ok.. i have to be honest, the reason why I made another trip to Mabul not two weeks after I came back from Mabul was because of a man who we shall call mr. yummy. OMG he's like the hottest guy I've laid my
so i bought a ticket to tawau. eagerly i must add for i didn't even check the time of the flight. i just bought it. and then realized that i accidentally bought the tickets for the first flight out to tawau when i actually wanted the afternoon tickets. darn it! so now i have the whole day to kill in semporna. not very interesting. especially when it's raining the entire day. that's right folks. you may laugh out loud now. i was stuck in sipadan inn most of the day. but i had a good rest that day especially since i barely had a shut eye the night before. you see... during my 6-10 march trip, i nearly missed my flight. so to avoid anything like that i spent the night at the airport. at marrybrown to be exact.
the next morning i was so eager to get to Mabul.. Big John picked me up in his van. took me and his staff out for lunch at pasar putu. i couldn't even eat. i was too sexcited to see mr. yummy. then i found out that we were to dive in Semporna first. and to make matters worse. mr. yummy actually got out of the island on the day i arrived. with his girlfriend :( huhuhu.. i met the other divers with Big John that day also. i saw Mohan first. i thought he was a stuck up. (sorry if you happen to be reading this.. )erkk.. i even bitched about him on my fb. i was upset... missing my friends. and seeing mr. yummy with another woman did not help at all. i was miserable. and i haven't even started diving yet! then i saw Geri! alhamdulillah! Allah answered my prayers.. i don't feel alone anymore! then i met the other divers - Ooi, stephanie and faruk. they seemed very polite when i saw them at big john. they are probably tired :)
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| lunch at pasar putu.. yummy |
Dive 1 - Semporna: Kelong
our first dive was at Kelong in Semporna. omg. it's as dirty as i remembered it. gone were the stroller. but it was dirty as before :( but at least i got to see my little picturesque dragonets. i love seeing them but they are so hard to capture. there were a lot of seahorses too.. but as ooi puts it.. but it's black! hehehe... it doesn't look so good in pictures :p bumped into big john in the middle of the dive and followed him till the end of the dive. i didn't bring down the strobe on my first day of diving. i was soo scared of the strobe. probably because i was scared i might break it or something.
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| photos from dive 1 at Kelong |
we did our surface interval at tampi-tampi. there's a restaurant there which seemed empty. perhaps because it was still too early for dinner. hehe :) there were a few of the staff singing along the karaoke. i bet if nana and jon were there.. they'd be joining the ladies. hahaha :p we had noodles and i ordered nescafe tarik. bliss.. especially when it's really cold underwater :( we then resumed diving below the restaurant. erghh :( i remember seeing diapers and a used sanitary pad down there when i first dived there not two weeks ago! uwaaa... :( all that shower was for nothing!
Dive 2 - Semporna: Tampi-tampi
i think the one thing that probably kept me happy was the fact that it wasn't far from the army camp. i was soo praying that i'd surface near their jetty. alas the current was heading the other way :( but we did see quite a lot of stuff there. not as interesting as first dive.. but it was ok.
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| photos from Tampi-tampi ... dive 2 :) |
after the dive, Big John left us with Osman in the boat and bid us good bye. he's staying at semporna while we're heading to Mabul... without mr. yummy :( sedeh..
it's sooo darn cold when we reached mabul. then i saw him. it's "nothing at all"! taufiq was there! he left scuba junkie and free lanced at SWV. but at night he hangs out at big john. i guess he felt more at home there. we hugged. and i went to shower. i forgot how dirty i must've been. poor taufiq. hehe :P
after dinner... geri, ooi, steph and faruk hung out at the lounge/dining area. i joined them... got ourselves acquainted. i guess i won't be missing my girls anymore. haha :p oppss.. :) then the gen set broke down. that's when i saw a tweet from Mr. J.F. Seademon. They're at Borneo Divers and invited me to join them at a birthday party. kekeke... after a while it was back up again. that's when i asked taufiq to take me to the beach bar. it was dark ok :p he left me there.. and just when i started singing.. it rained :( boo hoo... bodos :( it rained for a good 1/2 hour. it didn't stop.. and it was really late. so when it's still drizzling.. i called taufiq to come and pick me up. it was a wise move too.. coz it turned out that after midnite, there's no electricity on the island! imagine that! i never knew that... do you? now i know how a 37 year old woman could have 10 kids in such tiny houses. hmm...
