Straits Time article featuring Gill divers:
More Singaporeans are taking the plunge with scuba diving trips in the region to encounter marine life and play with Nemo
YOU may have ‘met’ Jacki Ng underwater if you are an avid diver.
After all, the 31-year-old diving instructor has gone on close to 2,000 dives in the last 10 years, in places from Singapore’s Pulau Hantu to Manado in Indonesia.
He’s not alone in taking the plunge. Based on anecdotal evidence and checks with dive schools here, more and more Singaporeans are packing their scuba masks and flippers and heading to regional dive sites.
One of them is Ms Toh Pei Shiang, 33, an assistant advertisement and promotions manager who started diving in 2004. She counts Hindeang in Thailand and Pulau Perhentian in Malaysia among her fave destinations.
The catch for these enthusiasts? A chance to have close encounters with reef sharks, swim among colourful fish and marvel at corals and other marine life.
Mr Ng, a diving instructor at Gill Divers in Tanjong Pagar, says divers plumb the depths abroad because ‘Singapore is a port city and the waters around it are not perfectly clear’.
The numbers who venture overseas are enough to make a big splash. Mr Stephen Beng, president of the Singapore Underwater Federation, says there are 10,000 active certified divers here who do so every year.
‘Divers travel within Asia because the dive sites are situated within the Ring of Fire, where volcanic activity ensures the largest diversity of marine life,’ adds Mr Beng, 37, who has chalked up over 4,800 dives since 1989.
He notes that Indonesia’s dive sites are widely considered to be the most biologically diverse in the world.
The good thing about diving is that you need not take leave from school or work to indulge in it – unless you’re jetting off to faraway Fiji, the Bahamas or the Caribbean.
A dive trip is relatively easy to plan as a weekend getaway in nearby Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.
Mr Xu Renhan, 25, a production assistant at sports channel ESPN and divemaster at The Submersibles, says: ‘I always thought of diving as an activity to do on a holiday, but I have found that it’s something you can do whenever you feel like having a weekend away from here.
‘You don’t even need to go with a group of friends. You can go to foreign places and meet new people,’ adds Mr Xu, who has gone on 193 dives since he first slipped on his flippers in 2002.
Ms Stella Lee of Waikiki Dive Centre, a 13-year-old outfit that organises trips to regional waters, observes that diving can be enjoyed as a family outing or as an opportunity to meet new friends.
‘You also get to travel to different countries and experience their local cultures,’ she adds.
It is no wonder then that diving as a recreational sport has been gaining buoyancy.
Dive operators and instructors tell Life! that the number of Singaporeans taking dive courses and getting certified, mostly by the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (Padi), has increased in the last five years.
Mr Ng, for example, has seen a year-on-year increase of about 10 per cent at his dive centre since 2002. Last year, it had about 500 people signing up.
Waikiki’s Ms Lee reports a 50 per cent increase in the number of students certified – from 222 in 2005 to 327 last year.
And once you take the plunge, divers say, you are addicted for life.
Ms Toh, who first went underwater in December 2004, says diving was initially something she wanted to experience just once in her lifetime – but she was ‘hooked after the first try’.
‘You will start looking for different marine creatures and you will always find new things. Every dive is different – that’s where the thrill comes from,’ adds Ms Toh, who has recently taken to diving with a magnifying glass to spot the smaller fish.
Says undergraduate Timothy Chen, 23, a newcomer to the recreational sport: ‘The most fascinating thing is how diving forces you to relax. There’s nothing much you can do except breathe.
‘Apart from that, you also get to see the spectacular marine world.”
Not cheap to dive
TO BE sure, diving is not a cheap sport. First, you have to take lessons and be certified before you can go on dive trips unsupervised.
Initial costs for an open-water course range between $400 and $700, with the average hovering around $550. It includes two pool and six theory lessons plus four open-sea dives.
A two-day trip to nearby Tioman in Malaysia costs about $300 for ground and sea transport, accommodation and equipment for five dives.
It can go up to about $800 for a four-day-three-night trip to the Philippines – inclusive of return airfare, accommodation at beachside resorts and five dives.
These forays can be easily arranged independently of travel agencies – all you need is a Padi certification and passport. You can take your own equipment, or rent from on-site operators.
Some places take more than a mild inconvenience to get to. Once you get to Hindeang in Thailand, for example, you will be staying on a boat for the duration of the trip, as the dive spot is very far from the coast.
But the hassle is worth it, says Ms Toh, because the water is very clear, with visibility of 20m to 30m on a good day, and you can see many manta rays.
Ultimately, diving is a non-competitive sport that is about appreciating the beauty of the underwater world, says Ms Esther Lee, a dive instructor at The Submersibles.
Mr Ng agrees, saying: ‘In Manado, Indonesia, for example, you can see the mimic octopus, so called because it mimics colours of the reef, and actions of other marine animals. There is also an electric clam that lights up.’
Mr Xu has his fish stories too.
‘In Sipadan in Malaysia, there are schools of reef sharks, cyclones of barracudas and walls of fish so thick you can’t see through them.
‘Not to mention the very ugly but always fascinating frog fish.’
