Year one Review of RfA Instructor Development

Rumble fish Adventure officially recognized as a PADI 5* IDC on 17th August 2010. As our first full year anniversary is approaching, we looked back at the successes of our interns and candidates who came to train with RfA at our new facility, and with the help of our partners at Scuba Junkie, Malaysia and Barefoot Scuba, India.

Recognizing our Candidates Success

We measure our successes on what our candidates do after their course, not on a passing percentage. Similar to the previous 5 years, many of Course Director Thien's former candidates can still be found working in the dive industry throughout Asia and the Americas. RfA graduates are found in the Maldives, Cambodia, the Philippines, California, Florida, the Red Sea, and beyond. Some are now PADI Course Directors. Many others are now owners of their dive businesses, and managers of dive centers and liveaboards.

Where are our 2010-2011 graduates today? We succeed when our candidates succeed. So today, you can find almost all of our past year graduates teaching throughout Asia Pacific. Our recent graduated instructors and divemasters can be found at:

• Mermaids Liveaboard in Komodo and Bali, Indonesia (Jose, October 2010)
• Sipadan/Mabul, Scuba Junkie, Malaysia (Kay, Paul, Rowan, Ella & Kat, November 2010)
• Barefoot Scuba, Andaman Islands, India (Gaurav, November 2010)
• Gil Meno, Indonesia (Sandra, November 2010)
• Sunny Cove, Singapore (Gary and David, December 2010)
• Phukest.com, Talinn, Estonia (Martin, December 2010)
• Blue Coral Diving, Hoi An, Viet Nam (Patrick, February 2011)
• Rumble fish Adventure, Phuket, Thailand (Chris, February 2011)
• Weekend instructor, Melbourne, Australia (Travis, February 2011)
• Sipadan/Mabul, Scuba Junkie, Malaysia (Sven, Jo, Monica & Richie, February 2011)
• Khao Lak Scuba Adventure, Khao Lak, Thailand (Dave, March 2011)
• Scuba Jam, Bangkok, Thailand (Asa, April 2011)
• Orca Dive Club, Mumbai, India (Denzil, May 2011)
• World Wide Dive & Sail, Manado, Indonesia (Kassandra, July 2011)

'Stand out in the Crowded' Businesses of Diving

Why divers chose RfA for their PADI Pro training? It's probably because of our fair and honest business philosophy. They can count on us to do the right things for the clients and the environment, and to live by these policies:

• We practice and support 'fair pricing practices.' We highly encourage all of our guests to shop our competitors.
• We expect individual effort and creativeness during training under challenging real world conditions.
• We are lovers of the sea, an 'ECO company' and encouraged our candidates to be as 'green a diver' as they can be.
• Our Course Directors and Instructors are divers, not classroom lecturers! So our candidates actually learn to teach and supervise in the ocean, under real life dive conditions, not from power point presentation!
• We don't work for free, so therefore our candidates are expected to be the same. There's no FREE education. So, don't expect to work for free in exchange for experience from us. If you teach for us, you get compensated!
• Our divers safety and fun are our main priorities!
• We have a "Price Match Guarantee," do let us know if you receive the same written offer at a lower price, we'll match it.
• And finally, we educate our candidates 'the business of diving' in 'a real business', ours! Because we started where they were, as active dive instructors.

Final words

Hearty Congratulations to RfA 2010 and 2011 graduates. Thank you for the opportunities to meet and learn from you as much as you might have learned from us. We look forward to support all of our past candidates in anyway we can with their passion, and goals. Remember to keep diving green!

From Similans to Malapascua to Mabul

What a great first 6 months of 2011 for us here at Rumble fish Adventure!

RfA celebrated the start of our 10th year in diving with 3 weeks of diving, covering 3 countries. Aboard our chartered yatch, MV Scuba Explorer, we welcome back our friends and colleagues from around the globe to help us 'dive' into our next decade in style.

Our second leg brought us to Malapascua, the Philippines, diving with our friends at Evolution. as this was my first dive trip into this great reef corner, we achieved our objective in seeing the graceful Thresher shark at Monad Shoal. The house Reef just outside of the dive shop proved to be great 'shooting ground' for our photographers, capturing fantastic macro species from seahorses, lobsters, shrimps and rarest of nudibranches.

Finally, we stopped into Semporna for a few last dives with our friends at Scuba Junkie. Mabul didn't fail to impress with wonderful dives at the Mabul's Artificial Reef, Kapalai House Reef, and Lobsters Wall.

Click here for some photos of the dives.

