Discover Sidemount with Scuba Dobedo Divers

Discover Sidemount

This Sunday I will be joining for a session on Discover Sidemount at UCSI swimming pool. Begone with the roadblocks to interdistrict travel, and I don't have to worry about the roadblocks in Cheras! 

In short, what is Sidemount? 

Well, not all scuba tanks are placed on the back, some well, like the name suggest, is placed on the side, below the arms. The setup is different from a normal backmount scuba tank. 

But why?

The most "useful" reasons I can think of is when we dive in caves or wrecks where there's low head clearance for us to swim through. Since the scuba tanks are under the arms, there is little to no obstruction. 

As someone who is very interested in wreck and cave diving, I am very keen to have a first hand look at the setup and things like that. I only have a couple of wreck swimthrough dives and one cave dive plus one rock formation swimthrough so I cannot say I have been in tight spaces. 

PADI Sidemount is a specialty course, which means it's a full course by itself and count towards attaining Master Scuba Diver certification. Will I take up the full course? Well, I might in the near future, depends on what I want to do later with my dive journey. Right now, being a rescue diver with so little dives is all I want to focus on right now. Collecting certification cards is not my goal. 

To be a better diver, it's not about having how many cards - it's about what you do in the sea. Simply put it, more dives more dives and more dives will make you a better diver. 

 

Tom Chan
PADI Master Instructor, Scuba Dobedo Divers

Scuba Dobedo Divers have been very proactive in reaching out to divers, new and experienced alike, throughout the MCO since March 2020 with webinars sessions thrice weekly, and with a Whatsapp chat group for all diving-related chats.

They are based in Cheras and regularly go for dive trips in lakes around Selangor and in the seas around the region. In between the MCOs, they also organised tryout sessions, like equipment tryouts and courses tryouts, one of which I am taking this Sunday. I have participated before in equipment tryouts trying out different fins, different BCDs, different regulators, mixing and matching them to get the best combo that suit my body. 

They also have a fully equipped store where you can buy dive gears, and is also a service center for various manufacturers. As a PADI 5-star center, they teach all levels of PADI courses from pre-beginner to instructor.

It was from Tom, the Master Instructor, that I learnt more about sea creatures like coelacanths, bobbit worms, the haunted wrecks in Brunei etc. 

I owe many thanks to Scuba Dobedo Divers for their passion and proactiveness to keep us divers sane during the MCOs, and the friendship built over the past year and half will certainly go beyond the lockdowns. 

If you would like to connect with them, you can find them on various social media: 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scuba.dobedo.divers
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scubadobedodivers

PS: This post is not sponsored by Scuba Dobedo Divers!

Daily swim

 

I have been swimming daily ever since the pool reopened last week, and became so regular that I made small talks with the counter aunty.. She's been really nice and talkative and tells me everything and about her day..

She even tell me how agigated she was at her lawyer when she bought a new house for not doing the work.. I wanted to give her advice but its not my area of expertise, so I just give her a listening ear and just hear her vent..

Anyway, I have been swimming roughly 1km on weekdays and about 2km on weekends, its all my workout right now, since gym have not reopen..

Need to maintain my physical and built, else I'll come out of lookdown looking like a druggie.

Hot enough for you?

 

Well, tell me you can handle me!

Why my approving comments have been slow...

 

Thanks for dropping a message, Mike. 

This post is for you because email got bounced. 

Why my approving comments have been slow? Basically I am not so actively on Blogger as before, back in the heydays, I aimed for one post a day, but that also because I shared a lot of guy pics, before the Internet broke and now there's so many places you can get pictures and videos. 

Back then, I have to go into forums to find pics and shared it out. There was no Tumblr, Twitter back then, so thats why I aimed to one post a day. And thats why comments have been very encouraging and I leave the comment open without moderation - and tonnes of spams as well. 

But now, I don't really have the motivation to write as often because work took up much of my time over the years. Outside of working hours, I don't want to even touch the laptop, hence that explains why my posts have reduced drastically over time. I still like to write, but I also struggle to find things to write about, other than rants.

Now back to the comments, I only check for the comments when I open Blogger. So my apologies if the approving comments have been slow. 

But I really appreciate the comments and I personally reply to each and every comment, even if it is just acknowledging you. 

Tribute and why my friendship with Chris Hansen was nothing short of extraordinary.

Chris and I have been online friends for way more than a decade. He began reading this blog in the very early days. He never failed to comment on most of my blogposts, and slowly over time, we began to connect and talk. 

When I was in a major financial crisis a few years ago, Chris offered assistance, and thought of many ways to help me, including offering to loan me money and offered to buy my used underwear. 

When I visited London in Sept 2016 on a holiday, Chris opened up his home and hosted me for the entire week I was in London, cooked dinner on one of the evenings as we talked over wine. As he was recuperating from a surgery just before my visit, he wasn't able to accompany me or bring me around London or outskirts to the countryside (which I went alone), all the way to Bath.

The last time I spoke or rather chatted with Chris was a just a week or two ago, where he offered to send me gifts of white underwears and white swimtrunks from various British brands as I have a thing for underwear and swimtrunks. But I did not take him up on his offer. 

Dear Chris, it's been my pleasure and honour to call you friend. Even as we are at opposite ends of the planet, technology have made things possible, and our friendship possible, 

Thank you for your friendship, your kindness and your bitchiness and wit. I will miss you. May your soul rests in peace. 

Chris passed away at his home
in London at noon on 3 Sept 2021