Bali - Wednesday 8th to Monday 13th of September 2010 (Hari Raya Puasa Holidays)

Hello Everyone,

It's been a pretty busy year for us here at Living Seas, but we've always got to make time for our annual visit to Bali to dive with the Molas and Mantas. This will mark our fourth year going back to Bali, and this time, we've decided to visit some of the newer attractions of underwater Bali, and promises to be a macro heaven for all the photographers out there. Of course we have the unfailing beauty of Nusa Penida as well, where we'll spend 2 days and 6 dives diving with the Molas and Mantas.


Puri Jati
Discovered within the last 3 years, this site is most famous for the chance to see the rare (and as yet unnamed) Mimic Octopus. Other species of Octopus can also be seen here, as can Cuttlefish, a wide variety of crabs and shrimps, Eels, various Nudibrach, and even Devilfish, Ambon Scorpionfish and Flying Gunard and lots of Seahorses.

Menjangan
The best wall diving in Bali, with a very bright & colourful underwater world. Lots of different sites to choose from, including a wooden shipwreck starting at 35m. A rich marine life and sandy beaches to relax over lunch. Nearby is 'Secret Bay', muck diving at its best and not to be missed by macro photographers; Frogfish, Seahorse & Nudibranch heaven.

Seven world class dive sites lie off the coast of Menjangan Island. This small, uninhabited island off the north west coast of Bali has been named as one of the most spectacular coral reefs of Bali. Here, the waters are clear and waves are minimal, ensuring one of the most delightful sets of conditions for diving or snorkeling in Bali. Menjangan Island is also called Deer Island because of the Menjangan deer, a species endemic to this part of Indonesia which make an annual migration across the channel from the mainland of Bali. Its local name is Pulau Menjangan.

Underwater sites range from sheltered and shallow coral gardens to vertical reef walls smothered with sea fans. From pygmy seahorses to schools of snappers, vivid gorgonians to reef sharks, sand banks with garden eels to magnificent formations of hard corals, Menjangan represents well the huge diversity of south east Asia's coral reefs. Visibility is normally excellent, ranging from between 15 and 50 metres.


Bali - Wednesday 8th to Monday 13th of September 2010 (Hari Raya Puasa Holidays)

S$990 per diver

Itinerary
8 Sep; airport pick up, overnight Sanur at Sindhumertha Suites (http://www.sindhumertha.com/sindhu-mertha-suite.html)
9 Sep; two dives Puri Jati, overnight Pemuteran at Aneka Bagus Pemuteran http://www.anekahotels.com/aneka-bagus/)
10 Sep; three dives Menjangan, overnight Sanur at Sindhumertha Suites
11 Sep; three dives Nusa Penida, overnight Sanur at Sindhumertha Suites
12 Sep; three dives Nusa Penida, overnight Sanur at Sindhumertha Suites
13 Sep; check out, airport drop

Proposed Flights
Departing
Singapore Airlines on SQ948 (Leaving Singapore at 19:00 and arriving in Denpasar at 21:30)
Jet Star on JQ117 (Leaving Singapore at 18:35 and arriving in Denpasar at 21:15)
Air Asia on QZ8493 (Leaving Singapore at 16:00 and arriving in Denpasar at 18:30)

Returning
Singapore Airlines on SQ947 (Leaving Denpasar at 20:05 and arriving in Singapore at 22:35)
Jet Star on JQ116 (Leaving Denpasar at 14:15 and arriving in Singapore at 16:50)
Air Asia on QZ8496 (Leaving Denpasar at 17:40 and arriving in Singapore at 20:15)


From experience, space on this particular trip runs out pretty quick, so please make your interest known and book your leave and air tickets early to avoid being left out.

As usual, let me know if you have any questions, and if you'd like not to receive these updates from me anymore, just drop me a note to let me know.

Thanks,

Leon Boey

Magical Manado: Living Seas Technical and Recreational Trip to Cocotinos, August 2010

Hello Everyone,

This year marks the very first time we're doing a Technical trip to Manado to dive the deep walls at Bunaken and Bangka. You will find sheer drops to hundreds of meters at the amazing walls of Bunaken National Park and Bangka islands. Furthermore, we will be diving many undiscovered sites for those looking for more challenging technical and exploratory diving. The resort offers technical dive equipment, with dive and boat crews experienced with technical divers and their equipment.

The walls at the Bunaken National Park drop to over 800 meters, and are largely unexplored, with only rumours of big fish living beyond the recreational diving limits. The Bangka island walls drop to over 70 meters, and have deep reefs that go all the way down to the sandy bottom. The wrecks in the Lembeh Straits are also accessible a few hours’ drive away. With Manado’s traditionally calm waters and amazing visibility, this is the perfect location to experience technical diving at its best.

Not to leave the recreational divers out, Manado has always been famous for world class diving. A dominating volcanic landscape creates a unique backdrop for you to discover North Sulawesi, one of the world's best yet least known dive destinations. The year-round diving here is all about amazing variety and exotic surroundings. The deep seas give excellent average visibility (25m). They are also home to many unusual species, for example the prehistoric fish "coelacanth" as well as some household names: reef-shark, turtles, eagle rays, napoleon wrasse, even dugong and orca! The majority of sites are conveniently accessed within one hour from your hotel and yet North Sulawesi's remote location means that the sites are never crowded with other divers.

Manado - Wednesday 4th to Monday 9th of August 2010 (over the National Day Holidays)

S$ 1,360 for recreational divers

S$ 750 for non-divers

S$ 2,190 for Tech 1 divers

S$ 2,390 for Tech 2 divers

Package includes

• All transfers to and from the Airport
• Villa accommodation
• Breakfast, lunch and dinner at the resort dining area
• 3 guided boat dives a day
• Snorkeling for non-divers
• Weights and tanks
• Gas bill for technical divers

Package excludes

• Marine park fees
• Nitrox for recreational divers
• Alcohol
• Anything else not stated above

Itinerary

4th August - Arrive in Manado, transfer to Cocotinos, do checkout dive at House Reef

5th August - 3 boat dives in Lembeh Straits

6th August - 3 boat dives at Bunaken (2 technical dives at Bunaken)

7th August - 3 boat dives at Bunaken (2 technical dives at Bunaken)

8th August - 3 boat dives at Bunaken (2 technical dives at Bunaken)

9th August - Depart from Cocotinos and return to Singapore

Proposed Flights

Departing

4th August on Silk Air on MI274 (Leaving Singapore at 09:25 and arriving in Manado at 13:05)

Returning

9th August on Silk Air on MI273 (Leaving Manado at 13:50 and arriving in Singapore at 17:05)

Currently, we already have half of our reserved spaces at the resort taken up with divers, so please express your interest early to get a space! Deposits of 50% will need to be collected before the end of April in order to confirm your trip.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions about the trip and I'll be happy to help answer them. Looking forward to seeing you in Manado!

Thanks,

Leon Boey

Season Opening Trips and Fundamentals Courses

Hello Everyone,

The local diving season is about to start soon, and here's our lineup of trips planned so far for the first half of 2010. I know some of you have been waiting to dive for a while now, here's your chance to get away for the weekend once again. This schedule is also up on our website, so please go have a look there if you have a chance.

Aur and Tioman Trips

Mar 5th to 7th to Aur

Mar 12th to 14th to Aur

Mar 19th to 21th to Tioman

Mar 26th to 28th to Tioman

Apr 9th to 11th to Tioman

Apr 16th to 18th to Aur

Apr 23rd to 25th to Aur

May 7th to 9th to Aur

May 14th to 16th to Aur

May 21st to 23rd to Aur

Jun 4th to 6th to Tioman

Jun 11th to 13th to Tioman

Jun 18th to 20th to Tioman

Jun 25th to 27th to Aur

We have limited spaces for each trip due to space at the respective resorts, so please let me know as soon as you can if you would like to go for a trip and I can put aside some space for you.

Fundamentals Courses for 2010

March 24th to 28th

April 28th to May 2nd

June 2nd to 6th

June 16th to 20th

July 7th to 11th

July 21st to 25th

August 25th to 29th

September 22nd to 26th

October 6th to 10th

November 10th to 14th

All Fundamentals courses are four full days each and run from Wednesday evening to Sunday evening and can be held at either Tioman or Cocotinos in Manado, let me know your preference if you are interested in a class and I can send you more details on the course.

As usual, drop me an email if you're interested in any of the above trips or courses.

On another note, I know that these emails are increasing in frequency as the season opening approaches, and if you feel that you don't want to be informed of our upcoming trips and activities, please send me an email and I'll be happy to take your email off this list, and you won't get any more updates from me.

