wetROKsdiving

Doc recently conducted an Instructor Trainer Seminar at the Daejin Sports Center. The course ran from December 19th-27th, 2009.

Among the candidates was Doc’s wife Chae. She has logged over 1000 dives and is a PADI Staff Instructor.

Congratulations Chae! Well done.

Well, it’s happened once again. Discovery Channel is broadcasting Sharkweek. Unfortunately, I’m not excited about this.

First, the previews seem to paint sharks in the typical villain role. Maybe it’s a way to get us to watch but it really sends the wrong message. Sharks have more to fear from us than we do from them. There have been several documentaries over the last few years, namely Sharkwater, which document this.

The show also seems to focus on the handful of species that can and have been known to attack people. There are thousands of species of sharks which are incapable of inflicting any major harm on humans. And they aren’t interested because we’re to big for them to eat. But the handful that fill an important niche in the ocean ecosystem – killing and eating larger prey – are focused on because they sometimes attack people.

There are many of us here in Korea who have dove with the sharks at the Busan Aquarium. Mike Jones of Scubainkorea.com takes both certified and non-certified divers in the Aquarium for 30 minutes with large Sand Tigers, Lemon Sharks, Leopard Sharks and Rough Out Dog Fish. Twenty animals in all not to mention Pauly, the Grouper, the sting Rays, and the Snappers and Yellow Fin that the Lemon Sharks refuse to eat (much to the dismay of the accountants at the aquarium).

Participants go in for a variety of reasons. Most come out with the same conclusion; sharks are cool. For a large percentage of these people, this is the final reason they need to get certified if they’re not already.

That’s a conservation message. Wouldn’t it be nice if Discovery Channel took the same approach?

Well, Beth and Devin finished up. I know this post is overdue, but better late than never. Beth went with us twice since being certified and Devin once. They are both going to Jeju on Columbus Day for their first tropical experience.

Congratulations guys.

Well, there hasn’t been a lot of diving since the end of June due to the Monsoons. In fact, there hasn’t been any. But it looks like it’s going to stop in another week. So, we’ve decided to get another Open Water course in before Typhoon Season starts.

Cost is 700,000 which includes student materials, all rental equipment for the entire course, four confined water dives and four open water dives. You will be required to complete the academic portions of the course online at SSI’s web site. We will provide you with instructions on how to login when you sign up. The schedule is as follows:

Sat, Aug 15th – Meet at the Doo-Ryu park swimming pool. Review knowledge reviews from the online course, take test. Confined water 1 & 2.

Sun, Aug 16th – Open Water 1 & 2 on East Coast

Sat, Aug 22nd – Confined Water 3 & 4 at the Doo-Ryu park swimming pool.

Sun, Aug 23rd – Open Water 3 & 4 on East Coast

(course locations and schedule subject to change if the weather doesn’t cooperate)

Sign up deadline is July 3rd. Contact Frank or Bob from wetROKsdiving at info@wetroksdiving.com. 

After several trips to northern East Coast for getting and/or teaching courses, recently made 2 trips to KangRung and Sockcho area for fun dives. Visibility surely was A LOT better than further down south (Daejin, Janggil, etc) but were surely very cold.
7 Celcius in July !
Bottom composition and marine lives – abundant
Diving operations – well systematized
Believe it or not the Staffs carry all gears to and from the boat.
Briefing was brief but to the point.
I liked it a lot.
Come to Seoul or directly to Sokcho on Friday evening
Can have 2 fine days of diving on weekend.

We did it! The weather cooperated and we finished the class. We got to Daejin late Saturday but still managed to make two dives.

After a big barbeque, the Z monster got us and it was off the the hotel to crash. The next morning arrived too early. But, we hit the water anyway. two more dives.

Everybody did so well, we made the last dive a fun one. Everybody enjoyed it, especially me and Frank. We got down to 36 feet and surge was minimal.

We had so much fun doing this, we’re doing it again on July 11th. If you’re interested, send us an email at info@wetroksdiving.com and we’ll get back to you right away.

Check out the rest of the photos. If you’re already certified, we are always going out to various locations on the East coast and are looking to head south this summer.

Bob is conducting an Open Water Certification Course starting 30 May through 14 June in Daegu. Sign up by 26 May to reserve your slot. Call Bob at 011-9682-6287 or email him at robert.lang@wetroksdiving.com for more information.

As the title says, we didn’t go. Bob was the only one able to go so the dive is postponed until next weekend, 11 April. Anybody who’s ready, let us know.

I just realized that the settings on this blog did not allow anyone to contribute with comments. I have changed the settings on all of the existing accounts to contributors and have reset the new account switch to make everyone a contributor. Sorry for the blunder. We’re new to blogging.

Regards,
Bob Lang

This is the new blog for wetROKsdiving.com. We’ll be posting all of our upcoming events, local dive info, and dive news here. Feel free to comment or link to any posts you wish. Thanks for stopping by.