Course Reports

by Jim MacDonald

It's been a few weeks since my GUE Fundamentals course and I've had a chance to sit back on the course and digest a bit.

GUE Fundamentals

August 2009

Location: Salang Beach, Tioman - Malaysia

Instructor: Leon Boey

The experience started with meeting at Living Seas dive shop in Singapore on a Friday. I had been working in our Singapore office for a few days so went after work and met my buddies, Charles and Anders, for the course, as well as a few divers that were heading to Tioman for fun dives over the weekend. We took a small van from Singapore to the Malaysian border, passed through with no issues and headed straight through to a small hotel near Mersing Pier, where we would be taking the boat to Tioman island. Arriving around midnight to the hotel we brushed our teeth and went to bed asap as we had to wake up at 5am to catch the ferry. We woke up dreary eyed and made our way to the pier where we slept before departure, and on the two hour ride out to the island.

Read more: A Fundamentals Course Report

by Kelvin David Tan

Did my fundies last month with Leon Boey and 3 friends, at Pulau Tioman, Malaysia.

My course report is a bit late... but better late than never!

We did our course over 3 and a half days. there were 4 of us, and all were shooting for a tech pass.

A little bit about my own diving history first. I first got my open water card about 16 years ago. did a couple of trips. And that was that. didnt blow a bubble again till around 6 years ago when i went on a LOB. As it had been many many years since my last dive, i went for a requalification with padi.

Read more: Another Fundies Class Report

by Dagomir Kaszlikowski

PROLOGUE

Some months ago I developed an interest in exploring deep wrecks. The tipping point was a dive to the Igara wreck in the South China sea with Leon the Professional, a freshly certified bunch of GUE Fundamentals divers: Alvin, James, Wen, and a brave young dive master Attila.

The Igara wreck dives were challenging because of low visibility and ripping currents, but the rewards were great. I will never forget floating in the darkness inside a monumental cargo hall; a strange, abandoned cathedral with the silence punctuated only by our breathing. I experienced the immense joy of being there with my teammates. We were like a precise mechanism, each of us knowing our roles, communicating with gestures and light.

Read more: Dagomir’s Tech 1 Experience

by Ong Chee Hoon

My team (BK, Gary and myself, Chee Hoon) just completed our Tech 1 class with Gideon Liew in Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. We stayed at Cocotinos beach resort that is run by Odyssea Divers. Besides the fact that this is the first ever GUE course conducted in that region, there are also no other tech diving courses or tech diving facilities currently available in Manado. Before this course, the use of twin tanks, deco and stage bottles were practically unheard of in Manado. And helium, I suppose its just used for party balloons over there.

Read more: GUE Tech 1 Report – 10-14 Aug 2008