Despite The R.A.I.N.....

Even though the weather was wet over the weekends. We still have good trips at our shores. It was the Northern shores this time round.

On Saturday, we visited Pulau Sekudu. This little islet just off South-eastern side of Pulau Ubin always offer us surprises each time we were there. We have a first sighting of a nudibranch, cerberilla asamusiensis. Besides this species, there were also platydoris sp, jorunna funebris and gymnodoris sp. There were also lots of sap sucking slugs among the bryopsis seaweeds. So it was quite a satisfying trip for a slugs-crazy person. :O)

Next day, it was Beting Bronok (off Pulau Tekong). This little patch of reef will only be exposed during super low tide and thus, chances of visiting it are limited. Found an Arrow-head crab, Blue Dragon nudibranch, a orange smooth Sea Cucumber and a pink cowrie. There were also lots of flatworms and other nudibranchs. Saw a shark's egg case again.(Mmmm.....wonder if we will see a baby shark again if we have the chance to visit the reef in two weeks time).

One thing strange though on both visit.....we hardly get a sight of any fish. What had happened? Could it due to the R.A.I.N?

Anyway, to see what other things we had encountered, visit the following links to the Wildfilms Blog:

- Pulau Sekudu
- Beting Bronok

Hairy Sea "Bunny".....

What's that? You must be wondering.....Actually, it is the Hairy Sea Hare (bursatella leachii).


Saw them at Chek Jawa over the weekends. There were lots of them over at the Coral Rubbles. Looks like they are in season. One thing about them is that they will produce a purple ink when disturbed.

The Best Of Ryan Giggs.....

Found this video on YouTube. It's a compilation of Ryan Giggs's actions and goals over the years.

My 50th Dive Has To Wait.....

Went diving at Pulau Hantu with The Hantu Blogger again yesterday. It was raining when I left the house. But the sky cleared when we reached the dive site. Debby was my dive guide for this trip and we were the last group to go down. The vis was like 1m at the depth of 9m. So we were at around 6m depth most of the times where the vis was slightly better. It was said that the vis is usually bad at Hantu during the period from June to August.

This time round I decided to try with only 4 weights which turned out to be a bad decision as I kept floating up. No pics this time as camera still under service. Brought along the housing and decided only to test whether it is leaking in 2nd dive.

Anyway, since I was focusing in controlling my buoyancy due to underweighted, only managed to see these :

- Ocellate Pipefish
- Nudibranch : hypselodoris emma (spotted by my buddy, Kang Ngee)
- Nudibranch : Blue Dragon
- Flatworm : Blue edge and White body with a Blue line in the center (spotted by my buddy)
- Angelfishes / Damselfishes
- Filefish (spotted by Debby)
- Gobies
- Crab

When we reached the shallower part, I basically floated up. Tried to descend again but no matter how hard I fin myself, I remained on the surface. Thus, decided to end my first dive.

After surface interval, just as we were about to have our second dive of the day (That would be my 50th), the water started to get choppy, gust of wind blowing and then thunderstorm. We decided to abort our second dive after waiting for another half and hour as the weather did not get any better.

So.....my 50th dive will have to wait then and so is my housing's test dive.

Pulau Tioman And A "Dead" Camera.....

Back from my dive trip to Pulau Tioman. Like my previous trip there, I spent the whole day on the boat as the dive sites are far away from the resort. Also on this trip, I met Gina who is my dive guide again (She was my dive guide at Pulau Hantu for the Reef Friends X'plore trial dive). A lot of fishes to see on this trip but where are all the Sea slugs? So far I managed to see more Sea slugs at Pulau Hantu than in Malaysia.

Brought my camera along in the end. But I had only a chance to use it in my second dive before its LCD screen started to have some problems and become a BLACK blank screen. What's worst is that after I surfaced, I noticed moisture inside the housing!!! Arghhhhhh..... :o(

Sent the camera to the service centre and will only be back after a week. This mean that I cannot take any pics at Pulau Hantu this weekend. But I will bring the housing to do a test dive to see if there is any problem with it.

Anyway, these are some of the stuffs that I took. Anemonefishes, Corals, Seastar(with one big long arm only), Scorpionfish(Can you find it in the pic?), blenny(this cute creature was so difficult to take), cowrie and underwater scene.

Pulau Tioman Instead.....

After searching for a dive trip to Pulau Dayang failed, I settled for Pulau Tioman instead. Going with a different Dive Operator this time round.

The cost of the trip is cheaper as it does not include meals. But hey, from the difference that I have saved (I pay more if I go with my regular Dive Operator), I can go for another local dive this month. :O)

Taking off from work tomorrow. Will go guiding at Chek Jawa in the morning and then leave for Tioman in the evening.

More update on Monday and pics(if I decided to bring my camera).