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Diving in Phuket!

2005-12-29T00:30:00.000+08:00

Me is back from 5 days of diving in Phuket, and 3 days of bumming at Patong Beach.

Went down south for diving at Hin Daeng and Hin Muang, but the weather was terrible. Only managed 1 dive at Hin Muang before half the boat puked and we had to leave for calmer waters.

Ended up diving at Koh Rok before heading up North to Similans. Great vis (and sun)at Similans, but lots of sediment sometimes.

Finally ended up at Koh Bon on the last day, without having seen a single manta ray. Mr A went diving in his pajamas on the first dive in the morning, and a manta came looking for us. Its wingspan was about 4m, and it was circling our group. I was already up on the boat when someone shouted MANTAAA! MANTAAAA! So I grabbed my mask, fins, and camera and jumped straight back into the water. Went free diving to about 5 or 6m, and grabbed Lionel's octopus and went straight after the manta. Didn't get many photos because of the deluge of bubbles from the divers below and all around.

2nd and last dive of the trip at Koh Bon. Saw a leopard shark immediately after descending. Took a couple of shots, checked my divecomputer and saw "NDL = 2". Checked depth and saw that I was at 43.2m. Spent the rest of the dive hanging back and at the top of the group, hoping to catch a glimpse of the manta again. After 20min, we were heading back to the boat and I was right at the back just bumming around. Turned to my right and I saw this huge black and white thing about 3m away from. It was Manta Claus back in town!

Took a little coordination to snap photos while banging my tankbanger like a buzzer. I turned around and saw that no one knew the Manta was there! I kept snapping the tankbanger hoping someone would turn around. Shihui was the only one who turned around, and I pointed frantically at her. "MANTAAAAAA!" A stream of bubbles poured out of my mask and reg. She managed to grab Mei Ling and tell the rest. I check my air and dive computer, and went straight for the manta. Spent the rest of the dive fooling around with the manta. Lawrence didn't treasure his life and chased the manta till his air ran out. Had to share air during safety stop. *snigger* Who's the dumdum...(ask me why).

Anywyas, here are the pics! Somehow I get the best photos during night dive. Maybe cos there's no back scatter since I'm using a handheld strobe.

Reef crab during a night dive. Looks cooked...yumyum!

Silhouette of Janice.

A PADI poster? Let's go diving!

Nudibranch. Too bad no strobe..All the colours disappeared.

Trumpet dish at Koh Bon. Lot's of them throughout the trip.

Lionfish during a night dive at Koh Bon. No.2 on my list of fave pics so far.

Same lionfish, swimming away before the rest of the divers came (smart choice, bub). No.1 on my list of fave pics.

Excuse me, what are you looking at?

ZoomZoomZoom. Mazda ad. Looked like a filefish to me.

Lots of beautiful bubble coral..Sorely tempted to poke one of them. I wonder if they pop like bubble wrap? No, I did not poke any bubble coral. I am well-trained. *snigger*

Hiding from the African sun in the shade of the baobab tree

Life as a scorpionfish sure is hard, so don't blame them for looking like that.

Hello! Peekaboo! This is one chirpy fella. Beats looking at scorpionfishes. Is this a blenney or goby? No.3 on list of fave pics.

Leopard shark at 43.2m

I have no idea what fish that was. Had a hard time focusing cos it was zipping around and only about 2mm in lenght. was really lucky to get this shot. Love the colours of the coral. Had my hand(s) stung quite badly though.

Nudibranch? Sea Slug? During another fabulous night dive. Actually all the night dive pics came from the same dive. The other night dives didn't have many nice pictures.

Let's snuggle up. See, it really was THAT COLD. Nudibranches snuggling.

A pair of moorish idols zipping along the reef. No4. on my list of fave pics.

And the pictures that we've all been waiting for...
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Manta! hehehe

ok, here's the real stuff.

Manta Claus! During the last dive of the trip at Koh Bon.

