The SCUBA Thread

Recreation Sports
21

Hi Eugene Again.

I live in Chai Yi , But most weekends I am down In Kenting, social diving or busy with students.
I am new to the forum but will post a few underwater and social dive activities photos .
My Email : divethe7seas@hotmail.com if you need any info.

If any seadogs are intrested in a ocean clean up in the near future let me know and we can arrange a cleaning-day underwater .

I am in the process of starting up my own web page , still busy getting a few thing in place.

but like I said if you need any help or information relating to diving etc. Feel free to contact me. I will supply telephone numbers on any emails requests.

see you in the Blue Zone

cheers Eugene

22

Hi all.

I just got back from the Philippines.

I went diving in Moalboal and Bohol.

The diving in Moalboal was a bit better IMHO. The corals were stunning. The best snorkeling I have ever seen. But the place is hardly a beach paradise.

Bohol was incredible all around.

If you want to do a course go to “Sea Explorers” at Alona beach. There is a guy there names Felix who has been an instuctor for 20 years. He taught some of my friends their Open Water course.

The diving was great. I went in there and asked when the next dive was and they told me I coulod go out whenever I wanted. I signed my name on the board and got my equpiment ready and one of the resident dive masters and myself went out for an excellent dive.

We were down at 32m where I saw a pregnant seahorse on the sandy bottom. On the same dive I saw 2 scorpion fish and countless other tropical fish.

I really enjoyed it because it was just the Dive Master and me. I went wherever I wanted and she was very knowledgable about the area.

In short. Bohol is the place to go. Not as overdeveloped as Boracay but excellent beach. The diving was excellent. The accomodation was cheap.

23

A clean up day. Excellent idea. Are the waters off Taiwan really filthy under the surface? A lot of garbage?

Where is a good place to dive in the South? What is one expected to see as far as corals, underwater life and visibility?

I also live in Jiayi and am a Rescue diver. PM me about the clean up project or if you need someone to dive with.

24

Damn man, I probably saw you there! lol

We used Philipine Divers.

Did you guys get a peek at the great barracuda at the Crystal Cover dive site?

25

[quote=“jdsmith”]Damn man, I probably saw you there! lol

We used Philipine Divers.

Did you guys get a peek at the great barracuda at the Crystal Cover dive site?[/quote]

Didn’t go to the Crystal Cover site. I actually only ended up doing two dives while there. it was my gf and i and we were just relaxing and sunning and did some snorkeling as well.

Great place though I must say. Where was Philippine Divers?

26

[quote=“Lo Bo To”][quote=“jdsmith”]Damn man, I probably saw you there! lol

We used Philipine Divers.

Did you guys get a peek at the great barracuda at the Crystal Cover dive site?[/quote]

Didn’t go to the Crystal Cover site. I actually only ended up doing two dives while there. it was my gf and i and we were just relaxing and sunning and did some snorkeling as well.

Great place though I must say. Where was Philippine Divers?[/quote]

Right next to the swimming pool.

Could have been Philipine Divers. Who looks? :blush:

27

If anyone has any pictures they have taken while diving in Taiwan I would love to see them.

JD. I’m sure we did see each other. I was the tall white guy usually wearing a safari/cowboy hat :s and usually with my gf who is really thin Taiwanese girl with curly hair.

I wish I was still there. :frowning:

Diving is too expensive here from what i hear. The market needs to get bigger for the prices to drop. I am just wondering if the market is small because of the fact that most Taiwanese can’t swim and tourism is rather small here or that the diving just simply isn’t really that good?

Dunno? :help:

28

Well, I was the guy wearing a Forumosa.com tee shirt, walking down the beach with a 6 year old, terrorizing hermit crabs. :sunglasses:

Ive heard Green and Orchid islands both have good diving. For me, I just like getting down in the big blue and getting some fresh air.

29

Then these probably won’t help much. :wink:


The Tarsier : world’s smallest monkey.

Chocolate Hills in Bohol. Did you see the ice cream ad on the airplane? lol

The bane of hermit crabs: jdson! :smiling_imp:

dusk on the beach


Perfect evening of relaxing by the pool after some great diving.

30

[quote=“Lo Bo To”]If anyone has any pictures they have taken while diving in Taiwan I would love to see them.
[/quote]

I have many (all on slides) and would be happy to crank up the slide projector to show you what Taiwan has to offer.

