tioman trivial crap deepavali 8-10 nov 2007

and the report begins..

truth is, after the LOB 1/2 a moon ago, i never thot i'd be going for a trip anytime soon. i've already used up half of my savings for my new place.. and last 2 uncalled for trips, and i also ran out of annual leave. well...sort of. i guess i won't be celebrating hari raya haji la this year. but when someone asked me if i wanted to do tioman on deepavali, i immediately said yes. err.. why arr?? why??

i received a call that we'll be meeting at R&R seremban at 5 am on deepavali (8.11.2007). i told MT that i was gonna meet him up there at 5 am. then he felt sorry, that my brother had to take me all the way to seremban,he told me that he'd pick me somewhere along MRR2. but at about 1 :30 am, it was raining cats and dogs and mice in KL. there was no way that i'd be there on time. i left home at 3 am, when the rain's not so bad.. but the roads were slippery and there were accidents everywhere. so i told MT that i'd just see him at R&R seremban.

picked my bro at gombak, and went to seremban. at about 6 am, when everyone's there.. we left the r&r and headed to ayer hitam (tr. black water ) and straight to mersing.

we stopped .. at about 8 am at kluang for some food.. even tho we had our err breakfast at seremban r&R at 5 am ... man.. these people can really eat..

we arrived at the jetty at about 9:30 am. hung out there a while, and boarded the ferry at about 10:30 am.

i remember, just a month ago when i went to tioman, the ferry operator actually arranged the life jackets on the seats..

we arrived at salang at about 1:30 pm.. it's a long ride.. aquaholic gave me the blue pill before we boarded. i think i'm still experiencing the effects.. haha.. today still very sleepy.. i managed to get some sleep on board the ferry.. upon arrival, i saw a very familiar face. and he called out.. hi tulip! it's black bear! he was leaving when we arrived. sorry i didn't recognize u that day. it's the blue pill, i swear!

ridrahim introduced us to Man. then they took us to our rooms.. at salang pusaka. i thot i took pictured of the room. i guess i didn't then rid told us that we're not gonna have lunch first, cause our tuna sandwich was already prepared. so as soon as we're ready, we went to Fisherman Dive Center near Salang Indah, and got our equipment ready for our first dive.

meanwhile, my tummy growled

8.11.07 thursday

dive #1

dive site: Chebeh
dive location: Tioman Island

time in: 2:53 pm
bottom time: 53 minutes
temp: 28degC
max depth: 22.5 m

i had some problem equalizing when i descended. and everyone seems to be doing it real quickly. i took my time.. the vis was ok. as long as i can see the other divers, i'm pretty much fine with it.

uncle benny

miezegreat

the water was cold.. and i got really hungry. i guess i was too hungry during the first dive. i got pretty dizzy. (lesson #1: never go down hungry)..

kapal selam was trying out his new G7 underwater.

i saw everything in 2s..

it's finally safety stop time..

and we finally got to eat our tuna sandwich.

dive #2

dive site: Teluk Kadur
dive location: Tioman Island

time in: 4:44 pm
bottom time: 53 minutes
temp: 28degC
max depth: 17.7 m

i was full, and ready for our next dive. we went to Teluk Kadur. it's pretty. and lots of nudis. Uncle Benny was a really good nudi spotter. hehe.. so i dive close to him. hehee..

i dunno what this is. but it's nice

rid found this.. and as soon as i took a pic of it, my batteries died. hehehe..

the dive was a good one. but i was really tired. i hadn't had a good sleep for the past 2 days. i had some problems equalizing as well, so that didn't help. but i enjoyed the dives, despite all that.

9.11.07 friday

dive #3

dive site: Fan Canyon/Genting Bay/ Sea Fan Garden
dive location: Tioman Island

time in: 9:26 am
bottom time: 54 minutes
temp: 28degC
max depth: 22.8 m

kapal selam gave some very bad news this morning. he had to leave on the noon ferry. but he'll join our first two dives. aquaholic has never done Fan Canyon before. so our dive no. 3 would be Fan Canyon.

we went down, the vis was ermm.. let's see.. u look away for 3 minutes, and the whole group's gone. can't even see the bubbles anymore.. and the surge was quite strong.. i've been telling ikan that i wanted to see kurbayana. never had the chance to see one before..

i didn't have problems equalizing.. unlike the first two dives. saw lots of nudis but i was having problems staying still. hehee.. so none of the pics were ermm... worthy to be shown here. saw a huge scorpionfish resting on the rocks. it was damn big lah. and then i saw another nudi. tried so hard to take a decent picture. *sigh* ... luckily aquaholic waited for me. i lost the group again. and a few minutes of circling around, i ran out of air. and we ascended.

when we got back on the boat, everyone's there.. and asked where was i.. cause they found a kurbayana

9.11.07 friday

dive #4

dive site: Batu Malang
dive location: Tioman Island

time in: 11:03 am
bottom time: 53 minutes
temp: 28degC
max depth: 14.0 m

after a 40 minute surface interval, and some nice flied lice.. we were all ready to go down again. this time at batu malang. showed MT_tank the sad facial expression of the rocks. not sure if he could see it tho.

i followed ikan so closely so that when he finds the kurbayana, i'd be able to see them too..

i spoke too soon. all of a sudden man called out to me.. and told me to look at something! there they were!!! woo hoo.. my first sighting of kurbayana.. yee haww.. hehehe aquaholic claimed that i pushed him away amidst the excitement. i don't want to admit to anything.

there it is again

ikan underwater

uncle benny ..

miezegreat.. saturday nite live

kapal selam..

empty tank..stretching his legs

ridrahim.. cool jee..

aquaholic.. showing off his sexy pout.. can see arr??

group photo underwater.. missing is ikan..

ikan was busy entertaining his cousins.. open house raya

and the saga continues..

9.11.07 friday

dive #5

dive site: Soyak
dive location: Tioman Island

time in: 3:23 pm
bottom time: 67 minutes
temp: 28degC
max depth: 10.0 m

after a nice lunch of nemo flied lice at salang pusaka, we went to soyak. this time AJ led the dive. we're on an octopus hunt. sort of. hehe.. i didn't find any. ikan did. he said he was waiting for us. and then he got scared and ascended. mt_tank was missing. so, only i, miezegreat, ridrahim, aquaholic and uncle benny followed AJ on the octopus search. ikan got one shot of the octopus before his batteries ran out.

the jelly fish was stuck to the corals..






ikan and mt tank saved a bird from drowning..

10.11.07 saturday

dive #6

dive site: Labas
dive location: Tioman Island

time in: 9:50 am
bottom time: 55 minutes
temp: 28degC
max depth: 19.5 m

hmm.. our last dive.. i had some problem descending. turns out my inflator hose was not connected. so i was descending fairly slowly. luckily i had big breakfast, so i guess the added weight really helped

the vis was great. despite the rain. it was raining when we jumped off the boat. they said there are swim throughs.. i was afraid of that. i hate confined, dark spaces. but it was nice. only at the end of the swim thru, there was surge that pushed me and AJ to the rocks. otherwise a good dive.

AJ - my knight with shiny pointer..

oh... and have i mentioned? i was attacked by an ugly beast? hehehe.. i was attacked by the titan triggerfish. i screamed my heart out. AJ came with his pointer to counter attack the ugly thing... uwaaaa... takut sehhh..

