hoonster(Offline)

GUE TECH 1 Report – MANADO, NORTH SULAWESI, INDONESIA

10 to 14 AUG 2008

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. The use of twin tanks, deco and stage bottles were practically unheard. And helium, I suppose its just used for party balloons over there.

We were initially a little apprehensive about diving in Philippines during this period due to the typhoon season. I’m not ready to surface in the middle of nowhere and in the middle of a raging typhoon. If that is we could fly into Manila in the first place. Well, that was our original destination. When Gideon met up an old diving pal Andrew Lok who runs Odyssea Divers during ADEX 08, they discussed the possibility of conducting such dives in Manado. The location and nature of dive sites in Manado offers much to explore given the depth and good visibility all year round. This was offered to us as an alternative location for our course and we quickly jumped on it. There was a Tech 2 class right after us and they too were just as eager as us to explore the deeper depths of Manado.

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Enthusiasm ran high as logistics and equipment were sorted out within a month with technical advice from our local GUE dive operator Livingseas. Tanks, manifolds, tank bands, 40cf bottles and related equipment were purchased and shipped from Singapore via DHL. Helium was pre-ordered in advance. All that was needed were stage rigging kits from our side as they needed to see what a standard one looks like.

We flew out of Singapore to Manado 1 day before the course officially started on Silkair, a subsidiary airline of Singapore Airlines. Good thing about Silkair is they give 40kg for checked in baggage for business class and 30kg for economy class (including 10kg extra for sports equipment). This helped a lot when there was so much equipment to lug around. The journey consisted of a 3 hour flight from Singapore followed by a 25 minute resort bus transfer from the airport to the resort. The resort itself is more than decent. Mind you, there are a lot of dive resorts/centers in Manado. Most are quite basic. What you could expect in Cocotinos are big clean rooms with hot showers, air con with an ocean view, a swim pool, a spa center and nice big airy dining area with a view of a great sunset. Hey, what more could you ask for. We spent the rest of the afternoon settling in to the cosy resort situated in Kima Bajo, sorting out the equipment, adjusting the tank bands and rigging up the deco bottles.

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Shiny new deco bottles ready to get wet

Day 1
The day started early with some fundamental guideline usage and handling and then we prepared for our first dive. While preparing for the dive, we found that both Gideon and Gary’s primary lights were having a mind of their own. They were consistently inconsistent in firing up. Talk about failures before we even got wet. Only the owners knew the special ‘coaxing’ procedures and swear words involved to get them fired up. Throughout our course, we dove with aluminum 80s twins with 40cf deco bottle. The first dive was mainly drills (valve drills and s drills) at 6m with reference just to the anchor line. Though each of us had put in some practice on our own before the course, it soon became apparent that doing the drills as a team became more of a challenge. Being able to hold position in relation to your other team members and to the reference line (in this case the anchor line) is key to a successful session. There was a couple of instances while we were performing valve drills, we had missed one of our teammates turning his left post off with the backup regulator still in his mouth. Of course Gideon was ever ready to stop the diver from cutting off his own gas supply. We spent about 2 and a half hours in the water before climbing back on the boat to head back for lunch.

After lunch and a quick video debrief, we were back in the water for more of the same drills and this time including ascents and descents. Though we could ascend and descend to the depth required individually but as a team we were not moving together on the same plane. And this made monitoring your teammate difficult if not impossible. More practice more debrief and we were wondering if we could ever get this right. By the time we were done and back at the resort, the sun had set and we had dinner followed by more video debrief and lectures. Gid finally called it a night when all of us were ‘nodding’ and ‘agreeing’ with him a little too much. Hit the sack at 11pm. This was to be the routine for the days to come.

Day 2
Woke up at 730 and after breakfast we practiced more on guideline laying and deco bottle handling work before hitting the water again. The dives were conducted in shallow waters and consisted of scenarios. Gas planning, team roles and dive objectives were decided and planned by the team under supervision from Gideon.

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Deco bottle handling at the dive centre

The first dive was to go in and lay a line up to a pre-determined time based on our SAC. Then turn around and come back to the anchor line for the ascent. Along the way, we experienced failures including valves and OOG. The failures usually occur when one teammate is fixated with something like line laying or when the teammate is out of position or formation. Whenever one teammate swims across another teammates face, mask would be ‘lost’. It’s interesting to view the video later on how one diver got left behind to handle on his own while the rest moved on oblivious to what was going on. Video debrief also showed us how trim, buoyancy and position could so easily be lost when being task loaded. It also showed how untidy and potentially hazardous when we didn’t stow our light cord or long hose or things and loops from pockets. Little things that may appear insignificant to some of us but can become hazardous if left unchecked. In this arena of diving, there is little room for such slack discipline.

