2024 - so far

 Can't believe it's already October!

A few points to jot down to be kept here as my life journal (since nobody is reading it anymore except me) 

• Am in my 7th month already at the new workplace. Abit unsettled at first because of the travelling especially during Ramadhan but I got the hang of it now. Just layan spotify je while in the traffic. 
• I have gone back to the old campus a few times for various work-related reasons and even attended NPSC as part of their contingent since my current uni didn't participate.
• Had a shoulder surgery in May and I haven't regain the full range of movement yet. Lambat betul. 
• Went to Pulau Perhentian 2 weeks ago but didn't dive because of my shoulder. Managed to snorkel though and that was a good one. Siap jumpa a titan trigger fish! Below are underwater photos taken by my other half using my camera. 

Some land photos:

Arghhh, I miss the sea! Some friends are in Dungun now diving in Tenggol and they've met with whaleshark and mobula rays 2 days in a row. Jealous betul.

Am going to Seoul for a conference end of this month so hope that will be good. Looking forward to more scuba diving trips next year!

First quarter of 2023

Can't believe the first quarter of 2023 is already gone. Time flies! It was a busy quarter but I am glad I get to do a few things again such as diving! Managed to finally squeeze in a trip to Tenggol in mid March, and I can't believe I have never dived in Tenggol before. Beautiful diving sites! Only a few underwater photos below since my underwater photographic skills were abit rusty after 9 long years of not diving. Why did I stay away for so long eh? Oh, as fate had it, I met Ardy and Lynn there (although we didn't tell each other that we were going) and we ended up diving together for 1 of the days. Ardy was my dive buddy when I first took up scuba diving back in 2008 so it was a nice mini reunion.

                             

                               

                            

                           

Just before Tenggol, I managed to squeeze in a friendly match for our male NPSC basketball team with SatUM so it was really nice to meet the SatUM guys again after all these years. Of course, none of the first gen SatUM are playing anymore but the rest such as Y, Ed, Butet, Jai, Husen, Fendy & Hadi are still there except that they have upgraded themselves from UM court to Cobra Club. Lepak with them at Amjal too for old times' sake but no more nasi lemak bungkus!

Just before Ramadhan, we went to Penang for the 16th NPSC 2023. Although both our basketball teams only got silver and our swimming team only managed to win 3 golds, 1 silver and 2 bronzes, I am still so proud of them as I myself did not managed to give my full attention in training them this year. Work has been and is still as hectic as ever so I am just grateful with whatever that they have achieved especially that we still come 2nd for overall medal tally. Don't know if I will still be coaching again next year, feeling too old and battered already. 

Anyway, managed to see an old diving friend Deepy too last night after so many years. He is only back in KL for a few days for a funeral so I am glad we managed to catch up although only for a short while. I really miss all my basketball and diving friends! Should organise another moreh at Uptown meet up soon. 

A good end to a busy year: LOB Andaman 2011

2011 has been a busy year at work for both Big Boss and I from the very beginning and we didn't get to go diving as mush as we wanted to. But when I received an email from our friend Rid one day in May inviting us to join a year-end Live-on-board (LOB) trip to Andaman Sea, I didn't think twice and said yes straightaway. I even forwarded the emailed to a couple of friends asking them to come along.

Came October, I was already feeling the fatigue from the ongoing workload and looked forward more than ever to the trip, now seen as an opportunity to give my brain a total rest, instead of just another diving trip. 2011 has also seen me becoming an anti-social more than ever so the idea of having some of the (used to be) close friends on board brought excitement in me. I used to meet or at least talk to some of these friends on daily basis at certain points of life but different career paths and life priorities have now distanced us.

Anyway, 13th December finally came and after a chaotic day of packing and last minute checks on my students' research theses, off we went to the airport and flew to Phuket. Due to flight delays, we boarded Peterpan later than planned that night but even with the tired eyes, Peterpan gave a very good first impression. The first thing that caught my eyes were how clean and organised the boat was and the friendliness of their staff.

The next 4 days were just about diving, good food, relaxing (qada' tido!) and catching up with old friends. It was a bliss. Some of the dive sites such as Deep Six, Richelien Rock (a site near to the Burma border)and Elephant Head Rock were beautiful with many swim throughs and walls filled with beautiful fans and soft corals while Boon Sung Wreck was a happening scene rich with various marine lifes that I didn't managed to go around the whole wreck. The only disappointment of the trip was that we didn't get to see any manta rays eventhough we did 3 dives at Koh Bon,embracing the current in the process. It didn't really matter to me though since I have seen them during the Komodo LOB trip back in 2009. My secret wish when I first boarded Peterpan was to see a whaleshark and voila!.. I did!

