AQUATASTIC

Can You Believe How People Live Like This?

2009-10-22T03:48:00.000-07:00

I received this email from Kin, a close friend of mine who showed me some really shocking pictures. If we do not do something about the trash now, imagine what will happen in another ten years time, twenty years, how about fifty years from now? Will our children and their children swim and play in garbage as well?

Powerful countries in our world spent billions on war; producing powerful and ridiculously expensive nuclear weapons of mass destruction. Maybe some of the money can be put to good use. Like riding the world from trash. Look at these pictures...

This is our world now...

Ghost Pipefish Everywhere

2009-10-19T01:51:00.000-07:00

I'm not kidding. Mabul is the place to be now if you are crazy about Ghost pipefish. I was conducting my PADI Open Water Course; btw congrats to both Irene and Martha for completing the course with me at Sipadan Water Village Resort and every dive was awesome with resident Ghost pipefishes in certain spots. I did all my dives at Paradise point and all the dives I saw the Ornate and Robust Ghostpipefish. And that's just Paradise point. Friends Jimmy and Alan said there are loads on the other side of Mabul and at Kapalai too. Not sure how long they are gonna stay though so now's the time to dive Mabul before they float away to god knows where they come from.

So, yeah! What are you waiting for? Rawrrrrrrr~

Congrats to Irene and Martha~

Denmark Whaling Protest

2009-10-12T01:35:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure everyone is aware of this but there's this email circulating in the internet since November 2008 about whale killing in Denmark. I've received more than ten of the same email with some variations in between forwarded by different people I know from around the globe in an act of protest against whaling in the Faroe Islands. Perhaps a few of you guys got it too. Here is what the protest email has to say:
_________________________________________________________
DENMARK: WHAT A SHAME, A SAD SHAME. THIS MAIL HAS TO BE SEEN . THERE IS NO WORST BEAST THAN HUMAN KIND ITSELF!!!!

While it may seem liar even today continues to be made this time of year BRUTAL, Dantesque, bloody slaughter in the Faroe Islands, which belong to Denmark. A country supposedly 'civilization' AND EUROPEAN UNION country. For many people this attack to life is unknown, to sensitivity. IN THIS bloody slaughter to attend Moz to 'show' entering adulthood (!) Is absolutely incredible that no one does ANYTHING to prevent this barbarism that are committed against Calderon, an intelligent dolphin who has the particularity of approaching People out of sheer curiosity. fwd this everywhere, PLEASE.

Pass it on to your friends around the world! It is OUTRAGEOUS!!!!!

Make Denmark STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

_________________________________________________________

I'm no fan of barbaric slaughter of harmless animals for the sake of entertainment but I am also not a radical fanatic or have any motivation to hop on the bandwagon with Greenpeace and start blasting jets of water at fishermen either. Since I haven’t witness this killing myself and since I am trying to be neutral and fair as I can be, I did some study at the local library and came up with a few facts that may interest you. So here’s what I have to say.

The Hunt
The people of Faroe been hunting whales for more than four hundred years now and whaling plays a significant role in their economy and because of that, whaling became a part of the Faroes' culture, a tradition they hold with great pride.

Although there are some forms of authority to regulate the whale hunts, it doesn’t have a major influence over the hunting process. The authority however does ban the use of spears, harpoons and hooks for whaling as these tools are considered inhumane. Causing an animal unnecessary or excessive pain and discomfort is prohibited by the Faroese law. However hunting whales is legal.

Around 1000 pilot whales are killed annually during the summer in a mass hunt they call grindadrap, a non commercial hunt organized on a community level where everyone can join. Some local folks consider this event as a coming of age for the participating youngsters. We as foreigners see this as a barbaric slaughter but could the Faroes be misunderstood?

The hunters will first drive the whales to shore with their boats. Once at the shoreline the pilot whale is pulled to land with a blunt gaff called blásturongul inserted through the whale’s blowhole. The whale is then killed by cutting the dorsal area through to the spinal cord with a special whaling knife, a grindaknivr. Death can be expected within seconds to a few minutes. Contrary to popular belief the people do not waste time randomly stabbing the whales on sight or attempt to drown the whales. The hunters kill the whales for food and they all share the same idea of doing it as quickly and with as little suffering as possible for the animal. They are not monsters wanting to kill or torture the whales for pleasure.

The aftermath of the hunt usually trigger public outcry. During the cut of a pilot whale's spine, their main arteries also get cut. Because of this the surrounding sea tends to turn a spectacular bloody red. This vivid imagery is often used by anti-whaling groups in their campaigns against the hunt. These images of a blood red sea can often have a shocking effect on bystanders. Spearing and harpooning and drowning leaves lesser blood although those actions are more cruel and more stressful and painful to the animals.

The Whales

The meat of the whales is distributed and consumed domestically and is not available for exports or for sale in supermarkets.

Pilot whales are not endangered and the actual population size of the whales is still a subject of debate. Although grindadrap is widely condemned as a significant threat to the population of the pilot whales, reports from North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission and IUCN suggest that the whale hunt represents a little more than 0.1% of the population, which is considered sustainable.

Because of the harsh Faroese climate, grain and vegetables have not been able to grow very well. During winter the Faroese’s only option was to mostly eat salted or dried food. Therefore the pilot whale has been an important source of food and vitamins to the isolated population on the North Atlantic archipelago for a few hundred years. Pilot whale meat and blubber is a traditional specialty in Faroe. The meat is boiled and served as steaks or preserved by salting and served dried.

Ironically consumption of Pilot whale meat in the long run can only lead to more bad and good. Research shows that Pilot whale meat contains high level of mercury, PCBs and environmental poisons. Consume the meat excessively and you are gonna die of poisoning. So I guess you folks at Faroe should take it easy with the whale meat. Let’s all hope that the reduced consumption of the meat may lead to lesser deaths during grindadrap.

My Thoughts

I do not support grindadrap but I personally feel that protests and demands that Denmark put a stop to the slaughter may not be the most effective approach. Forwarding this email around might not stop the slaughter too. The continuation of international condemnation and pressure to stop the whale kills might be more effectively aimed directly to the Faroe Islanders themselves. You can do it the friendlier but slower way too, through education, long-term awareness (both whale conservation and consumer’s health) and conservation programs based in Faroe Islands. No point exaggerating the issue and branding the people of Faroe as savages when we know nothing about them. Blasting them with high pressured jets of water won’t work too lol.

Quite a few celebrities around the world have actually stepped a foot in to oppose grindadrap. But I guess an increase in publicity for these celebs would be prioritized rather than any real action to stop the hunt. I personally feel that the reaction to grindadrap is greatly based on emotional reaction that shadows facts, truth and fairness to the people of Faroe. Like the great Jacques Cousteau once commented on the seal hunting issue:

"The harp seal question is entirely emotional. We have to be logical. We have to aim our activity first to the endangered species. Those who are moved by the plight of the harp seal could also be moved by the plight of the pig - the way they are slaughtered is horrible."

I agree.

Awesomeness at Uncle Chang's

2009-09-29T02:52:00.000-07:00

Hi friends!

I just got back after a week diving at Uncle Chang's Backpackers Lodge again and despite the stormy condition, bad visibility and the darn haze, the dives at Mabul were excellent. Flamboyant cuttlefish, Ornate ghost pipefish, Robust ghost pipefish, Eagle ray, the resident school of slim-line barracudas and the many fat green turtles were the highlights. No pics of fishes this time as I was busy teaching PADI courses. Sorry.

Big congrats to new PADI Open Water Divers: Italo, Fausta Eric, Ying and Feng and to Alex for completing his PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course. Thanks to Sanah, Ben-Ben and Peks for their time and effort taking turns to assist me this time.

From left: Fausta, Italo, Alex, Eric, Sannah, I'm-gettin-fat, Ying and Feng

Keep diving peeps!