Thanks,

Leon Boey

Layang Layang 7th to 13th June 2010

Hello Everyone,

Here are the details for the long awaited Layang Layang trip. We've had to move the booking to June instead of May because of an overbooking, but these dates are firm with the resort now.

As usual, please let me know as soon as you can if you'll be interested in this trip, and I'll need to collect a 50% deposit in order to confirm the booking with the resort. I'll need confirmations by the end of next week if possible. Please express your interest as well, even if you can't confirm, because spaces are very limited for this trip.



7th to 13th June - 7D6N Layang Layang Leisure Dive Package
S$1,749 Per Diver (based on Twin Sharing) for Singaporeans and Singapore PR only
US$1,580 Per Diver (based on Twin Sharing) for non-Singaporeans


Package includes

1. 1 night accommodation at Imperial Boutec Hotel Waterfront.
2. Return air transfer KK Airport - Layang Layang Island Resort - KK Airport.
3. 5 nights accommodation at Layang Layang Island Resort (LLIR).
4. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner with light refreshments at LLIR.
5. 2 boat dives on arrival day at LLIR, 3 boat dives on subsequent days and 1 boat dive on day before departure from LLIR.
6. Weights, weight belt and tanks.
7. Any prevailing government and service tax.

Package excludes

1. Land transfer fees between KK Airport and Imperial Boutec Hotel Waterfront.

Trip Itinerary

Day 1 (7 June 2010)

• Arrive in Kota Kinabalu Airport and take taxi to Imperial Boutec Hotel (MYR 35)
• Check-In. Free & Easy - Things to do include exploring Manukan Island, shopping at Filipino Market and Sinsuran Complex, and visit to Monsopiad Cultural Village.

Day 2 (8 June 2010)

• 0400hrs Check out from Hotel and take cab to KK Airport (50% surcharge)
• 0500hrs Meet representative at airport
• 0630hrs Flight to LLIR
• 0750hrs Arrival at LLIR Resort Orientation
• 2 boat dives with full board overnight stay

Day 3 - 5 (9 - 11 June 2010)

• 3 boat dives with full board overnight stay

Day 6 (12 June 2010)

• 0700hrs Light Breakfast
• 1 boat dive with full board overnight stay

Day 7 (13 June 2010)

• 0700hrs Light Breakfast
• 0800hrs Flight to Kota Kinabalu
• 0920hrs Arrival at Kota Kinabalu
• 1455hrs Depart from Kota Kinabalu to Singapore (Flight by Air Asia)
• 1710hrs Arrive in Singapore

Proposed Flight (from Singapore) Direct Flight from Singapore to KK via Air Asia

Depart
Singapore (SIN) Kota Kinabalu (BKI) AK6274 Changi Airport KK Airport Economy
Depart 1735 hrs
Arrive 1950 hrs

Return
Kota Kinabalu (BKI) Singapore (SIN) AK6273 KK Airport Changi Airport Economy
Depart 1455 hrs
Arrive 1710 hrs

Total Airfare ~S$122 inclusive of tax.



Thanks,

Leon Boey

Living Seas Trips to Sipadan 2010

Hello Everyone,

I know a lot of you have been asking about our Sipadan trips this year. Sorry about taking so long, but I've just heard back from the resorts and here are the details that I have for both of our trips this year.

Our first trip to Sipadan will be over the Good Friday holidays in April from the 1st to the 6th of April. The second trip is over Vesak Day and is from the 27th of May to the 1st of June.

Due to the fact that both these trips are over public holidays, I'm having a bit of trouble in securing spaces at the resort. I've managed to reserve 10 spaces for both trips but the resort is asking for full payment in order to confirm the spaces for us. Because of this, I'm afraid that I'll need confirmations and payments as soon as possible in order to get a space on these trips.

If you feel you can commit to either of these trips, please let me know as soon as you can, and I'll send over an invoice to you. Once payment is made, your space will be confirmed. However, I understand that these trips are still a few months away, and it may be difficult to foresee what may happen in these few months. Due to this, I promise that I'll refund any payments made for these trips if you really cannot make the trip later on, provided there is someone else available to take your space.

Please let me know if you have any other questions, and I'll be happy to help answer them.

On another note, I know many of you are also interested in going to Layang Layang, and I'm still ironing out details with them. I hope to have them ready for you soon, along with details on our Manado and Bali trips as well.



Travel Itinerary for 1st to 6th April Trip and for the 27th May to 1st June Trip

Proposed Flight
Depart
Singapore (SIN) Tawau (TWU) AK6153 Changi Airport Tawau Airport Economy
Depart 1200 hrs
Arrive 1430 hrs

Return
Tawau (TWU) Singapore (SIN) AK6152 Tawau Airport Changi Airport Economy
Depart 0855 hrs
Arrive 1120 hrs

Total Airfare: S$227.00 (excluded from package)

Itinerary
Day 1
1430hrs Arrive at Tawau Airport via AK6153. Land transfer from airport to Semporna Jetty.
1600hrs Boat transfer from Semporna to Sipadan Resort.
1700hrs Arrive Sipadan Resort. Check in and briefing.

Day 2 to 4
- 3 boat dives per day at Sipadan Island, Mabul Island or Kapalai Island (also Si Amil and Mantabuan Island for Mabul Borneo Divers).

Day 5
- Up to 2 boat dives if schedule permits.
- Check out from Sipadan Resort.
1330hrs Boat transfer to Semporna Jetty.
1430hrs Land transfer to Tawau Hotel.

Day 6
- Check out from Tawau Hotel.
0855hrs Depart for Singapore via AK6152.



6D5N Sipadan Water Village Package – S$1,390 Per Diver, S$1,090 Per Non-Diver (based on Twin Sharing)

Package Includes:

1. 2-way Land Transfer (Tawau Airport - Semporna Jetty - Tawau Airport). Takes about 75 min per direction.
2. 2-way Sea Transfers (Semporna Jetty - Sipadan Water Village - Semporna Jetty). Takes about 60 min per direction.
3. 4 Night Accommodation at Sipadan Water Village.
4. Buffet Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner with light refreshments.
5. Up to 3 guided boat dives daily except on arrival and departure day.
6. Unlimited dives at Mabul House Reef only with own buddy.
7. Weights, weight belt and tanks.
8. 1 Night Accommodation at Tawau Hotel on day before departure.

Excludes:
- Sipadan Marine Park Fee of MYR40/day.
- Airfare from Singapore to Tawau.



Thanks,

Leon Boey

Thresher Shark Research & Conservation Project and Upcoming Living Seas activities

Hello Everyone,

It's 2010! Happy New Year...

I've been working hard and confirming the details for the Thresher Shark Research & Conservation Project. Here's a brochure providing more detail into what's on the itinerary and more background information on the project and what to possibly expect on this trip.

The dates are confirmed from the 21st of February to the 28th of February, with a lecture the night before by the visiting marine scientist Simon Oliver. The price for the trip is S$800, and this covers accommodation, diving and food.

A few of you have asked about whether this is a special trip that is only open to GUE divers, and whether there is a minimum certification requirement. On both of these accounts, the answer is a resounding no. We would want most of you to participate on this trip, not only to help with the research, but I personally look at it as a chance to learn more about what really goes on during these research expeditions. I'm really interested in how research is done, and learning this would add a new and richer dimension to the diving that we do.

If you look at the itinerary, you'll see that there's a pool session, where we'll be evaluated on in-water skills, and also I guess assigned our various tasks, depending on skill level. Even if you feel that your skills aren't up to snuff, I'm sure we can work something out during the training sessions. I'll be on hand to aid anyone with skill issues, and this might be a good chance to really test those skills out on a proper in-water task.

A number of divers have already expressed interest, but I'll be calling for final confirmations by the end of this week, and full payment needs to be collected by the end of the month. Flight details will also be given out to the divers who have confirmed along with more details on the trip.

I really hope you'll decide to join us on this trip, and hopefully we can learn something and perhaps implement something here in our local or Malaysian waters. If you feel that you're confirmed for this trip, then please drop me an email to let me know and I'll put you on the list.


Pre-Season Opening Activities

As most of you may know, the local season will be starting pretty soon, and here at Living Seas, we're gearing up for it by hosting a number of activities designed to get you back into the water.

First up is our once a year trip to Hantu. Most of the Living Seas crew will be going with the MV Quest on the afternoon of Sunday the 24th of January. We're planning to do a rescue refresher for our crew to ensure that their skills are honed and ready before the season starts. However, everybody is welcome to come and experience Hantu and perhaps enjoy the show that the LS crew will be putting on. This trip is priced at $79 per person, with 2 dives planned for the afternoon.

