Caught in the act
And you think nudibranch is friendly
Another caught in the act
Laying egg
The Gang
Friday, September 21, 2007
Tioman Diving
I went to Tioman recently, I was so blessed as the weather is good, and water visibility range from 10 to 20 meters. Just a week before, one of my friend told me that Tioman water visibility was less than 5 meters and rained occasionally. It was a great trip overall. I saw so many nudibranch, many of which I have not seen before. According to the DM, it is the mating season. Caught a few nudibranch mating as well as laying eggs.
Caught in the act
And you think nudibranch is friendly
Another caught in the act
Laying egg
The Gang
Caught in the act
And you think nudibranch is friendly
Another caught in the act
Laying egg
The Gang
Monday, August 27, 2007
Friday, August 24, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Bandung - Company Trip
Bandung, City of Flowers, is an awesome get-away from the polluted, noisy Jakarta. It's about 200km from Jakarta. Normally we need to fly to Jakarta then taking taxi, bus or train to Bandung. The journey will take about 3 to 4 hours. Now, thanks to Air Asia, we could fly directly to Bandung, saving the long journey to go through Jakarta. The city is Indonesia's third largest city and is known as the "Paris of Java" because of its European ambience. Bandung shares with Miami a fine legacy of Tropical architecture dating from the 1920s. Also, the climate and scenery is very pleasant as it is situated at a highland (situated on a plateau 768 meters above sea level) and surrounded by lush plantations. It has a cool climate throughout the year with temperature ranging from 20-30 degrees Celsius.I like the weather, cooling throughout the day and get quite cold at night.
Why people come to Bandung? First of all, to escape the heat from other major city in Java. Secondly, Bandung is renowned for its shopping, particularly for shoes, textiles, clothing and denims which are found in the colorful Jeans Street "Jalan Cihampelas". And for those who prefer branded clothes, check out the factory outlets located around Dago Street, RE Martadinata Street, Setiabudhi Street, and Buahbatu street. In those outlets you can shop till you drop. There are so many factory outlet stores to visit (too many to know the exact number) and plenty shopping malls.
Places that I visited. Needless to say, plenty of shopping of course to a lot of the factory outlets. Beside shopping, I visited Tangkuban Parahu ("upside-down boat"). A very popular tourist attraction. It is a volcano, 25 kilometre north of Bandung. It last erupted in 1983, supposedly dead now. It is the only crater in Java accessible all the way by car as far as the edge of the volcano mouth. This is Bandung's most famous natural attraction. You can see really nice view at the top. Not far from the volcano, there is a hot spring call Ciater Hot Spring. In the Hot Spring Ciater Resort you can enjoy swimming in warm sulphurized water pools (about 42 degrees Celsius). It is good for healing rheumatism and skin problems.
Food wise, I ate mostly Sundanese food. It is nice, except that its a little salty.
Photos
Tangkuban Parahu
View at the top of Tangkuban Perahu
Ciater Hot Spring
Ciater Hot Spring (steaming hot water)
Sindang Reret Restaurant
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Wonderful Sipadan
I just came back from Sipadan recently, having spent a long 6 days diving in Mabul, Kapalai and Sipadan Island living in Uncle Chang Backpacker Lodge. As it was my first time living in a guesthouse, I felt a little uneasy at first, as accommodation is very basic, no air conditional, no hot water, and shared bathroom. The room is small, beds are narrow, beside the beds, there is nothing else in the room. They are no hooks on the walls as well so hanging clothes in the room is out of the question. However, I had no problem sleeping though after a day of 3 or 4 dives. Nevertheless, I enjoyed my stayed there. I met many foreigners coming from Germany, France, Ireland, Poland, Sweden, South Africa, Japan, China, and Australia. In fact my group was the only Malaysian staying at the guesthouse.
Sipadan Island
We flew from KLIA to Tawau, from there continued our journey by car to Semporna, the gateway to Sipadan. We spent the night at Dragon Inn floating resort, a nice resort built on stilts over the water in Semporna. We left for Uncle Chang Backpacker Lodge the next morning at Mabul Island. Semporna offers an interesting fish market, just outside of Dragon Inn, where you could find all kind of fish, fresh from the fishing boat. They have sharks, sting rays, tuna, jack, and many others. They are cheap as well, for instance, a tuna would cost you about RM3 only.
