Scuba diving

As I am a PADI divemaster I am curious if there are any scuba divers around in the forum. I would like to meet. Will be checking out Kending on the weekend. Thx for relplies!
Michi

[quote=ā€œfusilimobiliā€]As I am a PADI divemaster I am curious if there are any scuba divers around in the forum. I would like to meet. Will be checking out Kending on the weekend. Thx for relplies!
Michi[/quote]

Iā€™ve just got the entry-level open water certification, but I canā€™t wait to check out Taiwanā€™s scuba diving when I go there in August. Iā€™ve read about Green Island, and it seems amazing. However, are there any good diving spots near Taipei or do you have to go down to the south for some clear water and nice reefs?

so far I just checked the south. Its really nice. corals are colourful and you can see many small stuff as well as some big fish. But as summer is approaching right now I will also check out the spots in the north. they r said to be beautiful as well. will keep u updated. maybe we can meet and go together?

Hi I have my own gear and I am based in Taipei. I will be free to dive again in mid August, just to busy and back to the uk for a break.
I can show you some of the sites on the North east coast. BSAC instructor

There are a few (Including me) , not sure if many are still active on the forumā€¦if you are looking for dive buddies, post here: facebook.com/groups/scubadivetaiwan/
As for the beautiful northā€¦mmmmmā€¦maybe Iā€™m spoiled with too many trips in the Coral Triangle, but be prepared for lots of rocks, bugger all fish, and a decreasing amount of nudibranchs. For me diving on the NE coast is about getting wet, maintaining skills, and practicing wide angel photography (usually using different shaped rocks whilst pretending they are turtles:-)

Anyone know of a good reasonably-priced and helpful dive shop I can contact in Taipei (or better yet, Shilin/Tianmu/Beitou area?) Am near-sighted and need to get lenses for my dive mask.

To get corrective lenses is easy, try Orange Shark near Carrefour on Dexing West Road. But better still head to longdong on the north east coast they are several dive shops there with lenses ready to go.

Gents,

Iā€™m also looking for weekend dive buddies North and South. Thinking about heading down to Kenting one of the next couple of weekends. Iā€™m plenty long of tooth with lots of bottom time. Iā€™m in Hsinchu but can meet anywhere along the HSRā€¦ :slight_smile: ā€¦Best,

Hey all, I currently go with a group of divers to the NE coast every weekend. unfortunately the NE diving season is coming to an end. I am hoping to get some contacts and make some dive buddies to do some trips to the South and get some dives in. if anyone is certified, and has gear or can rent it, lets get to talking and plan a few trips. I am advanced certified with my own gear. I just need a buddy, an air tank and a location to diveā€¦ message me on here or email me at jameskenpo@gmail.com thanks.

When does diving season end in the North? I just moved to Taiwan a couple of months ago and havenā€™t had a chance to get out diving yet. I really want to go to the south and the islands but funds are tight for now so it would be great to get out somewhere closer to Taipei in the near future. I heard Fulong has some nice spots, and Iā€™m interested in diving near Turtle Island too - but how soon does the water get too cold? Iā€™m only have basic open water certification at the moment, and donā€™t have my own gear, which seems to make the cost of diving here a lot higher. Why is gear rental so expensive?!

Hi Katesby,

My name is Nigel Anderson and I do diving operations out of the FuBar at Fulong Beach and at Song Shan Sports Center in Taipei. $1000/day is the rental fee for equipment for all day (unlimited dives) and is the standard price in Taipei. Itā€™s a great price compared with other countries. To buy the equipment brand new, a BCD is $10 000+, regulators with SPG and 1st stage is $20 000+, wetsuits are $3000+, fins $2000+, boots $900+, weights $200/kg, mask $1500+, snorkel $800+, and even tanks are $8000+. So, I hope that answers your question about rentals. My gear is all brand new, and I have 8 sets at the Fubar. But, you do need to pay $200/tank of air used because of the filling and transportation fee.

