IRAQ DRAGON

A Warmth Appreciation

14th March 2008 marks the first official trip to Malaysia island since monsoon! By now, even the crew don't believe it, Sunny Cove have already seen more than 100 divers walking in and out of our humble doors embarking or had already gone for dive trips!

This had been an unbelievable start for us and we are really very appreciative of your support! Your unconditioned support will definitely help us in upgrading our service, our image and most importantly our passion in serving you even better!

We hope you will continue to support us and do let us know where we can improve on! Your feedback will be taken seriously as we understand the importance of a good friendship between Sunny Cove and you.

Revised Debit/Credit Card Scheme

With effect from now, divers will not be subjected to the 3% administration charge for paying via credit/debit card while embarking on any course at Sunny Cove. We realised that many divers prefer to pay via card and were put off by the 3% administration charge hence we had revised the payment to enable divers to start the course easier!

Downpayment for the course will not be subjected to 3% administration charge also! For those chalking up points for their card, feel free to pay via your favourite card now!

Terms & Conditions

Payment via credit/debit card will not enjoy any discount that is allocated for cash term only. To enjoy the benefit, payment must be done via cash term only!
Credit/Debit card holders will still enjoy all promotions listed on the website except for the discount structure as mentioned above.
Payment via credit/debit card for all leisure trips will still be subjected to a 3% administration charge.
There will be no refund for all downpayment made as stated on our refund policy. To find out more on our refund policy, please visit our website and read the Terms & Conditions.

First Trip Up To Tioman!

Finally! After months of anticipation, we are finally done with the first official trip to Pulau Tioman! Despite our dear Mas Selamat escape causing the big pile up jam at Woodlands Checkpoint, we managed clear the custom without much problem as there are still dedicated lanes for Singaporeans. We had left Sunny Cove at 1930hrs and cleared at about 2045hrs - not too bad with the recent increased security checks!

Although cleared earlier, there was a huge human jam for the foreigners lane hence we only managed to leave Woodland Checkpoint at 2230hrs!! Madness! The main Gs are we reached Mersing, checked-in to a nice hotel and slept through the night till morning when we do a transfer while ferry to Tioman and the journey is about 1.5 hours. It was raining that morning so it really made everyone sleepy (including me - Oh? I didn't mention your friendly Master Instructor was on the trip too?)

Visibility although wasn't great as compared to last year but it was good for the start of the season! Water was quite choppy and it made me sick and also made me regret coming! Anyway, despite the choppy water, diving was great! We saw quite a number of stuffs and a great deal of fishes! It was also my first time visiting so many wrecks at Marine Park! I thought there were only 6 but there were 9 of them!!

Overall, I enjoyed the trip very much especially to a different lodging! Last, I really like to take this opportunity to thank the fun bunch of divers who were on this trip! Without you guys - I mean ladies, it wouldn't be so fun!

MediaCorp & Sunny Cove

Sunny Cove is very honoured to have been selected to assist MediaCorp in filming since 2007. The most recent hit series blockbuster is "The Golden Path". Instructors and Divemasters have had the chance to work with talented artistes such as Joanne Peh, Tay Ping Hui, Chor Chew Meng, Felicia Chin, Nat Ho, etc.

We are also in the midst of assisting MediaCorp with another filming. Some artistes involved are Jessica Liu, Joanne Peh & Li Ming Shun. Who knows? You might get to see them diving with Sunny Cove? Remember, Do support your local artistes and local production!

Credit Card Payment

As of 26th February, Sunny Cove will be able to take payment via credit card at the office. Apart from that, divers will be able to secure booking directly online via credit card also! This is part of a small progression towards an automated system we planned for 2008!

There will be an additional of 3% administration charge on top of the course or trip fee for all payments via credit card. We will adjust the administration charge accordingly as we progress into the year. For all HSBC credit card users, you will be able to apply for either 6 months or 12 months installment however there will be a 5.5% administration charge.

Price Revision

Please take note that there will be a last price revision to reflect the updated cost from the operator. Participants who signed up before 17th February will be eligible for the old rates whereas those who signed up after 17th February will be affected by the price change.

The price revision is neccessary as it will include the updated pricing for both transfer for land and sea. The increased had been due to majority the ever increasing cost of fuel. Another increment is due to the cost of PADI materials which had jumped more than 15% since the implementation of the need to own personal materials.

Variants Of Combo Program

You might be interested to know that there are 3 major variations of the combo program available. By understanding how both works, you will be able to work out your budget and know how to choose one package that is suitable for you. This way you won't fall into any marketing gimmick offered by others. We will go into detail of the 3 major one shortly but briefly they are either:-

Entirely Singapore Program
Singapore & Malaysia Program
Entirely Malaysia Program

Not all combo courses offered by the market falls under category 3 which is done entirely in Malaysia (except for theory and pool which are all completed in Singapore). Category 3 option is the most expensive however offered the best experience program with Category 1 the most affordable and Category 2 usually offered as marketing efforts.

When you sign up for any combo course, do check what kind of program are they running and do compared the prices. Many divers failed to do so and after signing then they realised that they are doing a couple of dives in Singapore and the rest in Malaysia.

Now let's go into detail for the different program available.

#1 Entirely Singapore Program
The entire program is conducted locally which means all open water sea dives are done at either Pulau Hantu or Pulau Salu. There can be only 3 training dives per day hence this program will need to be spread out over 3 days to achieve 9 compulsory dives to be certified for both PADI Open Water & PADI Advance Open Water diver.

