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.
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