Read this:
[Forumosa - Taiwan's largest and most active Taiwan-oriented global online community in English … gic#406886](Pelagic fish returning to Northeast Coast:

31

the cost of diving is not really that expensive compared to many other places. Problem is hiring your equipment . With-out Equipment you looking at about NT 1000 to 1200n for the day plus cylinder . As to NT 200 for tank hire. if you have the right contacts you looking at NT 100.

Not the best but bottom of the line - entry level Equipment range from NT 25 000 to NT 30 000 - complete . depending on how often you dive in a year - you will make it up in no time .
The other aspect that make Kenting Expensive is accommadation - these people are going to Kenting far more often than in the past. so hotels and places to stay . I have a few places where students book into for NT 400 a night. but hostel style living - I have my own plave down there- for NT 5000 a month . So all my kit and stuff is locked up down there - no lugging heavy kit back home.

  • but my advice to all students that want to buy kit - look at your bcd and regulator setup first, and dont forget mask . You trust your instructor to look and care for your kit during a course - but on your own you rely on rentals. The guy before you did not worry much about it and the guy working at the dive centr that is going to wash it will not worry that much either. I have yet to go on a dive trip where divers have rented equipment and the dive has gone with out a hitch. But it all depends what you want from scuba diving .

Diving in Kenting does not compare to other places around here. The reefs get damaged due to typhoons and gill nets , but in the last 5 years things have improved by 200% as there is restrictions placed on when you can dive on some reefs . I take part in reef growth monitoring program and I monitor various places and things are looking up - . There are fish spieces now on the reefs that I have not seen in the past.
What I like about Kenting - depending what season or on the wind you will 95 % of the time have a site to dive at. twice now we have dived with Typhoons right on the doorstep - and some places was impossible yet some places was so calm you would not say there was a Typhoon.

what I also feel is that the places like bali ETC. spoil us divers because there is so much to see, but here in Taiwan you really got to “hunt” and investigate every nook and crany. At times you get so see everything you want - other days not so good
. I guess it depends what you as a diver want from a dive. personally - for me - it is just been underwater and seeing the world from a different perspective . On the surface we humans have a curtain control on nature and Everyday you can drive past a mountain or river and not even take notice of it anymore- in the blue Zone it only last an hour or so , then it is back to dry land.

What is a concern to me is the level of training and the standard of some instructors _ specially Taiwanese - ohh man some horror story and experienced some of them personally . Most cases it’s all about the money.

regarding Pictures , I have a few but have no idea how to post them - I am still a little in the dark ages when it comes to some of modern tech stuff relating to computer.

need help in this area .

see you in the Blue Zone

Eugene

32

Sounds like a great dive MJB. To bad it sounds like an exception from things I have heard. And sounds like novice divers need not apply.

Have you been on any other dives that would be for the average Joe? I have my rescue certification as I above mentioned but my buddies only have their open water certification.

I am just wondering how Taiwan diving compares to other South-East Asian destinations.

Here’s a breakdown from my experience.

Thailand (Ko Tao): Great variety of small to medium fish. Blue Spotted Sting Ray, Grouper, Barracuda, Moray Eel. Coral was not too bad. Visibility was excellent.

Great selection of dive shops. A bit overdeveloped. My instructors seemed a bit too laid back and not as thorough as I would have liked. I got my Open Water and Advanced Open Water there.

Malaysia (Perhentian islands): Slightly better coral than Thailand. I saw some black tip reef shark and sea turtles there. A lot of the same fish as Ko Tao.

Less selection of dive shops/ less developed. My instructors there were much more professional and thorough than Thailand. I got my Rescue and Medical First Aid Training there.

Phillipines
(Moalboal): Excellent coral. Best snorkeling I have ever seen. I didn’t do many dives there but the reef was awestrickening. Good visibility. Great variety of small to mid-sized fish.

My friends started their Open Water course there. Not many shops. Less developed than the Perhentian islands. Their instructor was not very professional.

(Alona beach): Good coral. Excellent variety of fish in general. I saw lion fish, scorpion fish, seahorses (one was pregnant), Moray Eels, Mandarin fish, too many to count. Some people I talked to saw thresher and black tip reef sharks. Great visibility

The beach is fairly developed but less so than Ko Tao.

The Instructor who I mentioned above was incredible. His life long job is as an instructor. 20 years experience. Felix at Sea Explorers.

