Tioman - Deepavali Dive

Festival Johor 2011

I have a new Page on FB. it's for the upcoming Festival Johor 2011. please support this page by liking it and possibly joining the discussions or creating one.. ;) i'd really appreciate it.

We're also on Twitter! Follow us @FestivalJohor11 today ;)

Festival Johor 2011 Promo

Diving Langkawi.. (20-23 May 2011)

wednesday (18th may 2011)

... wee hours in the morning on bbm

"penat lah.. jumaat terus masuk langkawi"
"langkawi? utk apa?"
"ada coz"
"apa kata kita tukar tempat.. i pegi langkawi, u rest?"
"u nk ikut?"
"boleh ke?"
"i tak kisah.. jab i tanya jab. confirm bila"

.... that afternoon i bought my tickets to Langkawi. hahaha

i had the chat with a fellow diver from Northern Divers. he invited me to join him and a few more teaching a group of kids from local universities diving. it was a last minute decision. i didn't even bring my dive equipment. only my rashguard, a few bikinis and also my pointer. hehe :) Fuad told me not to. good call too.. the visibility was soo bad. hahaha :) i think i only had 30 minutes of diving in total. :P

I arrived on Friday night. That afternoon I started packing. Then I received a call from Zaide. He was in town with Ismail and thought we should meet up for tea or something. I said yes forgetting I had a flight to catch. :p boleh gitu? I was nervous. I've never met any of the ND members before, except Uncle, and even Uncle I didn't really meet.. I saw him from afar. Does that count? tak kisah la.. so it's natural to be nervous. What if they hate me? What if nobody picks me up at the airport? haha... I didn't even bother to call and make hotel reservations.. adoi..

At about 6 pm I met up with Zaide and Mail.. had early dinner at Mr. Kebab and Briyani. again forgetting I had a FLIGHT TO CATCH! then i saw the time. It's already 7:10 pm! We left the restaurant.. bid goodbyes and I headed to Putrajaya Sentral. I arrived right on 7:20pm.. only to have to queue for tickets and the ticket attendant was soooo damn slow I thought of a million ways to torture her for making me miss my train. yupp.. i missed the train :( I called frantically for a cab. only to find out they can only come in half an hour. yikes.. tawakkal.. i prayed soo hard.. and started regretting some of the bad and naughty things i've done the past week.. ermm... i got on the 7:50 pm train. and arrived at 8:20 pm. i dashed to the ticket counter.. only there aren't anymore ticket counters.. they no longer have ticket counters for Langkawi! only kiosks.. and they've closed check ins exactly an hour before the flight.. my flight was at 9:15pm.. oh no! i ran to the service counter.. alhamdulillah... they said i can still check in! i felt like giving the Air Asia ground personnel a big hug.. hehehe...

i sent a bbm message to Fuad.. and he said he'll pick me up at the airport.

i texted Zaide and told him I managed to check in. heheh :) happy again :D

I arrived right on time despite the delayed departure. gila babi laju flight tu... hahaha sabor je la... tak sempat nak lelap pun. 

when i arrived Langkawi, I realized.. I didn't have Fuad's no. I also had no idea who are the other ND members that were in Langkawi.. mm.. idiot! again I prayed. Please please please pick me up at the airport. I waited a good 10 minutes before they arrived. That's the first time I met Fuad and Mulu of ND.  Fuad and I dropped Mulu and his friends off at the cinema and left for the hotel.. more like a roach motel. :( more bad news. Fuad is clueless without his GPS. lucky for the signboards. :p

I checked in at Regent Hotel. OMG... for RM50 a night it's not a bad deal la.. there were two double beds.. hot shower and aircond. they have towels but ermm.. i'd rather use my own lah. i took a quick shower while Fuad waited outside. The night has just begun baby.. :p hahaha nothing kinky... we just had to go and fill the tanks and meet up with the others: tuan Lan, tuan Lah, and Nizam. Tuan Lah is the instructor (NAUI) and tuan Lan is the DM. Nizam is an OWD, helping out with the course. They have 16 students so they need all the help they can get. After filling the tanks, we went to have a drink... waiting for Mulu to finish with his movie. Fuad just came back from Umrah, so the conversation was more about his trip. it's amazing.. i can't wait to go one day insya Allah..

testing my camera and strobes. yupp they're ok ;) 

Early morning.. I text Fuad.. "what time are you coming?" lo and behold he's outside the room! and i wasn't even ready yet! alamak! panic! hahaahaha dah la first time jumpa diorang. lambat lak tu :p benci tau!

brought my uw camera along.. hoping to capture the underwater scenes in langkawi.. perghh.. we left the hotel in a hurry. he waited for me to siap2.. luckily i already showered when he arrived. then he said.. you ni slow la.. huhuhu... sabar je :(

we had breakfast at this warung on the way to Tanjung Rhu.. yupp.. that's where they had their course. Tanjung Rhu. i remembered Tanjung Rhu. I was there with my girls a few years back.. there were sooo many horse dung.. i thought of changing the name to Tanjung Dung.. hmm... as i was still a bit sleepy i had a light breakfast. roti canai. kekee :D

we reached tanjung Rhu.. and i thought we were late.. no lah.. the students arrived later.. and they haven't even had their breakfast yet.. pheww.. :)

i changed in the car. by the roadside. that's a first! no dive center.. we brought our own tanks.. haha.. ok now i can envisioned how the MUW guys went diving in PD a few years back.. huhu... cool gileee... :) the students were supposed to do their swimming/snorkeling exercise for their owd certificate.. i was taking photos of the students underwater... using Fuad's camera.. i always wanted to try Olympus camera.. it's kinda cool. makes me regret not taking xz-1 even more :( aduhaiii... kenapa lahh...

