http://www.sunnycove.com.sg/kmitan/rss_feed.php Latest Sunny Cove News! en Thomas Koh info@sunnycove.com.sg http://www.sunnycove.com.sg/kmitan/articleback.php?newsid=35 Barely 3 weeks into the opening of Malaysia dive season, Sunny Cove had already seen her first 100th divers and counting! This is a very proud and joyous news for all the crew. We are proud to have been able to serve and extend our professional education to you and we hope you too had been able to learn something new and fun while taking your dive education with Sunny Cove. We are committed to provide all our divers regardless of nationality and race the same transparent, affordable course fee and quality dive education. We look forward in welcoming our next 200th student in time to come. We would like to thank everyone for their support! Thu, 19 Mar 2009 19:00:00 http://www.sunnycove.com.sg/kmitan/articleback.php?newsid=34 Spaces for a beautiful dive vacation to Pulau Tioman on 13th - 15th March will be running out very soon. All divers are advised to reserve their slots early to avoid disappointment. The next weekend that is going to be fully booked will be on the Good Friday weekend. Space for the highly sought after PADI Combo "Open + Advance" course is filling up fast and divers will need to register their interest fast before we close the booking. Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:00:00 http://www.sunnycove.com.sg/kmitan/articleback.php?newsid=33 20th – 22nd February marks the opening of diving season for the team of Sunny Cove and her divers. 19 high spirited divers travel through the night to Mersing wondering what to expect for the new season. The day breaks welcoming the day everyone gets to dive and the extremely great visibility is a sight not to be forgotten! The weather was good, the water is calm and most importantly it means that diving will be great! Our first dive to Renggis was wonderful with visibility at least 20+m. A giant turtle, 3 reefsharks, a school of friendly cuttlefish greeted the divers and it was an awesome sight! Overall, everyone enjoys the trip and looks forward to the next one! Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:00:00 http://www.sunnycove.com.sg/kmitan/articleback.php?newsid=32 Sunny Cove will be organising the first trip up to Pulau Tioman for the new dive season on 20th - 22nd February 2009! With the weather clearing up in Malaysia, we hope that the new season will unveil with better visibility and greater varieties of marine life! For the first trip, we already have a confirmed number of more than 15 pax for the trip and the numbers are still climbing! Be part of the exclusive opening for the new dive season and perhaps dive in some good luck for you this year! 20th - 22nd February 2009Pulau Tioman, Paya Beach Resort @ S$ 390- Quad Sharing Accommodation, Buffet Meals- Rental of Scuba Diving Equipment- 6 Guided Boat Dives With Tanks & Weights- Return Transfer From Singapore to Malaysia- Complimentary 1 Adventure Certification Dive! Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:00:00 http://www.sunnycove.com.sg/kmitan/articleback.php?newsid=29 PADI had published the latest 2009 product pricing and compared to 2008 pricing, there will be an additional of 5% price increment. It will be effective from 1st January 2009 onwards. As our operation is dependable on the fluctuation of the PADI product costing, we will be increasing the course fee to match the increment. On the contrary, resort operators and transport operators had agreed to lower the pricing based on the lower fuel rate now. We will be updating the course fee for 2009 by this week and we will monitor any changes by the operator. Should there be further reduction of price, we will pass the benefits back to you. Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:00:00 http://www.sunnycove.com.sg/kmitan/articleback.php?newsid=30 We are proud to launch Sunny Cove eStore after months of anticipation. We are in the midst of adding in more products online and hope you will bookmark or subscribed to the feed for any new update done. Please surf to www.sunnycove.com.sg/store to visit our eStore. We strive to ensure that information published online is accurate and updated. Sunny Cove will not be liable and responsible to sell the products in the event of any inaccurate pricing, product specifications and shipping date published. Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:00:00 http://www.sunnycove.com.sg/kmitan/articleback.php?newsid=31 Please register yourself as a member in the eStore to get additional 10% off total purchase. The 10% is applicable storewide for a limited time only! Remember to bookmark or subscribe to our feed for occassion rock bottom discount on dive equipment or courses published in the eStore! All Instructors/Dive Operators will need to email us for verification to access the special pricing in the PADI products category. Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:00:00 http://www.sunnycove.com.sg/kmitan/articleback.php?newsid=28 Management, Instructors & Divemasters would like to thank those guest that were present at our official opening on the 24th December! It was an event larger than our official opening during our first start up. We have extend our official opening special pricing till 31st December 2008! Hurry up! We will have to close the sale tomorrow! Anyway, we would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy New Year! May the New Year be a prosperous and happy one for you! Of course, let's hope for a better weather throughout 2009 so we can enjoy diving all year round! Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:00:00 http://www.sunnycove.com.sg/kmitan/articleback.php?newsid=27 Sunny Cove will be holding it's offical opening at the new premise on 24th December 2008. Everyone is welcome to drop by to grace the occassion! There will be finger food served from 1500hrs - 1800hrs for all guests. We will be having a number of special discount on courses and leisure dive trips for signups on the day itself. Promotion does not just end there, we are having a special "Buy 1 Get 1 Free" Mares Nemo Sports dive computer! Watch out for more promotion offers to be published by this week. We looked forward to seeing you at our official opening. Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:00:00 http://www.sunnycove.com.sg/kmitan/articleback.php?newsid=25 12 divers from Sunny Cove throng the beach of Tulamben and crystal water of Nusa Penida from 8th - 11th November. It was a memorable trip for some who managed to spot the Manta Ray and of course the beautiful and cooling view from 1787m above sea level at the famous Kintamani active volcano! We will be organising an inaugural trip to Kota Kinabalu during 5th - 9th December where we will be doing a couple of wreck dives. We will be diving off Pulau Tiga - Survivor Season 1 location. If you are game, you might want to try your hands on twin tank or rebreather diving when you are there! Of course, apart from that, we will have many more trips organised for 2009 to places like Maldives, Raja Ampat, Komodo and more! Watch out for it here! :) Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:00:00 http://www.sunnycove.com.sg/kmitan/articleback.php?newsid=22 We have had many emails enquiring about the course schedule for our PADI courses. Unlike other dive centres who tend to list the dates for the specific courses, Sunny Cove conducts them regularly on Monday, Tuesday and Saturday. The day and timing are already specified on the information box under each respective courses. Divers are welcome to schedule as many theory lessons as they deemed neccessary. For divers who opt to self study, they will only need a maximum of 1 session to clear the knowledge development portion. Sunny Cove operates on a honest and transparent policy on conducting courses and course fee payable. We don't believed in creating any marketing gimmick to entice divers to sign up. We regard everyone as thinking young adults and you will know how to make the right decision on which centres provides the best service to cater to your needs. Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:00:00 http://www.sunnycove.com.sg/kmitan/articleback.php?newsid=23 Sunny Cove will have the last trip to Malaysia on 14th - 16th November to Pulau Tioman. Everyone is invited to join us on this date for leisure diving! This is a all leisure dive trip event to mark the end of the diving season 2008 to Malaysia. It also marks the opening of diving season to other great locations like Raja Ampat, Phuket, Maldives, etc! Please bookmark us for more information on other great trips! As mentioned, all divers going to Paya Beach Resort during the month of November will get a free upgrade to standard room instead of the lodge. This will be on a first come first serve basis hence do secure your space early. For the last leisure dive trip, we will be having a discount for those who joined us. This discount is a token of our appreciation to all our divers who had supported us this few years! Information will be published shortly on the dive trip. Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:00:00 http://www.sunnycove.com.sg/kmitan/articleback.php?newsid=20 It had been quite some time, 3 years to be exact that leopard shark was spotted around Pulau Tioman - needless to say at Renggis island! It was a double whammy when a 3+ metres whale shark was spotted on the surface! More than 80+ divers had chose Paya Beach Resort as their choice location and they had good reasons for it! The rooms are much spacious and comfortable. The food are much more delicious and offers much more varieties to choose from. The trip is much shorter and smooth sailing compared to other locations and most importantly, you want to dive because it should be relaxing and not torturing! Visibility was a great 20+ metres over the trip with almost near to zero under current! Now is the best time to dive in Malaysia as the pre-monsoon usually brings the best visibility and larger pelagics! We will be having a long weekend dive over the Deepavali weekend! Don't miss the chance to join us for the last long weekend for this entire year! Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:00:00 http://www.sunnycove.com.sg/kmitan/articleback.php?newsid=19 Since February, Sunny Cove started accepting credit card payment for scuba diving and dive expedition. Divers were subjected to a 3% administrative charge if they are paying by credit card. We do apologize for such inconvenience caused then. After receiving feedbacks from our supportive divers, we have decided to waive off the 3% administrative charge for payment via credit card. This small little gesture is our appreciation towards your support all these years! For all payments after May, there will not be any 3% administrative charge for payment via credit cards. Sat, 04 Oct 2008 19:00:00 http://www.sunnycove.com.sg/kmitan/articleback.php?newsid=17 After months of not being able to update the website due to overwhelming response from divers who sign up for courses from March 2008 till now, we will finally have a chance to do major update to the site starting from 29th September 2008. This is also in conjunction with the official opening ceremony at Sunny Cove in October. Do look out for more updates regarding the official opening as we will be having sales for Dive Rite BCD, Mares and Scubapro Equipment. There will also be freebies on first-come-first-serve basis for people who grace our opening. Look forward to seeing all of you again. Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:00:00 http://www.sunnycove.com.sg/kmitan/articleback.php?newsid=14 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. Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:00:00 http://www.sunnycove.com.sg/kmitan/articleback.php?newsid=13 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. Mon, 17 Mar 2008 19:00:00 http://www.sunnycove.com.sg/kmitan/articleback.php?newsid=12 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! Sun, 16 Mar 2008 19:00:00 http://www.sunnycove.com.sg/kmitan/articleback.php?newsid=10 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! Sun, 24 Feb 2008 18:00:00 http://www.sunnycove.com.sg/kmitan/articleback.php?newsid=9 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. Sun, 17 Feb 2008 18:00:00 http://www.sunnycove.com.sg/kmitan/articleback.php?newsid=8 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 ProgramThe 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 ProgramAfter 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 ProgramAgain, 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. Sun, 10 Feb 2008 18:00:00