How can I describe the diving at Sipadan? Well, put it this way, after diving almost all the islands in west Malaysia, Sipadan is the best I've ever seen. Even diving at the same spot (barracuda point) 3 times in a row, I still get excited about every dive. The wall at drop off is fantastic, and mind you, it drops to 600m deep. And visibility is more than 50m. Marine life I saw in just my first day of diving, 10 to 20 white tip sharks, at least fifty giant sea turtles (both green and hawks bill), some very big school of jacks (with 1 gigantic mother jack) swirl in and around me, it was unbelievable, big school of giant bump head parrot fish, napoleon, unicorn fish, at least 5 to 6 different species of trigger fish, starfish, a swirling school of barracuda spiraling in the sunlight, squirrel fish, puffers, leaf fish, school of Moorish idols, gorgonians sea fan, school of fusiliers, goat fish, school of bat fish, school of banner fish, various species of grouper, damsel, angle fish, butterfly fish, surgeon fish, nudibranch, hawkfish, pairs of fire goby, sweet lips, tuna, octopus, moray eel and many others that I could not recognized. That was what I seen by the end of the first day of diving.
I love diving in Sipadan. Just wondering will I ever dive in any of the west Malaysia Island after this trip. The diving is just plain wonderful and with the totally laid back and relaxed environment, am thinking of retiring there one day.
Beside Sipadan, I dive in Mabul and Kapalai also. The underwater environment is quite different from that of Sipadan, at time it could be quite murky, probably due to the sandy bottom. There are a few wrecks (fishing boat) and artificial reefs. I see some of the more unusual creatures like cuttlefish, eels, batfish, nudibranch, frog fish, pipe fish, razor fish, ghost pipe fish, octopus, trumpetfish, crocodile fish, pinnate bat fish and etc.
Sipadan Island
We flew from KLIA to Tawau, from there continued our journey by car to Semporna, the gateway to Sipadan. We spent the night at Dragon Inn floating resort, a nice resort built on stilts over the water in Semporna. We left for Uncle Chang Backpacker Lodge the next morning at Mabul Island. Semporna offers an interesting fish market, just outside of Dragon Inn, where you could find all kind of fish, fresh from the fishing boat. They have sharks, sting rays, tuna, jack, and many others. They are cheap as well, for instance, a tuna would cost you about RM3 only.
How can I describe the diving at Sipadan? Well, put it this way, after diving almost all the islands in west Malaysia, Sipadan is the best I've ever seen. Even diving at the same spot (barracuda point) 3 times in a row, I still get excited about every dive. The wall at drop off is fantastic, and mind you, it drops to 600m deep. And visibility is more than 50m. Marine life I saw in just my first day of diving, 10 to 20 white tip sharks, at least fifty giant sea turtles (both green and hawks bill), some very big school of jacks (with 1 gigantic mother jack) swirl in and around me, it was unbelievable, big school of giant bump head parrot fish, napoleon, unicorn fish, at least 5 to 6 different species of trigger fish, starfish, a swirling school of barracuda spiraling in the sunlight, squirrel fish, puffers, leaf fish, school of Moorish idols, gorgonians sea fan, school of fusiliers, goat fish, school of bat fish, school of banner fish, various species of grouper, damsel, angle fish, butterfly fish, surgeon fish, nudibranch, hawkfish, pairs of fire goby, sweet lips, tuna, octopus, moray eel and many others that I could not recognized. That was what I seen by the end of the first day of diving.
I love diving in Sipadan. Just wondering will I ever dive in any of the west Malaysia Island after this trip. The diving is just plain wonderful and with the totally laid back and relaxed environment, am thinking of retiring there one day.