we were laughing at the students... then suddenly... "tu tenggelam tu!" omigod....that's a first! and it wasn't even deep.. penat kot.. and all 4 of them, tuan lan, tuan lah, fuad and also Mulu, went straight to the girl. suddenly, nizam came out of nowhere.. and threw the life buoy... and it hit both tuan lan and the victim. hahahaa.. i almost died of laughter.. kelakor.. ok.. it wasn't supposed to be funny.. sorry.. but i just cracked.. :P

the girl was safe.. and she continued her certification exercises.. hehe :)

then they proceeded with the mask removal, mask clearing and also buddy breathing exercise while i waited at the beach ... interviewing the students.. we had quite a nice chat.. those kids were cool.. felt like talking to Man and Ica. hahah :P

Fuad completed with his students early.. so i got to use his gears and dived for 15 minutes with Nizam... we saw a cute crab trying to attack me.. hahaha.. reminded me of the ketam at redang.. damn.. hahaha it's so small! probably about 3 inch wide je kot. huhu... then it got boring.. so i suggested to Nizam that we ended the dive.. we had lunch by the road side.. and rested while waiting for the afternoon exercise..

in the afternoon, the students were taken to the jetty, where they had to do giant stride and back roll entry. they even had to get out of the water without tangga.. damn.. i'd die if i were in this course ... kekekee...

that night.. we were invited to a steamboat dinner at the hotel lang.. i think it's a ceremony for the previous students... where they get their cards.. we cramped into one car.. luckily it's a nazaria.. mm... i felt sexually harassed. but biasa lah kan? kekeke.. i was tired and sunburnt.. couldn't really think properly..

i'm sooooo red!

after dinner, some of us had foot massage. i passed as i already had my body massage the day before huhu :P so the rest of us had a drink at a nearby cafe. we even had roadside burger.. what? it smelled nice.. and i only had half! 

the next day i was determined to dive.. but i woke up late. mm.. again. we rushed to the warung where we had breakfast the day before.. and i just had to try the nasi lemak.. hahahah and also the goat milk.. lama tak minum HiGoat :p 

when we arrived the students were there.. having breakfast. pheww.. nasib baik lagi. after they were done, they had to assemble their equipment as fast as they could, and they were timed! heck.. i don't remember this one! ada ke? tak de kot. kalau ada aku dah fail kot hahahahah :p 

the owd students

anyway, i only brought my camera and also my bb with me on the boat. and there i saw him. hello boatman.. he's so cute! zamri nama dia.. he must be what? 20? 22? comel gilee... kekekkee... so hung out with him... he tried to act cool as normal beach boys would.. but he has like this amazing body! Ya Allah... thank you for this eye-candy named zamri.. or my trip to Dangli Island would probably be a bore.. kekeke.. then we jumped in. i was supposed to document fuad and his students.. i swear i saw fuad went down next to me.. i lost him and the anchor line! the vis was really bad.. i couldn't see anything. hahaha.. i went down anyways. it's not that deep.. then i saw someone.. i followed them... and suddenly they went up.. i followed suit.. then i realized it was not Fuad.. it's Mulu... then i saw Fuad on the boat. wakakakaka ... i've never lost a buddy like this before.. hahahahaha :p 

that's pretty much the only thing i saw underwater :(

then they told me to go dive nearer to the shore.. mm the vis was much better.. but there were sea urchins that are the size of my head.. and my head is huge! damn.. zam ( i wish it was zamri, but it was nizam) followed me.. he too was scared of those darn seaurchins. i think i probably had like 10 minutes there. we ascended.. and i told them i was heading back to the boat.. tak mau la kena sea urchins.. :p

Dangli Island

i hung out at the boat. that's when Fadzil added me in the ND BB Group.. i uploaded Fuad's photo and all hell broke lose. hehe :)

the wait was not long though.. the guys had to go back to AS that afternoon.. so we went back ashore.. to clean up. I didn't bring any change of clothes. so i just changed back to the dress i wore in the morning. Fuad was funny. he was rushing that morning. he forgot to bring a pair of pants.. kekekkeke... so he had to wear his towels back to Kuah .. wakakaka.. then the guys had to stop at Idaman Suri for chocolates and stuff.. i was laughing like a mad woman... 

from left: Nizam, Mulu, Tuan Lah, Me, Tuan Lan, Fuad.. notice the towel? kah kah kah

since i was not appropriately dressed i didn't go either.. isk.. :(

the guys left Langkawi at about 6:30 pm.. the last ferry. I had to stay another night as I dived that morning. i didn't know it's gonna be that shallow.. but tak kisah la. :p

bid the guys farewell...

that's a whole lot of baggage

these guys are funny lah.. hahaha thanks. i had fun :)

thanks .. thanks.. thanks.. for having me :)

i just slept that night.. tired.. dehydrated and burned. that sums it up :) which should explain why i didn't contact anyone at langkawi.. sorry yarp ;) i wanted to meet you up. but i was beat. 

i flew back to KL on Monday.. 12:30 pm ...