Our second pre-season activity is a deep pool session from 1pm to 6pm on Saturday the 6th of February. We'll be using the NTU swimming pool this year, which is a 4m deep diving pool. I'll be conducting a twin tank workshop on that day. We've also brought in the brand new Halcyon Infinity system, the first set to arrive in Singapore. So if you're interested to learn about twins, or try out the Infinity system, please let me know if you'd like to come. If you're interested in neither, then take this opportunity to get back in the water to practice those kicks or try out new gear. We're pricing this pool session at $35 per single tank, with a $1 entry fee to be paid at the pool.

I'll need interested parties to let me know about both the Hantu trip and the deep pool session by the end of this week so I can arrange the logistics for both.


Season Opening

I currently don't have any confirmed details on when the season will be opening, due to the unpredictability of the weather. However, I've gotten reassurances from both Tioman and Aur that by the first week of March, trips will be up and running. Those of you who really need an open water fix can sign up for our first weekend out. Be aware that these trips may be pushed back if the weather isn't good enough to run the trip.


Upcoming 2010 Trips

For those people who didn't manage to get my first email, here's a recap of our upcoming trips this year. I'll be sending out more updates on prices when I have them.

February 21 (Sun) - 28 (Sun) : Science Trip to Malapascua
March 25 (Thu) - 28 (Sun) : Tech Trip to 7 Skies and Aur Tanker
April 1 (Thu) - 6 (Tue) : Sipadan (Good Friday)
April 27 (Tue) - May 2 (Sun) : Layang Layang (Labour Day)
May 26 (Wed) - May 31 (Mon) : Sipadan (Vesak Day)
May 27 (Thu) - Jun 1 (Tue) : Donsol (Vesak Day)
June 23 (Wed) - 27 (Sun) : Anilao
August 4 (Wed) - 9 (Mon) : Tech/Rec Trip to Manado (National Day)
September 8 (Wed) - 13 (Mon) : Bali (Hari Raya Puasa)
October 19 (Tue) - 24 (Sun) : Living Seas GUE Tech Trip
November 12 (Fri) - 16 (Tue) : Raja Ampat (Hari Raya Haji)
December 17 (Fri) - 22 (Wed) : Maldives

Thanks,

Leon Boey

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Hello Everyone,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you!

First up, I know it's been a long time since I've emailed some of you. This email may or may not be welcome, but I do intend to send out updates a little more regularly via email. If you don't wish to hear from me in the future, just reply and let me know and I'll take you off this list.

I have recently received some comments about the lack of up to date information on our website, sorry, my bad, been too busy with the diving to keep that updated, I promise to do better in the coming year ahead. In the meantime, I thought I'd send out this email to let you know what's on the plate next year for Living Seas. I've figured that this would be a more convenient format for disseminating information to you, I hope you agree as well.

Thresher Sharks!
A couple of highlights about what's coming up for us next year. We've recently tied up with The Thresher Shark Research & Conservation Project (http://www.threshersharkproject.org/TSRCP/Home.html) in Malapascua to help with their research expeditions. Our first trip there will happen in February and we're looking for like minded divers who would like to contribute to this week-long research project. Hopefully this will be the first of many trips there, and a long and fruitful collaboration between Living Seas, GUE and TSRCP. I've attached the invitation letter that they've sent me here,

Email me for details about this project, and we can hopefully do some good with the diving that we do!

Equipment Servicing
Living Seas will be opening up an in-house servicing workshop soon, so you can send your regulators to us for servicing too. In the near future, we'll also be offering some newly designed courses for people who wish to know more about their diving equipment and in-the-field repairs and diagnosis of common equipment issues. After all, you don't want to lose out on a diving holiday if your equipment fails on you the first day you get there!

GUE Fundamentals Courses
I've been thinking about this for a while now, and I've decided to open up a Fundies class in Tioman every month when the season is open next year. I'll be working out the dates for these courses, and will be publishing them on the GUE website and our Living Seas Course Calendar. Those of you interested to develop your diving skills further, please let me know and join in on a course schedule that works for you. Remember, this isn't just for Tech divers, but has benefits for divers regardless of training and experience.

Trips for 2010
January 6 (Wed) - 10 (Sun) : Anilao
February 21 (Sun) - 28 (Sun) : Science Trip to Malapascua
March 25 (Thu) - 28 (Sun) : Tech Trip to Repulse/Altair
April 1 (Thu) - 6 (Tue) : Sipadan (Good Friday)
April 27 (Tue) - May 2 (Sun) : Layang Layang (Labour Day)
May 27 (Thu) - Jun 1 (Tue) : Donsol (Vesak Day)
June 23 (Wed) - 27 (Sun) : Anilao
August 4 (Wed) - 9 (Mon) : Tech/Rec Trip to Manado (National Day)
September 8 (Wed) - 13 (Mon) : Bali (Hari Raya Puasa)
October 19 (Tue) - 24 (Sun) : Living Seas GUE Tech Trip
November 12 (Fri) - 16 (Tue) : Raja Ampat (Hari Raya Haji)
December 17 (Fri) - 22 (Wed) : Maldives

That's all for now, I hope to hear from you soon regarding any diving activity that you might be interested in.

Thanks,

Leon Boey

Revisiting Thomas November 09

We visited Thomas again to close off the season and bid farewell to our friend until next season.

Here's a video that Wen compiled from the photos we took of our trip out to see him.

Alan's Diving Career

My diving journey started way back in 1994 when I was a student in Australia, but unfortunately, I never completed my Open Water module due to a bout of flu. After years of procrastination and other commitments, I decided in 2006 that I wanted to finally complete what I had started more than a decade ago before I get any older. Being a history buff, I had always dreamed of diving the WW2 wrecks of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse. Both ships were part of Force Z, which was sent up the coast of Malaysia to counter the Japanese invasion threat. Being able to see the wrecks of these two iconic ships, would be dream come true for me. Most divers start off wanting to see the fishes and corals, but I had made my mind up to go tech.

My Open Water dive was a complete disaster: my buddy disappeared the moment he hit the water, but I had problems descending because I was unable to equalise my ears. With the help of the descend line, I pulled my way down while trying to force my ears to equalise. The result was a blood filled mask because of sinus injuries, and barotrauma which resulted in impaired hearing for the following week. During my first leisure dive a few months later, I was paired up with an “instabuddy”, someone that you meet the first time on the trip and forced to dive together because both of us have no buddy. The moment he hit the water, he had disappeared to go about his own ways. It then occurred to me that this was contrary to everything I had learnt during Open Water! What if something had happened to me during the dive? The buddy system is meant to ensure that in the event of an emergency, buddies help each other out to ensure a happy conclusion to the situation. Is this the reality of diving? I aired my concerns on an American dive forum and was pointed in the direction of Global Underwater Explorers (GUE), and the local dive centre that taught it, Living Seas. However, I was filled with hesitation because of the less than friendly response that some of the divers had towards questions about GUE. It seemed to me like an exclusive club that is bent on keeping out those who want to join and are willing to abide by the rules. I continued looking around for answers to my questions, but it still came back to GUE. Everyone pointed me back in the direction of Gideon Liew, and I was impressed that even in the United States, Gid was very much respected as a GUE instructor. So I dropped Living Seas an e-mail, and Leon answered my e-mail, and invited down to their old office at Riverwalk for a chat.

Leon is definitely nothing like the militants I had encountered on the various dive forums. He is a Tech 2 diver, and an instructor himself, an accomplished diver too. He had a quiet patient demeanour to him, and patiently explained to me the philosophy of GUE. I was sold after chatting with him, but I balked at the cost of Fundamentals, which is the first step towards Technical Diver 1. The total cost of the course plus trip, was twice the amount that I had paid for my Open Water course. But after talking to more people, I decided to take the plunge.

A year after I received my Open Water card, I started my Fundamentals course with the feared and revered (both at the same time) Gideon Liew. My first impression of Gid is that considering his reputation, he’s an awfully humble and patient man. I’ve seen many lesser instructors with egos far larger and far less patience. I’m a diver who demands perfection from what I do, knowing that I need to be at my best for the demands of technical diving, and so there were many occasions when I had beaten myself up because of perceived shortcomings on my part. The thing I remembered most about Gid was him coming over to me as I was walking back to the shore at Tioman, and asking me how I thought I did. I expressed my disappointment at my perceived failure with certain tasks, and Gid just said, “Oh, you’ll be surprised. Let’s have a look at your video analysis later”. When the dreaded moment of my analysis came up, I was surprised that I did do alright after all, and Gid just turned to me and said to me encouragingly, “See, what did I tell you?”. During my last training dive, I had expressed my concern about being able to do a task without losing my buoyancy, and Gid just patiently assured me and told me to do my best. So the moment came, and when I pulled it off, I was ecstatic and Gid shook my hand vigorously, and amazed me with his ability to speak through his regulator by saying “Well done, well done”.

