come back to El Galleon for a visit. Congratulations **Oliver Kitching** for earning your PADI Advanced Diver cert over the CNY holiday.

fun in puerto galera at asia divers — Fun times with **Kathy**, **Mary**, **Cody** and **Tom** for **Arthur** this week as he introduced them to the Puerto Galera magic.

Congratulations to our newest certified PADI Divemaster, Cody.

Cody came through with flying colours from the superb guidance of your instructor Matt and along with the helping hands of the whole Asia Divers family.

If you’re looking for an awesome location and experienced team of instructors to help you become a PADI Divemaster please have a look at our PADI Recreational Diving Courses page

Diving Adventure Travel Hong Kong at Asia Divers Puerto Galera — Wonderful to have **Match** and **Dorcas** along with their instructor, **Simon** from **Diving Adventure Travel Hong Kong** here for a few days. Hope to see you all again!

Try Freediving at Asia Divers

Our latest freediving buoy has finally arrived – so we are now all set to teach the PADI Basic Freediver and Freediver Courses. The yellow buoy is already attracting a lot of attention in the dive shop – and we will test it out for the first course right away today. For more information contact us at instructors@asiadivers.com

Freediving Courses

E-IDC update

padi freediver course sabang puerto galera asia divers — **Jamie** taking the plunge – training to be a PADI Freediver

Jamie is super excited to jump into the PADI Freediving courses in style!

He practiced holding his breath in the pool from childhood on and is very good at it… but really??? No coffee in the morning before apnea???!! Kawawa!

Visit our dedicated GoPRO site for professional scuba diving courses

More info on instructor development, specialty instructor courses etc can be found here: asiadivers.com/gopro

That’s all for this week’s Asia Divers Blog folks!

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News and Events

Asia Divers at DEMA Las Vegas, Halloween Party Pics, and Diver News

Posted on November 7, 2018November 7, 2018 by Asia Divers

07
Nov

Creepy times at our Halloween party

Click on images to enlarge

A ghoulishly delightful night was had by all at our Halloween party. Thanks to everyone for putting in the effort to getting creepified!

You can see more photos in the album on our Facebook page

Asia Divers at DEMA 2018

Allan, Tommy, Alli and Rhuby will be at the DEMA Show November 14-17 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, North Hall.

We’ll be with the Philippine Department of Tourism booth #2425 introducing folks to Asia Divers/El Galleon. Please drop by for a visit if you’re attending.

Scuba Diver News

We’re very excited to welcome three new mermaids into scuba diving. Sarah Fenwick and two sisters, 13 year old Katie and 14 year old Ella Callahan completed their PADI Open Water course with Elly. They worked really hard to achieve this goal and even went through a bit of a tough logistics day because of some bad weather…but they did it, and should all be very proud! Congratulations ladies!

Congratulations Jobert Tapia (Cody) on your Rescue Diver Certification (with EFR Primary and Secondary care with AED! Now, on to your Divemaster! It was a fun course with Arthur Nash who is almost done as well.

This was a great example of team teaching here as Matt did the EFR courses for both Arthur and Cody and Pete and Matt both got involved with the Rescue course. Matt is now an Assistant instructor and very soon will be an Instructor, so he got some great experience in team teaching with Pete.

Very nice to have the Lalani family here with us this weekend! Ruben and Elliot introduced them to diving through a PADI Discover Scuba program. Mahmud, Temina and Kiran thoroughly enjoyed the experience and I suspect they’ll be back for more.

Way to go Sarah Fenwick!! She completed Open Water and Advanced OW this week and now on to her next great adventure to meet up with mom and dad in El Nido.

Wonderful to have Richard Hughes back again and this time bringing his mom Jacqueline. Richard kept Jackie very busy with finishing off her PADI Advanced course and also doing a Nitrox course. Then they brought out the “big boys’ and got Jackie certified as a DPV diver by Pete. Congrats Jackie!

This month’s cover shot for Asia Diver “Monday News” newsletter is a photo of The Point Bar. The Point Bar is a great place to wind down with good friends, great ambiance and perhaps a cocktail or two at the end of your diving day.

The Monday News is a weekly newsletter that will keep you up to date on what’s been going on here with Asia Divers and El Galleon.

If you would like to subscribe please just sign up below

Photo credit to our good friend Beth Watson, whose beautiful photos and videos you can see throughout our website.

Check out her awesome images on her website or on Facebook

Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook to get our latest news updates and links to our blog posts!

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News and Events

Halloween Party 2018 & News from Asia Divers

Posted on October 23, 2018October 23, 2018 by Asia Divers

23
Oct

We’ve got the Booze… You Bring the Boo’s!

Join us For Some Haunting Spirits and Wicked Brews at the Point Bar on October 31st 2018.

We still have rooms available. Contact admin@asiadivers.com

Verde Island reefs show resilience to climate change

In the face of climate change, the reefs of Verde Island, situated in the middle of the “center of the center of marine biodiversity” in the world, are showing signs that they are protected from the major impacts of climate change.

Read the full article in the Manila Bulletin

What’s been happening at Asia Divers?

Stunning conditions at Verde Island this week.

Alli snuck on board with Finn and Arthur to do their second dive for their PADI Digital Underwater Photography course. So many great photo opps there! With Elly, Alli, Robert Johnston, Matthew Malekos, Finn Marinkovich-Josey, Simon Josey, Richard Trebus, Omri Hephner, Erich Werne, Mal Howarth, Ron Jackson, Elliot, Jobert Tapia (Cody), Maria and Arthur Nash.

PADI Advanced Open Water & Digital Underwater Photography certs

Congratulations to Finn Marinkovich-Josey on his getting two great PADI certifications this week!

Follow these links for more info about the courses:

The natural beauty of Puerto Galera

Fall colours at The Point. It happens only for a few days every year, but it’s so beautiful…
The elves have been busy preparing for Christmas this past week.

Preparing for a Puerto Galera Christmas

If you don’t have plans for Christmas yet, consider coming down here for very fun time over the holidays. We’ve got lots of special things going on including Santa’s visit on the 24th, scrumptious Christmas and New Year’s Eve dinners at El Gal and fireworks to bring in the New Year.

Underwater Photos Corner

We’ve had a fun time doing the PADI Digital Underwater photography course these past few days with Arthur Nash and Finn Marinkovich-Josey. Both students enjoyed taking photos with the Olympus Tough camera and housing and got some great results. They also got to practice some editing on their phones and tablets.

Arthur and Finn did their PADI Advanced course earlier on in the week, and then went right into the photo course. I was super pleased to see that not only we’re they taking some great photos, but they had excellent buoyancy and awareness under water.

Below are a few of Finn’s photos and we’ll have some from Arthur next week.