I don’t have a hell of a lot of experience with diving but these have been my observations thus far. How does Taiwan compare?

33

Well what can I say.

I almost died in the water off the west coast of Green Island last week. I’ve got an advanced cert. but I hadn’t done any diving after it and not for about a year.

We did a big briefing session for a plan to dive a wreck at about 28m. Half way out there the boat driver tells my guide (who strangely didn’t know)that the wreck has been destroyed… so we change sites (with no briefing) to a pinnacle nearby.

My guide say’s in chinese “I’ll go around and wait for yous behind the pinnacle”. He and a few other people jumped off the boat and dissappear. I drop into the water (1 min later) and I can’t see them. I’m underweight so I have a hard time getting down. I’m BY MYSELF looking for them… NO THEM.

There was serious current pushing me down and out.

I do a lap around the rock once at 12m (no them)

I go around again at 18m (no them)

I go around again at… (HOLY FUCK) 48m!

I’m scared to death… I climb as I stare at my gauges.

I FINALLY find everyone - only to see them having their own problems (two people buddy-breathing and another barfing though her regulator). My guide looks at me like he didn’t even know I was lost.

I have 50 bar and know (48m) I have to do a long safety stop so I take off. I didn’t have a watch so I didn’t know how long to wait.

I’m now at 10 bar and couldn’t wait any longer. I look up and see waves crashing on the rocks! I tucker out trying to get away from it and surface with barely enough to inflate my BCD.

Second dive was on the east coast. It was (shallow) nice and easy.

The dive after was just as crazy. Drop to 30m and grab on to the biggest rock you can find on the bottom… If you can do that before the current sweeps you away, you can see the school of hammerheads!!!

One of the highlights of my life.

I won’t name the dive shop but I found out later that he’d only been open for a week. Full kit rental 1000nt. tank of air rental 200nt. Boat fee for the day 1000nt. My total was 2600nt for three dives.

Be safe.

34

[quote=“turkey_dinner”]Well what can I say.

I almost died in the water off the west coast of Green Island last week. I’ve got an advanced cert. but I hadn’t done any diving after it and not for about a year.

We did a big briefing session for a plan to dive a wreck at about 28m. Half way out there the boat driver tells my guide (who strangely didn’t know)that the wreck has been destroyed… so we change sites (with no briefing) to a pinnacle nearby.

My guide say’s in Chinese “I’ll go around and wait for yous behind the pinnacle”. He and a few other people jumped off the boat and dissappear. I drop into the water (1 min later) and I can’t see them. I’m underweight so I have a hard time getting down. I’m BY MYSELF looking for them… NO THEM.

There was serious current pushing me down and out.

I do a lap around the rock once at 12m (no them)

I go around again at 18m (no them)

I go around again at… (HOLY FUCK) 48m!

I’m scared to death… I climb as I stare at my gauges.

I FINALLY find everyone - only to see them having their own problems (two people buddy-breathing and another barfing though her regulator). My guide looks at me like he didn’t even know I was lost.

I have 50 bar and know (48m) I have to do a long safety stop so I take off. I didn’t have a watch so I didn’t know how long to wait.

I’m now at 10 bar and couldn’t wait any longer. I look up and see waves crashing on the rocks! I tucker out trying to get away from it and surface with barely enough to inflate my BCD.

Second dive was on the east coast. It was (shallow) nice and easy.

The dive after was just as crazy. Drop to 30m and grab on to the biggest rock you can find on the bottom… If you can do that before the current sweeps you away, you can see the school of hammerheads!!!

One of the highlights of my life.

I won’t name the dive shop but I found out later that he’d only been open for a week. Full kit rental 1000nt. tank of air rental 200nt. Boat fee for the day 1000nt. My total was 2600nt for three dives.

Be safe.[/quote]

I know this place…Pinnacle has a large crack on the top and is always exposed to large swells right? Maybe half a klick offshore from Jungliao?

It’s too bad you had such a suck ass experience, the downdraft current there is a fish magnet, and as such rates right up there as a world-class dive. As with you, the Dive guides I went with took newly certified divers down to crazy depths (The place maxes out at like, 70 meters). Despite that, it was the best dive I’ve ever done in Taiwan. Sea turtles, large schools of barracuda, Napolean Wrasse, Tuna, the works.