Diving at Uncle Chang Sipadan Mabul Dive Lodge

2009-09-11T00:04:00.000-07:00

From left: Nick, Matt, Jemma, Wei, Izzy, Me, Zoe at Ray Point, Mabul

After spending a few days diving and teaching courses at Sipadan Water Village Resort I got an offer from Uncle Chang to teach some students at his place which I graciously accepted and spent 4 days diving there. It's been quite a while since I've been there and noticed some notable changes at uncle Chang's place: A new wing with more rooms, rooms with toilet, a new group of dive guides, new Scubapro BCDs & regs and an enhanced service by the friendly staff members. The beer is quite expensive now though :P

A big congrats to Raisa and Jem-Jem for completing their PADI Open Water Diver Course!

Jemma, me, my bro Nick and Raisa.

I did some photography at Mabul before teaching at Uncle Chang, so here's what I saw the past few days during two of my muck dives:

Red painted frogfish at Seaventures house reef

Panda clown fish at Paradise point

Green painted frogfish at Seaventures house reef

White eye Moray at Paradise point

Ornate Ghost Pipefish at Paradise point

Hermit Crab at Paradise point

Ribbon Eel at Seaventures house reef

Green Turtle at Paradise point

Diving Through Merdeka!

2009-09-04T05:52:00.000-07:00

Yo peeps!

We did Mabul, Kapalai and Sipadan dives few days ago and although the visibility was below average, pretty murky at Mabul, greenish water at Sipadan and that blistering midnight storm kept me awake most of the time, I enjoyed myself. This time, frogfish EVERYWHERE at Mabul! Lovely. Sipadan was cool too if you can ignore the dark, gloomy, green-water dives. Huge schools of barracudas forming the famous vortex at Sipadan and quite a big school of small grey reef sharks swimming in the channel of Barracuda point accompanied by many care-free green turtles really made the dives worth it.

Group members this time: Edwin, Chong, Shim and Mandy, Candice, Joanne and Rebecca.
P/S: Congrats to Mandy for completing her Open Water Course, this lucky gal did her Open Water Dives at Sipadan. Woooo.

Big thanks to the ever helpful and energetic dive crew, especially Alan and Bobby for leading the dives.
P/S: Bob, ngan ko sasat di P1 lagi geng, malu bah kita ni. lol

Images courtesy of my pal Edwin and his new camera. Not bad for a starter.

Edwin and the jaw

Barracudas

Jacks

Black Snappers

I never felt safer and better travelling with a team of doctors hehe...
From left: Tanned Me, my schoolmate Shim, newly certified diver Mandy, dude Edwin and his love interest (lol) Chong.

And it's always awesome to have chemists with you and their lovely info on certain drugs :P

Candice

Joanne

Rebbecca

Winners of The Great Sabah Underwater Shootout!

2009-08-20T21:56:00.002-07:00

Hello good folks!

I know we have all been anticipating the results with some level of excitement and I know some of us are growing impatient (hehe) so here we have the winners for each category! Our judges have also selected other pictures as honorable mentions so just to be clear, there will be no prizes for honorable mentions, prize goes only to the winner of each category.

Our judges have also written their comments as to why they selected the pictures.

Macro Category

Winner: Lee Tiow Aun

MOTIVATION: For the careful and creative framing and the good use of patterns and textures both in the main subject and in the background, which all contribute to the creation of an interesting, well-focused, carefully-lit, attractive image.

Honorable Mention: Josephine Lim Vonbee

MOTIVATION: A common subject which is nevertheless well-posed and bursting with color and energy (even if we suspect some cropping here...)

Wide Angle Category

Winner: Andy Chia

MOTIVATION: A perfectly framed image which makes good use of several separate, deeply layered components. The result is a well-balanced, perfectly focused and lit, highly evocative dream-like photograph.

Honorable Mention: Ng Yin Ping

MOTIVATION: A highly evocative image of a large, rather uncommon and not easily approached subject.

Honorable Mention: Matthias Liew

MOTIVATION: Good use of the wide-macro technique for a common but always interesting subject!

BEST OF THE BEST

Winner: Andy Chia

MOTIVATION: Highly evocative, personal take on a much-photographed subject, which makes good use of deeply layered subject and offers excellent, balanced mix of natural and artificial light.

Honorable Mention: Nicole Tan

MOTIVATION: Extreme simplicity and creative, imaginative use of ambient light to see what is not there - an underwater coconut palm tree!

Surface Interval

Winner: Lee Tiow Aun

MOTIVATION: Photography is the art of catching the moment - and this is an exhilarating, dynamic explosion of color and movement which fully transmits to the observer the boundless joy of life of these young Sabahans!

Honorable Mention: Ian Soo

MOTIVATION: A simple, postcard-like image of tropical serenity which however shows a good eye for color and composition.

A big congrats to the two winners, Andy Chia for winning the Wide Angle Category and the Best of the Best Category and Lee Tiow Aun, winner of the Macro Category and Surface Interval Category. Not forgetting the honored contestants who made the contest such a close and tight competition: Josephine Lim Vonbee, Ng Yin Ping, Matthias Liew, Nicole Tan and Ian Soo. Congrats as well!

I wish to thank our two honorable judges, Andrea & Antonella Ferrari for their great support, time and energy. I personally learned a lot from them not just from their books but from co-hosting this contest with them so I wish to thank you, both of you awesome friends for this opportunity and honor. I wish to also thank all the contestants for your support and participations as without your pictures, we would have nothing to begin with. This first contest is no doubt the starting point for more similar contest in the future, with more awesome prizes to win and more participants with more beautiful, inspiring and awesome images to share.

I hope everyone had a splendid time participating and reading this small yet dedicated scuba-blog and I will definitely keep posting (despite me being busy diving or just lazy at times), sharing with you interesting exotic places & people, cool dive spots, awesome fishes and new knowledge. Until then, I wish you all splendid dives always!

Cheers!

The Great Sabah Underwater Shootout 2009!

2009-07-04T05:24:00.000-07:00

AQUATASTIC and REEFWONDERS are proud to announce their first joint organized underwater photography competition;

"The Great Sabah Underwater Shootout 2009"

Contest starts: 10^th July 2009

Contest ends: 10^th August 2009

Organizers, Sponsors and Supporters:

Aquatastic (www.aquatastic.net)

Reef Wonders (www.reefwonders.net)

Sipadan Kapalai Dive Resort (www.sipadan-kapalai.com)

Malaysia.com (www.malaysia.com)

CONTEST RULES

1) Entry to this contest is absolutely FREE! EVERYONE IS INVITED!

2) Our judges believe that a good image is a good image regardless of the camera used. Therefore, this contest is a free camera-type contest meaning that both DSLR and compact cameras will be judge equally in the same categories. Our esteemed judges for this competition are Andrea & Antonella Ferrari

3) NO Photo-shopping except for a reasonable measure of color enhancement and sharpening.

4) NO post-production cropping.

5) You can only submit one image in any (single) category. Please submit your images by email to allister.03@gmail.com please remember to include your name in the email.

6) The images can be used by the organizers royalty free to promote the competition or this website. This may include press releases to magazines who can also publish royalty free but only in the context of an article specifically about the contest and with full credit to the photographer. Likewise, we have royalty free use throughout this website and for any publication that this website may produce. The images will not be sold on to any third party for any commercial use without the photographer's express written permission.

7) All images must be your own, do not submit images copied from other sites or photographers.

8) The subjects photographed must be non-controversial.

9) If you have any questions you need to ask in regards to the contest, please ask at the comment box below this post and our judges will answer you speedily.

10) If we have any announcement or updates for participants, we shall contact you by email and we will announce it in the comment box as well.

CONSERVATION RULES

1) NO harassment

2) NO baiting or provoked feeding with prey offered to elicit a feeding response

3) Our judges, Andrea and Antonella Ferrari will personally judge the images looking primarily at COMPOSITION, LIGHTING, INTERESTING BEHAVIOR, ORIGINALITY and possibly RARITY OF SUBJECT. Models interacting with fauna with no harassment involved are cool.

New Girl Divers From Tawau! YESH!

2009-06-24T19:40:00.000-07:00

Sup folks. Been busy so barely had time to post something today.

