Davao

[Mantid]

Am in Davao for a few days.

If anyone is here drop me a line. Boy the gal at the Galleria Hotel is major cute!

[X Man]

The view from Royal Mandaya Hotel.

[Member #4167]

Every dive is a good dive! Even on a bad day. Sometimes you will see "quantities of these creatures, " and other times no. It does not matter. Cause you can dive another day!

Sometimes you have good pussy and BBBJ's and other times no! But there is always another day!

Thanks Ben2. I heard there are a lot of Phillipina nurses, and it is good to have one around in case I need someone certified in "mouth-to-cock resucitation." I will have to interview many phillipina nurses to find the one who can provide clinical-strength services in this area. I enjoy a post-dive cleaning of my pipes as a medically indicated way for me to delay the onset of the mini-bends.

It has been my experience that a town with good diving means a town with limited pussy. It's tough to go down in the morning and then find a chica to "get down" with in the evening. You must pack your own lunch to these dive towns. Perhaps Davao and Pattaya are exceptions to the rule.

[Member #4167]

Water Boy, I understand your point, but in the Philippines, or at least in Davao, I don't agree. I've seen how the "group training" works here, and it's often conducted by unqualified trainers (usually Dive Masters, not Instructors), with too few trainers and too many students. Again, in my view, it's unsafe, and I've gone diving with a few of the "products" of such training whose view of buoyancy control seemed to me that it was nice in theory but didn't work in practice. I spent an entire hour-long dive going up and hauling one of of these folks back down to reasonable depth and finally just gave up and held her down for the balance of the dive.

I once saw a single Dive Master here take down five people at once on an exploratory dive. There's no way, had more than one of them gotten in trouble, that he could have attended to them.

GE,

Good point. My comments only apply to dive training in the USA as I do no know anything about training in the PI. As to training recommendations, I will defer to you.

As well, I have not been on an organized dive in the PI, so I hope that the PI is like other countries organized dives. Despite my loathing of cattle boats, I still feel it is a cost-effective and convenient way for Yella Man to get his first dozen or so dives.

I should add that the cattle boats in other countries are less strict about safety than USA. This varies from country to country.

[Ben2]

GE and AV,When u go diving in PI - do you see plenty of things of interest for the underwater hunter? Lobster? Snapper? Grouper?
What are the quantities of these creatures? HAve you guys been diving lately?

Every dive is a good dive! Even on a bad day. Sometimes you will see "quantities of these creatures," and other times no. It does not matter.... cause you can dive another day!!
Sometimes you have good pussy and bbbj's and other times no! But there is always another day!

[Ben2]

He's ex special forces, and he's PADI certified to teach every course that PADI offers. Some of the dive shops offer courses taught by Dive Masters, not instructors, and this is against PADI regulations. It's also not very safe.

No...he can't teach every course PADI offers...according to PADI Asia Pacific.
And you are right about DM's teaching courses against PADI regulations...but... an instructor signs off on the final paperwork and no one is wiser. Students do not know if they learned correctly as they have nothing to compare it to...it's best to ask around, get recommendations and go with your gut instinct...ask diver's who have been certified and diving for a few years for recommendations.

[GoodEnough]

Water Boy, I understand your point, but in the Philippines, or at least in Davao, I don't agree. I've seen how the "group training" works here, and it's often conducted by unqualified trainers (usually Dive Masters, not Instructors), with too few trainers and too many students. Again, in my view, it's unsafe, and I've gone diving with a few of the "products" of such training whose view of buoyancy control seemed to me that it was nice in theory but didn't work in practice. I spent an entire hour-long dive going up and hauling one of of these folks back down to reasonable depth and finally just gave up and held her down for the balance of the dive.

I once saw a single Dive Master here take down five people at once on an exploratory dive. There's no way, had more than one of them gotten in trouble, that he could have attended to them.

Most of the decent diving in and around Davao takes place in Davao Bay, where there are some very nice reef walls. What you tend to see most are lots of tropicals, snakes, the usual lobsters and schools of fish. Sporadically, I've seen tuna, rays, and turtles, but not often. I've had some great drift dives across the faces of the walls at about 20-25M, which is about the ideal depth for diving here. At 30M and below there's not that much to see.

GE

[Yella Man]

Well with 24 years of military experience under my belt (retired now), and having been an Army Master Parachutist, I understand the importance of listening to the experts in their field of expertise. I'll go as slow as needed to master all the fine and safe points of diving.

Yella Man

[Member #4167]

GE and AV,

When u go diving in PI - do you see plenty of things of interest for the underwater hunter? Lobster? Snapper? Grouper?

What are the quantities of these creatures? HAve you guys been diving lately?

[Member #4167]

Back when I first started, before getting certified diving, a bunch of us friends would organise a boat & a bit of gear & go do the dive. We learned safety & trust 'on the job'. When I certified (PADI 1981, god I feel old hee hee! ) it was a shock to be dragged on 'organised' dives. YUCK!