Downdraft currents are a bitch…And can suck the unwary down well-beyong recreational limits in seconds. From first hand experience, the best thing you can do is add air into your BC until you arrest your descent, get a visual on the reef/pinnacle and find a lee in the current. Once you do that though, you have to dump air again or you’ll shoot upwards like a rocket.

I couldn’t even imagine trying to buddy breathe with a newbie in that place…It’s got surge down to 15 meters, with huge currents and topside swells.

I’m sorry you had such a horrible dive…I won’t name the operator I used either, but they’d been open for alot longer than a week. There are some real cowboys out there.

Glad you made it home.

35

Damn. Sounds frightening. But at least you got to see the hammerheads.

So is it a rule of thumb that dive guides in Taiwan have no idea what they are doing then?

36

[quote=“Lo Bo To”]Damn. Sounds frightening. But at least you got to see the hammerheads.

So is it a rule of thumb that dive guides in Taiwan have no idea what they are doing then?[/quote]

A bit harsh to say the rule of thumb dive guides in Taiwan have no idea … we are few instructors that at times act as guides and I can assure you they know what they are doing - The golden rule in Taiwan is to understand that most of your dive shop/ operators are only in it for the money. The law regarding Diving in Taiwan does not even require the operator to carry any accident insurance / the guys that do carry insurance are generally the guys doing things right the first time.

Regarding the Green Island trip - my observation is - no mention of a buddy or teamed up with a buddy. that alone would result in me aborting my dive.
Then no pre dive planning - Strange - Even if you rely on a guide he would understand a crude diagram of a dive profile on a slate- even if he is chinese. if he could not relate to that - once again I would abort my dive .
Advance Open Water diver – no timing device - then I blame the instructor of the student - not stressing the importance of a timing device.

hit 48 m in the dive and then continueing with more dives , stuck on an Isand with no deco/chamber in sight - I blame the previous instrutor .

Was peak performance bouynancy skills done as one of the Aow course.

Why do I blame the Instructor - It has been proven in various studies and research that students will follow what they have learnt from the instructor - if safety was highlighted thru out it course it sticks with that diver.
If the student was trained properly in pre dive planning then he or she would not continueing diving for the rest of the day after hitting 48m.

Example of this : 2 awo and 3 resue divers that went diving with us. All of them got their training on the cny runs on the islands around us . One could calulate the slate and multi level dive wheel in the group. Two had dive computers and relied totally on what the computer was saying. Man oh man - truely a case of fast fish food in the making. On asking them why they cant plan a dive or read the wheel - the answer was = was discussed briefly - but was told your computer will do it for you - dont worry.

Logbooks good and bad-My pet hate - I got this group of guys wanting to do resue diver . First let me see you logbooks= well they all avraged about 150 dives as aow divers. then it comes to kitting up for a skill evaluation. One tank back to front- 2 regulators onto the tank before bcd- One tank retaining strap came out the buckle - student cant re assemble the strap- With afew more basic errors on the menu.
Some people believe a logbook is your ticket to greater dive expierences. _ BS_ if the diver is honest he/ she will keep it accurate. What these guys did was enter extra dives while completing their logs for one dive. so 30 dives became 150. And with the help of one of the guides even stamped a few extra pages in their log book- just for future reference. I tried to follow it up but with the resort but in the end you have a better chance falling pregnant in a thunderstorm under the ocean.
There is no law stating you must have an instructor or resort stamp your book if Iam om a dive trip. yes for the person in his right mind hthey will play by the rules.

The rescue divers - non having any kit of their own ??? Makes me wonder , how are you going to assist in resue if your kit is hired and you dont know the lifting capacity of your Bcd - the rate of air usage on your regulator.What is your weighting for the wetsuite you are going to wear Small little details like this.

We did a fun day event in Kenting a while ago for divers to refresh their resue skills etc. Out of 5 resue divers - 2 of the diver down / missing was never “found” and one was not givien oxygen because the resue diver was never instructed in how to do it but he has an EFR.

during the debriefing these divers admitted that they where never taught many of the skills during the course and had to be retrained.

the point I am trying to make is - many people think that all dive Instructors / guides in Taiwan are useless because it is Taiwan and going to Bali and Tailand gives you a better training – BS— prices in these places are cheap because it is also run as a business - you the diver or student that do your ow to resue is non the wisher because you rely on them to teach you the trick of the trade. do you really know what the sandards and procedures of the course intail.