Thank you to our colleagues at Gillmanoids Kuala Lumpur, our friends from the Marriott USA Kristina, Clae, Andrea, Kody, Wes, our RfA Club members Dan, Renee, Dave and our former IDC candidates Ron, Johnathan and Patrick for coming and making the celebration a memorable experience.

Most Dive Sites Remain Open in Phuket & Similans

Khao Lak Dive Operators Forum Official Statement to the confusion surrounding aspects of the sudden closure of a number of Andaman dive sites. The Forum represents 26 Dive Operators in the Khao Lak Area.

Due to higher than normal sea water temperatures in 2010, some of the hard corals around the Similan and Surin Islands have been damaged by coral bleaching. Coral bleaching is a well-known phenomenon and has occurred several times in various parts of the world over the past century. The term covers an event where the symbiotic colored algae living inside the coral are released due to stress (high temperature, for example). When the algae have been released, the coral appears white, hence the term ''coral bleaching.''

If you would like to have more information about coral bleaching please click on the following link to see a presentation from Dr Mark Eakin, the Coordinator of NOAA's Coral ReefWatch program. www.climatewatch.noaa.gov

In the Similan and Surin Islands, the highest impact has been on hard corals in shallow water, where the sea temperature is generally higher than in deeper water. Members of the KLDOF have been very happy to observe a speedy recovery of certain types of coral, especially soft corals, which appeared to have suffered from the bleaching effect as well. Corals located deeper than 12 meters have suffered no or very little damage.

We as dive operators are passionate about the environment in which we live and work. Therefore we are very concerned about the condition of the reef. It is proven that there is absolutely no connection between diving and coral bleaching, but we feel the need to be even more careful around the reef to prevent further stress.

With more than 25 named dive sites, the region offers ample opportunity to dive and snorkel. Our recommendation would be to temporarily close the dive sites most affected in the Similan Islands, namely East of Eden, Beacon Reef and Breakfast Bend.

These dive sites are located on the east side of the islands. Dive sites on the west side have only been minimally affected and have many colorful corals and a wide range of marine life.

Famous dive sites such as Elephant Head Rock, Koh Tachai Pinnacle, and Richelieu Rock still offer great diving. The stag horn coral at Koh Bon has been affected; however there have been a record number of Manta Ray sightings this season.

In addition, we think it would be worth considering re-opening some of the dive sites around the southern Similan Islands, such as Fantasy Reef, which has had a number of years to recover.

Simultaneously, the KLDOF has contacted several scientists, organisations and universities specializing in monitoring and improving coral health. In previous coral bleaching events there has been successful recovery of damaged reefs, as the temperature drops.

Projects are being started to monitor the development of the corals and other individual projects are ongoing.

We will continue to observe all rules and regulations implemented for this region and offer our assistance to the National Park Head Offices involved. Additionally, we will re-enforce our strict rules for visiting divers on the boats operated by us, in terms of the policy ''absolutely no touching, feeding or harassing marine life and no rubbish thrown overboard''.

We, the dive operators and dive community in Khao Lak, are eager to do everything within our possibilities to protect and conserve the wonderful underwater world.

Khao Lak, Thailand, January 22nd, 2011

My opinion:

Similarly to any of the past events across the planet, major medias are always taking simple announcement and blow it out of proportion. Here is the list of a few mis-leading articles currently published across the Web, without much facts or actual researches in regards to the closing of reef in Thailand. It is highly recommended that you contact local dive centers and operators for 'REAL NEWS':

http://www.macaudailytimes.com.mo/asia-pacific/21415-Thailand-closes-dive-spots-due-reef-damage.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1349235/Thailand-bans-scuba-divers-damaged-coral-reefs.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70J1R120110120

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/thailand-closes-popular-dive-spots/story-fn3dxity-1225992513448

http://ww.bangkokpost.com/news/local/217417/18-dive-sites-closed-to-save-coral-reefs

End of 2009, Random photos & mumble jumble

One year on, after we finally registered Rumblefish Adventure with PADI, we surpassed our goal in bringing more focuses to our unique diving markets. With the end of the year, it was my first year without spending much time in the Similans (just 3 short days), teaching less beginner courses, and increased my time in diving and training younger divers (under 12 & over 50 :-).

With December came to a close, we were grateful to host Khatty's first organized dive group. Nine new divers and a few more certified advance, it was a great fun weekend of diving, cruising, and BBQ.

And of course to our friends at Gillmanoids KL, they were our inspiration for making the most fun out of dive planning, eating, and laughing. Can't wait to see where we go next!!!