Trip Kasih Sayang to Mabul.. (5th - 10th March 2009)

i went to dive at mabul/kapalai/sipadan/semporna for 6 days 5 nights with 7 looneys (i swear they must have come from hospital bahagia) with BIG JOHN SCUBA... and it was AMAZING! this trip was named the Kasih Sayang trip for a reason. we had so much love for the place.. and each other.. plus.. i made duyong95 pick me up at putrajaya the day before and i only had kasih sayang to pay her back..

but first thing's first..


the loud trippers
from left (anti-clockwise) nana (nanaria), comot, eadie (non-MUW), lenn(bad's significant other), ryn (non-MUW), bad (mbadrul), and duyong..

Day 1: 5th March 2009

we arrived at tawau on 5th march 2009, boarded the 7:20 am flight from LCCT. all of us were sleepy (comot), cranky(me) and hungry(everyone). big john arranged a van to pick us up at tawau airport. and the driver doesn't speak malay much. errkkk... he took us to big john's place and ran off.. well after he's unloaded our bags of course. we didn't have a chance to pay him.. kekekeke.. gone were my crankiness.. and now to fix the hungry. big john suggested that we should have lunch at pasar putu. but we had no idea where it was. so we decided to walk to seafest inn.. i think that's the name of the restaurant next to the famous seafest hotel.. and had lunch there instead. luckily lunch at seafest was yummylicious.. otherwise, nana would have bombed the place hehehehe.. and it's cheap too.. we had grouper masak asam manis, kailan masak ikan masin and sotong goreng tepung .. and different drinks.. ranging from chinese tea to some fancy fruit drinks.. and it cost us 90 ringgit. cheap heh?

after lunch.. "tulip... kamu tak mau dive ka?" hahaa.. it was big john. so we paid for our brunch, and headed back to big john's office.


big john scuba's office (situated next to the wwf office)

big john had some business to do so, he handed us to osman(his trusted DM) to handle at mabul. i thought that we were supposed to dive at semporna.

there were only 5 divers in the group: comot, duyong, eadie, bad and myself. ryn was an open water student, nana is the master snorkeler, while lenn was there to swim from one island to another although there was a whole bunch of other divers at big john's place during our stay, he never mixed us up with other divers, and the DM appointed for the group never changed except for 3 dives where he personally guided us for the dives.

the plan was to have 2 dives in semporna on the first day. however, plans had to change because big john couldn't guide us. plus, i haven't dived for 8 months. so we had to do check out dive first.

Dive #1: SMART House Reef

Time in: 3:26 pm
Max depth: 19.2 m
Ave. depth: 11.6 m
Bottom time: 59 minutes
T = 28degC

my last dive was in august 2008. i had difficulty descending and also ascending. probably because i just got better from flu, lack of sleep and lack of water too. i had to slowly follow the rest of the divers. but i managed to see a lot of things on the first dive.

managed to photograph some creatures we saw. but only these turned out nicely. hehe apparently i need to go to the underwater photography workshop at fisherman's



osman asked where we'd like to dive on our first day and i told him we'd like to see the mandarin fish mate (at this point i thought we were never going to see semporna's dive sites. so i thought we should be able to see the mandarin fish the very least)! but since we also had open water divers in our group, he suggested that we start our second dive at 5:30 pm and dive towards the mandarin fish and ascend there. if we're lucky, and still got air, we'll be able to see them mate.. woo hoo!!! comot's favorite subject! mating!

she's so happy she did the mandarin fish mating dance.. while nana played the guitar



and on with our second dive.

Dive #2: Paradise II

Time in: 5:26 pm
Max depth: 14.6 m
Ave. depth: 9.1 m
Bottom time: 56 minutes
T = 28degC

there were a lot of different types of shrimps here. saw the cleaner shrimp, hingebeaks, and some unknown shrimp that looks like a bandit. different nudis.. frogfish.. a huge napoleon wrasse. and finally we were led to where the mandarin fish are. it's almost dark but we could see so clearly because there's a diver with what i could call 2 huge lights and a focus light pointing towards the mandarin fish. *sigh* i snapped a few photos of the mandarin fish. but they didn't mate. i guess comot has to add some kind of mantra when dancing

we had to ascend as it was getting dark.



and then we went back to our homestay where big john's DC was...



and washed our equipment. all of us were pretty tired of the long journey.. and we settled in pretty early.

Day 2: 6th March 2009

the next day i got up pretty early. a group of divers came in that morning. our first dive was not until 9 am. so we did what divers do best when not diving. we ate.

Dive #3: Kapalai House Reef

Time in: 9:20 am
Max depth: 20.1 m
Ave. depth: 14.3 m
Bottom time: 60 minutes
T = 28degC

we saw a lot of scorpionfish, crocodile fish, one or two batfish, catfish, mantis peacock shrimp. a lot of big moray eels. our highlight for the dive was a giant grouper swam towards one diver and opened its mouth as if it's trying to swallow him. eerie. i was too far from it to take a photo. took a photo of its tail instead

nana and lenn wanted to snorkel here but the water was quite choppy. so they decided to abort their plans.



for our next dive.. i told osman and big john that we wanted to see the famous pygmy seahorse. and they took us to our next dive site. (tulip's note: being a trip organizer is hard cause you always need to be above things.. like lunch (as we arrived), the things you wanna show.. even when we do have a guide, the guide would need to know what you're expecting to see during the trip. so extreme reading is a must before one trip.. erkk)

Dive #4: Seaventures

Time in: 11:35 am
Max depth: 18.3 m
Ave. depth: 14.9 m
Bottom time: 42 minutes
T = 28degC

luck was on my side. the current was not strong that day. i had a swollen ankle before i went for this dive trip so i didn't intend to swim against current. comot listed down a few things to see on this trip and one of those were the halgerda batangas. i wanted to see the pygmy and the ribbon eel (male)... alas the photo i took of the pygmy was terrible. so i'm soooo making another trip there to photograph one



our third and final dive for the day was scheduled at 2.

Dive #5: Eel's Garden

Time in: 2:20 pm
Max depth: 18.6 m
Ave. depth: 10.3 m
Bottom time: 58 minutes
T = 28degC

for a dive site that's called eel's garden, i don't think i found a lot of eels there. i think i saw more eels underneath big john's place.. we found some stonefish, baby lobster, porcupine fish, some shrimps.. the coral formation is quite nice. some eco-divers to be were in the group.. ahem.. eadie & bad.. and they immediately put what little knowledge they had from the pool session & classroom to good use. they noticed there wasn't any COTs.. come to think of it.. they were right.



after the dive, we were told by big john. due to some mix up, we had to move to arung hayat, another homestay about 5 minutes walk from big john's. we were sad but since big john offered 5kg of shrimps for dinner, we obliged (tulip's note #2: another problem arose. we had to move from one homestay to another. here miss organizer had to work extra hard to convince that the move was necessary.. and had to make the trippers happy.. so.. i had to be creative in creating some activities such that everyone would enjoy the trip regardless where they stayed)

that afternoon we went out for a walk at mabul island. found some mabul kids who were excited to be our models for the day.. (tulip's note #3: activity 1. photoshoots around mabul.. take them sightseeing.. though we missed 3 people for this activity.. heheh)



we stayed till the sun set.. and took some more photos of beautiful mabul



and then the phone rang.. "where are you guys???" opss.. i totally forgotten that i had the key to the room and ryn couldn't go in. sorry

at arung hayat, they serve dinner about an hour later than big john. everyone was starving.. and already hanging out at the dining area doing nothing. we were quite bored. there was a tv with astro and a very tiny pool table but we were not in the mood for indoor games.

we tried some light painting.. goofing off with different characters including playboy bunny, a butterfly, 70's dude, an astronaut, a cowboy, a mermaid and of course princess leia.. it was hilarious. photos are with comot.. hehehe



we slept early.. hmm.. coz we were going to dive sipadan the next day.. woo hoo!!!