It's really rare to have people from my hometown Tawau to take up the Open Water Diver Course and it's quite sad too since the most beautiful dive sites in Malaysia and the world is located just a stone throw away from our lawn. Most people in my place can't swim and even if they can, they don't seem to like it. The girls in my place hate the sun and don't like having tanned skin (which is so awesome if they get the tone right). Most of the guys in my place are even worst; they actually FEAR the sun and are nocturnal creatures...

According to research; Tawau produce the most 'beautiful-boys' in the whole Sabah! No joke! We have so many effiminate young boys here trying hard to get up and up with anime characters that they have decided to put on makeup and cosplay everyday at friend's house rather than go have a good bask in the sun. Daily visits to the hair saloon can only mean one thing too. More girly styles FTW! Compared to guys from our neighbouring towns, like Sandakan and Lahad Datu, the Tawau young boys nowadays are smaller and shorter but fairness suggests a higher market value, so they still win the locals. We should put up a huge-ass signboard up when you drive in to Tawau: WELCOME TO TAWAU, THE TOWN OF UNMANLINESS!

I could be over dramatic about it or I might have exaggerated a bit but I'm laughing and if you are too, I am happy for you. And if you happen to be one of the girly-boys I'm talking about, please don't take it to heart. Confucious says, laughter is the cheapest road that leads to good health, so laugh, even if to the extent of laughing at yourself.

But of course there are always exceptional people, the pride and joy of Tawau, and these girls rock mah socks! I'm so moved by their decision that I threw in a free boat dive for them. Three young local girls from Tawau decided to take up the PADI Open Water Diver Course and it didn't take us long to get there, just one and a half hour from home. Yup, you heard me. The best sites are that near to us. Good students, attentive, cheerful, non-b*tchy, non-irritating and hardworking, something most young city girls would lack, I dare say. So a big congratulations to all three of them, Yvonne, Alicia and Mellisa who completed their PADI course at one of the best resort in the area, the grand Sipadan Water Village Resort. A big thanks to my pal Xia, who is one very awesome assistant and on his way to becoming a PADI Dive Master.

To awesome friends Siew, Jalis and Jasimah, sorry that I couldn't dive with you this trip but I promise the next time we meet again (which I think will be quite soon) I will personally take you guys for a plunge. Cheers!

P/S: Kudos to Alex Ho for the pictures. Check out his Paradise Log (http://www.paradise-log.blogspot.com)

Briefing before dives at the Dive Center

Gearing up

A pic after an hour of diving

My Trip to Bali

2009-05-26T07:57:00.000-07:00

Hello folks!

Sorry been away without any updates for so long, once again life been very hectic lately and I have been traveling more than I wanted. But hey, I dived in Bali and it was GREAT!

Thanks to my friend Joseph for his introduction and recommendation, I visited one of Bali's finest dive resort; the famous Scuba Seraya Resort in Tulamben. This familiarization trip was definitely an awesome one and I really did enjoyed myself. Scuba Seraya Resort is definitely the place to stay for diving in Seraya and areas around Tulamben. The very famous USAT Liberty Glo wreck is just a few minutes away from the resort and they boast of their house-reef called Seraya Secret that is growing very popular thanks to the growing interest in muck diving. Scuba Seraya also arranged dive trips to Nusa Penida as well and I got myself a spot for the ride to Nusa Penida for two dives there.

So here is how I would rate Scuba Seraya Resort...

Accommodation - 4/5 (The rooms are very clean, spacious and pretty. And for those who care, all rooms are air-conditioned too.)

Food - 3/5 (Lotsa choices in the menu but the taste is just average. But of course that would just be me being fussy.)

Service - 5/5 (The best! Whenever we want something, the staff generate it from scratch without any delay. The staff are all very friendly and courteous, very helpful, alert, energetic and always ready to serve. The dive guides are very enthusiastic, professional and experienced.

If you would visit the resort and need help, look these few staff who can surely be of assistance, namely Komang the resort manager, Alit and Ketot the dive masters at Tulamben and Wayang the dive instructor and guide for dives at Nusa Penida. Need someone to help plan for your trip there with a good price? Contact me and I will be very pleased to assist you!

I would like to say thank you to everyone at Scuba Seraya Resort who made everything possible for us and for ensuring that we are always very well taken cared off. A big thank you also goes to the sales office at Sanur to Niz and her gang for helping us organize the logistics and for offering me this wonderful FAM trip. I will be sure to return with my gang the next trip. Thank you guys!

_______________________________________________________

So what did I see and where did I dived? Here is my dive log for this trip:

Dive 1 (Liberty Wreck) 20/05/09
Dive time: 60 min
Depth: 28.3m
Temperature: 27c
Visibility: 15-20m
Notes: It took us roughly five minutes or a bit more to reach this dive site and you can catch the panoramic view of Mount Agung (The tallest peak in Bali) on your way there. This wreck is indeed awesome but I was without my camera. Wreck penetration is possible here and is suitable for beginners as well. Wide angle is definitely the choice but I did spot a Soft-coral crab, a pair of Black-ray shrimp goby and a few nudibranchs. Schools of Yellow lined snappers, some Harlequin sweetlips, Groupers, Triggers, Surgeons and Emperors are resident here. The fishes here are not shy and some Cleaner wrasse and Surgeon fish would nimble at your fingers. I feel that some of the fishes here are used to being fed by divers. Oh and the fishes here are all very big and fat. I can see that they are happy ^^

Dive 2 (Drop Off) 20/05/09
Dive Time: 65 min
Depth: 25m
Temperature: 28c
Visibility: 10-12m
Notes: I read about this dive site in some magazines and sites, they say it is amazing but I don't feel it's really that great. Probably over rated although I might be wrong. I should have followed my own judgment to switch to macro lens instead of listening to some articles in favor of wide angle or the dive won't be so uneventful for me. The guide showed me Harlequin shrimp, Blue ribbon eel, I found a juvenile (black) ribbon eel nearby, a few nudibranchs (flabellina sp), Crab-eye goby and a juvenile Batfish. Great...

Dive 3 (Seraya Secrets) 20/05/09
Cancelled this dive as all of us wanted to go for shopping, spa, massage, bakso, Bintang beer and babi-guling... Heard from the divers that they saw juvenile angelfish, leaf fish and frog fish. Feeling a little 'kiasu', I rejoiced that I didn't miss out anything too awesome.

Dive 4 (Liberty Wreck) 21/05/09
Dive time: 65 min
Depth: 26.6
Temperature: 26c
Visibility: 10-15m
Notes: Liberty wreck lived up to its reputation. This was another good dive. Lotsa Blue-spotted stingrays swinging and hunting about, the Garden eels here are all very big and fat and are not so shy as compared to other places. They dance actively with half of their body buried in their hole under black sand. It was a pretty sight. Inside the wreck you can see various scorpion fish and hiding under table corals are a white and pink Leaf fish. A huge Great barracuda lives in one of the holes in this big wreck and a large school of Big-eye trevally (jacks) hover above the wreck to the delight of snorkelers. There is a Napoleon wrasse here but our guide said it is not usually seen here.

Dive 5 (Coral Garden) 21/05/09
Dive time: 65 min
Depth: 26.6
Temperature: 26c
Visibility: 12-15m
Notes: Very healthy and lively soft corals here. I had a few trouble during this dive though. First, my mask left my face cus I dropped the strap holder somewhere on the boat. It took me a short while to fix the problem and I had my sight restored only to find out that I have swam into the fiercely guarded territory of a Red-tooth triggerfish and got bitten in the calf. No injuries though, thank god it wasn't a Titan... Secondly, this very large Great Barracuda keeps turning towards me, making me quite uncomfortable although brave lil Christy wanted a close shot just few inches next to it. Then I realized that I forgotten to charge my batteries so my camera was low on power. I got a few good shot of the Blue-ribbon eel but when I was pointed to the pair of Harlequin shrimp, my camera was totally dead. Woe is me...