Historical City: Melaka (18-22 February 2011)

i haven't been to Melaka for a very long time. in fact.. i can't remember when was the last time i was in Melaka. So when Nadia invited me to lepak at her place, I couldn't say no :)

18th February

Friday afternoon, I called Nadia to ask for directions to her place. Yeah right! As if I can find it on my own! :P She told me to meet her up at the toll exit at around 5:30 pm. So after lunch I packed my bags and drove. I wanted to avoid the heavy traffic.

It turned out to be a really hot afternoon and to make things worse.. My aircond was warm. When I sent the car for service, the service center forgot to fill in the gas as I instructed. So laziness pays. I had to drive all the way to Melaka in scorching hot sun.. and with very warm aircond :p Luckily Nadia's house is in Alor Gajah. So it's not that far. I looked at the time and it was really still very early. So I stopped at this look out place on the highway. I think it was near Pedas- Linggi exit. It's a really long hike up. I was sweating (and panting) when I reached the top. But the view was amazing. Alas it was hot. hahaha :P

the long way down. huhu... 

i reached the toll gate at around 5:00 pm.. waited for Nadia to come, and she came at about 6 pm to get me.

not many people.. but then i was early :)

it was a really looooong wait. she came.. and we're off to her place. it's not that hard to find it but of course being me.. i can't even find my own way home sometimes.. so ermm.. :P

Nadia made dinner.. hehehe it was supposed to be ermm.. bakso. it looked like bakso, but does not taste like bakso. it was good though :) *thanks girl.. sakit perut aku makan sambal ko kekeke :P

that night, Nadia took me out to paint the town red.. kekeke.. 

we decided to check out the spinning tower, taming sari. haha it'd be her first time too.. it was awesome. to be able to see the whole town like that. it's like a preview of the fun i'd have in Melaka :D

Menara Taming Sari

view from the Taming Sari Tower

Nadia wanted so much to go to Jonker's Walk.. so she insisted I go there. Sabor je.. So in the name of cuti-cuti Malaysia, I followed. Plus we went on her car that night. 

Jonker's Walk closes early I guess.. It was barely 12 midnight and everyone was packing up it seemed, but the road was still full of people.. there were bars open, with live bands and all.. so it was very lively. I love that place instantly. It's like a huge, endless pasar malam (night market) that sells so many different souvenirs. but after a while it seems like it's on repeat, coz you see almost the same things sold every block hahaha.. i'm guessing they're from the same supplier :p

i can't imagine when it's at its peak time.. hahaha

this guy sang so good i had to give him a dollar

1Malaysia.. 

there was even a small "jungle". i have no idea why it's there.. but there were bronze animals there and some water fountains. there were people taking photos there. so i made Nadia my model and we took photos :) luckily I brought my camera haha :p

cewahhh... my melaka muslimah model

i have no idea what's the purpose but it's a nice rest place.. hehe :P

after the long walk, we went home. Nadia had something in store for me the next day.. huhu.. i'm scared :(

19th February 

Despite sleeping in late.. we woke up early. very early! Nadia told me to bring sports shoes and socks.. and some work out clothes and i understood why that morning. We were going to hike Hutan Simpan Tampin. :P sabor je... Nadia was determined to make my weekend a healthy one. hahaha thank you thank you.... 

even though it's not very challenging, for someone who's as fit as a 100 year old po po i complained the entire time hahaha.. Sorry Nadia. so not used to all that hiking.. LOL. my idea of hiking is a 20 meter distance with about 5deg elevation hahahaha... that's almost 45deg elevation and about 10 spans of electricity poles .. that's about 8 meters apart? so it makes it about 80 meters long :( uwaaa.. jahat :( 

view from my camera phone :)

when we finally reached the car, I felt great.. haha mainly because it's over. but also because the view was great, the breeze was cool and it's such a beautiful day.. plus we ran over, i mean i ran over a few cute guys on the way down. hehhe :)

it's so beautiful.. sayang nya too many mosquitos :(

i thought of calling it a day. but nadia had other plans for me. we were to have breakfast nearby. huhu... there goes the pounds we've lost :p

Nadia makan banyak gile hahahhaa

after breakfast... i thought.. yeay can go back and sleep :P alas i was mistaken. hahhaa nadia said she wants to try this new place out. and guess what? it's a hot spring! who the heck goes to a hot spring at 12 noon??? we did :P 

i have to admit.. it's a first for me.. hahah to actually stop and wait for a train. but we were all fooled. no trains. false alarm :(

it's a bright beautiful day!

tau kau panas ek? 

after a while the hot water felt nice on my feet

 we finally got home at about 1++ pm.. after an hour soaking our feet in the hot springs. it was a great day. but we're beat. so we slept.

that night, we went bowling. hahaha.. Nadia had a bowling tournament coming up and so she had to practice hahah.. i tagged.. menyibuk je sebenarnya. i hate bowling. but saje seronok looking at nadia's face each time i had a strike :P

my bowling shoes.. ermm rented

huhu i chipped my nail :(

brand new bowling alley.. 

20th February

it's a sunday so there's a pasar tani in the middle of Alor Gajah town.. we were hungry so we bought a whole lot of things. hahaha.. mainly food. and then we had to go and had our breakfast at nadia's favorite breakfast joint. so the food were left uneaten huhu :(

the roti was nice and soft.. but not enough la.. hahah :P

so i also had nasi lemak satu bungkus :p

after showering.. we headed to Melaka town. we decided to become real tourists. hahaha so our plan was to go to all the tourists attractions and then find the nyonya kebaya and then get a massage. hehe :)

we parked the car near the ferry terminal, and saw the cruise along Melaka River. I thought.. mm.. awesome!! we bought the tickets. Costs us RM10 per person. It's an hour ride with a pre-recorded voice explaining what we're looking at on our way back. i couldn't believe for a second that Melaka actually has its own monorail! hahahaha... but it's too short a distance. perhaps just for show? anyway it was a cool ride. we got to see the morten village, the shops with graffitis ... awesome!