Day 3: 7th March 2009

big john had to slot us in the celebes divers permit because he doesn't have the permit to take us to sipadan. with 3 other divers from kapalai and also celebes and their DM, plus 8 of us (5 divers and 2 snorkelers + osman (DM)) went to sipadan. i was hoping to see 15 mantas but the barracudas will do just fine

our journey to sipadan was a good one. the weather was fine.. as we arrived, we were asked to register our names at what seemed to be the sabah park's post there. there were officials from sabah park. monitoring each and everyone who came to sign up at the post.

we then suited up and went to our first dive site. the barracuda point.

Dive #6: Barracuda Point

Time in: 9:19 am
Max depth: 23.4 m
Ave. depth: 14.6 m
Bottom time: 50 minutes
T = 28degC

as i entered the water, i was quite disappointed. the vis was not as i expected. there goes my 15 mantas and i noticed there wasn't a lot of sharks.. there were a few.. only not as many as i've seen before.. perhaps they were off having breakfast i was hoping to see the famous vortex. but seriously there was no sign of them anywhere osman led us to shallow waters.. to do our safety stop when suddenly i heard a lot of ting ting ting.. kaching kaching kaching... and there it was, at 8 meter depth, there was the vortex. comot immediately went after the school.. enjoying every moment of it. she was making signs to show how happy she was.. duyong was at awe. hahahaha i swear, if she opened her mouth any bigger, she'd drop her regs it was breathtaking. i'll never grow tired of it! we stayed as long as we could. and then we surfaced.



we did our safety stop at the island. had mamee and chocolate.. tried to give a crash course to eadie and bad on their rented camera. btw, big john scuba offers camera rental at RM100/dive. but feel free to goda simon to get it at cheaper rate

and then we're off to do our second dive at sipadan.

Dive #7: Coral Garden

Time in: 11:07 am
Max depth: 21.6 m
Ave. depth: 12.5 m
Bottom time: 49 minutes
T = 28degC

it's duyong's favorite dive site. the corals are nice.. saw a lot more turtles here swimming among us. our snorkeling buddies (ryn & nana) also snorkeled there.. nana even tried to call us from above when she saw diving underneath. too bad she didn't have a tank banger hahaha... i wanted to take a lot more photos.. but they turned out blue hehe and i forgotten how to set the white balance.. hehehe haven't used my camera for almost a year maaa... this time, eadie and bad asked comot to take photos for them. alas the batteries went dead after 10 minutes in the water



and we surfaced to have lunch prepared by arung hayat... it wasn't really nice but we were starving so couldn't care less about the taste hahahaha

as i don't have any photos on the island itself so we'd have to wait for the others to post them here

Dive #8: Drop off point

Time in: 1:20 pam
Max depth: 23.7 m
Ave. depth: 13.7 m
Bottom time: 50 minutes
T = 28degC

our last dive at Sipadan, was at the drop off point. this time, the camera rented by eadie & bad got fresh batteries. hehehe.. comot was appointed as the photographer. osman led us to the turtle tomb.. we took our group photo there.. and left to see the jacks.. but there were no jacks! but we ran into a few chevron barracudas. i'm scared of big fish.. especially after what happened to me at labas in 2007. so i just looked at them and dived on.. no photos. then a shark was interested in comot and followed her from behind.



it was a cold dive and i was sooo ready to surface

went back to big john's scuba and walked back to arung hayat. after we have showered, we went back big john's to watch the sunset.


hehe comot was all geared up waiting for the sunset..


the two love birds were looking at the wrong direction.. deyy sunset is the other way laa


but there weren't any, so we just took photos of each other hehehe

we went back to arung hayat for dinner.. alas dinner was served at about 8 pm ... arghhh... so we kept asking the makcik .. "dah siap ke belum" (is dinner ready yet?) hehehe..

luckily dinner was good. we had fried chicken.. finger licking good hehee..

after dinner, we went shopping for some essentials - junk food and batteries. and went back to arung hayat to another round of fun and games. (tulip's note #4: some of the things you have to remember.. if you're organizing a trip, make sure you add some extras for extra meals that the DC doesn't provide, and things like this.. junk food.. so everyone can enjoy the junkfood together-gether harmoniously hehehe)



we played charade.. it was silly and humiliating.. and we had fun.. until.. "excuse me, could you please keep it down a little, some people are trying to get some sleep and you guys are just too loud" errr... tak suka nyeee

anyway, day 3 didn't end so well.. but we managed to make some friends with a group of snorkeling aunties and uncles from kepong and ampang despite the ermmm "peristiwa udang"

Day 4: 8th March 2008

simon (ryn's guru) and osman came to pick us up. breakfast was served late. so by the time they got to arung hayat we're still not ready. hehehe.. it's ok.. it's our vacation. who cares if we're late or early, right? osman asked where we wanted to go.. and since i've never seen pikachu before, i asked if we could dive at lobster wall. someone who dived with billabong scuba told us that the current was really strong when their friends dived there. osman said that the current that time of the day should be good.. so yeay!!! we're going to see pikachu!!!!

we went to big john's to pick up our equipment. ryn and simon are doing ryn's open water exercise that day at paradise 1. and we were joined by a canadian hunk named matt. alas he was interested in eadie as soon as we arrived at the dive site, "someone" realized that he left his fins. so we had to go back and pick 'em up! turns out he also left his weights.. he is so gonna pay for it this weekend!

Dive #9: Lobster Wall

Time in: 9:06 am
Max depth: 21.0 m
Ave. depth: 13.4 m
Bottom time: 45 minutes
T = 28degC

lobster wall is well.... a wall. it looks like a wall was submerged. as usual i took my time descending. as soon as i reached the top of the wall, osman already ting ting tang tang me and told me to come near.. lo and behold it was a pikachu!!!! so today is really gonna be a good day! i quickly made mental list of other creatures i wanted to see.. hehehe.. and took pictures of the pikachu. it's so tiny! and it was hanging on what seemed to be a sea grass. there was a bit of current but not to the point that we can't stop and look at anything. i guess the pikachu got everyone going, and everyone looked for their own spots to find other small creatures too.. we found some orang-utan crabs, another pikachu but smaller, green turtle, a nembrotha, a white leaf scorpionfish, blue-spotted stingray, peacock mantis shrimp (we seem to find one on every dive!).. towards the end of the dive, the current grew stronger and we're pushed away by current when doing our 3 minute safety stop.



went back to big john during surface interval.

for our next dive, simon told us to go to kapalai cleaning station to look for the juvenile clown frogfish that he saw the day before. he and ryn joined us for ryn's ow dive. comot wanted to do seaventures again because the last time we were there we couldn't stay long becoz of the short surface interval. so osman advised us to do seaventures after lunch instead. nana and lenn joined us at the surface..