Dive 6 (Seraya Secrets) 21/05/09
Dive time: 70 min
Depth: 19.8m
Temperature: 28c
Visibility: 5-10m
Notes: First impression? Bad. This dive site is not at all attractive at first glance. A barren site left with a few rocks and some coral patches scattered around a dark slope with black sand. But our dive guide, Ketot changed our impression almost instantly when he pointed a black Ornate ghostpipefish, a juvenile Angelfish and a juvenile Batfish in a metal-sphere artificial reef. Deeper we found soft-coral crab, another Ribbon eel, Flag-tail shrimp goby everywhere and Coleman shrimp as well. It's like whatever rock you lift, whatever corner you peek you see stuff! It's awesome! A few common nudibranchs (chromodoris & nembrota) can be found everywhere too. We went deeper and I found a juvenile Ornate ghostpipefish and showed it to Ketot who instantly challenge me in a game of fish-finding when he pointed us to a seahorse. Both of us were hoping to find the boxer crab (pom-pom crab) but were weren't the lucky ones. I enjoyed the dive despite me having one of those days when you just can't feel your camera right and your pictures sucked...

Dive 7 (Manta Point) 21/05/09
Dive time: 50 min
Depth: 16.2m
Temperature: 23c
Visibility: 5-8m
Notes: At Nusa Penida, this point guarantees you Manta ray sighting. The surge is very strong here and you just rock back and forth for the whole dive. It was fun for the first few minutes but then we started feeling a bit sick. Despite the strong surge however, the first few gentle giant manta rays swim effortlessly, soaring above us. Taking good pictures of the rays here can be tricky due to the crazy surge and the bad visibility caused by the surge and waves. We definitely saw more than ten manta rays and a four very big ones kept circling around the big rock. Some are shy but many are curious and you can actually get really, really close to them. This dive is no doubt exhilarating and totally rocks and I would want to come back here again soon. P/S: Chin had a very bad sea sick heading to the dive site and it got bad underwater and it went worst when we had our breakfast on the boat. It was quite funny.

Dive 8 (Ceninggan Wall) - 21/05/09
Dive time: 55 min
Depth: 30m
Temperature: 23c
Visibility: 15-20m
Notes: A very calm and quiet dive as compared to Manta Point. We saw absolutely nothing of great interest here. But we didn't mind it at all since the corals are really healthy and beautiful here, a perfect dive site for divers who wanted a slow and easy dive. Very mild current this dive and in the blue there are countless Red-tooth triger fish, banner fish and some species of butterflies. No good pictures of fishes this dive but I am sure the divers will love pictures of them I took.

Okay that's enough talk for now and it's time to show my not so awesome pics:

The Liberty Wreck:

Manta rays at Manta Point, Nusa Penida

Pictures taken from Seraya:

STINGRAY MIGRATION

2009-05-06T07:49:00.000-07:00

OMG!!!

I received this forward mail from a friend a few months back, promised that I will put it up my blog only to completely forgotten about it. This is about mass migration of Golden stingrays at the gulf of Mexico.

Looking like giant green leaves floating in the sea, thousands of Golden Cownose Rays are seen here gathering off the coast of Mexico. This awesome scene was captured as these cool rays made one of their biannual mass migrations to more agreeable waters. Gliding silently beneath the waves they turned vast areas of blue water to gold off the northern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula.

Fun-Facts about Golden rays:

Scientific name: Rhinoptera steindachneri

Common names: Golden cownose ray, hawkray, pacific cownose ray

Distribution: Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatelama, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru.

Natural Habitat: Open seas, shallow seas, subtidal aquatic beds, estuarine waters, intertidal marshes and coastal saline lagoons.

Conservation status: Near Threatened

Description:
They can measure up to 7ft (2.1 metres) from wing-tip to wing-tip

They have long, pointed pectoral fins that separate into two lobes in front of their high-domed heads and give them a cow-like appearance.

Despite having poisonous stingers they are known to be shy and non-threatening when in large schools.

The population in the Gulf of Mexico migrates, in schools of as many as 10,000, clockwise from western Florida to the Yucatan.

This is just 3p1c w1nz!!1!11

Source:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/3345275/Golden-Ray-photos-of-amazing-mass-migration.html

More info here:
http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/60130

The PADI Open Water Diver Course

2009-04-25T08:21:00.000-07:00

The PADI Open Water Diver course is the world’s most popular scuba course, and has introduced millions of people to the adventurous diving lifestyle. If you’ve always wanted to learn how to scuba dive, discover new adventures or simply see the wondrous world beneath the waves, this is where it starts.

The fun part about this course is . . . well, just about all of it because learning to dive is incredible. You breath underwater for the first time (something you’ll never forget, like me despite me diving actively for nearly ten years now) and learn what you need to know to become a certified diver. During the course, you’ll complete some shallow dives in a pool or a confined area and then a minimum of four dives at local dive sites under the supervision of your PADI Instructor (THAT'S ME!).

You get to learn how to use basic scuba gears, including dive computers and some standard accessories. You can check with us (your instructor) about the gears you will use during the course and we will get a suitable one for you to use during the course.

The PADI Open Water Diver course offers you a variety of home-study materials like the convenient e-learning or the manual and DVD package. The materials cover what you need to know about basic scuba diving skills, terminology and safety procedures. For each concept you’ll read a description and watch a video demonstration. Then you’ll jump in the pool (or pool-like confined environment) to practice these skills with your instructor. Later, as a certified diver, you can use the course materials as a reference guide for future diving adventures and to review what you learned. You might have not been diving for a while after your course, so having the materials will certainly help you a lot in remembering things like the diver's hand signals, flying after dive rules and safety procedures.

The bonus: You may be able to earn college credits for the course! For more details, check here.

For more info on the PADI Open Water Diver course, check here.

If you happen to be in Malaysia, Borneo, Sabah, Tawau, Semporna or planning to come here to visit exotic and famous islands like Sipadan, Mabul, Kapalai, Mataking and Pompong to do some dives, let me know. Send me an email and I can definitely help you get wet, fast... Wait, that doesn't sound so right but anyways...

Ciao!

Big Congrats to Steven and Shudee for completing their PADI Open Water Diver Course at Mabul Island last week!

Earth Hour!

2009-04-06T01:40:00.000-07:00

Feeling that I should start to make a change in the world, I decided to lead my students for diving on this Earth Hour day at Mabul Island where we participated in the Earth Hour program organized by Sipadan Water Village Resort. (www.swvresort.com)

While I was drinking at the bar, I was asked by this stranger beside me who wasn't so keen on this Earth Hour thing.

"Is Earth Hour really beneficial? It seems to benefit the government and related industries around the globe (since they can save money for power even if it's just an hour) more than us civilians." Among other criticisms on this program which I didn't really paid attention, I told him that I'm no pro on this matter so I told him to check on it on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Hour as well as the Earth Hour website: http://www.earthhour.org/home/

Perhaps you can read it too. Besides reading it on wiki, we would have read it on news, we watched it on TV and our kids learn this at school. Global Warming is no doubt a global issue and we do really need to take action on Global Warming no matter how small our role is. And you and me can start here. Our words might not change the world, but if we unite, I our actions towards conservation will be more important than ever before. So will shutting our lights off for just one hour...

Besides, Earth Hour is another perfect reason for us to have another crazy drinking party...

And to end this post, I would like to congratulate both Ahmad Ebeta and Yeeven for completing their PADI Open Water Course! Keep diving guys!

Peace out~

From left: Ahmad, Your Hero (lol) and Yeeven

Yeeven and the Giant Frogfish

Ahmad and the Giant Frogfish

The officers on duty during Earth Hour: Mariselle, Gina and Nordin

Dive Center Manager Jimmy and the bar waitress Helen

The peeps at the bar having more fun drinking in the dark. Lovely candles too.

Snacks weren't epic, but there's nothing like drinking dark coffee in the dark...

Our entertainers Peg-Peg and Abigail performing cover songs for us at the bar. Somehow Black Metal music was banned tonight...

