Dive #6: D'Lagoon, Perhentian Kecil

Date: 9 September 2006 (Saturday)
Location: Pulau Perhentian, Malaysia
Time (GMT+8): 3:30pm
Duration: 0:44 (C.T.: 4:09)
Max Depth (m): 12.0
Sky: Slight cloudy
Waters: Calm
Visibility (m): 10.0
Bottom Temp (ºC): 29.0 (est)
Air (bar): 200/100
Surface Interval: N/A
Start P/G: N/A
End P/G: J
Dive Buddy: Tsurumi-san (DM) a.k.a. Tsunami
Divemaster: Mikiko Ando a.k.a. Miki (Nihonjin) - Scubaholics

It was great to get back below the surface of the water. 7 snorkeling trips in 24 hours was getting a little boring.

The site wasn't so deep. Max depth of 12m, we actually used less than half our tanks. I hate to think that the dive centre picked that spot because they had a newbie (me) in the group, but I somehow suspect so. It was either me, or the other Caucasian couple who looked like it was their first time. Well, I'm glad I didn't have to struggle with any of it... my ego just wouldn't allow it. :o)

Perhentian is a place where divers go out on small motorized sampan-like boats. There's no shade so it's a good thing the dive sites are near. There's also no boat ladder, so we use the back roll entry, and then unload our weights, BC and tank in the water before climbing back aboard.

I'm not familiar enough with the names of the marine life that surrounded me, so nothing to report. Oh, except the six banded angel fish Miki kept getting so excited about. And also I now know what trigger fish look like.

My first dive out with no one I know, but being me, I made friends. Some local, some not. But I'm kicking myself for not getting their emails.

Scubaholics charges RM55 per boat dive if you have your own equipment... RM80 and they provide you with everything you need. They offer bulk packages too, which makes it really worth it.

Dive #5: Tanjung Tokong

Date: 26 August 2006 (Saturday)
Location: Redang Island Malaysia
Time (GMT+8): 10:30
Duration: 0:45 (C.T.: 3:25)
Max Depth (m): 18.0
Sky: Cloudy
Waters: Calm
Visibility (m): 12.0
Bottom Temp (ºC): 27.0
Air (psi): 3,000/300
Surface Interval: N/A
Start P/G: N/A
End P/G: R
Dive Buddy: Soon Yean
Divemaster: John & Koh (Coral Redang)

Tanjung Tokong, located a the north end of Redang Island is right next to the turtle bay. Sadly, I didn't encounter any turtles this time.

We were mostly following John through and over hill like reefs to avoid mild currents. I quite enjoyed the experience because it meant we had to stay close to the ocean floor. The view of aquatic life is much better when you do a close-up. More over, I enjoyed the challenge of making sure I had enough buoyancy to stay off the corals.

This time around, we had an u/w camera rented from Redang Pelangi Resort (RM40/day). Here are some of the pictures as captured by SY & Chewy.

Just a bunch of snorkellers


I need super-strong water-proof hair gel, or simply a different hairstyle


Another addition to SY's collection of Superman poses


Crown of Thorns Starfish

The pictures that came out weren't that great because we have literally no experience with underwater photography. And it was even tougher that the lighting at 10m and deeper is distorted. The red in light is all filtered out by the time you get to that depth. Wish we had a strobe light attached to the camera.

The photography ended when SY ran out of air and Chewy took him to the surface. As I still had enough to last another 10 minutes or so, Chewy signaled me to keep with the group, and so I did. It just didn't cross my mind to get the camera from SY before rejoining the group.

But then again, I don't think I saw anything that interesting that I wanted a picture of. I was just enjoying the dive. Enjoying so much that I didn't realize I had already passed the minimum air level. We're supposed to signal low-on-air at 700psi. I was at 500psi by the time I noticed. And by the time I found Koh to go up with me, with the 5m 3min safety stop, I was really low by the time I got out of the water. I really have to pay more attention next time. "Gauges & computers only work if you check them".

Dive #4: Mak Cantik (Mini Sea Mount)

Date: 25 August 2006
Day: Friday
Location: Redang Island Malaysia
Time: 17:20 (GMT +8:00)
Duration: 0:28
Cumulative Time: 2:40
Max Depth: 18.0 meters
Sky: Clear
Waters: Choppy
Visibility: 4 meters
Bottom Temp: 27 ºC
Starting Air: 3,100psi
Ending Air: 1,500psi
Surface Interval: 1:51
Starting Pressure Group: B
Ending Pressure Group: O
Dive Buddy: Soon Yean
Divemaster: John & Koh (Coral Redang)

Back-roll off the boat's railing, approximately 1 meter above the surface - that's got to give you an adrenalin rush. I somehow managed to screw it up - *idiot*! Upon rolling backwards, I didn't lift my crossed legs high enough so my left leg slammed the railing. It almost felt like I was dangling off the boat upside-down. The pain in the leg muscle caused a reflex movement which let me drop nicely into the water, nicely... just not gracefully. :Þ

Fortunately the incident didn't affect my ability to dive or fin. The sore was only intense after I got out of the water. Although it wasn't a good experience, and I probably won't get to back-roll off a boat again in local waters (giant stride is a more common entry style), I still appreciate the practice. Lesson learnt - tighten up the ball-like figure when doing the back-roll.

On descent with Chewy and the others, we had our first experience of a thermocline. Sometimes due to weather, the water forms two layers of different temperatures. The upper layer being warmer, the lower cooler. What felt like a sudden drop of 5-10ºC, in fact was only a variation of 2ºC. I guess the human anatomy just wasn't built for sudden changes in environment.

Aquatic life was as usual, corals, spawning sea cucumbers, a black tip reef shark, etc. Nothing we hadn't already seen. But it was still beautiful scenery. I appreciate every moment of it.

Dive ended prematurely because one of us ran out of air. The 45-minute dive was cut short to an embarassing half hour. I still had half a tank of air... what a waste! And the 15-minute wait for the other divers was torturous because the boat was swaying back and forth with the waves. We noobs were all getting seasick and there wasn't enough of my preserved fruit to go around. *LOL*!

Note to all new divers: bring your own sea-sickness countermeasures! *Bleah*!