Dive #10: Kapalai Cleaning Station

Time in: 11:31 am
Max depth: 17.7 m
Ave. depth: 12.2 m
Bottom time: 59 minutes
T = 28degC

the hunt began, osman was searching high and low.. we didn't even know what he was searching for.. hahaha... but he did find a really tiny pikachu. next to it was a co's chromodoris. then we dived towards a small wreck. beneath the wreck, there were the indonesian sweetlips, some tiny anchovy-like fish.. some medium sized fish.. and a lot of other fish (i know i need to learn their names ) we also found a really tiny red frogfish. but no clown frogfish ah well.. all the more reason to come back



then we went back to arung hayat for lunch. and as usual... arung hayat took their time serving lunch... grrr...

arung hayat was lucky they can cook really delicious fried chicken.. otherwise i'd probably have nana and duyong take over the kitchen.. hahaha... after lunch (2 kali tambah.. mind u .. err was that just me? )

osman came to pick us up after lunch to take us to seaventures after 2.5 hours surface interval. we were all getting sleepy.. and finally he came.

Dive #11: Seaventures

Time in: 2:55 pm
Max depth: 18.3 m
Ave. depth: 14.6 m
Bottom time: 51 minutes
T = 28degC

everyone was surprised to see 4 dive boats there. there goes our hopes to see the pygmy one more time.. but it's ok.. we saw a whole lot of nudibranch and flatworms ..



ermm we saw more but the photos are really bad. i think i changed the color of a nudi even. it was purple when i saw it. and the one i captured on camera was red..

after the dive, big john came to me and told me that we have to move...AGAIN!!!!??!!! then he said, there was some mix up at arung hayat, they have double-booked the rooms... What??? i said.. oh my.. who's gonna tell my friends? (deep inside i was screaming with joy!!! hahaha yeay.. we can be noisy tonite!!!) so big john broke the news to the others.. apologized for having us moved here and there... and lenn immediately asked for crabs that she's been craving for since day 2. heheheh nana had not heard the news as she was left behind at arung hayat when we went diving. she's been naughty hehe... when we arrived at arung hayat she was about to get her tan.. and i screamed "nana!! pack up! we're going back to kl!!!" hehehe... i think no one has ever packed so quickly before. everyone was really relieved that we had to move back to big john's.. we said good bye to the staff... and rushed to the boat.. (tulip's note #5: i was lucky coz the guys had a jolly time at lai's homestay. despite the full house.. and it was really packed with people.. annoying ones i have to add.. we had fun. big john's crews seemed to have some kind of attachment to the friends i brought for this trip.. i mean who wouldn't..? hahaha the girls especially are lunatics from tanjung rambutan!)

went back to big john.. and prepared ourselves for the night dive.. at my most favorite dive site in mabul

as we (duyong, comot and i) were waiting for our night dive, a man in a small sampan came by to sell a marlin he caught.. it was huge! as big as comot!!! the other group at big john's bought the fish i guess coz i saw the fish on the bbq the last nite we were there... but damn the marlin was huge!



eadie and bad were upset because they couldn't join us for the night dive. they haven't done their AOWD yet. so big john said no! so we left them behind with nana and lenn and ryn. ryn had to study. she's got exams coming up (tulip's note #6: if they don't have AOWD they can't go on night dive.. should something happened.. they were not insured. and i was and am not certified to say that they can do the night dive! so miss organizer had to be very firm on this matter. it is for their own safety.. regardless how muncung their muncung may be after that)

Dive #12: Big John's Basura

Time in: 6:54 pm
Max depth: 2.1 m
Ave. depth: 1.5 m
Bottom time: 50 minutes
T = 28degC

Big John led the dive.. and Osman joined us. Everyone freaked out when we first jumped in. there were sea urchins everywhere!!!! it was the full moon. and we saw a lot of crabs and squids.. different kinds too.. the water was shallow.. very shallow! maximum depth was about 2.1-2.2 m. the water was cold.. and i didn't put my wetsuit on. hehehe macho la sangat i wanted so much to photograph the bumble bee shrimp and the harlequin shrimp. big john found both of them for us!!! everyone was happy happy when we came back.



when we reached the homestay, everyone has just finished dinner. i decided to have dinner first, while the rest showered. heheh... it was cold laa... when it's cold, i get hungry laa... after eating.. i took a shower.. actually it was after someone said he smelled air masin basi .. nyampah!

after shower i joined the rest of the group...


duyong was logging her dive...study siottt


nana read something.. i think it was the book of all extremes or something...


the rest posed for the camera...


then comot suggested that we play charades again.. so i helped her out in the titles..

then haniff, one of big john's crews, took the guitar, sat next to us.. and played some familiar songs.. and we of course.. started singing lah heheheheh most songs were rock 80s and 90s .. and we had a fabulous singer for that.. hahahaa


and everyone sang and laughed until mabuk.. i mean till midnite..

and then we went to bed . On the 5th day we're doing Semporna, as promised.. yeay... Big John did remember! Big John's taking us to his favorite dive site and we had to leave as early as 7 am

Day 5: 9th march 2009

sigh.. how time flies. it's the last day of diving. big john still owed us ketam (crabs). he told us that it's the last night and he already planned a bbq dinner for us. our last day of diving, big john told us to list all the things we wanted to see that we haven't seen yet. we haven't seen the seahorses and the flamboyant cuttlefish. so he said, he'll try to look for them at semporna. we left for semporna at 7:30-ish.. ryn, lenn and nana joined us.

the dive site we were going to doesn't have any names yet. so big john said i can name it anything i want lenn, nana and ryn stayed on the boat while we went diving

Dive #13: Marina's Basura

Time in: 8:40 am
Max depth: 16.7 m
Ave. depth: 7.9 m
Bottom time: 76 minutes
T = 28degC

it was actually near some dumpsite near Semporna.. but Big John said that's his favorite dive site. we'd see a LOT of things here.. and he was right. i went crazy with the camera.. hehehe.. saw a lot of lionfish, nudibranch (elysia sp.), frogfish.. and big john searched high and low for the flamboyant cuttlefish but didn't find any. but we're not totally disappointed. he showed us the picturesque dragonet. it' soooo cute and tiny. and shy like the mandarinfish and of course. the sea horse!!! there were a lot of those clear shrimps.. dunno what people call it. but i think one of them was pregnant





the dive was fantastic.. but the water was dirty. i didn't dare clear my mask.. afraid the water would go inside my system

then we went to pasar putu for surface interval. we also had lunch here.. i know. it was early. 10:30 am. hehehe we were complaining about how it's too early to have lunch at that hour but we ate anyway .. nasi tambah lagi hehehe

we then went inside the market... and shopped for the things we'd like to eat during bbq dinner.. big john bought some mangosteen for us.. we also bought mangoes.. the very sour one, and also the sweet ones..


i also spotted a cute guy when duyong and big john got themselves some top-ups for their phones hehehehe...


we went around semporna in our rash guards and shorts.. we must look like lunatics to the locals hehe i was a hot chica that day. gile sexy. wore my black shorts with my rash guard. and the shorts were really short shorts..

and then we went to big john's office and we left the things we bought there.. with nana, lenn and ryn. they've decided to hang out at the office instead.

the divers then went off to do our second dive at Marina's Basura

Dive #14: Marina's Basura

Time in: 11:50 am
Max depth: 10.0 m
Ave. depth: 7.3 m
Bottom time: 73 minutes
T = 28degC

we went to the same site. but this time big john told us to dive shallow.. we spread out and each of us looked really hard for the flamboyant cuttlefish. but we didn't find it. but big john managed to find us the dragon seamoth and the devilfish, which are really cool too.



when we surfaced everyone was still happy despite the fact we didn't get to see the flamboyant cuttlefish. perhaps becoz that means we have another reason to go back. we then went to pick up some ketam for dinner... they were really huge!!! one was as big as a dinner plate! seriously!

went to pick up the tourists we left at big john's office. and hung out at the boat. when we left semporna, it started raining.. and it was heavy. the sky was really dark and it was cold. brrr... but we managed to reach mabul safe and sound.

comot and duyong decided not to go for our last dive. i was going to join them when big john said maybe we could find the flamboyant cuttlefish there instead. so i changed my mind and joined the boys for one last dive at mabul.