That Fundamentals course, was the best course that I had ever taken in my entire diving career, period. Not only did I walk away a better diver, but I also walked away with a tremendous amount of respect for Gid, in his role as an instructor, mentor, and a diver. I have since continued diving with Living Seas, whose many returning satisfied customers, are like a little happy family. Every trip was a learning journey with Gid’s protégé, Leon, who has since become a Fundamentals instructor too. He has taught me and guided me in my preparation for my Technical Diver 1 course, which I will be undertaking next year.

I am lucky in that my partner, Kathy, is now also a member of the Living Seas family, and also a convert to the GUE way of diving, and she will be taking her Fundamentals course with Leon. We had many discussions about why we enjoy diving with Living Seas, so here’s my take.

Why Living Seas? Why GUE? I’ll be honest with you: Living Seas, is not cheap, and the word “cheap”, can mean so many things. They are not “cheap”, in that their courses are expensive, but as Kathy said after observing a returning Living Seas student during her dives, Living Seas churn out students who are far better trained than most. It’s not just about their skills, but it’s also about their mindset towards safe diving with preserves the environment. It is not that their courses are expensive, rather, it’s excellent value. Living Seas is not “cheap”, in that they do not send divers out in equipment that have not been serviced in years, such as jammed inflator buttons, or torn wetsuits that you have to zip up with the attached raffia string. The excellent crew of Living Seas walk the talk of GUE, which is excellence in diving.

Many detractors scoff at GUE, that it teaches nothing that the other agencies are already teaching. And I agree. But the question that begs answering is, are the teachings being practiced? I have dived with numerous instabuddy who are GUE trained, and I never have a problem with their equipment, dive planning, or them disappearing on me in the water. That’s because of our GUE training, and our standard equipment configuration means we can bail each other quickly and easily out without struggling with an unfamiliar setup.

GUE’s course are not cheap, but then again, I’ve already talked about “cheap”. Let me ask you this: how much money would you place on your safety, your life? In Jarrod Jablonsky’s (President of GUE) “Fundamentals of Better Diving”, he wrote that training time for dive courses are now shortened so much that students are not taught the essential skills, and are not given enough time to practice. And because there are now so many dive centres, students will sign up with the dive centre which cost the least. But with razor thin margins, the dive centre is unable to maintain its equipment, it can’t pay its dive professionals, and in order to survive based on unrealistic margins, instructors are pushed to exhaustion because they have to teach far too many classes in too short a short time. Corners are cut, and something has to give. Are you willing to accept that it might be your life? How much are you willing to give for an excellent dive education?

Granted, the GUE way of diving is not for everyone. But if you like the idea of diving safely as a team, I would seriously recommend joining Living Seas for a trip, and have a talk with Leon or any of their excellent crew.

Back from our Tech Trip!

We've just gotten back from our annual Tech Trip to the Wrecks of the South China Sea.

Good visibility, but unfortunately we were not blessed with any big fish sightings, and the wind was blowing from the typhoons in the North (I think).

Despite that, we had a good few days diving the Repulse and the 7 Skies, and even did a dive on the bow of the 7 Skies, definitely worth exploring more!

Thanks to all the divers who attended, and hopefully we'll have a better trip next year!

Another Fundies Class Report by Kelvin David Tan

Did my fundies last month with Leon Boey and 3 friends, at Pulau Tioman, Malaysia.

My course report is a bit late... but better late than never!

We did our course over 3 and a half days. there were 4 of us, and all were shooting for a tech pass.

A little bit about my own diving history first. I first got my open water card about 16 years ago. did a couple of trips. And that was that. didnt blow a bubble again till around 6 years ago when i went on a LOB. As it had been many many years since my last dive, i went for a requalification with padi.

That was about it. Didnt really do any more trips till last year when i hooked up with some friends. Some of them were gue/ dir and after a couple of trips with them i was sold. It was also nice to have a regular bunch of people to dive with, so i made the decision to get back into this sport a bit more seriously. So this year i embarked on upgrading my open water with a bsac sports diver card and an advanced nitrox card.

However, all of this was also in a way, preparatory training for fundies. i got the equipment, got it set up, and dived it in a few trips this year. as i was aiming for a tech pass, i also went for a twin tank workshop run by a local GUE rep. After that i did a couple of trips and dove twins. more of that later.

So, the sum total of my experience before fundies i think was in the region of about 50-60 dives. about 30 of those dives were this year and last year and about 20 dives were done with twins.

Anyway, i think there are enough reports floating around for people to know more or less what happens on the course. so i will skip the hour by hour account and get straight to my impressions.

First, its packed. I mean, you read all the reports about early starts and finishing at midnight. and its true! there was no time to sit back and relax during the 3 and a half days. either we were in the classroom, or in the water, or in the restaurant eating, or collapsed in bed. It was always a case of "go grab a bite come back in 20 mins", or "go for a toilet break, come back in 15 mins" kind of thing. There is really a huge amount to go through. And also our course was compounded as we had 4, so that is one extra person for video reviews etc, which all adds up.

The days started around 7, and we really did finish around midnight. i remember falling asleep on the desk on the penultimate night..

It therefore goes without saying, that it is tiring. whilst the course requirements say 5 dives, these are not just 5 x 1 hour dive. You hit the water, and you stay there for a good long time. half an hour to forty mins on the bottom, up again on the surface for 15-20 mins debrief, and back down again kind of thing.

So, tip no. 1. Get fit. Strength, cardio, its all good, Im not saying you couldnt wing it if you arent in a good state of fitness, but really, the fitter and more stamina you have, the better.

What did I learn.

Well, although this was my first GUE course, I wouldnt say I was a stranger to GUE/ DIR. Prior to the course, I think I had read just about everything there was to read about it. Watched just about every video there was about it, including skills and drills. I had dived with GUE trained divers and observed them, and picked up bits and pieces along the way. Prior to the course, you get all the course materials and of course I also went through these.

But, I still learnt. On the theory side, things like the gas management planning shortcuts were new to me. On the practical side, better techniques for a variety of things. e.g. for clipping on/ off. How to finally tie knots. I learnt a new way to descend from the surface! I had always just been vertical in the water and released the air, but we were taught to lie back and release as this helped evacuate air faster and it was true. I learnt a new faster way of deploying my SMB. my equipment got fine tuned in terms of fitting. and of course, i learnt how to improve my trim, propulsion kicks etc. especially the back kick, which was abysmal prior to the course.

The Standards.

Well, lets just say, there are the GUE published standards for a tech pass (deviation in depth 1m, trim angle 20 degrees of whatever etc) and there are the standards that our instructor expected. To say that they are much higher than that, would be a gross understatement.

One particular example comes to mind. It was our last dive and we were doing drills. Basically, the 4 of us would be expected to get in position around a rock, and maintain position. so there i am doing my drill. and in the course of doing so, i remember rising a few inches from my start position.. Straightaway, i would get the thumbs down to descend. This was the last day. I was completely exhausted. And i remember some choice thoughts passing through my mind along the lines of WTF its only a few goddamn inches wtf is his effing problem, WTF am i doing this crap for, GUE can go stuff itself kind of thing.

(hope you dont read this leon!)

But it was like that through the course. even if you pulled off something that you thought was competent, there was always room for improvement.

I got my tech pass. And the thing is, I don't know if I would have got it if I had not just met GUE standards, or the higher standards Leon expected. And no doubt, some people might say, its not fair to impose standards beyond what the syllabus requires.

But here is the thing, notwithstanding those random thoughts, I think its a great thing. I know that may seem a bit weird, but this is how I explained it to Leon when he gave me my result and asked for my feedback. I said, you know, getting this tech pass, wasnt easy. And ordinarily, one should feel a sense of achievement or accomplishment in getting it. But, I didn't. On the contrary, because of the standards that he had set, I felt truly humbled. And notwithstanding the tech pass, it dawned on me how far I still have to go, to reach HIS standard. And that is a good thing. Because otherwise, one may be tempted to be complacent. But because of what he instilled, I know I still have a very very long way to go, and a lot more training and practice ,more practice, and even more practice to do to try and attain those standards.

So, lesson no 2, it doesnt end with fundies. Even if you arent going tech or cave. Fundies, is just the start.