Jr Advance Course: with My God Daughter

My oldest friends, Tin & Huong, dropped in for a visit again after a few years. Alison came back to finally gotten the chance to dive with me, or is it vice versa? I completed her Jr Advance Course, and marveled at how grown up she was now, and also one spectacular swimmer. Her Butterfly Strokes were 'symphony of graceful motions.' Her brother Ethan was then nine years old, so we took him for his first scuba experience, as a Bubblemaker. Needless to say, he refused to breath without a reg after the dive :-)

More photos of the kids are at my FB page and Picassa Album.

1st - 10th December IDC

Celebrating the end of 2009 with 8 new Instructors, GoPro Thailand & Pro Tech biggest and most successful class. With various backgrounds and unique personalities, the team achieved 100% success at the IE.

Congrats to Myk, Sarah, Nils, Matt B, Andy, Alan, Jessie and Ann-Katrin. Best of wishes and successes in your endeavored into the Dive Industry.

Our success was contributed greatly by our team: IDC Staff instructor Kevin Black, RFA Ops Manager Miz, Pro Tech Ops Manager Max.

View photos of the team in action at my FB page.

King Cruiser & Shark Point, Training dives with Gavin

Dive 114: King Cruiser Wreck
Max Depth: 30.7m ; Bottom time: 44 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 10-15m

Dive 115: Shark Point
Max Depth: 17.0m ; Bottom time: 55 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 10-15m

Dive 116: Koh Doc Mai
Max Depth: 19.5m ; Bottom time: 47 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 10-15m

Open Water Course with Nuj, Thanin & Daryl

14th November
Dive 110: Kata Reef
Max Depth: 9.1m ; Bottom time: 31 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 10-15m

Dive 111: Kata Reef
Max Depth: 5.1m ; Bottom time: 17 min
Water Temp: 29c; Visibility: 10-15m

15th November
Dive 112: Raya Yai, Lucy's Reef
Max Depth: 17.9m ; Bottom time: 39 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 20m+


Dive 113: Raya Yai, Bay 2
Max Depth: 15.8m ; Bottom time: 47 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 20m+

Comment: My first PADI eLearning OW course with Nuj, her son Thanin and Daryl, all from Singapore. Keeping with my passion of teaching and molding kids to be future Padiwans, both kids were awesome in the water. Now, I'm looking forward to some fun dive trips with them in the future.

8th & 12th November IDC training dives

8th November
Dive 108: Kata Reef
Max Depth: 5.1m ; Bottom time: 70 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 10-15m

12th November
Dive 109: Kata Reef
Max Depth: 5.1m ; Bottom time: 47 min
Water Temp: 29c; Visibility: 10-15m

Comment: A big congrats shout out to Kylea, Sergi, Mario and Gavin for successfully completed the IDC and Instructor Examination. A truly international program was assisted by Bibi (IDCS Grad of GoPro Cambodia 08) with his superb Spanish speaking skills. Also, coming through in the mix was Daryl, completing his IDC Staff Course. See some photos of the gang in action at my Facebook Photos Album.

Specialty Instructor Course dives

Monday, 19th October
Dive 098: King Cruiser Wreck
Max Depth: 30.7m ; Bottom time: 33 min
Water Temp: 29c; Visibility: 10m

Dive 099: Shark Point
Max Depth: 18.2m ; Bottom time: 36 min
Water Temp: 29c; Visibility: 10-15m

Dive 100: Koh Doc Mai
Max Depth: 18.9m ; Bottom time: 48 min
Water Temp: 29c; Visibility: 10m

Wednesday, 21st October
Dive 101: Raya Yai, Bay 3
Max Depth: 35m ; Bottom time: 37 min
Water Temp: 29c; Visibility: 20-30m

Dive 102: Raya Yai, Bay 2
Max Depth: 25m ; Bottom time: 53 min
Water Temp: 28c; Visibility: 20-30m

Comments: Good dives with Dave, Yeang, Richard & Freeze. Simon & Natalie came along for their excursion dives, from Sihanoukville, Cambodia. There were loads to see at the Phuket Triangle, swimming leopard sharks over pinnacle 2 at shark point were our highlight of the day.