Manta Claus doing some dive-bombing on unsuspecting plankton.

Fun times with OrpheusDive! Never a dull moment... No.5 on list of fave pics.

See what I mean?

Can't wait to go diving..Think he forgot his equipment though.

Ben doing a triple backflip and reverse pike. No6. on my list of fave pics.

It's very high up here...

Getting into position.

Help, I'm falling!

I believe I can fly

Tag-team.

Super tag-team

(Wo)Man Overboard!

SSssshhh! Wait the trigger see you then run away!

Goodnight, sweet dreams.

well, that's it for now. lots of other pictures, but i'm too lazy to post them. feel free to ask me for more!

so, where to next? Sipadan? Manado? Papua New Guinea? Maldives? More likely Dayang...*sigh*

Kuantan Wreck Live-a-board 14-16 July

2005-10-17T17:57:00.000+08:00

ScorpionFish at Kuantan Wreck.

Nudibranch during a night dive at Verhala Reef

Nudibranch during night dive at Verhala Reef

Verhala Wreck, twin deck guns of the WW2 wreck.

Twin morays at Verhala Wreck

More beer? Third beer in 3 dive trips...

Copperband angelfish feeding off the reefs

Tired after rescue exercises

Tired after a long dive...

The tormentors...

Ben showing his stuff

William King

Astroboy hair after diving...

Dive buddies

looking for something? Search and Salvage successful!

Jonathan giving CPR to Kelvin. Its a little stressful with so many people looking...

The 3 musketeers.

Adele doing her AOWC

Sharon, fully decked out with Scubapro S600/Mk25/Gauge/Octo, Scubapro Twinjets, Scubapro Wetsuit, Scubapro BCD...you get the idea..haha

Min looks way much better when diving...

Diving in the sunset...

Similans in December anyone?

Surprise at Raffles Marina

2005-10-04T11:09:00.000+08:00

All these without getting wet! No, it wasn't an aquarium.

Tubeworm, 10cm below the surface

Tubeworm, 10cm below the surface

Juvenile squid floating on the surface, approx 2cm in length.

Juvenile filefish, 5cm below the surface. approx 0.5cm in length. it was really tiny.

This was how we saw what we saw...Amazing

2005-08-15T23:23:00.000+08:00

Perhentian Pictures!

Purple Jellyfish at the very first dive

Purple Jellyfish with parrot fish feeding off the algae. Got attacked by the parrotfish after he got bored of algae. They love bumping heads against cameras.

School of fusiliers, commonly known as seklar or nasi lemak fish

Blue-ringed angelfish hiding in the corals. Can be found in wisma too!

Face to face with a porcupine fish. It was swimming out in the open and at least 30cm in length. So kawaii-des!

Urm, dunno what fish, but very colourful yes?

6-banded angelfish. Can see at wisma too!

False clownfish in blue bulb anemone

Band clownfish in red bulb anemone

False clownfish in yellow bulb anemone

Brown-banded garoupa hiding in the corals and rocks. Check out the razor sharp teeth.

Walking on fishes. Beautiful 'clouds' in the 'sky'

Little porcupine fish

Nurse shark

Blue-spotted ray

Moray eel

School of juvenile (young) Yellow-fin barracuda

Thirsty? Have a beer!

The famous Perhentian snorkel party! Let's go diving (in tequila)!

More perhentian photos here! Ok, that's it for now!

--==(",(",)==--

Top of the Gulf International Regatta, May 5th to 9th.

2005-07-09T00:06:00.000+08:00

Sunset at the Royal Varuna Yacht Club, Jomtien, Pattaya, Thailand.

We love SMU!

Streaker on the loose!

Sunset at the Ocean Marina, Jomtien, Pattaya, Thailand

Me, Youjin, Shing Lei, Su Jun, Tang. Aboard Platu 107 "Twill"

The babe! She sings pretty well too. Vocalist during the Regatta finale dinner.

Hello, world

2005-07-08T23:34:00.000+08:00

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