Posted on 19th February 2012 by calypso in Entertainment |General
The third Boracay Island Shuffleboard World Cup at Calypso Lounge took place 15-18 February 2012. The 2011 Germany Champs team were attending to defend their title. 10 countries registered this year: Philippines, Germany, Switzerland, England, Austria, Sweden, Australia, Belgium, Holland and New Zealand. With 10,000 pesos in prize money from Calypso Lounge, raffle sponsored by Asia Divers and Calypso Diving, and welcome drinks sponsored by San Miguel, the event promised to be a great one. Gio and Icy were are lively hosts for the 4-day event.
In the qualifying rounds the countries played thier to identify the top two or four players for their team(s). By the third evening the 16 selected teams were ready to play two doubles games each and decide the top 8 scorers that would go through to the quarter finals. After the rounds the ranking was Philippines Team A, Germany Team A (2011 defending champs), Austria Team B, Philippines Team B, England Team A, Austria Team A, England Team B and Australia Team B.
The final evening was knock-out games. All throughout the final rounds the defending champs looked strong, yet so did the Philippines (with one of their members being the 2010 champ). There was early speculation that it would once again be a Germany-Philippines final. And indeed it was. After a tense game with everyone almost holding their breath, Germany successfully defended their title and Micheal and Jens once again became the Boracay Island Shuffleboard World Cup holders. After the streamers, photos and kissing of the trophy, the prize draw for all registered players topped off the evening.
Photos by Denéa
Thanks to everyone for taking part and making the Shuffeboard World Cup of Boracay 2012 so much fun. See you at the Lounge for our regular tournaments to get prepared for more World Cup action in 2013!
Posted on 10th February 2012 by calypso in Diving
After starting her PADI specialty training, Denéa is delighted with her Enriched Air Diver certification and proudly shows off her new NITROX = TIME+ = FISH++ T-shirt. She comments:
“Most of my friends just roll their eyes when I exclaim, for the umpteenth time, “I’d live in the sea if I could.” But it’s true, I would happily shift my residence to the ocean floor if it was possible! So the thought of extended bottom time has always appealed to me.
And now, thanks to completing the Enriched Air Nitrox specialty I’ll be photographing pgymy seahorses next dive for as long as patience permits.
Lessons:
- give this specialty a go, it explains a good deal more about breathing gases, partial pressure and the physics of diving
- get a computer, and use it. If you don’t already have one, it really will be your best bud
- if you’re thinking about a compact diving holiday where you’re spending most of your time in the water, rock the Nitrox. Less nitrogen in your body, more bottom time and therefore, more diving”
And she’ll be ‘going green’ in more ways than one with the 4 other specialties she’s chosen: Project AWARE, Coral Reef Conservation, Fish Identification, and Shark Conservation.
Posted on 6th February 2012 by calypso in Diving |Environment
The Calypso Diving team got together for a Dive Against Debris on our White Beach house reef this Sunday at 1pm. Our two GoPro interns – one just starting PADI Divemaster and the other preparing with Specialty courses – both joined us for their first Project AWARE dive. During the dive, we were pleased to see some lovely sightings on the house reef, including two pairs of robust ghost pipefish and a seahorse! Within an hour the team had also collected an estimated 7 – 8 kgs of trash ranging from plastic and tin cans to a lens cap and a bracelet. Divemaster-in-training Denéa, who’s been studying the Debris ID Guide, then organized the trash to be sorted into the 9 categories and recorded for the coordinator to report to Project AWARE. She comments:
“Being involved with the dive against debris was a great experience and it felt really good to be doing something for the environment. When we found the cute bracelet it was the like the ocean was saying thank-you!”
Another successful cleanup dive! Thanks to the team for all their hard work and making White Beach a cleaner place.
Posted on 3rd February 2012 by calypso in Career |Diving |General
Meet Denéa, our new Go Pro intern! She’s just joined us for a PADI program of Rescue Diver, Specialties and Divemaster over the next couple of months. Denéa is also a freelance travel writer, who’ll be blogging and writing an article about her experience. She’s also mad about nudibranchs! Here’s the first blog – Throwing a Joke:
“The rescue course was decidedly the most difficult of the PADI courses I’ve taken to date. The physical elements, along with the demand for problem solving on the spot in real life scenarios made it challenging and very rewarding to complete.
I, on the other hand, and no pun intended, struggled the most with a pathetically simple task-rope throwing. One of the ways to assist a diver from afar is to toss a length of rope to them. The course requires a 9m throw with the end landing near, if not directly next to the diver.
Let me start by noting that I’ve never thrown a rope in my life.. and it showed! Attempt #1 landed on the roof, attempts 2 through 5 assisted the tree off to the right, the steps immediately in front of me, and the roof once more, preciously jack-all help to the diver in the pool, 10 meters in front of me.
By attempt 12 I’d landed it near him once, and had begun to draw an amused crowd of on-lookers from the dive shop.
According to one of the instructors I had 25 tries (I’m sure it was only 20!) and sort of got into the swing (pun intended) of it by the end. Needless to say, there’s going to be a lot of rope throwing in my future, and tales of throwing a joke in my DM file.