Beside Sipadan, I dive in Mabul and Kapalai also. The underwater environment is quite different from that of Sipadan, at time it could be quite murky, probably due to the sandy bottom. There are a few wrecks (fishing boat) and artificial reefs. I see some of the more unusual creatures like cuttlefish, eels, batfish, nudibranch, frog fish, pipe fish, razor fish, ghost pipe fish, octopus, trumpetfish, crocodile fish, pinnate bat fish and etc.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Diving Knowledge
Buoyancy Control
One of the hardest skills to master in scuba diving is buoyancy control. Often, you missed out things that your friends told you after the dive. "No, I didn't see the goby, the cleaner shrimp, the blennies, nudibranch or any of the tiny wonders that the others are talking about on the dive boat. You always wonder how the dive master or instructor or the other divers who seem to be able to swim and hover like fish, staying still and going upside down with perfect ease, while you are struggling to inflate or deflate your BCD to keep yourself steady and trying to avoid crashing into the corals.
There are a few reasons why you could not swim weightlessly in the water:-
1. Carry incorrect weight
2. Wrong finning method
3. Breathing inconsistency
Due to those reasons, you are not seeing as much down there because you are preoccupied with the inflator/deflator buttons trying to keep yourself down/up in the water. A lot of divers have trouble with that, including myself. To those who have really good buoyancy control, they tend to see a lot more, probably because they're not so distracted.
In the beginning, my buoyancy control was lousy as well. I carried 4kg of weight, and constantly need to inflate my BCD because I was sinking all the time. I was wondering why till one instructor helps me to fine-tune it. First he reduced it to 3kg, and then to 2kg. That is the weight I carry each time I dive now. Even at 2kg, at time I still feel a little heavy, but anything less than that, I will be floating at the surface and could not go down. So, correct weighting would allow you to dive effortlessly and forget about your buoyancy. You will begin to enjoy yourself and dive like the pros.
Buoyancy Check
Carrying the correct weight - deflate your BCD completely at the surface, add or subtract lead until you float with a full breath and sink when you exhale. If you float at eye level while holding your breath, that's about right.
Keep your fins slightly above your body, as if the fins are lower than your body, kicking to go forward will make you go up and like wise, if the fins are higher than your body, it will make you go down. Once you are exactly neutral with the right amount of weight and fins position, test by holding your body absolutely still with your legs stretched out behind you. You should be able to hover and stay still in the water. If your legs sink, you should move the weight belt from your waist to a point higher on your body, and check again.
Lastly, use your breathing to further fine-tune your buoyancy. You should breathe in slowly and deeply. As you breathe in, you will tend to float a little (this is normal), start exhaling slowly once you feel you are about to float. And as you breathe out, you will then tend to sink, start breathing in once you feels that you are sinking. The process will continue, but never ever hold your breath as many may have told you before. Happy diving.
One of the hardest skills to master in scuba diving is buoyancy control. Often, you missed out things that your friends told you after the dive. "No, I didn't see the goby, the cleaner shrimp, the blennies, nudibranch or any of the tiny wonders that the others are talking about on the dive boat. You always wonder how the dive master or instructor or the other divers who seem to be able to swim and hover like fish, staying still and going upside down with perfect ease, while you are struggling to inflate or deflate your BCD to keep yourself steady and trying to avoid crashing into the corals.
There are a few reasons why you could not swim weightlessly in the water:-
1. Carry incorrect weight
2. Wrong finning method
3. Breathing inconsistency
Due to those reasons, you are not seeing as much down there because you are preoccupied with the inflator/deflator buttons trying to keep yourself down/up in the water. A lot of divers have trouble with that, including myself. To those who have really good buoyancy control, they tend to see a lot more, probably because they're not so distracted.
In the beginning, my buoyancy control was lousy as well. I carried 4kg of weight, and constantly need to inflate my BCD because I was sinking all the time. I was wondering why till one instructor helps me to fine-tune it. First he reduced it to 3kg, and then to 2kg. That is the weight I carry each time I dive now. Even at 2kg, at time I still feel a little heavy, but anything less than that, I will be floating at the surface and could not go down. So, correct weighting would allow you to dive effortlessly and forget about your buoyancy. You will begin to enjoy yourself and dive like the pros.
Buoyancy Check
Carrying the correct weight - deflate your BCD completely at the surface, add or subtract lead until you float with a full breath and sink when you exhale. If you float at eye level while holding your breath, that's about right.
Keep your fins slightly above your body, as if the fins are lower than your body, kicking to go forward will make you go up and like wise, if the fins are higher than your body, it will make you go down. Once you are exactly neutral with the right amount of weight and fins position, test by holding your body absolutely still with your legs stretched out behind you. You should be able to hover and stay still in the water. If your legs sink, you should move the weight belt from your waist to a point higher on your body, and check again.