As for Sunny Cove, we don't advocate doing night dive or supposed to be night dive at local water because of safety reasons. Many dive centres which I should not name conduct night dive at 4-5pm which is basically still day time however due to the visibility aspect, it "looked" as though it is about evening period. Where is the ethicality and purpose then to conduct night dive?

#2 Singapore & Malaysia Program
After completion of the theory and confined pool in Singapore. Participants are required to do 3 open water sea dives at Pulau Hantu or Pulau Salu (Local Water). 3 open sea dives will definitely be conducted within 1 day within a time frame of 5 hours which means each dive will be short and only meant for skills and not much time for leisure.

Once you have got through that, generally the following weekend will be a weekend away to Malaysia. There you will be required to do 3 training dives on Saturday and 3 training dives on Sunday to complete the program without breaking any PADI standards. This program is usually offered to many who don't know the difference as this program is much affordable compared to a full program conducted entirely in Malaysia.

#3 Entirely Malaysia Program
Again, participants will need to complete both the theory and confined pool session in Singapore. This program requires diver to depart a day earlier before a weekend so that all the 9 dives can be conducted without breaking PADI standards.

Once at Malaysia, there will be 3 training dives on Friday, Saturday & Sunday with additional of 1 leisure dive on Saturday. With this program, divers learnt all the skills in the crystal clear water at their own pace. There is no 5 hours restriction and definitely no feeling of being rush. Many divers who went through this program had many positive comments. The only thing why the cost of this program is much higher is due to the extra day of accommodation, meals & extra dives.

So hope this article had been useful to help you determine your choice of combo package. Whether you are diving with Sunny Cove or other dive centres, remember to read all fine prints and find out exactly what you getting for what you are paying.

At Sunny Cove, we only believe in honest, transparent and credible service. We don't believe in marketing gimmick to entice divers to sign up with us hence you can rest assure that the price quoted online will be the final price you will be paying and there won't be any shortchange in terms of service.

Guides To Selecting Dive Centre

Season is about to open and we have got a huge number of people asking us some questions which I feel much be answered and show to the public. This will help make your decision much more easier when you sign up for diving courses.

Cost Of Education
Many people had been enquiring why our price is much higher compared to other dive centre. This prompt us to do a market research to prove that our price isn't much higher and in fact comparable or perhaps even lower.

Do you know majority of the dive centres doesn't include rental of scuba equipment during the course which can significantly add up between $40 - $100? They usually didn't publish this as they would prefer the divers to purchase the equipment from them and if you don't want to purchase the equipment, you will have to add the rental charges.
As of 2006, all PADI courses participant must own a personal copy of the material from the respective courses. Some divers had feedback to me that they didn't receive anything at all and even if they did, it was on loan till the end of the course. At Sunny Cove, we make sure all required materials are given unless it is not required for some PADI courses.

Safety Aspect
Let us talk about safety aspect, do they really exist? What are the usual marketing gimmicks sold to divers?

Many divers were sold on the idea that they are promised small group ratio during course and how professional and customer oriented the dive centres are. On the contary, I have seen many times that such ratio were not kept and the different treatment towards ladies and guys from their staff.
In actual fact, there are different ratio given by the respective operators that is managing the island. Usually the ratio are so strict that is almost impossible to have a ratio of 4:1 unless the dive centre is charging you way higher to get a staff there else when you reach the island, that 4:1 ratio wouldn't be there at all. Recently, there is a corporate sector that approached us. They told us there is this dive centre that promised 2 complimentary space for diving with every 20 paid leisure divers. After I told them this, they nodded and turn down that offer from the initial dive centre and signed with us. "For every 20 paid leisure divers, there are 4 spaces allocated for staff. If I were to give away the 2 spaces as complimentary, would you mind if I have a ratio of 11:1?"

To sum it all, we at Sunny Cove believes in providing all divers with a comprehensive, honest and quality scuba education. We don't believe in neither over-selling nor gimmick to entice you to sign up with us. We don't brag about our service as our loyal base of customers can vouch for us. Most importantly, we want you to walk away a safe and proficient diver after embarking with Sunny Cove!

Published here are some guides on how to select an honest and quality dive centre for your scuba education. All information are based on objective facts.

Ever Popular Island

Pulau Hantu is one bad nightmare for both new aspiring divers-to-be and certified divers due to it's visibility. I have to agree with that however with such low visibility, you'll never know what you can find over there! We had on one occassion found an apollo bio-fin! Hmm, countless masks and weights with belt!

Apart from the dropped equipment, Pulau Hantu also offers something which is very difficult to see in Malaysia and that is seahorse! Yeah! We found a number of seahorse while diving there! We also had the chance to spot two fairly large turtle! There is always something new to discover when you are diving at Pulau Hantu.

This is one of the many reasons why more than 18 students had already been certified at Pulau Hantu with Sunny Cove since January 2008! We salute and congratulate those 18 students for their courage and a big appetite for fun!

Eventful Malapascua!

For those who had went on the trip on 19th - 22nd January to Malapascua, I'm sure it was a fun, exiciting and memorable one!

Although it was raining almost the entire trip however we got to see the elusive thresher shark! We were very lucky to have seen them during the first dive at Monad Shoal (Dive site where you see thresher). Everyone's mood turned from disappointment to hysterical! Seeing the thresher shark swim past you slowly and making a couple of rounds near the cleaning station - who says they are fake?

The group had another surprised waiting for them on the second dive at Monad Shoal. Two devil rays greeted them and to those who had not seen mantas, it is as good as diving at Bali! :)

We will be updating all the photos of the resort soon hence if you are yearning to go to Malapascua, do so now!