Dive 3 - Mabul: Lobster Wall
Still no
absar also joined us diving. he's a cutie that works with the compressor at big john. he looks like a pakistani but he claims that he doesn't have any blood ties to pakistanis or indians. he was so excited showing off his skills in spotting nudis and other macros.. great more spotters in the making :)
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| Lobster Wall.. no strobes.. chicken! |
Dive 4 - Mabul: SMART House Reef
since i'm just tagging along Mohan's group, i can't complain much about the dive sites they choose. haha.. i hate diving at SMART House reef. the visibility sucks. and i get lost all the time. i think i lost the group a couple of times and ended up with julia. but it doesn't matter. she's a good spotter too.. but she has a keen liking to scorpion fish. i hate scorpion fish. tapi dah ada orang tunjuk kita ambik je la gambar nye kan? haha :p since Mohan's divers are all photographers except Stephanie, i had very little chance of taking a photo.. haha they take like 20-30 minute average per subject! crazy lah. i take 3 photos and then leave. unless i thought that nobody was waiting for me. then i'd spend a bit of time taking a photo.
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| SMART House reef |
we saw this gigantic grouper.. i was scared that it would bite my head off.. huhu.. and the highlight of this dive was the vortex formed by the trevallies.. so beautiful. felt like i was in sipadan in the middle of the barracuda vortex. i wish i could snap a better photo. but i was at awe.
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| jacks/trevallies |
Dive 5 - Mabul: Paradiso Uno
after lunch we headed to paradise 1 in mabul. dandy followed us to show us a seahorse. it was tiny as hell.. and green and it looked more like a sea grass than a sea horse. heck i'm not even sure if it was a seahorse. it could be a pipefish!
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| seahorse or pipefish. that is the question. |
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| the pipefish was right smack in the middle of these divers.. huhu.. sian dia |
everyone took their time with the pipefish (let's call it a pipefish la.. ye?) so after i got the shots that i needed.. i left with osman and explored the little oasis between the pipefish and the reef. osman found a silly looking eel that suddenly popped its head as if it held its breathe when moving under the sand.. then he spotted a tiny juvenile pipefish. it's so tiny it looked like the you know those black stuff you take out when cleaning the shrimps? yeah.. it's so tiny even when my camera zoomed i can't focus on the thing. so no decent photo of the tiny stuff... but there were a few. we ended the dive with a view of the mandarin fish. alas, my camera ran out of batteries. and the mandarin fish are too camera shy. didn't get one single good shot of the fish :(
later that evening.. i saw him! he's back.. oh my oh my oh my.. but he looked soo haggard.. probably from the boat ride. it's ok... he's still sexy kekeke.. he and his gf hung out with the other staff playing cards.. while i and the other divers hung out drinking coffee.. they persuaded me to bring my strobe on our next dive. so was pushing me to set up my strobe that night before i went to bed. mr. yummy helped me assemble the strobe but i think he had a little too much to drink. he broke my clamp. but because he's mr. yummy.. aku pasrah je.. hahahhaa.. siot.. i could not sleep that night. not sure if it's because of the close encounter or the coffee.. i think it was the coffee.. damn coffee!
Dive 6 - Mabul: Lobster Wall (again)
mr.yummy broke the good news..he's diving with me. in fact someone actually wrote that he's guiding me. and osman was guiding the rest. hahaha... funny :) and glad.. and excited.. isk isk isk.. angau sudah :p
he tested my camera and strobe. and he told me where to place the strobe. i wasn't listening. well i was but i didn't hear anything. i just wanted to sit there and look at him. mm the last time i was angau like this was when i met my first married-man boyfriend. but that's a different experience. it's a nice feeling. ok. so... am not a lesbian after all.... ;)
when we descended, he was merely a spotter. he just spotted stuff and i took photos.. little did he know my photos are terrible. hahahahaha.. he was a happy spotter. and i was trigger happy. shooting here and there... like nobody's business.. and the results.. he didn't like so much hahah :p
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| huduh kan? huhu |
but at least they've got color! hahaha.. i was scared that i'd only get all-white photos like JD.. i've always teased JD about his uw photos.. about how he always got all-white images underwater that i was so scared it would happen to me too. hehe sorry JD.. takut kena tulah :( ..
while waiting for the next dive, mohan and mr. yummy adjusted my camera settings again. mohan then gave me a few tips.. where to place the lights etc. i didn't get them all figuring that i'd be able to try them later. hehe.. meanwhile mr. yummy kept complaining about my lighting placement. ermm.. he said i always block my lighting.. ye laa.... i wasn't used to bringing strobes ok... before this i was all happy to point my camera anywhere and start shooting. :P sabor je.. complain ek!