While waiting for lunch, we did our swim test in the resort’s pool. The pool is kind of short so we had to do something like 25 laps. I lost count somewhere in the middle and just relied on the rest to keep track. Still, better in the pool then out in the sea fighting currents.
The next dive after lunch incorporated all these failures and more while we were ascending. We were doing 1min/3m stops and dealing with the problems at the same time while dealing with time management, trim, buoyancy and holding position. As the day and dives progressed, Gideon would introduce more failures at critical junctures of the dive such as at the turn of the dive, on ascending, on the gas switch. Just when you thought you got it under control, my deco bottle went missing during one of my gas switch. Unbelievable. After I signaled and confirmed the rest to switch their bottles, I reached to my left to prepare my deco bottle for the switch and was just grabbing at nothing. Not sure if the rest could hear my grumbling underwater. We ended up sharing deco gas alternating with my 2 team members at every stop, while maintaining buoyancy trim and position, while drifting and shooting a bag and keeping time.

Basically, we spent most of the daytime diving with breaks for lunch and video debrief and theory in the evenings.

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End of swim test – chilling out while waiting for lunch to be served

Day 3
As the days progressed, the dives were getting deeper and failures more complex and spontaneous. We were planning dives to 30m and actually had time to enjoy the dive. There was a dive site where we were told by the local dive guide of a pygmy seahorse located in a sea fan between 2 rocks just below the boat at 20m depth. So naturally we went looking for it. Frankly, we could have spent the next 2 weeks at that area and still not find it. I think the dive guide was looking at us from the boat when he decided to jump right in and pointed it out to us. (did I not mention of the great visibility)
Moving on, most of the critical failures usually happens when its time for ascent. That’s when you would always hear the bubbling from the famous air blower. There was once when Gideon’s air blower dropped off after simulating a valve failure. We were so tempted to bury it or put it inside our pocket.

As the days progressed, the team began to gel together. The training has been progressive and has slowly built up our confidence and situational awareness. Scenario failures and tasks were being dealt with deliberation with the third teammate always kept in the loop. The main problem we faced was ascending on the same plane and that too was slowly coming in place as the dives moved along.

There was light at the end of the tunnel when Gideon said at the end of dinner that we will be blending the 21/35 mixture for the next day. Spent the next hour or so with that and we moved on to the last module for our theory.

Day 4
Our first experience dive was to a dive site called Barracuda Point. It’s essentially a wall dive with lots of coral life at the shallower depths before a drop off into the abyss. We did a dive averaging 45m for a bottom time of 25min using 21/35 mix and nitrox 50 for deco. At depth, there were quite a few sharks, mainly white tips moving along the wall, almost like a busy highway. In between there were a few shy giant Napoleon Wrasse swimming perpendicular to the wall. Just as we call the dive, a couple of giant yellowfin tunas charged at Gideon, almost close enough to throw him off trim. What a sight! The size and speed of those tunas and Gideon almost losing his trim! The ascent and deco was done beside the wall while being surrounded at times by schools of giant trevallys and barracudas. At the 6m stop, we were practically on top of a coral reef. The 25min of deco went by rather quickly with lots to see. Although the dive was interesting but our ascent was still a little untidy. Untidy enough for Gideon standards and we were expected to get it resolved.

A good thing that we had some theory work covered before we reached Manado. Gideon was kind enough to accede to our request for some theory work to be covered in a couple of evenings before the course started. This meant that we had more water time and experience dives in Manado. We could have had another one in the afternoon but we later discovered there wasn’t enough helium. It was quickly ordered and Andrew basically ordered all the supply in Manado to make sure there will be adequate supply for us and the Tech 2 class after us. Meanwhile Gideon told us to spend the rest of the afternoon on the quiz. With 4 days of diving and an Indonesian spa between the dive centre and the rooms, the team decided to sneak off for a badly needed Indonesian massage before we work on the quiz.

Day 5
Our second experience dive is at a dive site called Sachiko. A famous wall dive in Bunaken Marine Park. We planned a dive averaging 50m for 25min using 18/45 mix and nitrox 50 for deco. This dive went well and visibility was great. Just as we hit about 52m, I took a look upwards and was able to see our dive boat from that depth! Now that’s some serious good visibility! Everything went according to plan and the diving was just awesome. At the end of the 3m stop, Gideon motioned one of us to move over to him. All of us were wondering at that point what the *@#% did we do wrong this time. Then he stretched his hand out and shook our hands one by one underwater. I guess that’s a signal we had passed our Tech 1!