Dive #15: Paradise 3

Time in: 3:46 pm
Max depth: 16.7 m
Ave. depth: 11.3 m
Bottom time: 53 minutes
T = 28degC

it was still raining when we got into the water. in fact there was thunder.. but as soon as i descended i totally forgotten about the weather. hehehe.. the water was cool.. the vis wasn't perfect but it was serene. we found a few creatures there.. but we didn't see the flamboyant cuttlefish. at the end of the dive, we found three different species of nudibranch on three different rocks.. and there were many of them.. alas my memory card was almost full so i took a couple of shots of the nudis.. and an anemonefish sent us off..



that nite we had chicken wings and bbq-ed fish for dinner. big john told the cooks to prepare our ketam and they simply fried the ketam. we then had dragonfruits, mangosteen and the sweet mangoes that we bought at pasar putu. and asked the cook to prepare some sambal kicap for our sour mangoes.. omigod.. she used the small chillies to make the sambal kicap.. and it was hot!!!! felt like jumping into the water when i ate it. later that nite all of us had to queue for the toilet

we all slept early. the rain had taken a toll on all of us. nahh.. i think it's the food.. we had too much food.. hehehe....

Day 6: 10th march 2009

now it's time to say goodbye.... sob sob

(tulip's note #7: saying goodbye.. is never an easy thing..)

we dreaded that it's our last day at mabul... at least i did. i had so much fun there. despite the hiccups (moving from one homestay to another) i enjoyed every minute of my time there. ok, so we were bribed... as someone pointed it out to me the other day.. but good company, excellent service by the staff (although no one opened that can of coke for me ), amazing dive sites, and wonderful creatures in mabul, kapalai, sipadan and of course semporna would certainly make me go back to mabul for more diving.

we woke up early coz big john said that we'd have to leave for semporna at 7:30 am . we packed our bags, and while waiting, what else to do? take pictures laa... apa lagi?


the staff.. big john, sifu simon, osman, haniff, taufik.. and the others.. i didn't get their names


everyone's filled out the guestbook... comot being comot.. nana being nana, bad n lenn taking photos..

as our flights were not till late, we decided to hang out at big john's office first, bought souvenirs and have lunch at pasar putu again.. heheehe..


souvenirs.. hehehe... of course it wouldn't be complete without them.


the yummy ikan bakar, sotong bakar, and all things bakar.. bajau laut delicacies.. so cheap lorr.. RM5 per person only...

and we bid farewell to everyone at semporna..


the end.

fuhh.. finally habis dah...

anyway.. should you need more information about big john's scuba services... do contact the man himself.

Big John's Scuba @ Mabul - +6014-284-3723
he provides scuba courses as well. and his office is at semporna, next to WWF office. not far from the dragon inn.

or if you'd like me to organize the trip for you, it's ok too.. just shoot me an email at marina.yusoff@gmail.com. leave me your contact no., your email address, your name, and the dates (preferrably at least 1 month in advance). for sipadan diving, need to book very early. at least 2 months earlier.

for other photos.. feel free to browse my flickr. more photos there..

Land-Or-Boat Star Cruise Raya Vacation (26-28th oct) part 2 - picture perfect moments

MORE PICTURES FROM THE TRIP :)

the butt series







the sleeping buddha.. hahahaa...








NEVER LEAVE YOUR CAMERA UNATTENDED!!!



in one of our dives i saw this.. ermm..



anyone knows what this is? never seen it before..

just got the pictures from mama lara's camera..


micro monopoly can be very stressful


facial expressions of a loser #1


hahaha... another one


karip = consultant + banker. old banker quit already...


winner of the nite..

we're like tourists on board the star cruise ship. wavebreaker now offers shopping experience..


these people are showing true meaning of tourists.. pantang nampak kedai (tr. cannot see a shop)




one satisfied customer..

time to sleep...zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

the mods need a break too..







MUW everywhere..






fireworks time.. but no pics of the fireworks la... hehhee... guess everyone was busy watching..


houston we've got a problem


i'm gonna blow this baby..


kababooomm...


mama lara: this is how you launch a rocket..




kids.. this is how u do it..


errr... u trying to burn the boat eh mephisto?


momo: let's try this on lara...


aim it high......
kopi and junk food time









card time..




jim: i'm sure i'll win this
Abgzul: hehe.. sorry jim, already won






thanks to these people who made the last trip before monsoon season begins a wonderful trip

Land-Or-Boat Star Cruise Raya Vacation (26-28th oct) part 1

25.10.07 12:42 am

called katakpink to ask about the trip, where to meet. he told me that we're supposed to meet up at 8 pm at seremban r&r. that's way too early. i still haven't packed. my dive gears still wet. mm... told momo this, and agreed that momo and zzuldok to meet up at serdang commuter station at 7 pm.

25.10.07 6:00 pm

ikan called. i just came back from the office, still in my car. told me to be at seremban r&r at 7pm because we had to reach rompin by midnite.. i panicked. called momo. he said not to worry.

25.10.07 6:45 pm

i knew i had to reach serdang commuter station but it seems that my hair was taking an hour to dry. i rushed to serdang. the journey to serdang from my apt normally took 1/2 hour.
that nite it took me 15 minutes to get there. and it's all jim's fault

25.10.07 7 pm

called momo74. he's arrived at serdang commuter, told me zzuldok's still on his way. called zzuldok.. he was at bp.

25.10.07 7:05 pm

everyone's in the car and i drove to seremban r&r. poisson text me that they'll wait for us there until 7:45 pm.

we arrived at 7:39 pm. then we waited for the others to arrive.. tipah tertipu (tr: tipah's been lied to)


errrmmm... poisson.. u going for a dive trip or to work ni?
at around 8:30 pm, everyone's finally arrived and we left.

26.10.07

we arrived at about 12:30 am. boarded the boat. and left the jetty.. i had no idea where it is.. i was asleep the entire journey

26.10.07

sometime after we boarded the boat, ikan and jim gathered everyone and gave our first briefing. among other things, they told us not to have our showers too frequently (once a day is luxury already.. yikes), no pooping when the boat is not moving, especially when there's other people in the water (urghh.. ), and what else eh? can't remember.. oh yeah.. we also had to pay extra 50 bucks to cover for the missing people.. and they told us that we're allowed to trash those people, especially katakpink! we all went to sleep afterwards.. i think.. well.. let's just put it that way. we called it a night. hehe

i woke up in the morning feeling groggy. much like i'm feeling right now .. meanwhile, the boat's already at Pulau Jahat. that's where we're having our first dive. LaraCroft told me to gear up when i first arrived. i'm so thankful that i did. after a delicious breakfast of fried mihun and cucur (the guys finished up the sausages ) we went in.




26.10.07

dive #1: our check out dive...

dive site: pulau jahat
location: off tioman

time in: 8:48 am
bottom time: 64 minutes
max depth: 17.7 meters
temperature: 29 degC

our check out dive was at pulau jahat. the dive was easy. the vis was about 5-8 meters. the dive was somewhat boring at first.. nudis here and there...towards the end of the dive, there were sea fans.. and holes.. and swim through.. ikan and jim did say there was a swim through. but i didn't go in. too dark. hehe.. am afraid of the dark and i didn't realize it was a swim through until i saw momo's fins on the other side..


moray eel said hi




zzuldok passing through




the only nudi pic that turned out ok




cute je aquaholic


jim waited til i was done with my safety stop.. hehe




i don't know what jim's doing to aquaholic..