Just as a sidenote, the diving is tiring. I was always the, enjoyable recreational type diver. But the diving you have to do on fundies, is different. If you have not done fundies before, to get an idea, next time you dive, pick a rock, and maintain position on it. and i mean maintain position. Forward backward, sideways, up down. Not allowed. ordinarily, 10-15mins into it, you are probably going to feel a little tired. Now imagine doing that for a couple of hours. Because that is what you do. Yes you do propulsion drills, emergency ascents drills, no mask swims and stuff. But one of the enduring memory I will have of fundies, is holding station on that stupid godforsaken lump of coral, for what seemed to hours at a time. Of course, at all times you are expected to not just hold station, but do it in perfect trim. And it is tiring because your muscles, are not attenuated to having to backkick for long stretches. And because you havent found your "sweet spot" your fins move a lot more than they should etc. I picked up a sore ankle on the first day, and it really plagued me for the ensuing days. I just wasnt used to using my ankles so much, for such long periods. And jetfins are not the lightest fins around.

So lesson no 3 the easier you find it to hold trim, get your back kick etc sorted out etc the better it will be for you.

This brings me on to the topic of pre fundies preparation. Now, i have read all the threads about this. And I know generally there are two camps. There is the, dont bother, you will learn the wrong thing, leave it to fundies camp and there is the, no harm in practice will help you with fundies camp.

This is my own view. If you are aiming for a tech pass, or want to ensure you pass first time, then there is certainly benefit to be gained from practice and some training beforehand. Of that, I have absolutely no doubt. Dont get me wrong. You do not need it to pass. Two of the other people on the course, were relatively new to DIR, and had not going for prep training like me and they also passed. But compared to me, they had a lot more diving under their belt. So to me, it helped me, and I believe a few things I found easier, than they did because I had some prep beforehand. I am very sure, if i had not donned twins for example before this course, no way in hell would I have had the stability in place to pull off a pass. As that alone took a few dives to get in place.

The only caveat I would put is, make sure you learn the right things, to practice and not the wrong things. So either learn from experienced, GUE trained divers, or go for a fundies prep workshop or equivalent.

Other thoughts.

Lesson No 4, do it with friends. Yes, no doubt, many people have gone through this with perfect strangers. But this is a tough course. Having some good friends on the course, people you know and were comfortable with, was very very reassuring and helped get me through, when the going was particularly tough. It was nice to have people to banter with for some light hearted moments. My friend did his swim test at a different time from the rest of us. I still swam out and did it again with him to encourage him. And he would have done the same for me. Its small things like that, that made this course much more palatable than it could have been. (halfway through the swim, i realised we were swimming through schools of small jellyfish. and all i had was swiming trunks on. thankfully they were of the non-stinging type, otherwise our friendship would likely ahve been over there and then!)

One other important reason. Whilst we were assessed on individual skills, you are also of course, assessed in your ability to co-operate and work as a team. There were times, when people fell short and this pulled the team down. We all screwed up. I have launched DSMBs quite a few times. Never had any problems before. But, in one memorable series of emergency OOG ascent practices, I was the bagman and succeeded in wrapping myself and nearly some of the team in my line... not once. but twice. This pulled down our performance as a whole. And others also made other mistakes. And of course, all of this gets pointed out either in the water debriefs, or the video debriefs.

Being friends helped, because we didnt let it get to us, and worked through the problems. But if you diving with strangers, it could lead to tension and friction.

Just something to add about the team thing. Yes you read about it, yes its a core tenet of GUE. But until you go for fundies, you never really grasp, how critical it is. and how immensely rewarding it is, when things do click. on one OOG drill, even though it wasnt perfect, it came together. the bag was up within a minute, we were on the ascent on the clock etc. and with the minimum of fuss and communcation, because we knew what we had to do, and what our jobs were. as leon said, several times during the course, most of the time in our everyday recreational diving, you might not really appreciate what it means to have a team. but in the worst of times, and that is what we train for, it can make the difference between life and death.

i also finally realised, why GUE is so hot about trim and positioning etc. for the longest time, at least until i took the course, i just thought that it made us more efficient in the water as there was less drag. (a small part of me i guess also thought, i think its just cos it looks good). but i now realise, its a lot more than that.

without good trim, you cannot execute a decent back kick. without a decent back kick, you cannot properly hold formation. and without holding formation, things can go tits up, faster than you can possibly imagine. this, i realised, on one of those dives where, just from someone being a little out of position, things slowly snowballed and ended in a right royal mess, with the team half separated, and me with an uncontrolled ascent for the last 3 m wrapped up in my own DSMB line. and this also brought home the other message. you are only as good, as the weakest member in your team. you can have god like skills, but if you dive with someone who doesnt, then the team suffers. and again, you will never know, but when the crap hits the fan, and you need everyone to pull their weight, and someone doesnt, things can go very badly wrong. i now truly understand, the importance of all the training, and the emphasis on a unified team.

All said and done, and no doubt this has been said before but to me, this was the best diving course I have ever done. It was tough,but immensely rewarding and I learnt a huge amount and it has set me on the path to being a much better, safer diver, which is the goal that I set myself.

I cannot finish this report, without commending Leon who was a fantastic instructor. Thoroughly professional, endlessly patient (2 surgeons, a lawyer and a civil servant can be quite trying at times with questions). In the water, his skills were on another dimension entirely.

It showed how high the bar was, and made me want to get there someday. Just as tiring as it was for us, so it must have been equally exhausting for him , but he never once showed it. He was firm in his expectations, but always in a constructive , encouraging manner. Even though this was one of his first fundies courses, you couldnt have told. It really says a lot, for GUE's instructor standards.

Thomas Tribute Trip

In Memory of Thomas Yong

1959 - 2009

There are legends who walked the face of the earth,

you were one of those aquatically, for whom you were worth.

Hovering amidst the oceans so blue & so deep,

experience, compassion and endless fun you instilled in each trip.

Of the sea's critters, pelagics & wrecks to explore,

you entertained us with your stories galore.

May the legacy of your adventures be continued to be told,

about the SMB of 6-feet and fin markings so bold.

A dream that you left behind will not be forgotten our friend,

as it shall live on, across blue seas and soft sand.

Scripted here is your name, we tribute to you above

bless us dear brother with safe dives and much love.

We've just returned from our liveaboard trip to put up a memorial for Thomas. We found a beautiful, peaceful location for the memorial, surrounded by fish, bumphead parrotfishes and turtles to lay Thomas to rest. May he forever dive his favourite dive site.

Here are some videos of the process in bringing the memorial down to rest.

Big thanks to Wen for making the memorial and for the beautiful poem engraved he wrote for the memorial. To Terence and Alvin for the heavy lifting, Eugenia, Kenneth, James and Pam for the videos and photos.

Thanks also to the Yong family for attending and allowing us to do this for Thomas, could not have happened without their blessing.

Thanks to all who attended and helped with making the trip happen, and thanks to Friendly Waters for assisting with the travel and accommodations.

LIVING SEAS GALLERY, our very own pictorial showcase for divers by divers

Greetings my fellow scubanautical beings! It's been a long wait and it is finally up! Updated on our "zen-ishly" white walls are a new addition of underwater pictorials compiled by our very own in-house shutter-"sea"bugs.

With the great help of the our Living Seas crew, we hope you'll enjoy the new scenery!

For starters, keep your shutters clickin' & housings lubed every season, as we want to encourage our fellow divers to share their undersea sweet spots & critter shots with us now and then! We might even showcase their masterpieces on our walls!

Diving into the mains, a "mini shutterbug competition" in the near future will be a good event towards ending our dive season and to top it off with sweet desserts, winners selected will stand to win an opportunity to enter our "wall of fame" & display their works on our walls for a period of time.

Keep you guys updated when the time comes. Meantime, keep your suggestions, ideas, plans flowing in like the current! All ideas (even strange ones) are heartily welcomed to this new area to learn, share & interact!

Merry-Ohs! Cheerios!

Wen

A Fundamentals Course Report by Jim MacDonald

It's been a few weeks since my GUE Fundamentals course and I've had a chance to sit back on the course and digest a bit.

GUE Fundamentals
August 2009
Location: Salang Beach, Tioman - Malaysia
Instructor: Leon Boey

The experience started with meeting at Living Seas dive shop in Singapore on a Friday. I had been working in our Singapore office for a few days so went after work and met my buddies, Charles and Anders, for the course, as well as a few divers that were heading to Tioman for fun dives over the weekend. We took a small van from Singapore to the Malaysian border, passed through with no issues and headed straight through to a small hotel near Mersing Pier, where we would be taking the boat to Tioman island. Arriving around midnight to the hotel we brushed our teeth and went to bed asap as we had to wake up at 5am to catch the ferry. We woke up dreary eyed and made our way to the pier where we slept before departure, and on the two hour ride out to the island.