The lessons:
-coil the rope, ensuring it’s untangled and the lengths are laid next to one another in succession before you throw it -look directly past your target a little in a straight line -toss half with your dominant hand and let the length free from your other hand to uncoil in the air -keep going until you get it.”
Denéa Buckingham
Posted on 16th January 2012 by calypso in Diving |Environment
Calypso and the Boracay Association of Scuba Schools (BASS) took part in the preparations for Code Blue Reef Buds launch by doing an underwater cleanup at Fridays Reef, on of the sites for a new artificial reef.
Code Blue Reef Buds is a major public-private partnership reef restoration project for Boracay Island. This project was funded by Senator Loren Legarda and is organized and overseen by the Kalikasan Cooperative, Boracay Association of Scuba Dive Schools, PCCI-Boracay and LGU Malay. The reef buds should immediately allow for the growth of algae and planktons – food for fishes – and provide substrate for new coral growth. The artifical reef can also be used by fishes for laying eggs and will also prevent erosion, especially during the Habagat season.
As well as aiming to preserve the marine life, artifical reefs are also an attraction for snorkelers and divers who can see increased levels of both fishes and corals in this same area. BASS and Calypso will observe the progress of the new artificial reef and we’ll keep you posted.
Posted on 29th December 2011 by calypso in Career |Diving
Big congratulations to Lizette for achieving her PADI Divemaster qualification. As part of this GoPRO course, Liz assisted instructors with many PADI courses and learned to guide divers on our local sites. From the whole Calypso Team, and especially from mentors Andy and Chris, well done Liz!
Posted on 22nd December 2011 by calypso in Diving |Environment |General
As our regular blog followers will know, Calypso Diving supports and works alongside Project AWARE in their efforts to protect sharks – magnificent creatures that are vital for the health of the ocean and the whole planet.
In recent weeks, there has been some positive news for sharks, brought about by divers and other shark advocates shouting for sharks and petition signing. If you aren’t already connected to the updates via AWARE’s MyOcean we’d like to encourage you to join the movement, and Calypso would like to share the good news with you to make your Christmas even better:
1) The European Commission announced the long awaited proposal for closing the loopholes in the European Union’s ban on shark finning. Read more and learn about Sharks Given a Fighting Chance as EU Inches Toward Closing Loopholes.
2) The European Union has become a signatory to the United Nations Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for Sharks. Read more and learn about the Big Day in European Shark Conservation.
Although there is still more to be done, these are 2 important steps forward for protecting threatened and vulnerable shark species. In 2012, Project AWARE will be pushing EU Member States to agree to the proposal for a strong, loophole-free EU finning ban. And they will be pushing harder to protect vulnerable shark species from trade under the Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) at the next CITES meeting in Thailand in 2013.
How can you help with these efforts? There are several things you can do:
Also take a look at the sidebar on our blog to see Calypso’s latest fundraising progress. So far, thanks to our divers, we are ahead of target with over US$1,300 already raised for AWARE’s shark protection projects since June 2011. Join us in helping give sharks a fighting chance.
Posted on 17th December 2011 by calypso in Career |Diving
Announcing our forthcoming GoPRO program dates at Calypso:
SCHEDULE - First Quarter 2012
Flexible: DM Diamond and Career Internships
27 Jan – 30 Jan: Dive Theory & IDC Prep
31 Jan – 01 Feb: EFR Instructor
02 Feb – 11 Feb: Instructor Development
13 Feb – 14 Feb: IE (Exam)
15 Feb onwards: Specialties, MSDT and Internships
SCHEDULE - Second Quarter 2012
Flexible: DM Diamond & Career Internships
22 May – 25 May: Dive Theory & IDC Prep
26 May – 27 May: EFR Instructor
28 May – 06 Jun: Instructor Development
08 Jun – 09 Jun: IE (Exam)
10 Jun onwards: Specialties, MSDT and Internships
As well as the core PADI Pro courses at Calypso, our Career Internships also offer additional opportunities and hands-on training. There’s no substitute for learning from experienced professionals who have knowledge of the local area and love what they do!
Talk to us today about gaining experience at one of the most exciting dive centers in Asia.
More information is available by email gopro@calypso-boracay.com or at the dive center.
Posted on 2nd December 2011 by calypso in Entertainment |General
For this year’s Calypso & Pinjalo Christmas party we went for an alphabet theme. Each team was given a letter on which to theme their costumes, providing some exciting surprises on the day! Dressed as Pirates, Kittens, Mulawin, Jungle, D’Talipapa, Elves, Lifeguards, Black-Hawk-Down, Rockstars and Skulls, we thoroughly enjoyed our annual celebration. Beach games included sack race, egg and spoon, catch-the-egg, and volleyball. Pirates were voted best in costume and ultimately came out as the winning team to claim their tasty Mongolian BBQ prize. We also celebrated Alex’s 4th Birthday with a colorful ocean-themed cake. Here are some of the party photos, and we wish you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Photos by Rene. You’ll find more from the rest of the team on Facebook too…
Posted on 4th November 2011 by calypso in Career |Diving
Congratulations to Karien and Mari, our Instructor Development candidates, who recently passed their PADI Instructor Examination. Well done from us all at Calypso, especially from Mario (Course Director), Sue (Master Instructor) and Sandy (IDCS Instructor) involved with the program (pictured together). Happy teaching and happy diving!
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