The One & Only Pride of Mabul, Abigail~

I wasn't drunk... I swear

P/S: Sorry for the crappy pictures, I used my handphone to snap em shoots.

New Seven Wonders In The World

2009-03-27T02:41:00.000-07:00

Shot taken by Suhaimi Salleh

Greetings people!

I received an email from Sabah Tourism a week ago or something... But anyway, it's about promoting Sipadan Island as one of the seven most epic wonders on planet earth. So I guess instead of me trying to explain about it, I should just be lazy and forward the message to everyone here...

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Sabah Tourism!

We are pleased to inform you that Sipadan Island is currently in the running for the New Seven Wonders in the world. In this regard, we would like to seek your kind assistant to vote for Sipadan Island and also to deliver the news to your counterparts to encourage them to vote for Sipadan as the New Seven Wonders. Kindly click into the below website to vote for Sipadan:-

http://www.sabahtourism.com/sabah-malaysian-borneo/en/home/

http://www.new7wonders.com/

You kind co-operation is highly appreciated. Thank you.

So yeah, lovely ain't it? If Sipadan wins this honor, I have one of the seven wonders in the world just two hours from home. Hahaha!

The Pride of Mabul

2009-03-16T21:22:00.000-07:00

Hi folks!

Sipadan Water Village Resort has always been a popular resort among avid divers with years of experience in the business and their expert knowledge and skill on fish-finding is known to be among the best in the world. Thanks to guidance from underwater photography guru and marine biologist and course director Mr. Yoshi Hirata, the resort has grown from not being just a normal dive resort but a tome of knowledge on the diverse marine environment around the Celebes Sea. And thanks to the seniors Alex, Leonard, Jimmy and Alan, this practise continues to grow and with their further guidance, new dive masters are trained not just to serve you as a dive guide but a fish finder and mentor as well.

If you are eager to learn about species of fishes, behavior and other snippets about the marine ecology in further details, Sipadan Water Village Resort is your place to be. The resort caters for reknown photo-jounalists, marine biologists and the VIPs in the dive industry simply because the dive guides here knows more than the others do in the area. Not only are the dive masters keen and ethusiastic fish finders who actively conduct research dives and share their new findings on a daily basis, they would extend an extra hand to teach you and guide you to know and understand more about fishes, corals and the sea in general. I would say that staying with them a week, you will learn what others can offer you in a month.

Recently, new species of nudibranchs has been discovered in Mabul and named in honor of their founders. They have made tireless research and knowledge development through detailed logs on the said species, and are recognized by scientists and nudibranch experts internationally for their achivements. Below are the pictures of the new species of nudibranch and their founders:

Rica's Polycera

Found by Rika Hirose (SWV Dive Instructor)
(Left: Posing a happy picture with Josey)

Richard's Thecacera

Founder: Richard Usah (SWV Dive Master)

Desmond's Trapania aka Blue Trapania

By: Desmind T. Y. Chong (Ex SWV Dive Master now Freelance Scuba Instructor in Thailand)

There is one more guy called Leonard Lai who was my mentor before and SWV Dive Instructor as well who also found a new species of nudibranch before the rest called Leonard's Tripania. I don't have the pictures with me now so if Leonard you be reading this blog, you can send me a picture of your Tripania for us to take a look at.

I bet there is more unseen or unnamed nudibranchs out there (since they are among the most diverse ones) so perhaps you can be lucky enough to stubble accross one during one of your dives, or increase your chances by diving with these people at Sipadan Water Village Resort where they live and work. If you manage to find and name one, there is no doubt that we will see your name in the credits of guide books in nudibranchs, in magazines and so forth. A boost of fame is never bad I presume.

So, Happy Diving!

Happy Dives In March!

2009-03-10T07:10:00.000-07:00

Always with you: Josey and the DiGi Man! It is everywhere!

Not much ideas to write about this time, guess I would keep in brief.

It's been windy and rainy at Sipadan Water Village Resort this time around but the dives were good and uneffected, nice visibility and mild current making the dives very relaxing and easy. Funny big turtle in the house-reef too! Careful, cus it could bite your ass. Oh and the resort's new not red, not orange, not yellow but clear, transparent kayaks are really cool. I tried em out and it's really awesome like how Alex said it in the Paradise Log. You get to see them corals and fishes easily through the posh kayaks and the rental is really cheap too, just RM15 for half an hour per kayak, each kayak can fit the standard two persons. If you happen to visit the resort again, make sure you check out their special kayaks.

I meet some new friends (mostly doctors, pharmacists and some cute young girls) from Tawau and KK, I conducted the ever popular PADI Open Water Course for a few friends too so I didn't took any underwater pictures this time around although I am sure I will be doing it again soon. So until then, have fun and happy diving folks!

Student divers: Dr. Edwin, Dr. Shim, Dr. Chong & Dr. Mandy with Josey, Wong and Dive Master Niger standing next to me and my epic new Quicksilver rash guard :P

Awesome group pic, all of us standing in front of the (most likely exeggerated) world's largest gong made in honor of our former prime minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad who visited Mabul Island and to Sipadan Water Village Resort five years ago. I struck this oversized gong once and it didn't sound good, so nobody clapped. When the old VVIP struck the gong, I bet it didn't produce any sound if not made it sounded even worse, but I'm sure everyone clapped and cheered their candy ass off... We need to invite the Governator to fly from California and come smash the gong with his head or laser it down with his red, red eyes. Any better ideas?

Shark Finning in Mabul!?

2009-03-01T21:54:00.000-08:00

Just a thought... Some people say sharks are inhuman. Guess who is inhuman now... Imagine having your limbs removed while you are still alive and then thrown to sea, being left to drown or bleed to death. And imagine yourself as a shark, unknown as to why you were tortured this way.

Hey guys,

We all know that everywhere around the world, shark finning is becoming a serious issue. Sharks are caught virtually all parts of the world. Despite the strongly declared objectives of Fishery departments and other commissions around the world, there are actually very few restrictions on fishing for sharks and even fewer effective actions stopping shark finning.

Shark finning is very profitable business in commercial fishery...and the sad truth is this: Sharks will continue to be caught and killed on a wide scale by the more organized and sophisticated fishing nations. Numbers of some shark species have dropped as much as 80% over the last 50 years.
Before we know it, all species of sharks might be sitting dangerously near Extinct zone in the conservation status list.

My own personal view if shark fishing and finning is still as active as today: In another 50 years time (I will be 77 by then and still drinking beers and partying of course), a majority species of sharks will be Extinct in the Wild (EW), known only to survive in cultivation, in captivity or as a naturalized population (or populations) well outside the past range.

And in another 25 years time, many species of sharks would be Possibly Extinct (PE)

Continue the rigorous shark fishing and finning for another 50 years will lead to all shark species to be Extinct (EX), there is no reasonable doubt that the last individual has died. So what happens after that? A huge change in the marine ecosystem leading to a messed up food chain and uncontrolled fish population which will also lead to other marine species to be threatened to extinction too.

I'm not going to advertise or introduce you countless petitions or make you join numerous conservation and awareness programs like many people have.

But what I want to say is this: IF YOU WANT TO HELP THE SHARKS, DO IT NOW!

Now moving on to the main topic. Mabul Shark Finning! I'm not going to write much about this since my awesome friend just wrote a very good article on this topic today. Now I am going to show you something fresh from the (her) oven:

Shark finning in a fishing village of Mabul Island. Pics from wetpixel.

Dear Friends & Colleagues,

These are my personal views in response to the thread in Wetpixel - Shark finning in Sipadan/Mabul area, Open letter to Malaysian Tourism and Dive resorts of Mabul/Sipadan
(http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=28365&st=0)

Some background info:
1) Resorts based on Sipadan were forced to leave the island in 2004 and most are now based on Mabul island (approx. 20 mins by boat from Sipadan, and 40 minutes from the town of Semporna). The Authorities claimed that the move was necessary to protect Sipadan Island. The Navy, Police and Sabah Parks personnel now inhabit the island.