On arrival we went to our rooms and unpacked all our stuff and grabbed a bite to eat. Leon was finishing up another Fundies course so we had a day and a half of fun dives in singles to get ourselves wet and dive a bit with our buddies. The first dive was a shore dive, searching for a small wreck in Salang Bay; the search was fruitless and it ended up a 30 minute sand dive. We were able to hop on the boat later for a short trip out to some other Tioman dive sights, saw a few eels, some giant clams, nudis. I kept flashing one of our dive buddies w/ a camera every time I came across something interesting (or not too interesting), hopefully he wasn't too annoyed, haha.

Day One: Been anticipating this for some time, let's go
Our first lecture began on Sunday after a few morning fun dives. Leon was in the water during the morning dives with his previous fundies class for fun, and it gave him a chance to see us in the water and how we dived. He said we looked good in the water and that a large emphasis of our in-water time would be spent, both on skills, but more importantly on our team skills and awareness. He stressed that he would be continually raising the bar on us, and expected us to do our skills with good buoyancy control, trim and most importantly, team awareness! The final point on team awareness was stressed over and over again during the course, in between dives, in lectures, and debriefs.

We started the lectures with our reasons for taking the course and our impressions of GUE as a dive agency and GUE divers. Leon talked about the origination of GUE and some of his dive experiences in the past. To be perfectly honest, the presentations were interesting and we had some great discussions (and humbling moments w/ the video debriefs) but I can't recall which topics were discussed which days. All the topics are interrelated and with all our questions we ended up with some long discussions.

After the lecture we went outside with our gear, tried on and adjusted our backplates. Mine was too tight so I sweated in the humidity while making adjustments to the harness and crotch strap. We looked at the bolt snaps, made sure everything was tied on properly then dragged out the double Aluminum 80's we'd be using. We bolted on the wings and backplates and discussed the rigging. Leon (and Miko, the instructor intern and our underwater Spielberg) then set up a set of Scubapro MK25's on one doubles set and Apeks DS4's on another (the divers happened to be split between the two). There was a lighthearted discussion about the differences in performance and hose routing, it was the only discussion of any kind about gear brand for the course; conclusion was that both are fine and we all have personal preferences.

We went over the manifold and the nine failures, and the benefits of the manifolded doubles system, such as why we have the long hose and inflator on the right post and backup and SPG on the left post. We then broke for dinner before going back upstairs, for another lecture, I believe it was on deco and lasted a few hours. This was one of the highlights of the course for me and we talked about the benefits of using a table system rather than relying on a computer. I had a few questions about the GUE Recreational MDL's on-the-fly chart which Leon answered by getting out the large classroom PADI table as well as looking at the GUE Recreational Tables. I found that getting a better understanding of Deco, the tables and how to plan dives is actually quite liberating compared to the limitations of using a computer.

I should highlight that one of the benefits of doing the course at a small dive resort was that there are virtually no logistics to consider in terms of meeting at the dive sights, dinner, etc. The dive shop was our classroom, our fill station, and we were diving off the shore out front. Our rooms were 10 seconds walk away, and the restaurant was a whopping 30 seconds walk away! This meant no time was wasted commuting, getting gas fills, getting lost, and all our time could be devoted to the class. For anyone doing fundies, or any GUE course, this is a great way to do it. Maximum in water time and time with the instructor and no time wasted with logistics and commuting.

Day Two: "Is this where you want to be?"
This day started early with breakfast at the local restaurant, the same one we would be eating nearly all our meals at. Then down to the dive center to pull out our gear and work on dry runs for the basic 5, and shooting an SMB. Leon showed us how to do the drills and explained the reasoning behind the different movements and the fine details. We then went through one by one and did the drills ourselves. Satisfied that we could do them sitting down on the dock it was time for the swim test and breath hold. We all finished within the allotted 14 minutes, even one of our team who had a cramp. The breath hold as well was passed with no drama.

We kitted up and walked down the shore into the water. Leon and Miko went down first to set up a circuit with a spool for us to practice kicks around and shot a bag. We then went down to practice our kicks. The film later on was great for critiquing our style, my modified kicks needed to be toned down and my helicopter kick was lacking grace and precision. For some reason my backwards kick was cooperating that day.

I should note that before every dive we went through GUE EDGE, it would go smoothly until we got to gas where we would then fumble and confuse ourselves on the consumption calculations and where we turn for half usable, etc. Plus my gauge was in PSI while everyone else was on bar.. :)

I think we spent between 2-3 hours in the water for the morning session, practicing kicks, the basic 5, and shooting an SMB. Every dive we did would have a leader, a bag guy, and a deco guy. On our second dive and my first as leader, I waited way too long to reposition the team while doing the basic 5. There was a light current and in the formation with everyone facing each other, we were floating way off course. The obvious solution was to have everyone face the current and kick lightly while doing the drills. We eventually got there but the dive could have been significantly shorter if we weren't repositioning ourselves every couple of minutes. During the debrief I felt it was a situation I should have handled better as the solution was so obvious. Leon commented on our drills and said we did ok but needed improvements and he asked the question we heard so often that it became the course slogan, "Is this where you want to be?" We were doing ok but we came to raise the bar, get our team and situational awareness, and buoyancy and trim squared away. Leon was gracious when we were getting down on ourselves but always reinforced the "Is this where you want to be?" mantra, which kept us all focused on raising the bar and trying to improve.

During the entire course the emphasis on team diving was always strong and when we weren't there for our buddies, Leon let us know it. During the mask replace and clear one of us started to drift upwards, we grabbed their elbow to provide feedback but weren't nearly as responsive as we should have been. We quickly learned to take responsibility for providing feedback to our teammates doing drills and assist them if their buoyancy was compromised. It was important to do the skills properly and with good buoyancy, but it was just as important to step in as a buddy to prevent any mistakes from spiraling away. We would hear over and over again that it was our responsibility to look after our teammates and that we HAD to be ready to assist in any situation.

We debriefed and watched ourselves on video after lunch. Very humbling but extremely useful! One never knows what one looks like underwater so the immediate feedback you get is invaluable. We then watched a few of the GUE video'd skills, something to strive for indeed. haha.

We had a second long dive that afternoon and another lecture that night. The dive consisted of the unconscious diver rescue, which Leon made look easy, we made it look un-doable. And we worked on valve drills after dry runs we did in the afternoon. It was humbling to watch Leon execute a perfect unconscious diver rescue, and valve drill without moving an inch in any direction, while we drifted all over the place the second our hands went back behind our heads. We learned techniques to improve our reach and make it easier to get at the valves. The valve drills went smoother than our basic 5 as we positioned ourselves against the current. We also worked on air shares and backup light deployment. Trying to remember which way to route the light cord always caused a bit of pause to think and we all dropped the ball on the backup light deployment by stowing our primary before deploying and signaling the team with the backup. We still made errors and needed to improve our team awareness, especially while doing drills. All dives were finished with a planned ascent stopping every 10ft/3meters where prudent. There were no direct shots to the surface and we were expected to ascend together with each diver on the same plane. The deco captain would call the stops and the bag man would reel in the line. This sounds easy, but is easier said than done. The first few dives were a mess but we steadily improved throughout the course.

Descents were also supposed to be done as a team, maintaining full buoyancy control the whole way down. No deflating your wing and dive bombing the coral with a final inflator blast to level off. I was so nervous during the first dive that I forgot to clear my ears the first 10 ft! Luckily they cleared fine but I focused myself on being more in control of my descents from there on.

We finished off the night w/ another video review and lecture on gas mixtures and reasoning behind Nitrox 32. We had all taken Nitrox courses in the past but it was refreshing to get the GUE perspective, and see the reasoning behind using nitrox rather than air. I started to see the holistic reasoning behind the choice of gasses, deco strategy, equipment and dive planning come together and understand that changing one aspect will affect other parts in ways that may or may not be optimal. We always focused on the "WHY" behind the ideas that GUE promotes, there was never a 'that's the way it is' answer. Leon rarely lectured us, we were constantly asking questions and it was more of a discussion, crucial as we were all tired from a long day! We were then passed our exams which we took back to our rooms, glanced at, then went to bed around 11pm.

Day Three: A day spent submerged

We spent more than three hours under water on Day Three. We debriefed on the surface between dives, going through GUE Edge and getting instruction from Leon. We added air share ascents as the final skill as well as combining the Basic 5 and Valve Drills as well. We continued to make elementary errors, especially in regards to team awareness, during the no mask swims the third buddy was often forgotten and left behind while the pair swam off together. The same thing happened while doing air share swims, the third buddy would be scrambling to catch up while the air sharing buddies pair rounded a corner together. There was good news as well, our trim had improved, buoyancy control was getting better, and we were a much tighter unit than on day one. Our ability to stay close was improving as well, largely due to the fact that we were gaining comfort with our helicopter and backwards kicks.