Lastly, use your breathing to further fine-tune your buoyancy. You should breathe in slowly and deeply. As you breathe in, you will tend to float a little (this is normal), start exhaling slowly once you feel you are about to float. And as you breathe out, you will then tend to sink, start breathing in once you feels that you are sinking. The process will continue, but never ever hold your breath as many may have told you before. Happy diving.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Jarak Photo
me descending using the line
me underwater
melissa & me
white eye moray eel
nudibranch
octopus
lionfish
Julius, Melissa and me
Monday, November 27, 2006
Jarak Diving Trip
Just came back from a dive trip last weekend. I went to this remote island not many people know of. It is call Jarak Island, a far away island about 40km west of Pangkor Island. It is a popular fishing spot, as for diving, only people who is desperate like me would want to go diving there. Again I went to my favourite live onboard Kaleebso with my brother-in-law and 5 other friends. As the island is mere rock, uninhabited and overgrown with lush bushes and trees, the only possible way to dive there is to live onboard a dive boat as there is no resort on the island. Well, diving in the west coast, some said there's nothing much to see, bad visibility, and strong current and all sort of comments. But, since I am the adventurous type, I don't mind trying out new dive spot.
It was a good trip overall, the diving was fun, and water visibility was good, we were fortunate last weekend, as water visibility was usually not clear and murky. We managed to make a total of 7 dives, including 1 night dive. The night dive was special, as only my brother-in-law and I dived at night before, we brought along the rest who are all first timer. So, I took the liberty to give briefing and some instructions, just like a pro. Surprisingly no one panic and it went well. We saw beautiful red tooth trigger fish, titan trigger fish, honey comb moray eel, giant moray eel, moorish idol, lion fish, nudibranch, coral crab, flying fish, lizard fish, blue ring angel fish, red snapper, grouper, Spanish Mackerels, sail fish, barracuda, jacks, squid, octopus, parrot fish, butterfly fish, rabbit fish and many others in day dive. As for night dive, macro life and crustaceans that normally don't see during daytime make their presence felt through clicking and crunching noises as they go about looking for food. Shining our dive lights onto the reef structure, marine life came into view. Shrimps, crabs, fish, sea urchin and other appear out of the darkness as well as day time fish that sleep between the rocks and corals.
The fun part for me in this trip was fishing. I was not the one who fish, but as a spectator watching the boat captain (Khay Lee) and Peter fishing. They net quite a lot of flying fish to use as baits. I still wasn't that excited about fishing at that moment. After dinner, they started night fishing at about 10pm. It started by Peter and Khay Lee and I was still relaxing on the top deck after dinner. They were making a lot of noises on the dive deck, sounded like they were very busy, so I went down to find out what was going on. Wow, a big fish was hopping or jumping or flipping or whatever you called it all over the dive deck. They've caught a really big spanish mackerels (tenggiri in malay), the size slightly bigger than my fins, almost a meter long. I was so excited just watching beside them, and my brother-in-law quickly took his camera and took picture with Khay Lee and the fish. Needless to say, the fish ended up in our lunch table the next day. The lights on the boat attracted many fish to swim near to us including Sail Fish, they came really close to the surface in a group of 4, it was amazing watching them swimming in formation, but it was not long, they disappeared into the water in just few seconds. Everybody was excited to see them. As the night progress, they caught another 12 barracuda and many other pelagic. It was a very fruitful night and everyone was happy.
So, in this trip, we just eat, sleep, dive, eat, sleep, watch dvd, chat and more diving and sleeping, sound boring, exciting, maybe it is not everyone forte.
Photos coming soon.