We had a third experience dive in the afternoon before the course came to an end. Overall, this had been a great if not tiring course with much emphasis placed on personal fundamental skills, problem isolation and solving and team awareness. Typical of a GUE course, the training incorporated practical ‘scenarios’ that progressively builds up your confidence and consolidates any shortcoming of the individual or the team. Compared with fundamentals, this is so much more demanding. Diving with similarly trained GUE divers since my fundies had also enhanced my diving experience since most of us are on the same page. Some of them who are Tech 1 and Tech 2 divers offered valuable training advice and tips during the times when I dive with them. For people who are interested in progressing to Tech 1 training, I would suggest getting your fundamental skills sorted out especially in holding your position. Dive and practice with team members whom you intend to take the course with, focusing on ascents and descents and being able to perform drills without reference to the bottom ie at 6m mid-water referencing just to a line. Being able to control buoyancy, trim and position in blue water is an understatement to passing the Tech 1 course.

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Surfacing at sunset with Mt Manado Tua, a dormant volcano behind me

Diving in Manado has always been interesting too. Good diving conditions all year round. Visibility of at least 30m is not uncommon and coupled with water temperature of 26-28c provides a very pleasant environment for diving. Local talk of schools of hammerhead sharks beyond recreational depth is enticing me to be back for more.

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Our GUE Instructor Gideon Liew in motion

Many thanks to Gideon for being such a great instructor. His patience and words of encouragement helped us tremendously along the way. (Seems to be ‘normal’ to feel frustrated and down during the first few days of Tech 1, so I’ve heard) We were also impressed by his detailed teaching methods. He would go to great lengths (and I mean great lengths) explaining any questions posed to him and is always receptive to any queries. Despite having to conduct courses back to back, we could still feel his tireless passion and commitment for diving and teaching in what he believes in. His awareness and ability to be everywhere underwater also never ceased to amaze me.

We also like to thank the staff at Cocotinos for their excellent service and ‘can-do’ attitute. To Andrew who decided to dive with us on the first dive only to realize that we were only getting back on the boat 3 hrs later. To Andrew who continued filming us despite his hunger. Yes, we heard you the first time. Also to Silvia who worked tirelessly and is always full of smiles while undertaking some of the video work too. To the waiter who took the initiative to upsize our coffee and tea pots during the evening classes. To the crew at the dive centre who worked tirelessly throughout our stay to make sure everything is running smoothly. The cut fruits, homemade cookies and assortment of hot and cold drinks on the dive boat. The hot towels provided when we return from our dives in the evenings. The washing and drying of equipment every evening. All the little things that made our course such a memorable one.

Also a big thank you to Andrew Yong, Matilda and staff of Livingseas, our local GUE dive centre, who provided valuable support in making this Tech 1 trip to Manado possible. For all the liaising and hardware support needed at short notice, this would not have been possible without their prompt response.

More details on the course contents and its pre-requisites can be found at:
Global Underwater Explorers | Global Underwater Explorers
Living Seas - GUE Training and Scuba Diving in Singapore

and information on the resort and Manado at:
www.cocotinos.com
Manado Dive Resort & liveboard - Odyssea Divers Dive Resort & Liveaboards - Liveaboards to North Sulawesi, Bunaken, Lembeh, Halmahera and Raja Ampat

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Group photo of the gang at the jetty next to the dive center without me (Thanks Andrew)

neilh(Offline)

Great report, thanks for sharing - and congratulations!

sasdasdaf(Offline)

congratulations!

50m for 45 min for the experience dive?

i will be going there in december. very excited.

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hoonster(Offline)

oops.. its 25min.. finger trouble.. have edited it.. thanks for pointing it out

Ali Fikree(Offline)

Well done!! Its looks like a great dive destination
as well.

A

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alan_lee(Offline)

Hey Hoonster! Nice report, but you made it a much milder read than what your face showed during the evenings at Cocotinos! :D Because of you, Floyd is now having second thoughts about taking T1 next year I'm really looking forward to T1, and I'm gonna be mentally prepared for really awful mistakes in the first 2 days before making any progress. That was how it was for me during Fundies. Hey T! You're going with Living Seas?

sasdasdaf(Offline)

yup, I have signed up for the dec 12-17 trip.

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alan_lee(Offline)

Cool! Will see you then! Plenty to learn from you :D Bringing your scooter along?

sasdasdaf(Offline)

Leon and I considered it. Silkair allows 30kg of checked baggage per person. If they allow the group to pool baggage allowance, I think we could manage the scooters. We haven't decided yet but it's definitely crossed our minds.

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hoonster(Offline)

Wish I could join you guys in Dec but I've run out of leave for the year.. If you are a fan of Indonesian beef stew, there's an awesome place near the airport.. Ask Andrew to arrange for the driver to drop you off at the little restaurant.. They'll know which one :-)