SI..

our next dive was at 2:30pm. so we had plenty of time to play




the captain


some were chilling at the lounge


the rest were studying some book.. ermm.. what book u asked? hehe.. have to ask mephisto.. he was reading front to back


i was waiting for lunch


babynemo took us to the wrong site.. so she had to be replaced.

courtesy of http://www.malaysiasite.nl/aureng.htm

26.10.07

dive #2: sand, sand everywhere..

dive site: lanting
location: pulau pemanggil

time in: 3:02 pm
bottom time: 33 minutes
max depth: 21.0 meters
temperature: 28 degC

all i could see was sand sand sand nudi sand sand sand and sand. the vis was bad. current was quite strong. we saw nudis mating. ikan found them. go figure

while taking photos of a tiny nudi, the group's gone.. and left me so i did what i'm supposed to do in that situation. do a 1 minute search.. and if i can't find them ascend . anyway.. i did.. and found more nudis.. so it was more of a 3-minute search. and then i deployed my sausage. soon after i got on the boat. abang ikan also did.. he was mad at me. real mad for going missing. i didn't mean to abang ikan. i swear!

then not long after that the rest of the group got on the boat.. seems that everyone's looking for me.. sayang jugak uols kat i ek?








mating nudis couple #1


mating nudis couple #2


the nudi that made me lost the group

26.10.07

dive #3: rocks, rocks, rocks and rocks..

dive site: lanchang
location: pulau pemanggil

time in: 5:22 pm
bottom time: 61 minutes
max depth: 16.7 meters
temperature: 28 degC

after the sand adventure at lanting, everyone was complaining. so abang ikan said the next dive we'd see rocks, rocks, rocks and rocks. well pretty much we saw only rocks. lots of small fishes. can't remember what other fish we saw. but i remember the rocks.. hehe..

we came down greeted by two gigantic, humongous, big real big jelly fish. scary.. but rocks were nice...


zzuldok's close encounter with the jelly fish stings..


followed abang ikan closely so that i won't go missing this time hehhe... mmm






buddied with zzuldok

26.10.07

at nite.. about 10 pm...we went shopping.. believe it or not.. but i don't have the photos just yet. will have to ask momo and mama lara to post them..

then we played micro monopoly. photos and reports on our nightly activities will be up soon

27.10.07

there was a "dawn dive" at 7:30 am.. i didn't join. was at the toilet when they went down. so missed it. i guess i didn't really miss much cause abg ikan surfaced after 15 minutes in the waters. maybe i'll let the people who actually went it to report this.

it was drizzling.. and the rainbow came out ...



dive #4: fight against the evil current..

dive site: rayner's rock
location: pulau aur

time in: 9:56 am
bottom time: 31 minutes
max depth: 28.3 meters
temperature: 28 degC

the current was very strong in this dive. i had some difficulty equalizing while going down. luckily mephisto was near by so i told him my ears hurt. we were facing down current and it's dangerous if i can't equalize. the dive was fine.. i think. apart from having to swim most of the time and bumping into other people's tanks when hiding behind the rocks. i didn't wanna be left behind again, so i tried to stay in the middle of the group. but i guess everyone was feeling the same way too looking at the way we "laga" tanks. i think i might have used up too much energy, that i didn't realize i was running out of air. i finally did when i find it hard to stay low. so i told zzuldok.. he told jim..
and jim told me to go up.. deploy my sausage. hehe.. and i sucked at deploying sausage. have only done it 2 times.. once in redang, and once on my second dive and go figure.. i was entangled in my own sausage. momo went up to "save" me. then a jelly fish tried to "eat" me alive. it's as big as my head. dang.. and momo and i swam away from the jelly fish.. towards the boat.. urghh.. terrible la the jelly fish

i have no pics.. for i didn't bring in the camera with me.. i wish i did tho .. it was pretty nice down there..

dive #5: not all sites are alike...

dive site: captain's point
location: pulau dayang

time in: 12:21 pm
bottom time: 63 minutes
max depth: 15.5 meters
temperature: 29 degC

joe then took us to pulau dayang... when ikan and jim called out "gear up... diving diving!" i looked at the waters.. and i did not like it. the water was choppy..and looking at it makes me dizzy... i thot the site was going to be like rayner's rock.. so i didn't bring in the camera. darn it... i regretted my decisions til now the water was nice...and it was beautiful. saw a big grouper hiding behind the rocks when he saw us.. then mt tank went up to the rocks and saw a huge bumphead.. then we saw a big turtle trying to rest.. i guess we scared him away.. cause he left after a minute... we even saw a couple of moray eels under a big rock. one was huge.. unluckily for me, the excitement drew a lot of air from me.. and i had to surface... this time mt tank deployed the sausage. they said they saw a group of barracudas swimming beside me when i did my safety stop. but i didn't notice. ..

again no piccies... but zzuldok took a couple of nice pics..

dive #6: picture perfect

dive site: Pulau Pinang
location: pulau aur

time in: 4:29 pm
bottom time: 48 minutes
max depth: 18.3 meters
temperature: 29 degC

i brought down my camera this time around. this time i buddied with the sleepy buddha, babynemo . i have a terrible headache when i was gearing up. but as soon as my fins hit the water, the pain's all gone. it was a smooth dive. we were greeted by a batfish and a triggerfish. got a pic of the batfish but not the trigger. he ran away. there were so many nudis.. nudis nudis nudis everywhere.. but i have yet seen the kubaryana. not up close just yet .. jim helped me set up my camera. told me to use the settings for my macro photos. zzuldok told me to check my AE value. i used a lower one for my macros in this dive. thanks jim, zzuldok. the photos turned out better this time around. later i belanja teh tarik .. teh tarik only ok? anyways, after 45 minutes, babynemo ran out of air. so we both went up. she gave me a scare while we were doing our safety stop. i checked her gauge and found that she only had like 30 bars left. but she didn't panic and we went up slowly, while i hold my octopus.. just in case she needs it. we called out for help when joe came nearer. just because


hello.. welcome to the underwater world..









dive #6: picture perfect

dive site: Pulau Pinang
location: pulau aur

time in: 4:29 pm
bottom time: 48 minutes
max depth: 18.3 meters
temperature: 29 degC

i brought down my camera this time around. this time i buddied with the sleepy buddha, babynemo . i have a terrible headache when i was gearing up. but as soon as my fins hit the water, the pain's all gone. it was a smooth dive. we were greeted by a batfish and a triggerfish. got a pic of the batfish but not the trigger. he ran away. there were so many nudis.. nudis nudis nudis everywhere.. but i have yet seen the kubaryana. not up close just yet .. jim helped me set up my camera. told me to use the settings for my macro photos. zzuldok told me to check my AE value. i used a lower one for my macros in this dive. thanks jim, zzuldok. the photos turned out better this time around. later i belanja teh tarik .. teh tarik only ok? anyways, after 45 minutes, babynemo ran out of air. so we both went up. she gave me a scare while we were doing our safety stop. i checked her gauge and found that she only had like 30 bars left. but she didn't panic and we went up slowly, while i hold my octopus.. just in case she needs it. we called out for help when joe came nearer. just because


hello.. welcome to the underwater world..