Nadia is happy to play tourist :P

Melaka River Cruise heheehehe

near the ferry terminal there was a huge ship.. something like the pirate of the Caribbean ships .. perhaps only smaller.. it turned out to be the Maritime museum. there's a huge ship and next to it there's a small building with a boat poking out of the walls. heheh kinda cute. but it actually is part of the maritime museum. so with a small fee we can enter those two museums and also the TLDM museum across the street. It's not expensive. perhaps about 6 ringgit? can't remember.

inside the TLDM Museum

part of the ship

at the end of the TLDM Museum tour, we were starved. so we asked the staff there for the suggestions. they told us to go near the taming sari tower where there is a nasi campur joint. it's slightly pricey. but heck the food was goood! we had ikan bakar, daging salai masak lemak.. and ulam.. sedap nye nyum nyum.. just thinking abt the food makes my mouth waters. kekeke.. unfortunately, we were sooo hungry that i forgot to take photos of the food. :p sorry..

after lunch, we stopped for prayers, and then started museum hopping .. damn there were a lot of museums. some of the museums charge a minimum of RM2 per entry. some just let you in for free.. we just went on and on and on. by the time we were done, my legs hurt like hell.. :(

beauty museum. percaya tak?

these trishaws were waiting for customers in front of the museum. 

look at how cute those tiny slippers are :D

the earliest quran i think, at the islamic museum. 

i wanted to take a break with cendol. but the place was full! so Nadia persuaded me to walk some more to see some kebaya nyonya. i told her those shops were closed. she said we should just check to confirm. so we walked a bit more. there was a kebaya nyonya shop still opened. :p i was so tired.. i was sooo not interested in those kebaya. so i lingered outside the shop. lo and behold! there was a reflexology massage shop right across the street. i told nadia I was sooo gonna take that foot massage. it wasn't so expensive. foot massage is about 35 per hour. full body massage is at 40 per hour. at first we only opted for the foot massage. then i got greedy. so i asked for a full body massage as well. nadia soon followed and we left the shop happily after 2 hours of massage. while being massage we flirted with a cute thai. who turns out to be my masseuse's brother. he's cute :P i don't mind dating him. even if he only knows i love you in bahasa. :p

when we left for the car.. we passed by a seafood restaurant. i was so thirsty after the massage i asked nadia to have a drink first before we went home. we ended up having dinner as well. kekekeke :p

we reached home knackered.

21 February 2011

it's monday and i was supposed to drive home that morning. but i was sick. i guess i was really tired from all that walk and massage and my body needed rest. i had fever and was soo dizzy that i decided to stay another day in Melaka. Nadia wanted me to try her favorite masak lemak daging salai joint so she came home and picked me up for lunch. and since it was late.. and she had a meeting to attend, i had to follow her back to the office. not before stopping for some kuihs :p makan je keje hahahaha

i slept while at her office. her office is well equipped. i can't resist LOL

we went home. Nadia told me she's got bowling practice that nite. since i was well rested during the day, i thought maybe another round of bowling wouldn't hurt kekekeke... had a few strikes.. and nadia was pissed. hahahaha :p

gwyneth tu aku la tu kekekeke

muka nadia bengang bila aku strike kekekeke :p

kak sue pun nak strike gak.. :p

ni uncle sebelah lane. cara dia throw bola sangat kiyut. and he's peramah also :D

i was still sick so when we reached Nadia's home i fell asleep immediately.

22 February

Nadia woke up me as i wanted to leave first thing in the morning.. we had breakfast at this nasi lemak place on the way to Nadia's office. what's the name eh? i can't remember. it's right beside the road... and it serves some cute nasi lemaks. there's a variety of malay kuihs and i especially love the popia and also the nescafe. nice :)

i took some actifast and started my journey home before it got too hot. the road was clear so it wasn't that hard to speed :P reached home about two hours later and slept again.

it was a great trip even though i fell sick towards the end of my stay in Melaka. I wish to go again soon.. so i can go back to that thai massage guy and ask him out on a date kekeke :) he really is that cute ok? slurrpp.. :P

i wish i could remember the details of my trip. but ermm... writing about a trip 3 months after coming home does that to you hehehe...

i would like to thank Nadia and friends for being such a great host. sorry i was such a baby sometimes.. i hope you would have me again in Melaka. maybe we should try that night at the museum thing ;)

the end

jom kita pergi mabul

Let's go diving! Mabul in June!

Hi everyone!

I've the itch to dive Mabul again. If you're interested to join me in this trip please send me an email (marina.yusoff@gmail.com) Details as follows:


Date - 24-28th June 2011

Open to Non-Divers & Divers. Diver wanna-bes are also welcomed :)

Price includes:

transportation (tawau airport - semporna - mabul and back)
11x dives around Mabul/Kapalai & Semporna with Big John Scuba
or 11x snorkeling by boat (unlimited snorkeling ard the island)
room - full boarding for 4 nights at a humble homestay
3x meals/day
unlimited coffee/tea facility
the dives will be guided by one of the best and most experienced DM in Mabul

price excludes:

flight to tawau
tips (optional)

please email me at marina.yusoff@gmail.com for further details.

