May 16th, 2005 For the Vesak Holiday Weekend, which is a Buddhist holiday, we decided to go diving with Living Seas again. We knew a few folks who would be going and were happy to meet some new folks. We left Friday night from Living Seas at the Riverwalk at 7pm (well, let's be honest, folks in these here parts aren't too concerned with keeping to scheduled times. It was more like 8pm before we were on our way, and that was only 1 of 2 vans that actually left...the second van was soon to follow though). The vans are booked thru a company in Malaysia.
We drove through the night and arrived at our "no-tell Motel" at about 1am where we were given our room keys and promptly made way to bed. We needed to meet the first boat to the Ferry Terminal at Mersing at 6:30am.
The weekend was to be a total of 9 dives, lodging at Saylang Beach 'resort' and food included. And I am happy to report, that I did not have to "take out" a rooster on this trip. He happily stayed at the other end of the resort, and kept Alan awake all night! Thanks Raymond! : )
Oh God it's so early! Up at 6am so we can meet the boat at 6:30 to take us to Tioman.
Early morning purple light at the boat ferry in Mersing, Malaysia.
OK, where is the boat? 6:50am and the morning is breaking...Oh yeah, this is Asia, no one actually adheres to a schedule...I think the boatman finally arrived by about 7:15 or even 7:30am. We fended off the mosquitos while we waited...
When we finally arrived, we got our room keys, changed for diving, had some brunch and got down to some diving business!
Bernard and Susanah, dive buddies for the weekend! Bernard had an underwater camera so he hooked us up with all the underwater shots! Thanks man! We saw some great stuff! Check it out. Some of the pix were taken at different dive locations around Pulau Tioman. We did a few dives each day.
Blue spotted ray!
Giant Clam.
Clown fish, Nemo's family? Clown fish are so fun to watch b/c they look like they are carefree swimming about the aenome, but, when you stop and get close and watch them, they become very territorial and will face off with you. Some may even come towards you. Serko even showed us how to turn on an aenome.
Colorful reef.
Crown of Thorns. These guys are very invasive and end up killing a lot of the reef by killing the live coral. Apparently there are times of the year when the numbers are so many at Tioman, that folks will go out and just go on a spree to kill them back. Jeremy said he used to cut out the centers of these things. I don't know how you'd touch them without proper gloves!
Half of a pufferfish. Jeremy and I saw a humongous porcupine fish, it was huge, under this rock. It must have been at least 3 1/2 feet long!
Jeremy peeing off the back of the boat! Busted!
Susanah underwater.
Kel and Jer, underwater shots are the most flattering, don't you think?
Reef at one of our dives at about 5-7 meters!
Hawksbill Turtle.
Serko and the Hawksbill Turtle, 'Come to Daddy'. Serko actually looked like he was communicating with the turtle...and it responded.
Kel, reaching out for the Hawksbill Turtle.
I just put my hand out and it swam right under it, I was able to run my fingers down the middle of the back of it's shell. It just swam lazily away.
Kel totally siked to have gotten to see a turtle let alone touch it!
Jeremy purging his mask after smiling a big smile when Kelly finally got to see a turtle!
Fishermans' Eyeballs. The silver balls, which are actually part of a green algae family. They looked like balls of mercury underwater.
Reef where we saw the turtle and the fisherman's eyeballs.
Good Trim Susanah! Check out all that new gear, compass, fins, wetsuit, dive computer, sweet back brace BCD, but only one glove?? : )
Underwater plant life.
After our morning dives, we went back to our rooms to fill out our dive books and ID some of the sightings of the morning. Hawksbill Turtle, fisherman's eyeballs, many snorklers...
And we had a little bit of downtime before the next few dives, which Jeremy used the opportunity to take a little nap!
While Serko and Kelly, jumped on the Tim Tam train! Mmmm, Timtams! Chocolate and mint, and then a little nappy pooh!
At this one dive site, near the end of the day, we encountered a very large Baracuda! Well, Bernard saw it most up close and personal!
The baracuda turns from Jeremy and heads towards Bernard...coming thru the unclear waters...He's about a metre and a half long. (Sit back away from your computer screen and you can see him better)
Bernard is shaking in his wetsuit about now, should he snap the pix or swim the other way??? Good choice Bernard! Well done!
And yet another aggressive fish. But, I don't have my log book handy and can't remember what it's called.
Sea Feathers.
And this one, maybe some sort of sea slug? I can't remember and again, don't have my logbook handy at the moment...
Sea Star.
Stone Fish hidden in the coral. Pretty hard to make out but know it's a very dangerous fish!
Serko and Susanah at the end of a dive.
'OK, so tell us more about the baracuda that was following Jeremy's fins....'
Some of the dive crew in between dives.
What a cutie with his new short haircut!
Just waitin' for some food!
A sunset at Saylang beach.
Raymond and Serko with the Open Water divers.
View at Saylang Beach at sunset. A hot Milo to warm us up before our Night Dive to the infamous Roger's Wreck! Right Alan....?
Between dives.
How family style meals are served at Rogers Reef.
Getting ready for dinner. See the fine spread! We are probably looking at our little cat friend!
OK, so the doglady is craving animal affections, even if it comes from a cat. This little cat was quite talkative and kept coming around mealtimes and even visited us at our room.
Kel and Sus between dives.
All washed up!
Leaving a dive site.
Sunset at Saylang Beach.
The last dive group returns.
As is the norm, we usually have dinner prepared by Roger, then, we go and have post-dinner of squid, satay, iced milos (like choc milk) and banana splits down at another restaurant just down the beach.
Squid.
Susanah and her new high tech gear! Now we'll see if she can maintain bouancy...
A thunderstorm approaches over the mountain just before our last dive of the day...
Raymond, Audry, Serko, Kel, Jer, (behind) Alan, Serko
Susanah at the Ferry pier, at the end of our trip.
Sharron and Josh, brother/sister dive buddies!
Alan, probably getting chicks numbers : )
Waiting for the ferry at the end of our trip.
Raymond and Audry at the ferry terminal at the end of our trip.
Kel, waiting at the Ferry Terminal at the end of our trip.
Heading back to Mersing at the end of the trip.