About the cold water. Here in Taiwan, they use 3mm wetsuits. They are good until November. However, put on 2 wetsuits, and you can dive all year round in the north. Or, just buy thicker wetsuits with hoods. I am currently looking into winter wetsuits and I hope to have some before November time.

Here, my number is 0981 949 927 or facebook.com/Waterworld79
Cheers!
Nigel.
Actually, I prefer diving in the winter, no crowds and more life :discodance:

Wow, sounds cheap as! Where do you dive from? Shore?

Hey everybody,

Iā€™m the dive center based in Kending, namely Taiwan Dive Center (TDC). :wink: We were established on 1980 and now, we are one of the leading dive center around Taiwan promoting leisure scuba diving. We offers fun diving and also boat dive in Kending. We have more than 10 instructors to guide you around if you need. We have a Facebook page (tw-diving.com.tw).

We welcome you to join us. :bravo: :sunglasses:

Anyone got any older bottles which have oil in them ? Need to get a couple of cheap diving bottles to use for Raceteam . We use air to lift the car and use the airgunsā€¦so used diving bottles are ideal. We donā€™t mind a bit of oil in them for our use. Thanks

Anyone know where I can buy some used gear (BCD, regulator, gauges)? I live in Kending and want to get out more without renting each time.

By the way, diving down here is fantastic, for those who havenā€™t been yet. For a local dive shop, I recommend John from Udive: udive.com.tw. Heā€™s Canadian and has been in business for many years here.

Iā€™m looking for an older English language nitrox instruction manual. I hear that the new PADI rules are going to require people to us dive computers (a bad move, IMO) and that the new manuals are all about instructions with computers. I could be wrong, but anyway, anyone have an older manual they want to unload?

[quote=ā€œIakā€]Anyone know where I can buy some used gear (BCD, regulator, gauges)? I live in Kending and want to get out more without renting each time.

By the way, diving down here is fantastic, for those who havenā€™t been yet. For a local dive shop, I recommend John from Udive: udive.com.tw. Heā€™s Canadian and has been in business for many years here.[/quote]

Diving in Kenting is terrible. All the decent sea life has been butchered and eaten. You are lucky if you see an anorexic turtleā€™s shadow these days.

I would hardly say it is terrible diving, even up on the north coast dive sites which are off the beaten track you will find titan/half moon and clown trigger fish, moray eels, weedy scorpion fish, lion fish, puffas, clown, boxfish, cocktail wrasse, moonish idol, damsel, koran anglefish, emperor anglefish, buttlerfly, barracuda, flamboyant cuttlefish, rays, octopus and on and onā€¦ then you have brain coral, fan coral, anemone, nudis and so on. I would call that good divingā€¦

Now yes, i would agree, the local wildlife is butchered and eaten, there is little respect for the ecosystems, and its hard to find large specimensā€¦

The water does not get to cold! the main problem is the weather and the need to make shore entries and exits, when I dived Longdong in November a couple of years ago it was 20c in a 3mm wet suit. If the weather is calm making exits safe, you can dive all year.

okay, so heres a questionā€¦ youā€™re in TW on business, flying into Taipei and hotel is thereā€¦ but meeting on Friday is in Taichungā€¦ you donā€™t have any activity on Sat/Sun, so you want to go diving on Saturdayā€¦

For this time of year, would you:

  1. take your stuff and continue down to Kaohsiung and grab a bus to Kenting? get in 2-3 dives on Saturday, and then head back?
  2. go back to Taipei, catch a bus out to Longdong Bay, get in 2-3 dives, and head back ā€¦ (potentially, could go out to Longdong in the evening, stay the night, dive early)

Thoughts? I lived in Hengchun for six months many years ago, never dived, but Iā€™ve since been back to Kenting, I know itā€™s a decent dive spotā€¦ just seems like a lot of work, when all I want to do is ā€˜get wetā€™ a couple timeā€¦