13th-14th: October IDC Training Dives

Dive 096: Kata Beach Reef
Max Depth: 5.1m ; Bottom time: 59 min
Water Temp: 29c; Visibility: 5-10m

Dive 097: Kata Beach Reef
Max Depth: 5.1m ; Bottom time: 51 min
Water Temp: 29c; Visibility: 5-10m

Comment: IDC Presentation OW Training dives with the guys, Davy, Yeang and Nash. John (IDC Staff from Seatrek Penang) & Freeze (DMT) assisted both days. Kevin 'Kiwi Diver' came along to sharpening up his evaluation skills. Nice condition at Kata for both days, ideal for our training sessions.

September OWSI Program

Dive 094: Bay 1, Raya Yai
Max Depth: 23.1m ; Bottom time: 41 min
Water Temp: 29c; Visibility: 30m

Dive 095: Bay 2, Raya Yai
Max Depth: 6m ; Bottom time: 16 min
Water Temp: 29c; Visibility: 20m

Comment: OWSI Program open water training dives with Peter Wong, Assistant Instructor from our friendly dive center partner, Sunny Cove Singapore. Our DMT, Freeze, and TDI tech instructor, Arndt came along to Raya Yai Island to assist in the course.

Celebrating number 100th with Andrew

Comment: Deep, DUP and Wreck dives with Alex & Alla. Andrew came along to play the difficult student, and also logged his 100th Dive. Lucy's Reef was spectacular, especially out in the artificial reef at 22m. A beautiful Yellowtail Seahorse hung out in the sand for over 2 months now, bent stick pipefish, seamoth, Indian Walkman, school of baracudas, batfish etc. are all in just a small area. Condition for the 2 days were incredible, flat seas, 30-40m viz, and no one come to dive... Great Summer Dive Season! See Alla's photos here, and Alex's photos of the Andaman Eagle Wreck here.

Tuesday, 25th August
Dive 090: Bay 1, Raya Yai
Max Depth: 21m ; Bottom time: 45 min
Water Temp: 29c; Visibility: 30m; EANx32

Dive 091: Lucy's Reef, Raya Yai
Max Depth: 22.8m ; Bottom time: 44 min
Water Temp: 29c; Visibility: 30m;

Wednesday, 26th August
Dive 092: Andaman Eagle Wreck, Raya Yai
Max Depth: 25.6m ; Bottom time: 38 min
Water Temp: 29c; Visibility: 30m, EANx32

Dive 093: Bay 4, Raya Yai
Max Depth: 21.9m ; Bottom time: 52 min
Water Temp: 29c; Visibility: 20m

Kids & Family Day aboard MV Aquart III

Comment: A great day with the kids at Raya Yai Island, taking Laura, Jack & Elliott for a couple of DSD dives. They were natural, finning and buoyancy control like an Open Water Certified diver. I'm looking forward to see them getting back into the water on their next holidays. Should be a blast for me to introduce three more super cool Aquakids into the wonderful world of Scuba. Thanks Johnathan for the photos, since I got my hands full :-)

Dive 088: Bay 1, Raya Yai
Max Depth: 3.9m ; Bottom time: 33 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 20-30m

Dive 089: Bay 2, Raya Yai
Max Depth: 5.4m ; Bottom time: 39 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 20m

August IDC Open Water Sessions

Comment:Alex, alla and Rico fine-tuning their teaching and control skills for 2 days in Raya Yai Island. Dive conditions for the 11-12 August were fantastic, flat seas, little wind, and great viz. Click here to see more pictures on Rico's facebook album.

Tuesday
Dive 085: Bay 1, Raya Yai
Max Depth: 7.6m ; Bottom time: 50 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 10-15m

Dive 086: Bay 2, Raya Yai
Max Depth: 10.3m ; Bottom time: 43 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 10-15m

Wednesday
Dive 087: Bay 2, Raya Yai
Max Depth: 7.9m ; Bottom time: 44 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 10-15m

Raya Yai Island

Tuesday, 21st July
Comment: A windy day stirred up the sea that rocked the boat during the our crossing from Chalong Bay to Raya Yai East Coast. We were alone on the Andaman Eagle Wreck for the entire dive. We also had Lucy's reef all to ourselves for the second dive. Bent Stick pipefish were all over in the sand near the artificial reef.

Dive 080: Andaman Eagle Wreck, Bay 2
Max Depth: 27.7m ; Bottom time: 51 min; EANx: 32%
Water Temp: 29c; Visibility: 15-20m

Dive 081: Lucy's Reef, Bay 3
Max Depth: 23.7m ; Bottom time: 52 min; EANx: 32%
Water Temp: 29c; Visibility: 15-20m

Phi Phi Islands Overnight Trip

Comment: Great idea to go to Phi Phi with Alex & Matt, doing some dives, hanging with the cool people in Tonsai Village, meeting some new friends. Well, Seasick was the norm for our 2 days, huge waves, and Greta was rocking all the wrong way! However, Leopard sharks, turtle, seahorses & frogfish at KDM made up for the rough boat ride. Click on the photo to see Alex pictures, posted at his FB page.