Diving with Mr. Yummy :) (23-28 March 2011)

before we go further i have to warn you that you might puke after reading some of the things written here. it's a rembes trip.. so don't say i didn't warn you :P

ok.. i have to be honest, the reason why I made another trip to Mabul not two weeks after I came back from Mabul was because of a man who we shall call mr. yummy. OMG he's like the hottest guy I've laid my fingers eyes on... in terms of height, Lando wins. but the muscles especially the stomach and the chest area.. mm... yummy. so when he texted me after i went home, i was ecstatic flattered. but of course i told everyone i wanted to test my new strobe. hmm.. i wonder if everyone bought it. :D

so i bought a ticket to tawau. eagerly i must add for i didn't even check the time of the flight. i just bought it. and then realized that i accidentally bought the tickets for the first flight out to tawau when i actually wanted the afternoon tickets. darn it! so now i have the whole day to kill in semporna. not very interesting. especially when it's raining the entire day. that's right folks. you may laugh out loud now. i was stuck in sipadan inn most of the day. but i had a good rest that day especially since i barely had a shut eye the night before. you see... during my 6-10 march trip, i nearly missed my flight. so to avoid anything like that i spent the night at the airport. at marrybrown to be exact.

the next morning i was so eager to get to Mabul.. Big John picked me up in his van. took me and his staff out for lunch at pasar putu. i couldn't even eat. i was too sexcited to see mr. yummy. then i found out that we were to dive in Semporna first. and to make matters worse. mr. yummy actually got out of the island on the day i arrived. with his girlfriend :( huhuhu.. i met the other divers with Big John that day also. i saw Mohan first. i thought he was a stuck up. (sorry if you happen to be reading this.. )erkk.. i even bitched about him on my fb. i was upset... missing my friends. and seeing mr. yummy with another woman did not help at all. i was miserable. and i haven't even started diving yet! then i saw Geri! alhamdulillah! Allah answered my prayers.. i don't feel alone anymore! then i met the other divers - Ooi, stephanie and faruk. they seemed very polite when i saw them at big john. they are probably tired :)

lunch at pasar putu.. yummy

Dive 1 - Semporna: Kelong

our first dive was at Kelong in Semporna. omg. it's as dirty as i remembered it. gone were the stroller. but it was dirty as before :( but at least i got to see my little picturesque dragonets. i love seeing them but they are so hard to capture. there were a lot of seahorses too.. but as ooi puts it.. but it's black! hehehe... it doesn't look so good in pictures :p bumped into big john in the middle of the dive and followed him till the end of the dive. i didn't bring down the strobe on my first day of diving. i was soo scared of the strobe. probably because i was scared i might break it or something.

photos from dive 1 at Kelong

we did our surface interval at tampi-tampi. there's a restaurant there which seemed empty. perhaps because it was still too early for dinner. hehe :) there were a few of the staff singing along the karaoke. i bet if nana and jon were there.. they'd be joining the ladies. hahaha :p we had noodles and i ordered nescafe tarik. bliss.. especially when it's really cold underwater :( we then resumed diving below the restaurant. erghh :( i remember seeing diapers and a used sanitary pad down there when i first dived there not two weeks ago!  uwaaa... :( all that shower was for nothing!

Dive 2 - Semporna: Tampi-tampi

i think the one thing that probably kept me happy was the fact that it wasn't far from the army camp. i was soo praying that i'd surface near their jetty. alas the current was heading the other way :( but we did see quite a lot of stuff there. not as interesting as first dive.. but it was ok.

photos from Tampi-tampi ... dive 2 :) 

after the dive, Big John left us with Osman in the boat and bid us good bye. he's staying at semporna while we're heading to Mabul... without mr. yummy  :( sedeh..

it's sooo darn cold when we reached mabul. then i saw him. it's "nothing at all"! taufiq was there! he left scuba junkie and free lanced at SWV. but at night he hangs out at big john. i guess he felt more at home there. we hugged. and i went to shower. i forgot how dirty i must've been. poor taufiq. hehe :P

after dinner... geri, ooi, steph and faruk hung out at the lounge/dining area. i joined them... got ourselves acquainted. i guess i won't be missing my girls anymore. haha :p oppss.. :) then the gen set broke down. that's when i saw a tweet from Mr. J.F. Seademon. They're at Borneo Divers and invited me to join them at a birthday party. kekeke... after a while it was back up again. that's when i asked taufiq to take me to the beach bar. it was dark ok :p he left me there.. and just when i started singing.. it rained :( boo hoo... bodos :( it rained for a good 1/2 hour. it didn't stop.. and it was really late. so when it's still drizzling.. i called taufiq to come and pick me up. it was a wise move too.. coz it turned out that after midnite, there's no electricity on the island! imagine that! i never knew that... do you? now i know how a 37 year old woman could have 10 kids in such tiny houses. hmm...

Dive 3 - Mabul: Lobster Wall

Still no mr.yummy strobe.. i went on diving. it's so hard to dive with the base tray on the housing the day before that i decided to take it out in the morning. without the base tray it's easier to shove my camera into holes and such to capture the photos of an eel or peacock mantis shrimp hehe .. so glad they never attacked my camera. i just read that the peacock mantis shrimp could attack people. and that a moral eel can bite your fingers off. erkk.. huhu..

absar also joined us diving. he's a cutie that works with the compressor at big john. he looks like a pakistani but he claims that he doesn't have any blood ties to pakistanis or indians. he was so excited showing off his skills in spotting nudis and other macros.. great more spotters in the making :)

Lobster Wall.. no strobes.. chicken!

