Dive-Monster Rhoody

The waters around Dumaguete are famous for their marine life. Apo Island is mentioned as one of the world’s top-divesites, not only in South East Asia. The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago (a leader in the zoo and aquarium profession for more than three-quarters of a century) used the reefs of Apo Island as a model and rebuild some parts of it for their own “Clownfish-City” in Illinois. Professional Underwater Photographers coming to Dumaguete to take their shots of the famous Mandarin fishes and all the other Critters in the Bohol Sea (the official Name of the ocean here in the Central Visayas).

Especially in the area around the municipality of Dauin (15 km south of Dumaguete) are many well known beach and diving resorts who are hosting international guests from all over the world to show them the best Scuba-diving around Negros Oriental. Dauin has 8 marine sanctuaries and is also the departure point for dive-trips to the surrounding islands like Apo, Sumilon, Siquijor or Balicasag Island.

Most of the Instructors and Dive-Master in this region are Dumaguetenios with some thousand dives under the belt who know the reefs here like their own pocket. They are one of the main-reasons why most of the guests leave Dumaguete with the promise to return.

On March 27, 2008 many of them met at the Waterfront Café at the Boulevard in Dumaguete to found a new Association: The NEGROS DIVE PROFESSIONALS (NDP). The NPD members are all diving and tourism related and work in different resorts and positions. Diveshop owners, Tour-Operators, freelancing Dive-Masters and Instructors as well as employees of dive resorts founded this association to work together for the benefit of the local diving-tourism.

The goal of the NDP is to work hand in hand with the officials of the region to secure the success of “Diving in Negros”. The first public appearance of the NDP will be at a regional meeting in Dauin where their goal is to provide a better solution and give suggestions for a better system regarding all different, sometimes unpredictable fees and regulations for diving around Dumaguete.

Future goals include conservation projects in a joint venture with different Marine Biologists and Universities as well as the operation of a Recompression Chamber in Negros Oriental.

Diving in Dumaguete and Negros Oriental is one of the best of its kind in the Philippines and South East Asia. The NDP want to ensure that it will stay like that and even improve its status worldwide.

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Finally… after the longest raining season since I life in the Philippines it looks like we finally left all the clouds rain and storms behind. In seven years I never experienced a rainy-season starting in late September and lasting until the middle of march.
The sun hit Dumaguete like a hammer. It is HOT.
As I moved to Dumaguete from Dauin in November I had the whole time no real change to work a bit in my own garden and that is exactly how it looked. Knee-deep grass was attacking me in the back of my house. Millions of leaves were laying on the ground, rotten Banana leaves were hanging down from the banana-trees… (is it a tree ???? after I cut one down it appears to me more like a “monster-grass”) By the way, I had some 50 plus bananas hanging up there, this was the reason why I cut it, as I had no idea how to bring them down in any other way.

With big help of  two  sweet helper I started to collect all the leaves on three different spots and burned them. The smoke of it raised that high in the sky that whole Dumaguete thought there is a new volcano in Batinguel. I guess my neighbors hate me for that now. I was more concerned to avoid burning down my house…

Unlike my daddy, I don’t give much about gardens but the hours yesterday were amazing for me. At lunchtime the sweat was floating in liters and we were completely exhausted. But I must admit that my first own harvested bananas were the best in my life so far. I guess it will be the same with the Papaya and the Mangos. Yes, all that stuff is just growing here in my little Paradise.

After the lunch-break we slowed down a little bit and played around with the water-hose, but even the water from my tank was almost to warm to help for refreshing. Finally we ended up doing exactly that what we should do in that heat….. Nothing !!!! Actually we were sitting in the grass and watching killer-spiders how they catch grasshoppers for their lunch. I found some “space-spiders”, tiny little creatures which are amazingly colorful. If they would be bigger they would scare the sh%@ out of me.

Around two o’clock we decided to go to the beach as it is better to lay in the ocean with an ice-cold coke-light and let the spiders and grasshoppers do their thing. I loved the day in the garden and it will not be my last, but I am sure that I will prefer my time under water much more, especially when it is hot like now… and there are no space and killer-spiders…

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Many people know that I was working there for 2.5 years. I stopped working at Atlantis Beach Resort in Dumaguete August 07, or should I say I got stopped as I have an own Character and don’t fit in the Diving MC Donald’s policy of the owners.

