Whats New
Summer is underway here in Phuket Thailand and what a summer it is, while you guys are sitting around dreaming of your last dive, we are making ours daily in warm water with visibility you would not believe…
So don’t just sit there dreaming let Scuba Cat Diving, Phuket, Thailand make it a reality…
Local Diving News
MV Scubacat
A manta ray floated in to join us for a visit at Racha Yai this week with some Brand New Divers enjoying the experience! With Visibility at 40 – 50 metres we could not help but enjoy the show!
Don’t forget our Summer Season course specials.
During June 2008 Scuba Cat Diving ran a Reef Check Charter involving 18 students from CISS Shanghai.
MV Scuba Adventure
We have a confirmed trip 6th to 10th August 2008 running to the Southern Islands… Contact us for more details.
The weather is very good at the moment in Phuket the skies are blue, the sun is shining with the water temperature about 30 degrees.
Speciality Course of the Month
Deep Diver Speciality
You’ll learn deep dive planning, organization, procedures, techniques and hazards. You’ll also put this knowledge to the test as you go on four open water dives that range from 18 – 40 metres / 60 – 130 feet.
What can you do next?
The Deep Adventure Dive from the Adventures In Diving program credits toward this speciality at the discretion of the instructor and this speciality certification counts as one of the five Speciality course certifications for the Master Scuba Diver certification.
Or if you enjoy deep diving why not contact us for more details of our full range of DSAT Tec courses or Rebreather run by our experienced Tec instructor Vincent Callaghan.
Dive 2008
Scuba Cat Diving, Phuket, Thailand are please to announce Sarah Kench and Andrew Coombes will be attending Dive 2008 at the NEC, Birmingham, UK at stand number 1666 November 1st and 2nd 2008. Please visit us for show stopping specials or just to say Hi.
IDC
The next schedules IDC will run from 3rd August 2008. There are still spaces available.
Platinum Course Director, Christophe Pace, will be conducting Speciality Instructor Courses on board MV Scuba Cat, our liveaboard, at Racha Yai, Phuket, Thailand.
Congratulations to Dave Bayliss who has recently completed a career package with Scuba Cat Diving, Phuket, Thailand. After successfully completing his MSDT he took advantage of our job placement service and his application to Princess Divers, Koh Phi Phi was successful. We wish him every success in the future.
New Diving Internship Packages
IAHD(international Association of Handicapped Divers)
Scuba Cat Diving, Phuket, Thailand were honoured this month to be asked to represent IAHD at MIDE 2008, Malaysia. Sarah Kench and Kathryn Ridley were the IAHD Instructors present.
The response to this organisation was outstanding and we will be running IAHD Instructor Training starting at the end 2008.
Contact us for more details.
eLearning-start your course from home
What is eLearning?
e-Learning is internet based course work that you can access from anywhere via the world wide web. With e-Learning, you can sign-up and complete the knowledge-based dive training from the convenience of your home, office or on the road, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
’s e-Learning system gives you the flexibility to study course material at your own pace. However, during the course, you can access the support of a Professional at Scuba Cat Diving by email or phone to get guidance and help about the topic you are studying.
Project AWARE Foundation spearheads global underwater cleanups during International Cleanup Day and year round. This annual volunteer event addresses the devastating impact of marine debris on the aquatic environment. Project AWARE empowers dive centers and individuals to clean the world’s oceans, lakes, rivers and shorelines. Volunteers take part in practical cleanup solutions and collect data which is vital for change.
International Cleanup Day is held annually on the 3rd Saturday in September but cleanup and data collection activities are supported by Project AWARE, partners and volunteers on an ongoing basis. In 2007 a total of 358,617 recorded volunteers helped Project AWARE clean 34,560 miles of shoreline and remove seven million pounds of rubbish.
Watch out for Scuba Cat Diving, Phuket, Thailand’s special event. You won’t be disappointed.
Phuket News
Phuket vegetarian Festival
A colourful event held over a ten-day period in late September to early October, this celebrates the Chinese community’s belief that abstinence from meat and various stimulants during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar will help them obtain good health and a peaceful mind.
Though the origins of the festival are unclear, it is thought that perhaps the festival was bought to Phuket by a wandering Chinese opera group who fell ill with malaria while performing on the island. They decided to adhere to a strict vegetarian diet and pray to the Nine Emperor Gods who would ensure purification of the mind and body. On recovery, the people celebrated by holding a festival that was meant to honour the gods as well as express the people’s happiness at surviving what was, in the nineteenth century, a fatal illness.
The festival always falls on the first days of the ninth Chinese lunar month, and for ten days participants observe the following commitments:
- Cleanliness of the body during the festival
- Clean kitchen utensils not to be used by others who do not participate in the festival
- Wear white during the festival
- Behave physically and mentally
- Avoid eating meat
- Avoid sex
- Avoid alcohol
- People in mourning should not participate
- Pregnant women and menstruating women should not attend ceremonies
One of the most exciting aspects of the festival is the various, (and sometimes gruesome) ceremonies which are held to invoke the gods. Firewalking, body piercing and other acts of self mortification undertaken by participants acting as mediums of the gods, have become more spectacular and daring as each year goes by. Men and women puncture their cheeks with various items including knives, skewers and other household items. It is believed that the Chinese gods will protect such persons from harm, and little blood or scarring results from such mutilation acts. This is definitely not recommended for the feint hearted to witness.
The ceremonies of the festival take place in the vicinity of the six Chinese temples scattered throughout Phuket. The main temple is Jui Tui Shrine not far from the Fresh Market in Phuket Town. The first event is the raising of the Lantern Pole, an act that notifies the nine Chinese gods that the festival is about to begin. The pole is at least ten metres tall and once erected, celebrants believe that the Hindu god, Shiva, descends bringing spiritual power to the event.
For the next few days, the local Chinese/Thai community brings their household gods to the temple, along with offerings of food and drink. It is assumed that the household gods will benefit from an annual injection of spiritual energy that fills the temple. Visitors can observe and even participate in the lighting of joss sticks and candles that are placed around the various gods.
Usually street processions take place, where visitors can see participants walking in a trance. Other events include hundreds of local residents running across a bed of burning coals, or climbing an eight metre ladder of sharp blades while in trance.
Apart from the visual spectacle of this festival, visitors can partake in specially prepared vegetarian cuisine made available at street stalls and markets around the island during this time. The vegetarian dishes are not easily distinguished from regular dishes – soybean and protein substitute products are used to replace meat in standard Thai fare and look and taste uncannily like meat. Look for the yellow flags with red Chinese or Thai characters to find vegetarian food stalls – and keep your camera handy!
Scubacat Community