It was after lunch at Koh Bon and I just got up from a quick snooze when I saw a 'polka dot thingy' swimming away from the side of the boat. It took me a few minutes to make sense of what I saw and the moment I did, I was glad that Chotty and Abang Roy were beside me. They too managed to catch a sight of it before it disappeared into the blue. Both of them have seen live whalesharks before so they made reliable witnesses. So yeah, my wish came true although only for a quick few minutes!

Anyway, now for some photos:

Peterpan cruise boat with Edu's group in view (pic by ScubaTIM)

Beautiful fans inside one of the swim throughs at West of Eden.

A pregnant tiger tail seahorse at Richelien Rock

A red frogfish (can't remember which dive site)

A charging cuttlefish

A lovey-dovey pair of black and silver trevallies. Love chasin' them around! (Please excuse the quality of the pic, my WA skills are still below par)

Big Boss in his muay thai boxing short on the way up the hill at Donald Duck Bay (is that its real name??)

Beautiful sunset from the top of the hill

Old and new friends onboard Peterpan. Hope to see you guys again in Bali next year!

My broadband is seriously slow tonight so that's all the photos for now. Will upload more on facebook when I have more time. Happy new year everyone!

We deserve to be there too (part I)

It's Friday today. Normally, Friday would be a good day because the weekend is less than 24 hours away. It should also be a better day because Liverpool FC has just braved through to the semi-final of Europa League after a stylish win over Benfica last night.

But, I am hopping mad and it is because of this frontpage article in The Star today:

Pulau Redang aims to lure the rich with room rates no less than RM1,600

I can still stomach it if they just come clean and say that they want to make the island exclusive because they want to squeeze as much money out of the precious jewel before it's gone forever. But to say that (quote) "only wealthy individuals would be able to afford holidays in Pulau Redang" as it is " the only way to save the surrounding rich marine life and prevent environmental destruction due to pollution and indiscriminate littering" is just not acceptable. Such hypocrisy.

It is also painfully funny to read this: "Efforts must be made to save the island from deteriorating environmentally. Those on budget excursions can visit other islands like Pulau Kapas and Pulau Perhentian that are equally charming"

Were those statements implying that budget travellers are the only culprits who have caused damages to the corals and that the rich and famous are the only ones who care for the marine life? And was the last statement also implying that it is actually ok to damage the corals of Kapas and Perhentian islands? Haih.

If you really care about the ecosystem and the precious marine life wahai pembesar-pembesar negeri, don't you think you should consider these steps instead?

* limit the number of visitors per day as how it is done in Sipadan
* even limit the number of resorts if necessary but make sure those available can cater for everyone including backpackers, not just those lucky ones who can afford RM1.6k/night rooms
* HELP to upgrade the sewage system on the island
* improve monitoring and ENFORCEMENT to ensure all chalets and hotels (including those for the rich and famous) have proper and working sewage system
* fully SUPPORT the marine conservational works already been carried out by many agencies including Reefcheck, WWF etc
* EDUCATE, EDUCATE AND EDUCATE our people (err, and probably the state policy-makers too)

I am very fond of Redang Island and have been there quite a number of times over the last 2 years. I particularly enjoyed diving at Holysand (when it was still there), Terumbu Mak Cantik and Terumbu Che Isa, awesome sites I must say. Redang was where I did my AOWD with sifu Macha hence the first place I did my deep and night dives. It was also where I dived with many good friends like Siew Lian, DiveChiefKaz, Ardy, Bakawali, Najibest, Safuan, Zalman and Avthar and also the place where I first met a few otai divers who later became my good friends like Miezegreat, Ikan and Rocket. So yeah, Redang is special to me and to many other divers too, I'm sure. But if this (quote) "only wealthy individuals would be able to afford holidays in Pulau Redang as hotel rooms will cost no less than US$500 (RM1,599) a night" plan ever materialise, I have no doubts I won't be able to step on the island again. RM1600 can easily give me a 3 or 4-day dive trip to Manado and if I just double the amount, it can take me to Komodo which is no doubt a wayyyyyy better diving destination compared to Redang. In short, this motion will just drive visitors away to the neighbouring countries in no time. Not so clever eh?

Anyway, for your information dear policy-makers, most divers travel cheap because we do CARE about our environment. By staying at cheap chalets, we use fans instead of air-conditioners (ada ke 5* hotels yang tak pakai air-cond?), the electricity supply at these cheap resorts are usually limited to only certain times of the day (as oppose to unlimited usage hence energy wastage in 5* hotels) and most of the times, we even bring our own towels hence avoiding unnecessary towels/ bathrobes daily change as in those fancy hotels. I can go on and on but cukup la... I think I have made my points here.

Kesimpulannya, please seriously reconsider ya. Saya dahului dengan ribuan terima kasih.

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The wonderful creatures of Redang underwater from last year's trip..