It was a good trip overall, the diving was fun, and water visibility was good, we were fortunate last weekend, as water visibility was usually not clear and murky. We managed to make a total of 7 dives, including 1 night dive. The night dive was special, as only my brother-in-law and I dived at night before, we brought along the rest who are all first timer. So, I took the liberty to give briefing and some instructions, just like a pro. Surprisingly no one panic and it went well. We saw beautiful red tooth trigger fish, titan trigger fish, honey comb moray eel, giant moray eel, moorish idol, lion fish, nudibranch, coral crab, flying fish, lizard fish, blue ring angel fish, red snapper, grouper, Spanish Mackerels, sail fish, barracuda, jacks, squid, octopus, parrot fish, butterfly fish, rabbit fish and many others in day dive. As for night dive, macro life and crustaceans that normally don't see during daytime make their presence felt through clicking and crunching noises as they go about looking for food. Shining our dive lights onto the reef structure, marine life came into view. Shrimps, crabs, fish, sea urchin and other appear out of the darkness as well as day time fish that sleep between the rocks and corals.
The fun part for me in this trip was fishing. I was not the one who fish, but as a spectator watching the boat captain (Khay Lee) and Peter fishing. They net quite a lot of flying fish to use as baits. I still wasn't that excited about fishing at that moment. After dinner, they started night fishing at about 10pm. It started by Peter and Khay Lee and I was still relaxing on the top deck after dinner. They were making a lot of noises on the dive deck, sounded like they were very busy, so I went down to find out what was going on. Wow, a big fish was hopping or jumping or flipping or whatever you called it all over the dive deck. They've caught a really big spanish mackerels (tenggiri in malay), the size slightly bigger than my fins, almost a meter long. I was so excited just watching beside them, and my brother-in-law quickly took his camera and took picture with Khay Lee and the fish. Needless to say, the fish ended up in our lunch table the next day. The lights on the boat attracted many fish to swim near to us including Sail Fish, they came really close to the surface in a group of 4, it was amazing watching them swimming in formation, but it was not long, they disappeared into the water in just few seconds. Everybody was excited to see them. As the night progress, they caught another 12 barracuda and many other pelagic. It was a very fruitful night and everyone was happy.
So, in this trip, we just eat, sleep, dive, eat, sleep, watch dvd, chat and more diving and sleeping, sound boring, exciting, maybe it is not everyone forte.
Photos coming soon.
Friday, November 10, 2006
My Score
As expected, mine totally opposite of my wife.
You scored as Mathematics/Statistics.
You should strongly consider majoring (or minoring) in Mathematics, Statistics, or related majors (e.g. Accounting, Actuarial Science, Computer Engineering, Computer Information Systems (CIS), Computer Science, Economics, Engineering, Finance, Management Information Systems (MIS), Mathematics, Operations Management, Physics, Risk Management).
It is possible that the best major for you is your 2nd, 3rd, or even 5th listed category, so be sure to consider ALL majors in your OTHER high scoring categories (below). You may score high in a category you didnt think you would--it is possible that a great major for you is something you once dismissed as not for you. The right major for you will be something 1) you love and enjoy and 2) are really great at it.
Consider adding a minor or double majoring to make yourself standout and to combine your interests.
You scored as Mathematics/Statistics.
You should strongly consider majoring (or minoring) in Mathematics, Statistics, or related majors (e.g. Accounting, Actuarial Science, Computer Engineering, Computer Information Systems (CIS), Computer Science, Economics, Engineering, Finance, Management Information Systems (MIS), Mathematics, Operations Management, Physics, Risk Management).
It is possible that the best major for you is your 2nd, 3rd, or even 5th listed category, so be sure to consider ALL majors in your OTHER high scoring categories (below). You may score high in a category you didnt think you would--it is possible that a great major for you is something you once dismissed as not for you. The right major for you will be something 1) you love and enjoy and 2) are really great at it.
Consider adding a minor or double majoring to make yourself standout and to combine your interests.
WHAT MAJOR IS RIGHT FOR YOU? created with QuizFarm.com |
Monday, September 18, 2006
Into the unknown world
Since young, I have not contented to be just a land creature. I want to fly like a bird, swim like a fish, and if possible go as fast as a Cheetah. Thus, I have aspired to fly, to venture into the underwater world, to be in the fast lane. Too bad, till today, I don't own any sport vehicle yet, but at least I have almost broken the sound barrier.
As adventurous as I am, I still have a lot more to accomplish. However, I must say I am very contented with my life at the moment. I have done so many that others could be just dreaming of.