I never said anything bad about Atlantis and the value for money, but what I know, hear and read on different SCUBA diving boards is just scary and life-threatening.

In September I was contacted to help with some information about the altitude of the waterfalls. Putting my 2 Cents of knowledge together and the public post on DumagueteInfo.com there must have been a Decompression problem. Getting in contact with the person I found out that the customer-caring management sent them to 650 – 700 meters altitude after 2 weeks of “hardcore”-diving (up to 4 dives a day) and two dives in the morning.

One of the guests suffered the next day during the flight from decompression-problems and had to extend the stop-over in Singapore for treatment in the recompression chamber.

Around the same time Chef Guenther gave me a note that some Star-Divemaster went to Apo Island did a 42 meter dive and after a quite short surface interval a 46 meter dive. Those dives were no technical dives. Back on the Boat the diver recognized some itchy skin and red spots, a very clear sign for decompression problems. The responsible person on the boat was the Diveshop manager of Atlantis Dumaguete and a IDC-Staff Instructor from Puerto Galera. The education-level of those should be high enough for some proper treatment, but at least Guenther the Chef (not diving since 3 years) knew what to do. Other Philippino Instructors got fired for doing things like that, even there was no accident or problem involved. That probably never happens if you are the little puppie of one ow the owners.

Even more strange that Atlantis is promoting “SAFETY FIRST”, listening to that stories and knowing quite some facts I consider that Karabaw Poo (the philippino version of Bullsh…)

If it comes to American groups it is a hunt for enormous tip’s.  Many safety-rules got thrown overboard.

30 Meter/100 feet limit… only with non-americans.
Only non-decompression dives… no problem, we multilevel up and spend 20 minutes in the shallow anyway. 

Very amusing, that divers from the US visiting the Philippines are almost all PADI divers aged 50 and above who are not in the best physical conditions anymore…

Most European divers are CMAS, VDST or equivalent educated. In that systems diver learn to make dives below 40 meters and deco-procedures, but they can’t do that dives in Dumaguete, at least not in Atlantis. Maybe they should also give 100 $ tip at the beginning of the week, would make thing easier for them.

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I was just attending a PADI Member update for 2008. It was a two hour Seminar in the Waterfront-Hotel in Mactan,  Cebu. It was held by Jimmy Christrup, the PADI representative for the Philippines. Jimmy is an old friend of mine from Puerto Galera when I was working for ASIA DIVERS, the number one diveshop in Puerto Galera 4 years ago. The last four years he made all his way up to PADI Course Director and now an employee the biggest diving association in the world.

Usually I fall asleep during these 2 hours, but trying to be respectful, I stood alive during the whole time. We got some numbers of the worldwide certifications and the status of PADI. PADI is the certifying agency for approximately 70% of all new certifications worldwide in over 180 countries. Overall there were 900.000 new certifications issued last year.

In 2007 in the Philippines were 18.500 divers certified.
11.700 at the entry level (Open Water Divers)

5.000 in continuing education level (Advanced Open Water Diver, Rescue Diver)

1.800 in Specialty Courses like NITROX, deep-diver or Under Water Naturalist.

The entry level numbers went down about 3.5% while the continuing education increased by 14.8%. The start 2008 is promising a good year.  In  the first 2 month of this years, as all 3 numbers increased significantly in that time. The entry level by almost 30% compared to 2007.

For all who are interested in diving but don’t wanna read books and study in their holiday, PADI has different options for everybody. The latest launched option is the eLearning. You can finish all academics including the exams online. In your holiday you make a quick review and the rest is water work. That is a great option for business travelers with only a few days at one location. As many waiting areas in Airports offering free WIFI they can make all the theory while they are traveling. The water work can be done in minimum 2 days, but this would be a quite tough schedule. I recommend 2.5 or 3 days.

The pictures are showing the hard way to become a professional diver.
1.)The Open Water Entry, quite simple test with a beer or two through a snorkel.
2.)Nitrox course: also easy, you just need to look like a idiot
3.) and 4.) The Divemaster mix is a bit harder, you get some wired stuff through the snorkel, including Tabasco, Rum, Beer, and everything what comes into your instructors mind.

The reactions of the new diving PRO are different.  At that time my DM-candidate was still able to sit. I have pictures where he is sleeping on the ground a few minutes later with three dogs in his arms

There are some levels between. I will put some details on the side soon.

More information about diving on www.philippinen-tauchen.com

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