Dive 4 - Mabul: SMART House Reef

since i'm just tagging along Mohan's group, i can't complain much about the dive sites they choose. haha.. i hate diving at SMART House reef. the visibility sucks. and i get lost all the time. i think i lost the group a couple of times and ended up with julia. but it doesn't matter. she's a good spotter too.. but she has a keen liking to scorpion fish. i hate scorpion fish. tapi dah ada orang tunjuk kita ambik je la gambar nye kan? haha :p since Mohan's divers are all photographers except Stephanie, i had very little chance of taking a photo.. haha they take like 20-30 minute average per subject! crazy lah. i take 3 photos and then leave. unless i thought that nobody was waiting for me. then i'd spend a bit of time taking a photo. 

SMART House reef

we saw this gigantic grouper.. i was scared that it would bite my head off.. huhu.. and the highlight of this dive was the vortex formed by the trevallies.. so beautiful. felt like i was in sipadan in the middle of the barracuda vortex. i wish i could snap a better photo. but i was at awe. 

jacks/trevallies

Dive 5 - Mabul: Paradiso Uno 

after lunch we headed to paradise 1 in mabul. dandy followed us to show us a seahorse. it was tiny as hell.. and green and it looked more like a sea grass than a sea horse. heck i'm not even sure if it was a seahorse. it could be a pipefish!

seahorse or pipefish. that is the question. 

the pipefish was right smack in the middle of these divers..
huhu.. sian dia

everyone took their time with the pipefish (let's call it a pipefish la.. ye?) so after i got the shots that i needed.. i left with osman and explored the little oasis between the pipefish and the reef. osman found a silly looking eel that suddenly popped its head as if it held its breathe when moving under the sand.. then he spotted a tiny juvenile pipefish. it's so tiny it looked like the you know those black stuff you take out when cleaning the shrimps? yeah.. it's so tiny even when my camera zoomed i can't focus on the thing. so no decent photo of the tiny stuff... but there were a few. we ended the dive with a view of the mandarin fish. alas, my camera ran out of batteries. and the mandarin fish are too camera shy. didn't get one single good shot of the fish :( 

later that evening.. i saw him! he's back.. oh my oh my oh my.. but he looked soo haggard.. probably from the boat ride. it's ok... he's still sexy kekeke.. he and his gf hung out with the other staff playing cards.. while i and the other divers hung out drinking coffee.. they persuaded me to bring my strobe on our next dive. so was pushing me to set up my strobe that night before i went to bed. mr. yummy helped me assemble the strobe but i think he had a little too much to drink. he broke my clamp. but because he's mr. yummy.. aku pasrah je.. hahahhaa.. siot.. i could not sleep that night. not sure if it's because of the close encounter or the coffee.. i think it was the coffee.. damn coffee!

Dive 6 - Mabul: Lobster Wall (again)

mr.yummy broke the good news..he's diving with me. in fact someone actually wrote that he's guiding me. and osman was guiding the rest. hahaha... funny :) and glad.. and excited.. isk isk isk.. angau sudah :p

he tested my camera and strobe. and he told me where to place the strobe. i wasn't listening. well i was but i didn't hear anything. i just wanted to sit there and look at him. mm the last time i was angau like this was when i met my first married-man boyfriend. but that's a different experience. it's a nice feeling. ok. so... am not a lesbian after all.... ;) 

when we descended, he was merely a spotter. he just spotted stuff and i took photos.. little did he know my photos are terrible. hahahahaha.. he was a happy spotter. and i was trigger happy. shooting here and there... like nobody's business.. and the results.. he didn't like so much hahah :p

huduh kan? huhu

but at least they've got color! hahaha.. i was scared that i'd only get all-white photos like JD.. i've always teased JD about his uw photos.. about how he always got all-white images underwater that i was so scared it would happen to me too. hehe sorry JD.. takut kena tulah :( ..

while waiting for the next dive, mohan and mr. yummy adjusted my camera settings again. mohan then gave me a few tips.. where to place the lights etc. i didn't get them all figuring that i'd be able to try them later. hehe.. meanwhile mr. yummy kept complaining about my lighting placement. ermm.. he said i always block my lighting.. ye laa.... i wasn't used to bringing strobes ok... before this i was all happy to point my camera anywhere and start shooting. :P sabor je.. complain ek!

Dive 7 - Kapalai: House Reef 

Ooi didn't join us on this dive. he was feeling sick from the air. i think absar didn't change the filter when big john told him to for when filling the air in ooi's tank.

there were plenty to see at house reef kapalai. there were the ghost pipefish.. the frogfish.. black and yellow.. big and small.. leaf fish. but geri got the winning shot. she got a shot of the yellow frogfish with the mouth wide open! best gile. so mr. yummy explained that whenever the frogfish is about to open its mouth, the tanduk will be erected. that's a signal that it'll open its mouth wide. so watch out for that. cool. but i don't think i have that patience to wait for him to open his mouth wide. *dengki sebenarnya ni*

but at least i got some good shots la.. better than the dive before kot?

we went back and had lunch. mohan and the gang planned 4 dives that day. and it was ooi's idea too :p so it's kinda funny when he's not doing the four dives. :p

Dive 8 - Mabul: Seaventures

haha.. i bet if jon were there she'd oppose to this site. actually after what happened last time i was hesitant to go too.. i told mr. yummy i didn't wanna go.. he said, just go.. he'll dive close. ahhh.. cair.. hahahaahahaha... i'm gonna log all my 13 dives.. so bear with me here hahaha :p

i was hoping for no current.. at all. i was really tired. didn't have enough sleep the night before. altho i took a 15 minute nap... i was still very sleepy. i prayed so hard things go smoothly.