The diving experience is once a life-time experience. In the water, not only I could discover and see for myself the wonderful creation of God, but also I discovered it is the best relaxation therapy one can experience while underwater. For a moment, you really could just put everything behind you and really focus and admirer the beauty in the underwater world. Forget about all the commercial therapy (yoga, aerobic, spa, massage, etc), scuba diving will transform you to another world. You will feel more relax and at peace in the midst of all our hustle and bustle city life. Given the opportunity, give it a try and I promise it will leave a memorable milestone in your life. You will also experience God's marvelous creations under the sea.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Tioman Revisited
I spent yet another long weekend diving in Tioman Island living in Berjaya Beach, Golf and Spa resort. This was my second trip to the resort, first time been 2 years ago. 5 of us, my wife, Yoke Kheng, Sahaya and Kenny went with me. As usual, we left PJ at about 5am in the morning to leave for Mersing to catch the 10:30am ferry. We got there in time.
Diving in Tioman was just as good as the last trip, just that the water was not as clear as the last time. It was murky. Visibility was just about 5-8m. Did not discover much new marine life, except a species of nudibranch which I have not seen before found at Renggis Island. Photo attached.
Renggis Island is always special, the concentration of marine life is simply astounding. It is so good that I dived there twice this time. There are so many things to see, jacks, giant groupers, cuttlefish, turtles, moray eels, nudibranch, puffer fish, blacktip sharks and barracudas, not to mention all the schooling fish around (mostly juveniles), truly a wonderful dive site.
Ah the food, we discovered a new chinese restaurant open just outside of the resort. We had most of our dinner there. The food was good. We did not order anything special, just simple dishes and all tasted good.
Well, the highlight of the trip was not really the diving or the food, but the board game Cashflow 101. We played almost every night, and I must say that I am quite expert now, and the rest as well. We had so much fun, laughter and of course making so much noise till the wee hours. Thank goodness nobody complained.
Other than that, we went shopping (duty free shop), I bought Chinese beer, corona, and nite (new type of alcohol drink, never seen in KL before), went strolling around the beach looking at people. There were mostly eastern European people, and being European, you know what to expect loh at the beach. If you would like the details, please ask Sahaya. As for photos, wait for Kenny to upload, he was the the official photographers.
Diving in Tioman was just as good as the last trip, just that the water was not as clear as the last time. It was murky. Visibility was just about 5-8m. Did not discover much new marine life, except a species of nudibranch which I have not seen before found at Renggis Island. Photo attached.
Renggis Island is always special, the concentration of marine life is simply astounding. It is so good that I dived there twice this time. There are so many things to see, jacks, giant groupers, cuttlefish, turtles, moray eels, nudibranch, puffer fish, blacktip sharks and barracudas, not to mention all the schooling fish around (mostly juveniles), truly a wonderful dive site.
Ah the food, we discovered a new chinese restaurant open just outside of the resort. We had most of our dinner there. The food was good. We did not order anything special, just simple dishes and all tasted good.
Well, the highlight of the trip was not really the diving or the food, but the board game Cashflow 101. We played almost every night, and I must say that I am quite expert now, and the rest as well. We had so much fun, laughter and of course making so much noise till the wee hours. Thank goodness nobody complained.
Other than that, we went shopping (duty free shop), I bought Chinese beer, corona, and nite (new type of alcohol drink, never seen in KL before), went strolling around the beach looking at people. There were mostly eastern European people, and being European, you know what to expect loh at the beach. If you would like the details, please ask Sahaya. As for photos, wait for Kenny to upload, he was the the official photographers.
Monday, August 07, 2006
Weekend Retreat
Looking for a weekend retreat, look no further. Bukit Tabur in Taman Melawati, just less than 30 minutes drive from PJ, you will find this beautiful place hidden, separated from the hustle and bustle of city life. A whole new world, just right next to the busy MRR2. What lies in it, you must be wondering. It is the Klang Gate Dam which supplies water to most of the Klang Valley areas. It has a jungle trek, but it is quite dangerous in certain areas, whereby one need to do rock climbing as steep as 80 degrees. For those who would like to have a fun, exciting, and unforgettable weekend, this is the place to go. Forgot to mention, the scenery is beautiful.
Here are the photos.
View from the Peak
University Islam Malaysia
Taman Melawati from the top
Here are the photos.