Visitors (mostly divers and snorkellers) are not allowed to walk around the island. Anyone who ventures away from the dilapidated 'shelter', will be 'warned' by rifle-toting authorities, who do sometimes carry out patrolling duties, presumably during short breaks from ping-pong games and chit-chat over 'kopi'.

I'd like to point out several issues:
a) As mentioned by the author of the Wetpixel thread, Sabah Parks receive almost RM10 000 a day from diving permits. They receive hundreds of thousand ringgit every month and I have long wondered where the money goes to. Do they spend it all paying for their personnel to laze around on the island, which is often littered with rubbish (you would think, with time on their hands, they would at least spend some time taking actual care of the island).

Perhaps they should spend the money teaching their staff how to interact with people... and by interacting, I mean simple instructions like how best to approach tourists instead of the usual 'HOI'. Alternatively, they could use the money to upgrade basic 'facilities' on the island; produce environmental pamphlets to increase awareness and promote tourism; and/or in light of what has been highlighted lately, use the money to provide alternative livelihood for the Mabul community (on nearby island) to encourage them to stop finning fishes.

Sure, Sabah Parks are not responsible for the Mabul area, but they should realize that what happens in Mabul and the surrounding waters, will have direct impact on the tiny island of Sipadan. Once the influx of divers stops, the $$ would stop too. Perhaps, that could be a strong enough incentive.

b) It is very unfair to blame the fishermen for the decrease of shark stocks. If these people were not so neglected and provided alternative means of livelihood, I am certain that they would fish more responsibly. During my time on Mabul, I was fortunate enough to befriend some of the local people, including fathers who earn less than RM400 a month, with sometimes six young mouths + 1 pregnant wife to feed.

The contrast between the upscale resorts and stilt houses where the poor people live is quite apparent. If I'm not mistaken, there is one primary school in the very tiny island (it takes about 30 minutes walk to cover the whole island), but most kids prefer to play instead of study anyway.

The Semporna Tourism Action Council (STAC) recently proposed a ban be placed on shark fishing and finning in Mabul. Personally, I think it's useless to ban the Mabul community from finning sharks (an activity they have been carrying out for generations), UNLESS the demand for shark fins stop completely, or the authorities start providing more lucrative alternatives for these people.

Additionally, I believe the exclusive resorts on Mabul should start playing their roles soon. Instead of merely taking, they would benefit much by giving back to the Mabul community. Nonetheless, they are doing some good by providing jobs for the poor people.

Sipadan is truly heaven on earth. I sincerely hope it will be around long enough for future generations to enjoy the surreal experience of diving in Sipadan.

Naz

Do share with us your comments on this issue!
And if you care about shark finning, will you also help save the dolphins? Check the link below!
http://allisterlee.blogspot.com/2007/03/let-us-save-dolphins.html

The World of Scubazoo

2009-02-19T22:59:00.000-08:00

cool products from Scubazoo

Hi again folks. Here is quick post.

I got an email from my pal Roger from Scubazoo and figured that it be best for me to share some cool stuff for everyone here to look at.

Scubazoo just launched a Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=690122526&ref=name#/pages/Scubazoo/39115499258 so people can become fans and keep up with what they are doing. Do join up and become fans like I did.

They've also got a youtube channel with lots of videos in it: http://www.youtube.com/user/ScubazooVideo feel free to watch the amazing vids and embed some on your site.

You can also visit Scubazoo's official website at: www.scubazoo.com to learn more about them.

If you are interested in the products they have like:
SIPADAN - MABUL - KAPALAI - SABAH UNDERWATER TREASURES (Book) REEF: EXPLORING THE UNDERWATER WORLD (Book & DVD) THE BEST OF SIPADAN, MABUL & KAPALAI (DVD)

You can pay them a visit in Kota Kinabalu, the exact address is at their website or you can get their products from my dive shop in Tawau Airport as well.

One of Scubazoo's most celebrated and memorable product would be a video of your dives at Sipadan. The profesional videographers of Scubazoo will join you in your dives and film you at Sipadan, and not only do you get to see yourself in the video, Scubazoo also films the marine life you see and those that you perhaps didn't managed to get a better look at.

Your best chance to have Scubazoo film you is staying with Sipadan Water Village Resort (www.swvresort.com) where Scubazoo is also based at. For more info about the dive packages and promotions offered, feel free to contact me. Not only does Scubazoo films you at Sipadan, their service also extends to various exotic diving places around the world like in Layang-Layang and Maldives. For more info, please contact the friendly Scubazoo crew.

Cheers folks!

Happy Valentine's Dives!

2009-02-15T07:00:00.000-08:00

Hello good folks!

Happy Valentine's Day to y'all! I spent my V-day in Mabul Island, staying with Sipadan Water Village Resort again, this time leading a group and most of them are couples, of course. Had a lovely holiday, this wonderful resort organized a V-day event for everyone which includes dance performances ranging from slow and traditional dances to the fast and modern dances all performed by the resort staff. Games for couples were organized and judged by my pal Bobby and the celebration ended after Abigail (Mabul Island's best singer) sang her ending song, "My Valentine". The party didn't end there, we continued at the bar, binge drinking is always great fun with a few good friends, live music and stuff too. That night was pretty romantic (kudos to the resort staff for their tireless effort to make it all magical) and love was in the air and underwater too.

The diving was alright, they say it could've been better but I'm easily satisfied. Visibility was rather poor in some parts and when it comes to muck-diving, it can get quite murky this month and the lack of sun didn't help promote the dives as well. Photography would be restricted to macro lenses at places where I did my dives, and the poor vis and strong currents did hamper most of my shots. But besides all that, I returned a happy, jolly and smiling man. I'd rather have bad dives than having bad days at the office or working overtime at the cold, lonely and dark office, like most of you folks :P (joke) So here is a beautiful suggestion, an idea. AN IDEA! OMG I HAVE ONE LOL!

*Ahem* Anyway, take your leave and off-days to come here for diving (Recommended: 4 to 5 days) during March to June this year, where the weather and dive conditions are lovely. Sipadan Water Village and Sipadan Kapalai Dive Resort would be your perfect place for hardcore diving in the world famous Sipadan and its neighboring islands around the Celebes Sea. BornSea Pompong Island Resort and Mataking Island Resort would be perfect for beach-lovers as well as divers. I assure you wonderful dives in the various little virgin islands around the Sulu Sea. It's gonna be a blast but do place your reservations for the resort and diving as well as your flights fast, since it's going to get quite peak by March.

Give me a nudge (email) if any of you need more information and advice on the resorts and diving here and I can help plan your trips as well as offering you the best price and service I would gladly provide you, eg: logistics, resort & dive reservations, scuba & snorkeling gears, PADI courses, etc. It would be cool to meet you awesome readers in person and dive with you guys as well and I consider myself quite lucky to meet a few of you folks from countries afar.

I'm gonna shut up for now, enough of the sales talk already! XD So I hope everyone likes the underwater pictures I took yesterday. Cheers!

P/S: I had a close-encounter with an adult banded seasnake some two days ago. I was crapping in the toilet after a heavy lunch and after that I realized that a big chunk of my crap didn't get flushed down, when other bigger ones were gone in an instant. I flushed again but it didn't go away. Intrigued that my crap could be so damn awesome, I took a closer inspection only to find out that a snake's head is popping out! Quickly, I got hold of a stick outside me chalet and poke it in and down as deep as I can go (without getting my fingers of course) and proceeded to flushed it down, making sure that after the tenth flush, it's really gone. So what's a banded seasnake doing inside a toilet anyway? My best guess was it slitthered through the resort's sewerage system and found its way to me by sheer luck. So imagine this folks. I was crapping for about 5 minutes without realizing that a banded sea-snake was staring up my ass the whole time, waiting for me to finish so it can crawl out from the sh*t hole. Imagine how would you feel after that. I felt great though, that snake got owned.

Left: This tiny red-cheek anemonefish lives in a tiny patch of anemone coral I found at Mandarin Valley, Kapalai. It's really puny hence the enhanced level of ultra cuteness...