"welcome to seaventures. maximum depth is 16 meters. it's a square profile. so please watch your deco limit yah..things to see here.. are the ribbon eel, and a bunch of nudis. thank you and have fun"

seaventures.. so many nudis.. :) 

ermm.. actually the moment i reached the seabed.. mr. yummy and i saw the juvenile ribbon eel. but ermm i accidentally made it go inside its hole.. and it wouldn't come out :( luckily the others didn't see me do that. huhu.. on the other hand the others managed to see the adult ribbon eel at the end of the dive.. both male and female. tak kisah la.. we also saw the flying gurnard but ermm.. i didn't get a decent photo of it. it's too fast ok? :p

we went up and mr yummy said i've made some progress with my phototaking. hmm.. yeay :)

Dive 9 - Mabul: Paradise 1

our last dive of the day, we went diving at paradise 1. my camera's battery was running out.. but i managed to capture a few shots. diving with mr. yummy was great. because he knows his way around, and because i was his buddy, we didn't stay long at the surface. the minute both of us were in the water, we descended. didn't even have to wait for the others. so i didn't feel so tired. alhamdulillah.

as soon as i reached the bottom, we saw this beautiful nudi with yellow trims around the skirts, and has an all white body. the name later i found out was ardeadoris egretta it was moving pretty fast and it was huge. it's right there on the sand. and i was happily taking photos of the nudi while waiting for the others to descend. suddenly i felt like being watched. i turned left and saw a turtle heading towards me. i gave a little shout (not much just a little tiny one) and moved away from the nudi. i saw stephanie right behind me and i held her hands. and there it was. the turtle that almost hit me, crash landed on the poor white nudi. steph and i screamed as if watching a real accident on the road. faruk was there and was stunned by our reaction. i only stopped screaming when i saw that the nudi was safe. pheww... i slipped into the sand after it curled up when the turtle karate chopped it. mr.yummy just laughed. and we headed on to find the frogfishes.

he told me that he was gonna take me to see the green frogfish before my batteries died. plus the water was too cold.. so we decided to go back to the reef and ascended. it was really cold. i wish he'd held me. hahaha gatal. ;p

we saw the pajama cardinalfish near the mandarin fish.. 

that night i slept early. even mr. yummy slept early. i guess he was tired handling me. hehehe :p oppss... but i was really sleepy. i didn't want to sleep early but i think i was just resting at about 9:30 pm.. when i fell asleep.

woke up really early. first the fishing boat at 3:30 am. then the cat in heat.. hello.. i was horny too but i didn't wake everyone up ok.. finally at 6:30 am.. i woke up and took a shower. ooi was surprised that i take a shower every morning before i dive. well.. i can't remember how it started but it seems that everytime i take a shower before my dive, i get lucky. i get to see extraordinary things..

Dive 10 - Mabul: Lobster Wall 

we planned on doing 4 dives again on our last day of diving. so lobster wall again this morning. i was hoping to see the white variety of pikachu. i've never seen that one yet. we missed the pigmy seahorse. somehow the day before we arrived mabul it has disappeared :( mr. yummy couldn't believe that the pigmy has gone.. so as soon as we have descended, he made a quick search of the pigmy seahorse. still wasn't there.

the current was quite strong.. and somehow in this trip i suck up on air. a lot of air. i finished my air quicker than anyone else. was i that sexcited? hahahaha :p menyampah tau ...

i swear when i looked at my gauge.. i saw that i had like 70 bars left. then we saw the pikachus.. not 1, not 2 but 4. and we saw both the white ones and the yellow ones! i was taking photos of the 3rd one when suddenly mr. yummy tapped my head and showed my gauge. OMG! 10 bar je? where did the rest go? then i looked at the dive computer. deco! i had to do deco stop! OMG! two firsts! i never ran out of air like that.. and i never once had to do a deco stop before! i was laughing when we reached 5 meters. then i realized.. mm.. i shouldn't be laughing when i only had 10 bars of air left in my tank. luckily mr.yummy showed me his octopus.. (no.. not that octopus) and i said yes. he grabbed my arm and we shared air.. i'm so glad my first time was with you mr. yummy....i shall cherish this moment forever. heheh poyo tak? poyo tak? hahahaha

my only shot of the small yellow pikachu. hehehe cool kan? 

bangga tengok gambar ku dah makin improve hahaha .. poyo

Dive 11 - Kapalai: Mid reef 

when mohan told us that we're doing mid-reef kapalai i was quite disappointed. last time i was there back in 2008, i didn't see anything nice except maybe an octopus. hmm... so i didn't expect much from this dive. but... hang on.. there were just too many to see.. and so little time. i guess partly was because our dearest big john joined us in this dive. stephanie was diving with him. and she was soo happy to see all the different things big john showed her.