Klang Gate Dam
View from the Peak
University Islam Malaysia
Taman Melawati from the top
Friday, July 28, 2006
Yet another Masterpiece
After my last trip to the ocean, I visited yet another natural wonder. A masterpiece could only made possible by our Almighty God. The Mulu National Park in Sarawak, we Malaysian must be proud to have all these wonderful natural wonder given by God as said by our Prime Minister in TheStar yesterday. As a nature lover myself, sadly to say that we Malaysian have not done much to preserve our natural heritage.
Mulu, nature's most spectacular achievements and the 'jewel in the crown' of Sarawak's national parks. It began millions of years ago, it is estimated 30 million years to become what it is today. It is one of the largest limestone cave systems in the world. This system, a breath-taking natural wonder, contains a number of record breaking caves. With the world's largest cave passage (Deer Cave), the world's largest natural chamber (Sarawak Chamber), and the longest cave in Southeast Asia (Clearwater Cave), it is not surprising that Mulu is now world-famous. The cave system span over 200 km and is thought to represent only just 30-40% of the actual length. It could well be over 600 km when fully discovered. Just imagine, a cave system that cover almost the whole of Peninsular Malaysia.
As Malaysian, we must take pride of ourselves as Mulu been listed as Malaysia’s second World Heritage site. The first is Mount Kinabalu. It is my hope that there will be more site in Malaysia to be listed.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Tioman Liveaboard Kaleebso Trip – The Good, the Bad, and the Gorgeous
I recently spent a long weekend diving in Tioman Island living onboard Kaleebso, a purposed built dive boat. Boat captain Loh Khay Lee, his wife Mary and the boat crews hosted us for the weekend. At first, I was very skeptic about living onboard a boat as I have never done it before. Fearing seasickness, the floating sensation while sleeping at night, the weather and many others various reasons stopped me before I took the courage to go ahead with the plan. I called my brother-in-law, also having the same fears as me but was too excited to care much. We signed up, paid the deposit and the next thing, we were on board Kaleebso. I am not a good writer, but will try my best and hope this is entertaining enough. See below the trip report.
Day 1
7.00pm. 7 of us (4 British teachers from Garden International School, Jeff the diving instructor, my brother-in-law and me) left Petaling Jaya using the north-south highway, exiting Senawang, afterwhich heading towards Kuala Pilah, follow by Bahau, Muadzam Shah and finally Kuala Rompin. It’s a 3 ½ to 4 ½ hours drive there depending on traffic conditions. As the boarding time is at 11:30pm, we were driving as fast as we could whenever the road was clear, fearing that we may missed the boat if we were late. We reached there at about 11:25pm. Gosh, just in time. We were so excited and just could not wait to go on board. At the jetty, no one was around, and no sign of the Kaleebso, but we were early by 5 minutes. Unless it is like boarding airplane, and need to check in at least 1 hour before flight, we are early. Where were the people? Where was the boat? We quickly called the boat captain, Khay Lee and were informed that we were the first to arrive. He has to bring the boat out as it was low tide. He asked us to wait as the other groups from Singapore have yet to arrive. He will send in smaller boat to pick all of us when the Singaporean group arrived.
Here the drama begin – The Bad
All this while, I don’t really like Singaporean much (just general feeling, not targeting any individual, I have many Singaporean friends which I like) as they are arrogant, cocky, one of a kind attitude problem and always thinking that they are more superior beings. Well, when exchanging words with the rest, actually not only I, even the rest, the 4 British teachers, Jeff and my brother-in-law also do not like Singaporean either (again, general feeling). Couple to that, they were late, extremely late. We were at the jetty waiting for them for almost 3 hours. They arrived at 2:30am in the morning. Yet, did not even apologize (not too sure if they did) and more so, wanted to choose the room of their choice saying they have pre-decided earlier on. (Normally first come first serve basis). We were so tired, some pissed and some angry, of course we were not going to agree and give them the priority to choose their room. One of the British, were so pissed that she lashed out at them and said “In England, the boat would have sailed exactly at 11:30pm, we are not going to negotiate, we pick the room and that is final. I don’t care if you have pre-decided”. The rest was history.