I am also an avid diver, hence the name Water Boy.

As for private tutoring versus group tutoring: the group tutoring is alot cheaper and just as effective. The only plus with private tutoring is that is it is faster. I got my PADI in group and other training one-on-one. The only plus to one-on-one is that the class moves faster.

I learned to dive before I got my C-Card, just as did Amavida. I think going out on a private boat for your first dive is a pretty risky way to do things, because safety is a bit more lax on the informal dives.

Organized dives CAN BE boring for the experienced diver, yes, but only after your first several dozen organized dives. What AV & GE says is true, but it only applies to experienced divers.

While, personally, I hate cattle boats (organized dives). I know that they are exciting and interesting for a new diver. Don't listen to AV and GE, Yella Man, you should do your first dives on the cattle boats. These are much safer than than the self-chartered excursions, because there is safety in numbers. Plus, consider your first dozen or so organized dives as part of the training process. On the cattle boats, they are very safety conscious and they make sure you follow all the safety rules. This drills the safety rules into your head.

As for shore diving. It is harder to do than boat dives, because you have to fight waves and you get sand in your gear. Plus you have currents to contend with. With boat dive, if you get carried off by the current, at least the boat can come get you. Shore diving usually offers less "pretty things" to see than boat diving. HAving said that, I find myself doing more shore dives lately, because of its simplicity and some great dives. Hold off on shore diving until you get experienced.

[Amavida]

My best diving here has always occurred when a small group of us--maybe ten people--rent a banca for the day and go off ourselves to dive. Virtually all of the dive shops will pack as many people as possible onto a boat, and it's a hassle changing into and out of the gear and then waiting for the boat to collect all of the divers at the end. Plus, unless you're with a friend, you might not find an appropriate dive buddy. Maybe I've gotten more conservative as I've gotten older, but I'm all about safety. I want to know the person with whom I'm diving and I want to have some reasonable confidence in his or her skills. GE

Im a diver my self, GE. This is very good advice & applies everywhere I have dived in the world. Dive shop dives are always rushed/crowded. Lost track of the number of times a dive was ruined for me by being buddied up with somebody who was willfully stupid or completely unconcerned with safety.
Back when I first started, before getting certified diving, a bunch of us friends would organise a boat & a bit of gear & go do the dive. We learned safety & trust 'on the job'. When I certified (PADI 1981, god i feel old hee hee!) it was a shock to be dragged on 'organised' dives - YUCK!

Cheers mate
AV

[GoodEnough]

I should add that I never contacted WAW for diving. I bought stuff there and talked about renting boats.

GE, don't they also have some diving activity out on Paradise Beach resort? I always see asians in wet suits and with O2 on their back. Normally they stay in the shallow waters it seems.

Barba

Yes, there's a small dive shop on Paradise. I've rented tanks from them, but the problem there is that at Paradise you're limited to diving immediately offshore, and there's not a lot to see. The dives are relatively shallow and the current is fairly strong, so when you come up you may be hundreds of meters from the beach where you started, and it's exhausting to have to trudge back to the starting point with all your gear. I would not recommend it highly unless you're burning to dive and have no alternatives.

My best diving here has always occurred when a small group of us--maybe ten people--rent a banca for the day and go off ourselves to dive. Virtually all of the dive shops will pack as many people as possible onto a boat, and it's a hassle changing into and out of the gear and then waiting for the boat to collect all of the divers at the end. Plus, unless you're with a friend, you might not find an appropriate dive buddy. Maybe I've gotten more conservative as I've gotten older, but I'm all about safety. I want to know the person with whom I'm diving and I want to have some reasonable confidence in his or her skills. When I was diving a lot, four or five of us would go down together and hang out as a group on the reef.

GE

[Yella Man]

Thanks GE! Let me look at some options first before I move on your recommendation.

Yella Man

[Member #4491]

I should add that I never contacted WAW for diving. I bought stuff there and talked about renting boats.

GE, don't they also have some diving activity out on Paradise Beach resort? I always see asians in wet suits and with O2 on their back. Normally they stay in the shallow waters it seems.

Barba

[GoodEnough]

Thanks B! I just emailed Wind and Water to inquire about cost and length of course because there was nothing on their website about it.

Yella Man

The best of the three shops is, in my opinion Carabao, from which I've always gotten excellent service. I think the shop owns five boats, so its always got some dive trips going out. Their instructors, as is the case with Wind and Wave, are okay, but only that. The best instructor in Davao is Henny Smits, the owner of De Bonte Koe. He's more expensive, but gives individual lessons and you will be a much, much safer and more knowledgeable diver if you take your course from him. He's ex special forces, and he's PADI certified to teach every course that PADI offers. Some of the dive shops offer courses taught by Dive Masters, not instructors, and this is against PADI regulations. It's also not very safe.

Anyone who wants to know how to contact Henny can PM me and I'm happy to provide his phone number. My strong advice for neophyte divers is not to look for the cheapest route to certification.

GE