Right: This white-eye moral eel nearly bit my groin. Look at that cute perverted face...

Left: Bubble-coral shrimps are abundant around Mabul and Kapalai rather than Sipadan Island. Go dive Mabul or Kapalai and when you see Bubble-corals, get close and check it out. You might be impressed to find other cool stuff apart from this shrimp, eg: Orang-Utan crab, Many-host goby, etc.

Right: This black ribbon-eel is a juvenile one. It's gonna turn either blue (Male) or yellow (Female) when it reaches puberty and is willing to mate. Sad that I failed to take a good shot of this bugger, it kept moving around so much and I was cold and lazy.

Left: The bluestripe snapper, Lutjanus kasmira, (also known as the bluestripe sea perch) is commonly found in our area. This school is getting fatter day by day living under the dive-rig: Seaventures. Good food around I bet...

Right: This special "Pikachu" nudibranch was discovered in our first dive. Me mate Froilan found it, and it's really tiny and hard to locate since it shares the same color with the sand and debris. Kudos to Froilan although I failed to take a better shot of this species. I blame its over puniness.

This is the Red-margin shrimp goby. When I just started out as a dive guide some eight years back, a Japanese old man wanted me to show him this fish and it was my first time guiding divers to Kapalai too. I was quite pressured since that old fart was no joke with his expressionless face and chain-smoking as well as that bad-ass NIKONOS-V of his. This pro wanted a good shot of this fish for his book or something and I prevailed (It's not abundant but not at all rare anyway). Since then, this fish has always reminded me of my younger days and the feeling all rookie guides will or have faced when guiding divers who expects you to point to them what they want. Until today, I still requests Dive Master trainees under my guidance to show me this nice little goby.

The Pink-squat lobster (also called Hairy-squat lobster) is a nice subject for macro photography. I have heard other guides calling it the squat crab instead of lobster which is considered a mistake but I found out that they are somewhat correct too. Squat lobsters are decapod (meaning having ten legs) crustaceans of the families Galatheidae and Chirostylidae, including the common genera Galathea and Munida. They are not lobsters at all, but are more closely related to porcelain crabs, hermit crabs and then, more distantly, true crabs. So next time, when someone says its a crab, don't point a finger and call him or her a noob.

This cuttlefish is the subject of pure lulz lately. A cousin of mine said he saw a cuttlefish with really big testicles. Some of us were really surprised how he managed to locate and see that particular organ and then some smart-ass came over and yelled "It's Tentacles!" I choked.

Left: The Angels: Emi, Josey and Ayumi
Right: The love-birds, Christy & Chin. It was a blast diving with everyone!

Underwater pose: Emi & Ayumi

Chang Yavun & Christy. Been like ten years since I saw Chang and it was quite nice meeting her again. Hopefully she will be able to dive with me soon, and that would be even nicer.

New friends, two friendly faces living in Australia and they are fluent in Japanese. No joke dudes. Introducing David and Kimberly, it was lovely diving with them! (Oh yeah, you got the pictures I sent to you already?)

A lovely couple: My neighbor Stanley (I just realized that he lives a stone's throw away from my house...) and his pretty girlfriend Ms. Wong

Standin round these cool, energetic, vibrant, zesty youngsters made me look like an old-nut lol. Lovely and friendly people they are too.
They are: Daryl and Jason, the ladies are the lovely miss Zenlin, Yeeven, Ming-Ming and Kahyee.

Gong Xi Fa Chai!

2009-02-04T07:51:00.000-08:00

This Ox is seriously gonna get a mask squeeze...

I know its kinda a late post but hey, besides working during this holiday period, I'm still livin in the bright spirit of the Chinese New Year, folks.

Lost some money to my awesome grandpa, I used to be really good in Blackjack. But if for some 'reason' my mum and bro, all my cousins, aunties and uncles can't win, I guess I should not too.

I wanna take this good chance to congratulate both Yang Ke and Huang Lei from Beijing, China for completing their PADI Open Water Diver Course! It was awesome fun celebrating Chinese New Year with them and lotsa boozes with the Scubazoo hunks Chris and Andy, the Sipadan Water Village dive crew: Bobby, Ron, Niger, Richard, Jimmy, Rika, Abigail and Alan and not forgetting me new pals from Shell: Hakim, Shikin, Adaha and Zaitun.

Before I wrap this post up, here is to wishing everyone of you lovely friends and readers a Happy Chinese New Year of the Ox, may the year be as bullish as it sounds, and that you will be filled with good luck and good fortune and no more bullshit in life! Gong Xi Fa Chai!

Christmas & New Year Dives

2009-01-06T06:48:00.000-08:00

I had a marvelous Christmas and an awesome New Year celebration. What could be better than celebrating at Sipadan Water Village Resort and Pompong Island Resort with such a wonderful group of friends? Every moment was definitely Fiesta!

I won't go into long winding details of my trips so since I do believe that a picture tells a thousand words, I hope mine can tell you how I felt too. I would like to thank all the readers for your unending support and would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2009!

New Year celebration at Pompong Island Resort. A group pic taken with the dive members, resort staff and police.

A group picture at Pompong (from left): Ah Phin, Law, Mr & Mrs Ong, Wilson, Daniel, Ian, Josey, Your Icon, Ang, Shima, Steve and Chris

Christmas dinner (From left): Andy and his girlfriend Jia Yee, Ying and King, Liong, Josey and Scubaman.

A group pic at Kapalai (from left): Ying, Josey, Idol, Liong, Abigail, King and Lucilla.

The white Leaf Fish by Steve

A beautiful Pink/Purple Eyed Goby by Steve

A close up shot of the Green Turtle by Steve

The Soprano!

Candid Face

The hidden Cyclops

You Asshole! :P

A solitary and fragile life

Pika~Pika

Curiosity

The gem in the sand

Peek-a-boo!

Hangover...

The Undercover

The Survival Race

This troublesome hump...

The Grand Opening of AQUATASTIC!

2008-12-15T05:41:00.000-08:00

Looking back on all these years of scuba diving, the wonderful beach, sun and sea... The awesome marine life and other cool stuff, I really feel blessed. Not only have I made a career out of this, its is through diving that I found my lifestyle. With the support and urging of good friends I have created this blog, a simple way to share my experience and everything that I love... That we love. The blog grew along with our community and it is through Aquatastic that I got closer with my friends while meeting new ones at the same time, I got to broaden my knowledge and experience a lot of new things that helped me to progress and be better in life. And now, Aquatastic is no longer just a simple blog, it is now a dive shop!

My few years of good diving as a professional mainly in the Celebes sea led me to start this new dive shop and after some time thinking a right name for it, I decided the shop to be called AQUATASTIC, named after this blog of mine. Located at the first floor of Tawau Airport, we now provide all divers, snorkelers, swimmers and beach lovers with all they would want to have. From scuba and snorkeling gears to swimwear and beachwear, we also have various handmade souvenirs for sell. Thanks to god, my family and friends, the opening was a big success and I got lotsa colorful-flowerly flowers! And advertisement in our local papers too! lol

More info can be found here: www.aquatastic.net and BorneoAquanerds

Before I end my post, I once again would like to thank my great group of friends who have helped and supported me to make this all possible. I love y'all! A big thank you to the resort staff namely from Sipadan Water Village Resort, Sipadan Kapalai Dive Resort, Mataking Resort, Roach Reefs Resort, Big John Scuba and Uncle Chang Backpackers Lodge who came to help make the opening a lively one. I would also like to thanks Malaysia Airlines and Air Asia as well as Malaysia Airports for their support as well.

Below are some pictures taken by my bros Chris and Steven. Kudos to them.

Seaventures VS Silam!

2008-11-06T05:43:00.000-08:00

Blue-striped Fangblenny

"This is gonna be epic!" some readers might say when they see this title. Once again, I'm just trying to lure more readers to read this after the awesome success of my old Mabul VS Kapalai post... Don't kill me please :P

Mating pair of Halgerda Batangas

I'm not writing to compare both places as both dive sites are really fabulous now but rather just trying to provide more information and of course pictures for everyone. Both Seaventures and Silam are pretty under-rated in my opinion, but both have so much more to offer!