Komodo, West Flores - where a dream came true

The story begun more than 1 1/2 years ago at Chili's KLCC when my mate, Siew Lian and I met up with our OWD instructor, DiveChiefKaz for dinner. Both Siew Lian and I were newly certified at the time and I think we met Kaz to sign off Siew Lian's paperworks for the OWD card... Kaz just got back from a diving trip to Komodo at the time and he showed us some still photos and videos of the trip. I was soooo envious when I saw those beautiful photos and videos of marine species and landscapes that I haven't seen before but at the same time, a lil' bit scared seeing videos of divers practically 'flying'in strong currents. I quietly told myself that Komodo, with its harsh underwater conditions, is far-fetched for a newbie like me and is only reserved for experienced and otai divers. Fast-forward a year later... Ikan, another diving instructor, who happened to be in the same Komodo trip that Kaz went before and who is now a friend of mine too, buzzed me one day and asked if I wanted to go on such trip. Obviously, I jumped into agreement instantly. The Komodo trip is not commonly opened to just any divers due to its harsh conditions so the invitation was in a way, an honour to me. But months, weeks and especially days leading to the trip were nightmares to me. I began to self-doubt of my diving abilities and skills especially when I got to know that as previous trips, the rest going were all either dive instructors, divemasters, trainers or very experienced divers when I myself haven't even clock 100 dives on my dive log (and I still haven't!). I became more anxious when I got to know some of the people whom I know well like Chott, Rid and Abang Roy, who were supposed to go on the trip with me dropped out, one by one. The month leading to the trip was very stressful too since I was about to start a new job and had to rush with many tasks at the old place. To make things worst, I was financially-constrained too hence, the idea of getting all sorts of gadgets such as vest, new fins, reefhook etc in preparation for the trip only brought headaches to yours truly. The news of earthquakes and tsunamis around the region didn't help too, giving me a number of sleepless nights. Fortunately, I was and still am lucky to have such helpful and understanding friends. Kaz and Ikan gave alot of encouragement and reassurance, Rid and Pyan (of Fisherman Divers) helped by training me up with negative descends and SMB deployments while Rocket helped by letting me borrow practically all the things that I needed, from the vest to even the luggage bag. My other-half, being the usual understanding person he is, even accompanied me for a quick dash to Tioman to enable me to train with Rid and Pyan. Those who have gone on such trips like Macha (who was my AOWD instructor and an excellent underwater photograher) and Ummi kept giving me reassurance and tips before and during the trip too. The long-awaited 28th October 2009 finally arrived. With a mixed emotion of anxiousness and excitement, off I went.... 

  The hotel we stayed in Bali

Labuan Bajo: the port town in West Flores where we boarded Pak Condo 

 Example of nudibranchs on steroids @ Cannibal Rock 

 

The rarely seen rhinophias @ Cannibal Rock 

 A huge napoleon wrasse @ Batu Bolong  GT madness @ Castle Rock 

 

Sweetlips @ Crystal Rock 

 

Sunset @ Lighthouse (or Gililawa...can't remember) 

 Manta ray @ Taka Makassar

 A stop at the National Park to see the komodo dragons. They were huge and scary!  

A female komodo dragon roaming in the woods while we were hiking. Female komodo dragons are much smaller than males.  

View from the top.

Goofing around at the top of the hill.

 More photos can be found here and here. In summary, it was a BRILLIANT trip with excellent dives, great company (they were a loud and funny bunch but always take safety and security while diving seriously)and good food even when we had a couple of hiccups with the flight schedules. Hope I'll get the chance to go back there again next year! From the bottom of my heart, thank you everyone for making my dream came true...

The best of Lembeh

The trip couldn't have come at a better time. The past few weeks (or even months) preceding to the trip were hectic and mental-draining, hence, when the day finally came, I gladly 'left' my thinking brain cells in my holiday gerobok back home and off I went.

Bastianos Resort on Lembeh Island was just the place I was hoping for.. A picture of tranquility. Great dives, scenic location, friendly and helpful staff and good food were the extra added values. A very relaxing holiday indeed and all that I had to think of when I was there was whether I have enough air to last as long as I could underwater (and not go into deco of course, although I did anyway!). Albeit the scorching weather, I slept like a baby each night there, the first in months. Wished I could stay there forever!

Here are some photos:

Bastianos Resort - where we stayed

I watched the sunrise at about 5am each day without fail.. It was very therapeutic indeed.

The old inactive volcanoes - a view from our rooms




Pygmy Seahorse@Nudi Retreat

Flamboyant Cuttlefish@Pantai Perigi



Banded boxer shrimp@Jahir



Long-armed octopus@Chompreng

3 Frogfish on a buoyline@ Teluk Kembahu

Wing-spined Seahorse@Chompreng

There are more photos of the weird and wonderful critters of Lembeh but I am just too lazy to upload them... the connection is very slow today!