For our last dives of the course we had a couple join us who had done their fundies courses four years ago, and had since stopped diving due to family commitments and were now getting back into it. They had to get evaluated by a fundies instructor, and updated on procedural changes, so were thrown into the mix of our air share ascent drills and drifting debriefs. It was nice to see some new friendly faces and meet a few divers who had been threw it before. At one point we had two buddy teams sharing air, and another shooting a bag and trying to run deco. I wish I could say we handled it all with style and grace, but at least we survived the situation... wasn't pretty but we survived. The mantra, "Is this where you want to be?" was heard echoing in the breeze, or was it Leon, I can't remember.

We turned in our tests and went through the final video debrief. The feedback was, as always, humbling but extremely useful. We could see our errors but also see improvements. By the end of the day we were all a bit flustered, some more confident than others but all felt we needed a beer! We gathered at the local pub for a few Tigers to relax and share dive stories. It was fun to pull the gloves off, kick back and have a good laugh.

Day Four: The fun begins

We got to sleep in until 9am today after staying up talking the night before. We had our final Q&A session, finished the video we didn't review the day before and had our individual evaluations. I'm happy to say I passed! The course was without a doubt the most fun I've had on any course of any kind. The challenge was part of the fun, I was there to step up my game, learn a lot, and improve my diving. I also met some great guys to dive with and think about what the future may hold, perhaps Tech 1 / Cave 1. :)

We brought the trip to a close w/ two fun dives. The first was a long dive from Salang Pier back to the dive center. It was cool to have all five of us, diving together with good buoyancy control, able to hover around a turtle that was munching on coral, or gently kick under a low hanging piling with no effort. We had improved a lot and it showed when were able to relax and enjoy ourselves. The second dive was an awesome night dive on the wreck that we were trying to find on our first dive of the trip before the course started. It was awesome, the HID's made a huge difference and it was great having the instant communication afforded by them.

The difference in our comfort, and team awareness in the water improved markedly over the course of the trip. Leon was excellent, we were constantly challenged, which led to moments of frustration, but overall, for myself, a greater sense of accomplishment and more improvement then otherwise would have been possible. For anyone looking to maximize their comfort in the water, and enjoyment of the diving experience, I wholeheartedly recommend this course.

Whaleshark in Tioman?!?

Yes, it's true, I saw a whaleshark over the weekend at Tioman, Salang House Reef at only 5 metres deep. Mirabel, this is for you, so you can prove to your disbelieving friends that you really saw one! That's her at the end of the video, by the way.

Congrats also to Desiree, Mirabel, Athene, Yi Ling, Avneesh, Lee Fei and Kaverne for getting their Advanced certification. Pity though that most of them didn't see the whaleshark...

7 Skies on the White Manta anyone?

We've chartered the White Manta over the 23rd - 25th October weekend. This is a highly prized trip, as the waters are nice and the whalesharks and mantas will be visiting, so please make your interest known as soon as you can so we can reserve a space for you.

The price of the trip is $690, not including rental for equipment or any doubles or deco bottles.

Thomas Tribute Trip

As no doubt many of you already know, our intrepid Divemaster Thomas Yong passed recently. We will be building a memorial for him at Aur over the 2nd - 4th weekend in October. For those of you who know him and would like to come on the trip or if you have something you would like to contribute to the memorial, please let us know so we can incorporate it.

Thomas will be missed sorely by all of us here at Living Seas. He brought a lot of fun and laughter to our trips and made all our trips happy ones.

Another Fundies Class Successfully Completed

Congratulations to Claramae Chia, Simon Chong, Marcus Lim and Kelvin David Tan for doing well on their Fundies class at the end of August. Keep diving safe guys!

Congratulations to All Students for Passing their Fundamentals in August

Congratulations to Antia, Carlos, Rusly and Henry for doing well in the first Fundamentals class in August in Tioman. Not to leave out Anders, Jim and Charles as well, who did extremely well in their class shortly after.

Keep up the good work and keep diving safe!

Dagomir's Tech 1 Experience

PROLOGUE

Some months ago I developed an interest in exploring deep wrecks. The tipping point was a dive to the Igara wreck in the South China sea with Leon the Professional, a freshly certified bunch of GUE Fundamentals divers: Alvin, James, Wen, and a brave young dive master Attila.

The Igara wreck dives were challenging because of low visibility and ripping currents, but the rewards were great. I will never forget floating in the darkness inside a monumental cargo hall; a strange, abandoned cathedral with the silence punctuated only by our breathing. I experienced the immense joy of being there with my teammates. We were like a precise mechanism, each of us knowing our roles, communicating with gestures and light.

After that dive, the interest became an urge that could only be satisfied by completing the GUE Technical Diver 1 course. I chose this because of the safety GUE is known for and the team-oriented diving it promotes.

My buddy Tio and I flew to Cocotinos Resort in Manado, where the course was conducted, on Saturday 18th of July two days before the course started. We needed some time to polish and tune our skills.

DAY ONE

Our instructor Gideon and another buddy Chee Hoon (already Tech 1 certified) arrived at Cocotinos late in the afternoon on Monday. Gideon decided that it was already a bit too late to dive so we were to discuss theory instead. Our first session started with Gideon asking us about our goals and expectations about the course. It became apparent that Tio and I were motivated in very different ways but this was not a concern for Gideon who, after assembling his set of twins, started the class with the topic of valve failures and their management.

Valve failures is my favourite topic in the entire course. The way GUE deals with it is a masterpiece of logic. The GUE valve failure protocol is a simple algorithm consisting of a few steps that, if executed properly, lead to either a complete resolution of the problem or a safe return to the surface. It is a real intellectual treat for mind, something you can start appreciating only after careful analysis.

The second topic of the day was line lying and reel handling. Gideon explained meticulously what kind of reels are the best for the job, how to handle them properly, and how to lay the line (by guiding it around the girders supporting the roof of Cocotinos' jetty). We learnt about locks, wraps and placements, which are ways of securing the line to environmental fixtures you find in caves or wrecks. The topic ended with proper team positioning with respect to the line and what is the course of action in case of lost visibility. This is not crucial for Tech 1 dives but it gave us some ideas about the intricacies and difficulties of cave diving. A good illustration of GUE's holistic approach to diving regardless of environment.

DAY TWO

After breakfast we sailed to the Cocotinos house reef to start our underwater training sessions. We dove with eleven litre decompression (deco) bottles clipped to the left side of the harness. They felt a bit bulky at first but we quickly got used to them; in fact they became our best friends.

During the initial part of the dive, Gideon deployed an SMB and tied it to a rock at the bottom to give us a reference line. He pointed out a blue ring octopus nearby, a thrilling start to the dive and a reminder to watch what you are going to touch. We ascended to six meters and did an S-drill followed by valve drill.

Then the problems started. First, for some mysterious reason (which I will explain below) my buoyancy went awry. This was unexpected: I’ve always been proud of my ability to stay motionless at any depth of your choosing for as long as you want me to. Second, after the air sharing drill I somehow routed my long hose above my right arm instead of below it. I did not notice this until Gideon pointed it out on the surface. Again, I was surprised to have made such an elementary mistake.

What actually happened was a well-known psychological phenomenon called the "Gideon effect". Obviously, the Gideon effect occurs when Gideon is around and you are underwater. Its manifestation is a sudden loss of your diving skills. The loss is transient and all your abilities come back after his disappearance.

The Gideon effect helps you to realize that with a sufficient amount of psychological stress you are bound to reach a breaking point where you lose your buoyancy and all the deficiencies in your diving skills come out. This can lead to a dangerous, even deadly, situation in “real” diving so it is better to find it out in a controlled environment under Gideon's guidance.

Our next dives dealt with line work and emergencies such as valve failures and gas sharing situations. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? I should mention here that a simulation of valve failure is done with Gideon's dreadful water gun. It's a diabolic device that expels a jet of bubbles with a loud noise at the least expected moment of your dive. The situations were progressive in their difficulty and complexity. First, fixable valve failures occurred in easy portions of the dives. Then they happened when the line was slacking causing entanglement hazard. This was followed by unfixable failures together with out-of-gas scenarios, etc.

