Underwater "Rock Climbing" Horizontally.....

I joined the dive trip organised by Local Divers this morning. The initial dive site was Pulau Hantu but we were told by the boatman that it was impossible to dive there because of strong currents. We were given other possible dive sites and we choose Pulau Salu which we were more familiar.

So off we go to Pulau Salu for our diving. The surface currents were strong and we have to hold on to a rope to prevent us from drifting away. Once descended, we were met with strong currents too. Basically, we have to hold on to rubbles to prevent being swept away while trying to move on. Thus, we were like doing rock climbing horizontally instead of vertically lor.

Here's a video (with a Tomato Clownfish) to show you how fast and strong were the currents. You can see that the sediments were moving very fast and the Anemone was swaying in all direction.


Despite the currents, my buddy(Ivy) and me still managed to see some stuffs.


It looks like the Polka-dotted Nudibranch(Jorunna funebris) are in season now at Salu. We kept seeing them. And this pair looked like they were mating because there seen to be a "joint" between them.


There were also a Black-margined Nudibranch(Glossodoris atromarginata),


a Sap-sucking Sea Slug(Elysia ornata) and


a Flatworm



When we surfaced, the currents were still going strong and there's no way we are doing our second dive here. So we asked the boatman to bring us back to our initial dive site, Pulau Hantu, to check out the condition there.

We settled at the North Jetty as the surface was calmer than the western reefs. Indeed, there was no strong current for our second dive. However, it started to rain just when we all jumped into the water. Sigh...and this time round, I really have lightnings flashing above me while I am underwater. And after reading this, we realised that we were lucky. So it's a no-no next time when there's a lightning storm.

Anyway, same as Salu, we saw a couple of Nudibranch:


They are(top-down) Ceratosoma gracillimum, Cuthona sibogae and Gymnodoris sp.

Two Flatworms:






I saw a Seastar.


And it was a twinkle twinkle little "star" lor. See how tiny it was compared to my gloved index finger(the black thingy in the pic). Probably about the size of two rice grains.


And towards the end of the dive, I came across a Genie in a bottle! Opps! Should be a Blenny in a bottle lah (This one no need to rub the bottle for it to come out. You just need to be still and wait). :op


and view from another angle:


So, there you have it, another dive adventure in our reefs! :o)