Day 2 – The Gorgeous
Heading to our first dive site: Berhala Japanese Gun Boat (WWII gun boat). It was fantastic! The gun boat was clearly visible from the surface and wow lots of schooling fish swimming very close to surface immediately greeted us. I descended slowly and equalized very often to safeguard my ear. Below us, an abundance of soft corals and (gasp!) a couple of jellyfish sway in the mild current.
When we reached 22.6 meters, it was apparent that the site was a superb choice for a morning dive. The visibility was good, about 30m. Several Napoleon wrasses cruise past, and a huge school of yellowtail barracudas formed a cloud above us. A lone porcupine puffer sensed our presence and scurried away, but then came back a few minutes later.
I swam close to the gun boat ascending slightly to the gun turret, it is still fully attach and I went to the gun handle, pretending to shoot my fellow divers who were still swimming towards the boat. I was laughing and giggling just like children playing combat battle games.
There were plenty of interesting things to look at in this site: nudibranchs of various vibrant colours, clownfish, emperor angelfish, a couple of big fish, some small and transparent cleaner shrimps, bannerfish, and batfish.
Our second dive site: Berhala cargo wreck.
A nice, equally deep like the first. We descended to 21.6 meters. Again, lots of yellowtail barracudas and nudibranchs. There were also the mandatory porcupine puffers, completely uninterested and swimming about minding their own business. Saw a gigantic sting ray.
Our third dive site: Kapal Timur
We were lost while descending as the visibility was very poor at about 2-5 meters and couple with strong current. We were told to descend using the buoy line, but our gung-ho instructor decided to go for free descend. True enough, we searched for almost 18 minutes, yet still could not find the wreck, finally abort dive without safety stop.
After surfaced, not giving up, we changed our tank and went into the water again. This time, after the bad experience, we descended using the buoy line. We never regretted it. Even with the poor visibility, we saw a couple of nurse shark, plenty of schooling fish and big schooling trevally.
Day 3 – Experience of a life time - The good
Our fifth dive site: Tiger reef
One of Tioman’s famous submerged reef. Usually with mild current, but today, the current is stronger than usual. A wide variety of soft and hard corals were found here with countless colorful fishes and pelagic fishes. Nepoleon fish, golden snappers, eagle rays, and many baby eels came along as we swam in this wonderful reef. Plenty of nudibranches of various varieties (my favorite marine life). Really live up to its reputation. After almost 35 minutes in water, I finally low on air due to the hard work needing to fight the current some time. I was signaling to the DM to plan for safety stop. I was following him weaving through the water looking for the buoy line, but all of a sudden, I was caught by a really strong current, and got swept away. I was so panic, trying to swim away and to grab hold of anything along the path, but to no avail. The current was just too strong. I was following the current, just like the movie Finding Nemo (if you watched the movie), except that I was not heading to Sydney. After struggling for a while, I finally got hold of the rock, I was holding it so tight that I got cut all over my palm. After resting for some time (don’t even know for how long), I managed to locate the buoy line swam with all my remaining strength towards the buoy line still fighting the current, did my safety stop and ascended safely. I was left with 10 BAR of air in my tank after this episode. Truly, it was experience of a life time.
Our sixth and seventh dives: Labas and Chebeh
Nothing much here except many swim through and saw a real gigantic lion fish.
Our eighth dive: Malang Rock (night dive)
As it was my first time, I was a little scare. Not that I am afraid of the dark, but pitch dark in the middle of the ocean. Not something that I would want to imagine. Saw plenty of shrimps, crabs, worm like sea cucumber, squid, loads of crown of thorn and sea snake. Night dive was special, as I shined my torch towards the corals, the shrimps and crabs eyes reflected the light. As the formations of the corals are layered, you could see row of light coming out of the corals row by row on top of each other, just like a multistory apartment in our city with the light coming out of apartment units floor by floor. Truly fascinating.
Day four – final day
Ninth dive at Renggis Island. The concentration of marine life is simply astounding. Jacks, tuna, pompanos, and mackerels are just some of the schooling fish. Yellowtails, giant groupers, cuttlefish, turtles, moray eels, blacktip sharks and barracudas are present as well. A wonderful dive site.
Indeed, all glory to God our creator. Creation at its best.
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