Once we were done we headed back to the resort. We showered, had coffee and snacks, and moved to the classroom. The class began with a review of our dives (which had been recorded by Chee Hoon). Gideon carefully explained what we did wrong and what to pay attention to in the future. I like this part of the course as you can see yourself from outside, which gives you a healthy perspective on your trim, team positioning, propulsion techniques and other aspects of diving skills. The remaining part of the class was a theory session devoted to GUE gas switch protocol, deco bottle configuration and deco theory. Coffee helped a lot in facilitating our learning process at the time.

DAY THREE

The structure of the day was very similar to the second day of the course. The in-water training consisted of various scenarios with valve failures, lost masks and out-of-gas situations. We also practiced the GUE gas switch procedure from the back gas to deco gas. It is designed in a beautiful way such that before you start breathing the gas from the deco bottle its content is verified by yourself and by at least one of your team members. This minimises the possibility of switching to the wrong gas – an error that has cost many their lives.

I am thankful that Gideon made me realize once again that technical diving is an extreme sport - fatal accidents can and do happen even among experienced divers. For me the conclusion is simple: to dive safely, keep your awareness at the highest level at all times, no matter how obvious or clichéd it sounds, and obey to the letter the rules you were taught (in my case, the GUE protocols). I would like to stress here "to the letter". If you try to skip, modify or take only some parts of the rules you are on a dangerous path my friend.

In the theory session we extensively discussed decompression theory. We learnt a lot about Buhlmann Model, Variable Pearmability Model (VPM), and GUE ratio deco. Gideon explained everything very clearly and was extremely patient in replying to our endless questions about getting the bends, oxygen toxicity, narcotic potential of helium and many other morbid topics.

The interesting thing about decompression is that although it has been studied since Haldane's seminal work circa 1905 it is still more of an art than science. This is especially true when you dive with mixed gases, where decompression schedules vary significantly from model to model. It can be quite discouraging to a novice technical diver.

GUE proposes a neat solution to this problem. The idea is to look for "trends" one can identify within different decompression models, and come up with a decompression schedule that is easy to remember and execute down there. This approach yields a concept of ratio deco, which you should then verify works for you by executing it during your tech dives.

DAY FOUR

Trimix day! We finally made it to the point where the gas in our twins was a mixture of 21% oxygen, 35% helium and 44% of nitrogen, or trimix 21/35 for short. It is one of the GUE standard gases for the range of depths between 30 and 45 meters. The next depth range is 45 to 50 meters where trimix 18/45 is used. The gas in our deco bottles was Nitrox 50, which is used to accelerate decompression from 21 meters and above.

However, our first dive of the day was a no-decompression dive in the range of 30 meters. It was a more relaxed dive than the ones we did before, with only one compounded failure at the end of it. During the dive we saw a few nice specimens of flora and fauna. I especially liked a forest of garden moray eels that looked like a carpet of question marks. There was also an easygoing turtle that totally ignored our presence and swam about its own business.

The trimix dive was at Satchiko Point. We planned to dive to the average depth of 42 meters for twenty five minutes followed by a twenty minute deco stop.

Before the dive we couldn't resist talking with our lungs filled with trimix. As expected, we sounded like chipmunks. I guess this is what everybody does when they first get their hands on helium. There is a child in all of us no matter how

old we are.

The dive conditions were fantastic with the great visibility and no currents. It felt like flying in the Grand Canyon with a monumental wall on one side and the big blue on the other. Tio was swimming behind me and Gideon was slightly above (like a Big Bad Barracuda) keeping an eye on us. After all it was our first experience dive.

We felt great after the dive, both physically and mentally. No signs of tiredness or anything suggesting that the inert gas load in our tissues was abnormal. I also realized how clear my mind was during the entire dive, no traces of narcosis. We felt so good that a swimming test in the Cocotinos pool later was a breeze.

As usual, the evening was devoted to theory followed by late night discussions with Gideon and Chee Hoon about the history of Woodville Karst Plain Project, from which GUE originates, and famous divers involved in it. All topped up with stories about cave diving. I felt sad that Chee Hoon was heading back to Singapore the next morning.

DAY FIVE

On this last day we did two more experience dives to 50 and 45 meters.

The first dive at Barracuda Point was quite challenging because of the washing machine currents and unexpected thermoclines that made me shiver. The currents made our deco a bit bumpy but we managed to stick to it without any major deviations. We saw a shark below and a Big Bad Barracuda above us (a real one this time, not Gideon).

The second dive was much calmer with only a slight current. We swam along a wall that was peppered with miniature caves. They appeared empty but who knows what was lurking inside beyond the areas penetrated by our diving lights. There are stories about gigantic moray eels in that area that have already tasted human knuckles and are eager to go for something juicier.

During the last part of deco at 3 meters Gideon firmly shook our hands. It was a really nice moment. Tio and I felt proud to successfully finish the in-water part of the course. I was also reminded once again that we formed a unified team during the whole course. Thank you Tio, Chee Hoon and Gideon for diving with me, and for all your help - it was a pleasure.

The last theory session of the course was devoted to the properties of helium, oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide that are relevant to the physiology of decompression diving. We also cleared all questions we had concerning the course and we were ready for the final exam. We passed.

EPILOGUE

During the return flight to Singapore I had some time to reflect on what happened during those five days. The course was tough and challenging, and there were moments when I felt I was not going to make it. However, I never doubted my choice of GUE technical curriculum as my entry to the world of technical diving. GUE thought it over very well and delivered a consistent package that made me a confident and safe diver. It also gave me foundations to build on by means of consistent diving practice.

I also had the opportunity to be taught by an excellent and experienced teacher whose passion for diving is infectious. I know how difficult it is to find somebody like this and I greatly appreciate it.

I would also like to express my thanks to Leon the Professional for making arrangements for the course, and to Silvia and the Cocotinos crew who are excellent hosts.

Living Seas Bali Trip 2009 a Success!

We've just returned from our annual Bali trip. It was an excellent trip, with multiple sightings of Mantas and Mola Molas.

Thanks to everyone who went on the trip for making it happen and thanks to Bali Scuba for their excellent service once again. A big thanks to the Mantas and Molas as well, for showing up when they did.

Check out some videos taken on the trip, courtesy of Leon Boey.

2 Mantas Dancing

Bumphead Parrotfish early morning rush hour

Mola Mola!

A Manta Up Close and Personal

Living Seas Discount Postcard available at Luminox Retailers

Divers who are looking for a bargain can head down to Luminox retailers to get their Living Seas postcards now. Bring these postcards back to us and get a 10% discount on any weekend trip all through 2009.

Diver's Lodge August 28th - 30th 09

If you've got time and some spare cash, join us at Diver's Lodge in Aur at the end of August. We've opened up some space on that trip for those that miss the fabulous donuts. Email info@livingseas.com.sg to find out about pricing and details.

Living Seas new homepage photo

In case any of you are wondering, the people in the photo at the bottom of the Living Seas homepage are Alvin Huang, James Keng Lim and Leon Boey, doing a Fundamentals course at Pulau Aur. The excellent photo skills are courtesy of Wen.

Scuba Diving Videos

Just read Wired and found this site www.scubadivingtube.com. They have some interesting videos on equipment and dives. Worth a look, if you've got some time at work and the boss isn't around...

Off to Bali!

Living Seas will be closed and uncontactable for the next few days. Off to search for Mola Molas in Bali with an excellent group of divers. Will post more once we return next week. Happy National Day everyone!

Tech 1 in Manado Completed

Congrats to Dagomir Kaszlikowski and Tio Bagio for passing their Tech 1 course in Manado on the 25th of July! They completed their course under the tutelage of Gideon Liew. Thanks also to the Cocotinos team in Manado for helping manage the logistics of the course. Dag will be doing a writeup on his course, and we'll be publishing it here for all to read when it's ready.

Tech Trip in October

LivingSeas is looking for Technical divers to join us on our annual trip to the Wrecks of the South China Sea, Oct 6th to 11th.

Advanced Course in September

Keen to get your advanced certification with a good dose of DIR diving philosophy? Come join us on our September Advanced course in Tioman over the weekend of the 4th - 6th of September.

August is Tioman Month!

We've declared August as Tioman month! We've got trips running up to Tioman for the weekends of the 14th - 16th and the 28th - 30th. We'll be conducting a series of Fundamentals courses over these weekends, so if you're keen to find out more about the course, please come on the weekend trips to find out what actually happens during a Fundamentals course!

Trips to Tioman in August

We're organizing a couple of trips to Tioman in August, over the 14th to 16th of August and 21st to 23rd. Now $350 only. Email info@livingseas.com.sg to find out details.

Living Seas has joined the blogosphere!

Living Seas has joined the blogosphere! We will be updating our latest trip and course information here. Please check this page often to find out more.