don't know what this is.. but it's alive


can u see it?






errr... can u see the cuttle fish? mephisto trying to ask her out


my buddy.. babynemo

27.10.07

dive #7: silent night?

dive site: Dayang's House Reef
location: pulau dayang

time in: 7:15 pm
bottom time: 59 minutes
max depth: 12.2 meters
temperature: 28 degC

truth is, i hesitated when people asked me if i was gonna do night dives. i've only done it twice. you see, i'm afraid of the dark. but it's full moon. i already bought a torch and have never used it for night dive myself. . i buddied up with zzuldok and momo. didn't bring my camera. don't wanna confuse myself. both my nite dive experience, i was holding my buddy's hand.. well pretty much.. but then when i went down, the fears went away too.. ok.. not all lah.. when we went down, zzuldok was pointing at something. turns out to be a flatworm. zzuldok tried to take photos of the little dancer. but it's too shy. then we were separated from the group. since i maintained my distance with momo and zzuldok, i was not as afraid.. momo74 turned out to be a good creature finder. he has a good radar for little creatures lah. he found a red banded shrimp. a big crab hiding between the corals, and a big turtle hiding beneath the rocks at the end of the dive. we even saw a hermit crab. zzuldok tried to take its photo. felt sorry for the little guy. felt like we're intruding its peace. when we found the turtle, we bumped into mephisto and lara. we went back to the boat.. and did our safety stop. current was a bit strong when we did our safety stop. overall experience, very nice. will definitely go for nite dives again.

27.10.07

night time.. we had a fireworks session. we almost set the boat on fire. another boat declared war on us. fireworks war lah.. but of course, they lost la kan? especially since we have a few naughty kids on board... not me arr. i'm a good girl ... joe and his crew joined us setting the boat on fire launch the rockets.. i mean the fireworks. it was beautiful. i didn't take any photos.. but i believe mama lara did.. and i'll let them fill in the blanks mama lara had the last fireworks, and she has a unique pose.. did someone take he r photos? we had coffee on the sun deck. the moon was beautiful.. for some coffee and kuaci.. and junk food that we brought on board.

because of the coffee, some of us couldn't sleep. so they put on the gladiators, for the umpteenth time.. hehe.. ok.. maybe the second time.. while the rest of the zombies played cards.. jim is the biggest loser that nite.. or was it karip?

28.10.07

dive #8: dawn dive at 7:30

dive site: Bahara Rock
location: Tioman Islands

time in: 7:30 am
bottom time: 43 minutes
max depth: 12.2 meters
temperature: 28 degC

It's like a coral farm down there. one type of coral per area. i thot corals are competetive.. and that we'd usually see corals fighting each other to inhabit an area? i thot i saw a triggerfish. turns out everyone else saw like 7-8 triggers. lots of nudis here.. i stayed close to ikan. then we lost zzuldok, and the rest. when we finally surfaced, only i, ikan, momo and mt were together.. don't know where the rest are.. after 40 minutes of diving, abang ikan called it a day..


abg ikan snooping..





now who put this here??


mt tank


one for the camera


a real ikan


at safety stop


momo


ikan again



28.10.07

we headed back to the jetty at about 9 am. we had to be there at 11:00 am else we'll have to take the smaller boat to the jetty. i don't want that.. i'll smell like abang ikan..

during the two hour journey, we played a few rounds of colek...




jim: belum apa2 lagi dah kalah (the game hasn't even started, he's already losing..)


karip showing his skills to "chong" (shuffle) the cards..


karip: this is not how you shuffle ok?


if u shuffle too many times.. this is what you will become


jim gave up the cards, and took over the boat..


ikan is cheering for.. ermm.. don't know what lah..

once we reached the jetty.. everyone took a shower (pictures had to be held for security reasons.. )

then off we went back to kl..


karip: no more pictures please...


we were held up at bukit putus.. turned out these fellas are causing the jam ..


we reached kl at about 6. took a detour to bijan's place to berhariraya..

Tioman el-cheapo trip 19th -21st oct 2007

here's my side of the story


ahmat - scubatex
kim seng - kimseng
AD - sapertuh
shah - momo74
sheila
syariz - poisson
atan - MT_tank
ezatul - duyong95
lyla
carmen (non-MUW)
ina - sepet
farida - fafa
ariff - comrade
pisha - psha84
+ 2 non-divers


18th october 2007

at around 6:30pm, i called momo74 to go to tmn melati putra lrt station, when i was trying to tell him to go to terminal putra. ermm..

at about 8:15 pm, sapertuh and momo74 already started calling me, telling me that they're already at the taman melati putra station. i was still at mum's .. so they had to wait. at about 8:30 pm i bid farewell to mama and went to terminal putra. looked for them there.. and of course i wouldn't find them there.. cause they're at tmn melati station. sapertuh then told me to stay put and that they will come to me instead. hehehe..

at 10 pm, we're already at scubatex's shop. thot we were the last one to arrive. turned out we're among the earliest to be there. even scubatex haven't arrived.

after some pot pet pot pet.. we left the premise to fill up our tanks... momo, sapertuh and i literally went to fill up our tanks. we stopped for kfc. and the rest of the group already left while we're still waiting for our take-outs. scubatex then realized we're not in the convoy and called us up and told us that they'd wait for us at the senawang toll.

it's a long drive. sapertuh was kind enough to drive the whole nite, momo was also kind enough to be sapertuh's co-pilot, while i was asleep at the backseat.. mm... zzzzzzzzzzzz ...... kroh kroh

19th october 2007

we arrived at about 6 am. everyone's tired. i was too.. despite the fact that i was asleep 1/3 of the trip. we had a quick roti canai breakfast ... well some of us did. .... before to board the ferry. (no.. we didn't take the seagull express. we took the blue water express and we registered before we left the jetty, the marine dept checked the ferry before we left, and head count was done 3 times before the ferry took off.. and they actually provided the life jackets to each passenger) we boarded the ferry at 7:30 am. and left the jetty at about 8:40 am.

marine dept did some checking. don't know what he's checking tho

each passenger gets a life jacket .. but not many were wearing them..

we arrived at about 10:00 am at kampung paya ...

our plan was to arrive at 8:30 and have breakfast and then go diving at about 9:30. alas the ferry left the jetty an hour later than expected.. so we had to move the schedule a bit. once we've arrived, we're given our room keys. we changed and hang out at the restaurant for a while to wait for our dive boat.

we got on the boat.. taken to our first dive site: soyak. it was a long ride.. almost everyone was nauseated.

empty tank also not so macho anymore.. sapertuh is ready to call it quits.

but when we arrived at soyak ... everyone's up and about..

everyone seems to have forgotten the long, nauseating boat ride...

AD or sapertuh

shah - momo74

dive #1

dive site: soyak

max depth: 12.5m
time in: 12:32 pm
bottom time: 43 minutes
temperature: 29degC

our check out dive. it would've been boring until we saw a huge triggerfish feeding off some coral at this site. heheh.. took a few photos. but since i'm kinda lousy as a photographer, only one turned out fine

my good ol' buddy(s) ... duyong95 and momo74

more of the topless sapertuh. i was waiting for him to go naked.. but nothing laa..

dive #2

dive site: rengis

max depth: 12.5m
time in: 2:33 pm
bottom time: 57 minutes
temperature: 29degC

saw quite a lot on this dive. the vis was far better than that of soyak. managed to make a cuttle fish angry. he was turning black when i was finally done with him. i saw what i thot was a branch and it was actually a pipefish. and a small group of barracudas.

the poor cuttlefish... sorry eh..

the orgynizer.. scubatex

sepet..

pipefish that we saw. didn't quite get a good pic. i think there's something wrong with my sd card.

barracudas.. was too far up when i saw them..

zai. showing off.

after the second dive, we decided that the nite dive would be a boat dive at 7 pm. alas, when i woke up at 7 pm no one else was awake. so scubatex said the dive would be a 10 pm shore dive. since i'm a lazy diver, i skipped the nite dive.. only a handful went. so i'll just let them report their nite dives. i decided to hangout with the local kids at the jetty.