Seaventures
Situated at the Celebes Sea located just in front of the now very busy and resort-populated not to mention famous Mabul Island is the one and only Seaventures, a "Dive-Rig" providing us the most unique and different dive-holiday experience ever. Not only do you get to actually sleep, dine, relax and move around in an oil rig, you also get a perfect view of Mabul, the beautiful sunset and the open sea plus awesome macro dives just down under this spacious what I like to call it, a 'rigsort'.

Mimic Filefish, Paraluteles prionurus Pygmy seahorse, Hippocampus bargibanti

Blackbar Soldierfish, Myripristis jacobus Yellow-lined snapper, Lutjanus rufolineafus

I love the food here, especially their BBQ seafood dinner. Seaventures have always been misunderstood and unfavored by many visitors at Mabul but what I can assure you is that for those who have stayed with Seaventures they will agree that diving with them is very, very easy and convenient. They provide daily dives around Mabul, Kapalai and Sipadan and also with the famous PADI Course Director, Joseph Chung managing the dive operations and education, you can be sure that you are diving with among the most experienced guides around the area. If you need a friendly and helpful staff to help you with other matters unrelated to diving, seek the young and energetic Janet Lim. Like most dive centers and resorts, Seaventures offer the same facilities, most notable is an underwater video service by the famous Scubazoo.

Most appealing to many of us avid divers is the house-reef. Despite its lack of natural corals and reef, the house-reef have one of the most effective and successful artificial reefs now serving as safe homes for numerous rarely seen and loved fish species. The very popular Pygmy seahorse and Frogfish are always sighted here and this house reef houses easily more than thirty species of Gobies and Nudibranchs as well as other crustaceans. Despite the small size of this dive site, you will be amazed at how big the fishes here can grow. The Giant Morays here are humongous, so are their Groupers, Big-eyes and Soldiers and you can also get to see the big school of Barracudas, Batfish and Fusiliers and big fat Bumphead Parrotfishs joining other reef fishes to feed on barnacles, algae and corals that grow on the rig's eroded pillars. For those interested in fish behavior and variety, look no further. Seaventures house-reef is the best place to be. For photographers, macro lens is recommended although you might not want to miss the chance to get a fantastic wide-angle shot of a vortex of resident Barracudas as well.

Slim-lined barracuda

For more info on the resort, check out their website: http://www.seaventuresdive.com/

For reservation and other inquiry and advice, nudge me!

Silam
Located in Darvel Bay or also known as the Lahad Datu Bay, Silam is not a popular destination among tourists and was never featured in any dive magazines before. I won't go as far as to say that this is another virtually untouched virgin reef since Silam has always been a very popular dive spot among locals for more than thirty years. The area is recuperating from illegal fish bombing and as of late local divers have expressed worry on the growing fish-farming industry, having a possibility in reducing availability of potential dive sites.

There are several known dive sites, each with their own history, like the earliest dive site namely Lam's Point and the Silam Wreck where a large cargo ship sank many years ago. The most popular one is the Qing-Qing House-reef, privately owned by Mr. Liew, one of the few scuba pioneers in Lahad Datu and managed and promoted by good friends of mine, Chris Lo who is a very devoted macro-photographer himself along with Steven Soong, the best dive master in town.

The history of Darvel Bay dates back twenty thousand years ago where early inhabitants used limestone caves for prehistoric burials. In the nineteenth century, the bay was a traditional haunt for pirates and home of Datu Kudunding, an infamous pirate leader and a local hero to some folks. For more info please see wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darvel_Bay

The dives around Silam are all macro-dives and most of the dive sites are sandy and muddy-bottom as well as mangrove swamps making it the perfect home for Jawfish, a variety of Gobys and Dartfishs, Blennys, Pipefishs, colorful Nudibranchs and other macro subjects. Shrimps and crabs are abundant here and in Qing-Qing house-reef, a large group of resident Pajama cardinalfishs are always there to amaze you. Various species of Scorpionfish, Stonefish and other poisonous creatures lurk around the place so divers need to be extra careful. Three milimeters full suits are recommended here to protect divers from jellyfish, plankton and other stinging fishes as well as providing better insulation and warmth since the dives here can be somewhat cold at times with large areas of termoclines. Do expect for cool surprises like the Flamboyant cuttlefish, Blue-ring octopus, Seamoth and Seahorse to appear during your dives.

There are currently no active and fully facilitated dive resorts in the area but as for accommodation wise, divers can just stay at various hotels and dine in town. There is however a private resort owned by Mr. Liew located uphill just next to Qing-Qing house-reef in Silam and divers who made proper arrangement through authorized agents namely Wonderful Water Diving Services and Aquatastic will be offered dive packages that include transfers, accommodation, meals, guided dives, scuba gears and other related services. For more info on Silam, feel free to contact me.

Flamboyant cuttlefish and Seamoth by Chris Lo.

An amazing picture of a pair of Crinoid squatlobsters. Photo by Chris Lo.

More pictures of Silam can be found at Chris profile in Facebook albums titled My Macro and QiQi Resort

Awesome Si Amil!

2008-10-20T01:20:00.000-07:00

A beautiful view of the white sandy beach and crystal clear water of Si Amil

I was actually anticipating another trip to Si Amil, which is approximately half an hour from Kapalai. My last visit was an enjoyable one and I wanted to keep coming back for more. Thanks to Sipadan Kapalai Dive Resort we got that chance.

Diving with Team 'Awesome Radical' was great, loads of fun and laughter, good dives and good food with Sharifah, Hunter, Turni and Josse. These guys are really awesome people. Oh and Congrats to Hunter for completing the PADI Open Water Diver Course... That guy is a natural. Many thanks to the dive crew, especially to Linda for leading the dives.

Before the trip to Si Amil I had a short wish list in mind: Pygmy Seahorse, Frogfish, Leafish and Orang Utan Crab. I managed to get all of em, but man we saw more than that!

Pygmy Seahorse: 4
Frogfish: 1
Leafish: 3
Orang Utan Crab: 6
Devil Ray: 6 (Turni got a nice video of our unexpected friends... I just saw the tails... Darn it, I failed...)

All that in just two short 45 minutes dives. Awesome ain't it? Mabul and Kapalai are famous macro heavens. And I would say the under-rated Si Amil is just as good! Below are some pictures to share with everyone. Enjoy and Happy Diving!

Awesome Radicals: Hunter, Turni, Sharifah, Linda, Your Idol, Josse.

Cute little snorkeler at Si Amil

The first Pygmy Seahorse at Pygmy Point

This Pygmy Seahorse is at East Rock.

Bubble Coral Shrimp

Orang Utan Crab

Green Turtle at Si Amil

Whip Coral Goby

Seaslug: Chelidonura hirundinina, Size: 1.5cm

Giant Frogfish

Leaf-fish

Common Lionfish

My Busy Diving Week

2008-10-05T08:16:00.000-07:00

Miao...

I had a pretty fun week during Hari Raya. It was a blast working and diving with the Sipadan Water Village dive crew and with Pompong Island Resort during the public holidays. Can't say I wasn't exhausted after the week since I didn't really got myself any rest after the International Cleanup Day event at Pompong but I was happy and had a nice time nonetheless. The dives were great and my students did awesomely. Congrats to Simone, Cynthia and Michelle for completing their Open Water Diver course with me!

I have not been diving for four days now but blah... There is still so much work to do, it seems that fatigue and stress is growing. Glad I had some good old KFC to stuff my mouth full and San Miguel beer to wash em down my throat. Thats food for my manly soul I tell ya haha. And thanks to Josey, she been helping me out with my work. Anyway my next post should be a good one. Hope to get a few good fish pics soon, Kapalai is definitely what I'm gonna write next. Until then, Happy Diving folks!

Super Simone!

Me with cool Cynthia and awesome Abigail.

Marvelous Michelle!

The Hantu Raya... Ken, Phin, Me and Danny.