since i was way over my no deco limit on the first dive, i had to stay shallow on this dive.. ermm.. yeah.. ok.. i was trigger happy then i saw the dive computer. 0 minutes to no-deco limit. erkk? how'd that happen? i quickly swam my way up.. and when mr. yummy saw me, he thought i was having problems with my buoyancy. i showed him the dive computer. he told me to calm down.. and ascend slowly. i think he didn't realize that i had to do deco stop soon.. then the alarm triggered. and he had to do the safety stop with me. hahahaha :p but this time i got to hold his bcd *wink* when doing the safety stop

i think the main thing is to go closer to the subject and make sure there's enough lighting. the closer you are the better the photos :) 

ermm.. 2 deco stops.. luckily i've got enough air. :p

Dive 12 - Mabul: Boat Channel

i guess they are staying true to the macro magic theme of this trip. we're diving the boat channel. you see i love diving there at night. but during the day .. i don't know.. it'd ruin all the good experience i had of this dive site. hehehe... i'd be able to see all the garbage, the eels.. and what not.

the good thing was i got to see how many sea urchins were in that area. there's even flower urchin! darn it! i nearly touched it too! yikes! and i thought i could only see flower urchins in lembeh

the target was to see the harlequin shrimps, the bumble bee shrimps and i think the boxer crab. i'm so proud to say that i found 2 of the 3 harlequin shrimps. :) we also saw the zebra crab. but no bumble bee shrimps and boxer crab. unfortunately, my underwater housing jammed up when i was about to take photos.. and to make things worse the housing fogged up because i took too long a time to change the settings on my camera :(

so the photos came out.. ermm as faruk puts it ... moody

moody shots 

but i had some pretty good shots of the weird flat nudis :) nice

after seeing that my camera fogged up, i decided to end the dive. told mr. yummy i was cold. we peeked to see where we were.. and swam back to the homestay. hehe ;p

he helped me up.. and helped change the tank for me. cair lagi. :-/ he even made me hot coffee.. uwaaaa... can i have him ma? please...

we rested a while then saw the rest of the gang surfaced not long after we reached the homestay. they were quite happy with the find. well i was happy but not totally satisfied.

Last Dive - Dive 13 - Mabul: Ribbon Valley

Big John took off to semporna before the last dive. he was supposed to take the big boat out that day and we were supposed to dive in the smaller boat. but he changed his mind, so he and rossal took off in someone else's boat. so we moved back out stuff in the big boat.

we decided to dive the ribbon valley. it's actually near lobster wall.. along the reef anyhow..

before we jumped in, mr. yummy whispered to me "watch out for eagle rays or even mantas while i look for stuff" what? nice... :) so when we reached the bottom.. he was digging through stuff while i looked around. there it was. i saw an eagle ray. i didn't have my tank banger with me.. mr. yummy borrowed it (ok. am sooo not gonna wash my tank banger) so i screamed .. he turned and i called out for ooi. all three of us saw it. but it's too far to get a clear photo of it .. i remember seeing the eagle ray with lando last year. that was a beautiful moment ...

then we found the rest of the divers with osman. everyone was taking photos.. so i felt like i had to as well.. hahaha :) saw this nemo on white anemones.. mr. yummy told me to take photos of it. but it's really hard since they move too fast and too much! mohan and mr. yummy didn't share my patience hahaha.. mr yummy was screaming and shouting.. mohan came in and took my camera and took a shot. ok that was not necessary. he could've just tapped my shoulder and asked me to step away. i would have. i don't mind. i spent too long a time there anyhow. :p

i was cold and mr yummy was cold too. so we ended the dive sooner than everyone else. when we surfaced, mr yummy said.. emm.. tak ada tangga ... ok so how are we gonna get on the boat!?? the boat was really high!  anip then shouted. tak de tangga. lupa.. how can they forget to get the ladder? uwaaaa...  i stepped on the propeller.. and mr. yummy and apung lifted me up. sorry i am heavy guys.. next time pack up the ladder ok :p

while waiting for the others.. it struck me.. it's my last dive .. possible the last with mr. yummy .. uwaaa sedih :(

i didn't talk much. it was the saddest moment of the trip :(

washed the equipment and took a shower. mr yummy went straight to bed after dinner. the rest of us just talked and chatted.. got to know each other better. everyone told me not to go to bed too early. so i waited till about 12:30 then i went to bed. it was a long day. i was sad.. not in the mood and sleepy. so i dozed off...

i woke up at about 5:30 am. went out at 7:30 am.. still hasn't showered. just sat and drank some coffee.. and chatted with kakak tukang masak. heheh :) she's like a mamasan. she smokes like one, sits like one. even talks like one. :) but she's nice. then lando came. i apologized for not calling before i came. i guess he's used to it. i'd done it before hehe :) came unannounced. gave him a hug.. he said i looked like i've lost weight.. ye la tu hehehe saje nak buat aku suka :)

then he left. and i had breakfast with mr. yummy. it's my last day i had to make it memorable. but ermm.. i suddenly ran out of ideas of what to say to him. apa la :(

then we started talking.. about nothing. i started packing.. took a shower and continued our chat until the very last minute. he gave me a hug.. and we bid goodbyes. it's probably our last encounter.. but i don't mind. i got what i wanted. i spent some time with him.. and i got to learn to use my strobe. hehe :) and i actually told him i like diving with him and be his buddy. and i really hope to dive with him again soon. till next time.


more photos here - flickr:inayusoff