I dont say that all dive operators outside taiwan are bad - some are very poor same as in Taiwan-
What we can learn from the diver in Green Island is a lesson to everyone in the diving world.
if it aint , looking or feeling good abort the dive and live to dive a nother day.
The golden rule is self resue - and it start on the survice the moment the tought crosses your mind - I want to go diving.

Finding the good instructors - if you pm / email me - I will gladly supply you their details.

See you in the Blue Zone

37

You have some valid points…But in 17 years of diving in Taiwan I’ve yet to ever see a local dive guide come up with a decent pre-dive orientation, and most of the time they simply don’t exist. Usually, they’ll give a depth of the site, and thats about it.

The pinnacle dive done by Turkey dinner is a diving scenario played out too many times, and I’ve seen new divers (both foreign and local) scared out of the water for good as a result of irresponsible guides and instructors taking them too deep, and too soon.

Perfect example: A few years ago, the local operators began opening up the famous “7 sisters” pinnacles, a two hour boat ride from Kenting. The pinnacles rise up from 350 feet, are constantly swept by huge downdraft currents, and are rarely divable. Those of us in the diving community know the rest, but on this fateful day 3 boats went out there, didn’t do a head count after getting their charges back on board, and ended up leaving 7 people in the open sea. After floating on the water for several hours, the “Guides” decided to strike out for shore, some 12 miles distant. They simply left the rest, and took off. It was the last time they were seen alive.

The remaining divers were picked up a few hours later after being spotted by rescue helicopters…As for the Guides/Instructors?

One of their bodies washed up on shore near Taidong about 10 days later, with only the torso remaining, the result of either attack or post death predation by Oceanic White tip sharks. The other was never found.

I’ll let you draw your own conclusions. I couldn’t find the original article concerning, but here is a reference to the accident from a related story.

The Taipei times:

[quote]As things stand, the captains Peterson won’t use far outnumber those he will. His prime bad example is the captain who in 1998 abandoned a group of divers in the water at Seven Sisters (

38

[quote=“MJB”]You have some valid points…But in 17 years of diving in Taiwan I’ve yet to ever see a local dive guide come up with a decent pre-dive orientation, and most of the time they simply don’t exist. Usually, they’ll give a depth of the site, and thats about it.

The pinnacle dive done by Turkey dinner is a diving scenario played out too many times, and I’ve seen new divers (both foreign and local) scared out of the water for good as a result of irresponsible guides and instructors taking them too deep, and too soon.

Perfect example: A few years ago, the local operators began opening up the famous “7 sisters” pinnacles, a two hour boat ride from Kending. The pinnacles rise up from 350 feet, are constantly swept by huge downdraft currents, and are rarely divable. Those of us in the diving community know the rest, but on this fateful day 3 boats went out there, didn’t do a head count after getting their charges back on board, and ended up leaving 7 people in the open sea. After floating on the water for several hours, the “Guides” decided to strike out for shore, some 12 miles distant. They simply left the rest, and took off. It was the last time they were seen alive.

The remaining divers were picked up a few hours later after being spotted by rescue helicopters…As for the Guides/Instructors?

One of their bodies washed up on shore near Taidong about 10 days later, with only the torso remaining, the result of either attack or post death predation by Oceanic White tip sharks. The other was never found.

I’ll let you draw your own conclusions. I couldn’t find the original article concerning, but here is a reference to the accident from a related story.

The Taipei times:

[quote]As things stand, the captains Peterson won’t use far outnumber those he will. His prime bad example is the captain who in 1998 abandoned a group of divers in the water at Seven Sisters (

39

Holy shit. I don’t think I’d have gone down a second time with that group.

I’ve heard about the hammerhead dive site, and what I heard was that it is an extremely tricky/dangerous dive because of the current you describe. But it sounds WAY worth it!

Turkey_dinner, and anyone else interested, we are planning a 4 day trip to Green Island at the end of this month, all infidels (non Taiwanese). We hope to get 10 live bodies or so.

Care to join us? MJB? Lo bo to? Gobbo?

jds

40

Just got some underwater pics from Bohol. This is from the Diver’s Heaven dive site.

Just an astonishing sight. We watched him zoom over the top of the reef and arc down toward us. Then of course we all swam at him and he took off into the blue.

Cool…totally.