20th october 2007

dive #3

dive site: Sea Fan Garden

max depth: 26.2m
time in: 9:54 am
bottom time: 46 minutes
temperature: 29degC

another long boat ride. but this time it's not so bad. everyone was sitting at the back .. most of them did anyways.. here we saw sea fan ... of course. and i think i saw a few black corals here and there.. lyla this is where we saw the black corals right? or was it at batu malang?

anyway.. again, please bear with the bad photography. hehe

our boat.. hehe..


this creature among the first to greet me underwater..


kim seng's head ..


lionfish hiding in the corals..


carmen..

surface interval..

we had to wait for about an hour before our next dive on the rocking boat. our 4th dive was at batu malang. very nice rock formation. the rock sort of resembles a sad face. cute

momo74 making himself comfortable.. hehehe...


batu malang


lyla sea sick


fafa @ faridah feeling tired...

dive #4

dive site: Batu Malang

max depth: 13.7m
time in: 12:05 pm
bottom time: 57 minutes
temperature: 29degC

AD @ sapertuh gave a quick pose before going down.


momo74 gave a sexy pose underwater. said he's gonna take his wetsuit off but only took his reg off


sapertuh and momo74






sapertuh ...


fafa and momo


comrade


he sent me off... hehe

dive #5

dive site: Tomok

max depth: 13.7m
time in: 4:28 pm
bottom time: 63 minutes
temperature: 29degC

my last dive for this trip. we went back to kampung paya before starting this dive for a quick lunch.

sapertuh and psha84

vis was bad. first we followed kim seng, cause we couldn't find our dm, zai. then we lost kimseng and momo74, and all of a sudden zai was next to me. so followed him. then we lost sapertuh and fafa. hehe..

anyone lost a car?




lyla and carmen..

i was supposed to go for the nite dive but chose not to when we saw the weather. zai advised me not to go, so i didn't. luckily i didn't go.. heard it was a rough dive.

on our last nite there.. we had our bbq session. heheh.. FOC courtesy of zai.. hehehe...

zai: don't let her come here.. when she comes near.. the fire won't start.
lyla: tulip u stay away!

sapertuh: when can we eat ni? it's been half an hour..
lyla: wait laa..

21st October 2007 - Last Day (photo time)

piccies around the dive center and the "resort"


zai's dive center. right next to kampung paya's jetty.




the restaurant..


our room la lyla - duyong95 got the inside pics..


whose rooms are these? isk isk isk..


someone broke the floor the last nite we were there... the next morning, it's already replaced..


dang...are we in klcc or kampung paya tioman?


lelong lelong.. cheap sale.. hehehe...


the jetty..


paparazzi and momorazzi at work..


bye tioman.. we'll be back..

Perhentian (20 - 22 july) - Day 3

Sunday, 22nd July 2007

Dive # 7 : Temple of the Sea
Time in : 09:48
Bottom Time : 0:49:22
Max Depth : 19.0 meters

Our last day of the trip... onn almost left us. uwaa... we woke up late.. it was raining.. hehehe.. plus we had to pack up our things and check out .. :P anyway, we had clear vis.. again.. please mind the greenness of the photos.. i'm still learning. hehehe..

baghdad thinking.. "ermm... whose butt am i gonna poke this morning eh?"

greeted by this lil creature.. hehehe.. so i knew it's gonna be a good dive :D

chin showed me this one. my group almost left me hehee.. me still terhegeh2 with my buoyancy.. so this is the only good shot i have of it :P

this lil one was too fast... hahaha.. didn't wanna go near cause he seemed disturbed by our presence

my dive group.. show your behinds and say cheese ;)


halimi at work..

saw this nudi but haven't had the chance to find its name yet..


lotsa these here.. they were resting on the corals..


go away... i wanna rest :(








ezatul found her long lost cousins.. heheh

surface interval

location: pulau rawa
food: tuna sandwich
drink: coffee, tea and mineral water

on our way to the next dive site...

Dive # 8 : Sugar Wreck

Time in : 12:21
Bottom Time : 0:47:13
Max Depth : 16.7 meters

our last dive before we went home.. sugar wreck. my second wreck dive and still a scary experience for me.. but there were many things to see.. 8-)

lotsa these fellas here..


duyong pun ada... :P


baghdad also here...


spiderman also got...





the wreck.. of course. it's huge.. and scary. :(


one of the two shots of me taken underwater.. boo hoo.. :(

going home..

it was raining on the way back to Kuala Besut.. but we had a good trip and good companions, and that's all that matters. :)

THE END

Perhentian (20-22 july) - Day 2

Saturday, 21st July 2007

Dive #4 : Terumbu Tiga
Time in : 09:45
Bottom time : 0:39:07
Max Depth : 17.5 meters

we were greeted by this nudi.. couldn't find the name of it in the books.. found something like it but with a different color.. named furtive thorunna.. i might be wrong tho.. (bobo: may be Chromodoris bullocki, common, u have to memories this species, banyak (a lot) variant here in Malaysia. blue karer os got, white kaler, pink kaler hehehe ;) - MUW.com)

a very nice photo of corals.. see how clear the viz was..

cantik kan?

nas.. finally feeling comfortable underwater...

Dive # 5 : Laluan Anak Naga
Time in : 13:53
Bottom Time : 0:55:48
Max Depth : 15.6 meters

our dive site.. onn drew it.. buruk :P

nudi - varicose phyllidia (correct ke?)


nudi - shireen's phyllidiopsis (again... is this correct?)

lost the group when i found the third nudi.. :-/ :-/bumped into nurul and azmi.. searched for a minute or so, found the buoy line.. but we still had lotsa air.. so we decided to do some more diving.. azmi turned down the offer since he's low on air.. but after a few kicks, onn found us.. :) pheww... hehhee...

suka sangat this pic.. took it when i was lost with nurul and azmi.. we're sort of looking for them.. haha.. yeah right :P

amboi amboi sedap nye ikan ni makan.. don't ask me what fish this is. think it's a parrot fish kot.. :P


ini razi.. student owd halimi..


ini chin(east marine's dm) and nas.. as usual nas buat her mata juling pose :P

Dive # 6 : Tanjung Panglima Abu
Time in : 17:34
Bottom Time : 0:53:39
Max Depth : 14.7 meters

actually we planned to dive at the light house.. onn spent quite some time drawing the dive site. but when we got there divers emerged and told us to find another dive site coz the viz was terrible. so they took us to Tanjung Panglima Abu. I don't fancy this dive site as much.. too many gamats.. er... geli..

wahh onn so serious.. drawing us the dive site.. :))

the two baghdads.. hahaa.. abang and yan


lily and razi walking towards the boat... air cetek.. long walk..


chin said it's spreading it's don't know what lah.. when it stands up like this..


are those giants gone yet?


for the last time.. I AM NOT A CLOWNNNN!!!!!

nudi nudi..


refreshing.. a quick shower after each dive..