Wednesday, 15th July
Dive 074: Shark Point
Max Depth: 18.9m ; Bottom time: 50 min; EANx: 34%
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 15-20m

Dive 075: Koh Bida Nok
Max Depth: 20.7m ; Bottom time: 43 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 10-15m

Dive 076: Phi Le Point
Max Depth: 16.7m ; Bottom time: 52 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 10-15m

Thursday, 16th July
Dive 077: Koh Bida Nai
Max Depth: 20.4m ; Bottom time: 49 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 10-15m

Dive 078: Koh Doc Mai
Max Depth: 22.5m ; Bottom time: 52 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 15-20m

Dive 079: Koh Doc Mai
Max Depth: 20.1m ; Bottom time: 53 min; EANx: 33%
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 15-20m

21st - 23rd: Open Water Course with Marcel

Monday, 22nd June
Dive 056:Lucy's Reef, Raya Yai
Max Depth: 11.8m ; Bottom time: 39 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 15-20m

Dive 057: Staghorn Reef, Raya Yai
Max Depth: 12m ; Bottom time: 45 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 15-20m

Tuesday, 23rd June
Dive 058:Lucy's Reef, Raya Yai
Max Depth: 18.2m ; Bottom time: 40 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 15-20m

Dive 059: Home Run, Raya Yai
Max Depth: 17.9m ; Bottom time: 40 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 15-20m

Comment: A wonderful 3 days OW course with Marcel and his son, Eric whose completed his Advance Course at the same time as his father. The guys hung around to dive with my good buddy and former Calypso IDC candidate, Dave "the Legend" Ryan, for a couple of days. Base on their feedback, Phi Phi rewarded the guys with sharks and more. Great start to a new hobby for Marcel. I look forward to catching up with them later this year :;-) Eric's photos from his Digital Photo Adventure dives are posted at my Picassa Album.

I Got Gold From PADI :-)

Well, actually it's a Gold Status Award for 2008 Course Director Frequent Trainer Program, the same one I received in 2007.

I know, it sounds like a membership for one of the airlines, and it's nice to get higher recognition because there are some perks to be had. In the airline world, that means racking up lots of miles by flying lots of time to get a free flight. In "our diving education" world, it means notching loads of new instructor certifications, and get some "nice break" in fees.

Regardless of the perks, I like being Gold! However, to my former and future candidates, I will have a very difficult time reaching Platinum anytime soon, as I am still aiming for 6 IDC programs per year, with each program no more than 4 candidates.
It has been my philosophy since Pro Tech Divers and I joined force, "when it comes to high Quality Education, less is more." So, to my Pro Tech and Cambodia's first ever IDC 18 successful candidates in 2008 (that's 2.57 of you in the 7 programs :-), thank you for the opportunity to dive together. And I 've learn much from you, as much as hopefully you have learned from us.

So here to 2009, as we are looking to increase our average to 3.33 per program. We're at 2.75 per program for the first half of the year already. So, who's up to help me reach this goal?

27th - 29th Wreck, Deep & Navigation

Wednesday, 27th May
Dive 052:Andaman Eagle Wreck, Raya Yai
Max Depth: 26.8m ; Bottom time: 50 min
Water Temp: 29c; Visibility: 20-25m

Dive 053: Lucy's Reef, Raya Yai
Max Depth: 23.7m ; Bottom time: 54 min
Water Temp: 29c; Visibility: 15-20m

Friday, 29th May
Dive 054:Andaman Eagle Wreck, Raya Yai
Max Depth: 26.8m ; Bottom time: 49 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 20-25m

Dive 055: Home Run, Raya Yai
Max Depth: 22.8m ; Bottom time: 48 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 15-20m

Comment: A couple of really good diving days with Will & Liam for their Specialty Instructor training. We got to dive the Andaman Eagle Wreck in Bay 2 of Raya Yai, practically by ourselves each time. Some photos from the dives are posted at my Facebook album. Friday was a sad day, as I begged farewell to my Suunto Vyper. It decided to "stop diving" on my second dive, ending my 8 years relationship, 4 battery changed and thousands of dives logged... Guess she was broken hearted because of the arrival of my new partner, the Stinger!