Dive 7 - Kapalai: House Reef
Ooi didn't join us on this dive. he was feeling sick from the air. i think absar didn't change the filter when big john told him to for when filling the air in ooi's tank.
there were plenty to see at house reef kapalai. there were the ghost pipefish.. the frogfish.. black and yellow.. big and small.. leaf fish. but geri got the winning shot. she got a shot of the yellow frogfish with the mouth wide open! best gile. so mr. yummy explained that whenever the frogfish is about to open its mouth, the tanduk will be erected. that's a signal that it'll open its mouth wide. so watch out for that. cool. but i don't think i have that patience to wait for him to open his mouth wide. *dengki sebenarnya ni*
while waiting for the next dive, mohan and mr. yummy adjusted my camera settings again. mohan then gave me a few tips.. where to place the lights etc. i didn't get them all figuring that i'd be able to try them later. hehe.. meanwhile mr. yummy kept complaining about my lighting placement. ermm.. he said i always block my lighting.. ye laa.... i wasn't used to bringing strobes ok... before this i was all happy to point my camera anywhere and start shooting. :P sabor je.. complain ek!
Dive 7 - Kapalai: House Reef
Ooi didn't join us on this dive. he was feeling sick from the air. i think absar didn't change the filter when big john told him to for when filling the air in ooi's tank.
there were plenty to see at house reef kapalai. there were the ghost pipefish.. the frogfish.. black and yellow.. big and small.. leaf fish. but geri got the winning shot. she got a shot of the yellow frogfish with the mouth wide open! best gile. so mr. yummy explained that whenever the frogfish is about to open its mouth, the tanduk will be erected. that's a signal that it'll open its mouth wide. so watch out for that. cool. but i don't think i have that patience to wait for him to open his mouth wide. *dengki sebenarnya ni*
but at least i got some good shots la.. better than the dive before kot?
we went back and had lunch. mohan and the gang planned 4 dives that day. and it was ooi's idea too :p so it's kinda funny when he's not doing the four dives. :p
Dive 8 - Mabul: Seaventures
haha.. i bet if jon were there she'd oppose to this site. actually after what happened last time i was hesitant to go too.. i told mr. yummy i didn't wanna go.. he said, just go.. he'll dive close. ahhh.. cair.. hahahaahahaha... i'm gonna log all my 13 dives.. so bear with me here hahaha :p
i was hoping for no current.. at all. i was really tired. didn't have enough sleep the night before. altho i took a 15 minute nap... i was still very sleepy. i prayed so hard things go smoothly.
"welcome to seaventures. maximum depth is 16 meters. it's a square profile. so please watch your deco limit yah..things to see here.. are the ribbon eel, and a bunch of nudis. thank you and have fun"
ermm.. actually the moment i reached the seabed.. mr. yummy and i saw the juvenile ribbon eel. but ermm i accidentally made it go inside its hole.. and it wouldn't come out :( luckily the others didn't see me do that. huhu.. on the other hand the others managed to see the adult ribbon eel at the end of the dive.. both male and female. tak kisah la.. we also saw the flying gurnard but ermm.. i didn't get a decent photo of it. it's too fast ok? :p
we went up and mr yummy said i've made some progress with my phototaking. hmm.. yeay :)
Dive 9 - Mabul: Paradise 1
our last dive of the day, we went diving at paradise 1. my camera's battery was running out.. but i managed to capture a few shots. diving with mr. yummy was great. because he knows his way around, and because i was his buddy, we didn't stay long at the surface. the minute both of us were in the water, we descended. didn't even have to wait for the others. so i didn't feel so tired. alhamdulillah.
as soon as i reached the bottom, we saw this beautiful nudi with yellow trims around the skirts, and has an all white body. the name later i found out was ardeadoris egretta it was moving pretty fast and it was huge. it's right there on the sand. and i was happily taking photos of the nudi while waiting for the others to descend. suddenly i felt like being watched. i turned left and saw a turtle heading towards me. i gave a little shout (not much just a little tiny one) and moved away from the nudi. i saw stephanie right behind me and i held her hands. and there it was. the turtle that almost hit me, crash landed on the poor white nudi. steph and i screamed as if watching a real accident on the road. faruk was there and was stunned by our reaction. i only stopped screaming when i saw that the nudi was safe. pheww... i slipped into the sand after it curled up when the turtle karate chopped it. mr.yummy just laughed. and we headed on to find the frogfishes.
he told me that he was gonna take me to see the green frogfish before my batteries died. plus the water was too cold.. so we decided to go back to the reef and ascended. it was really cold. i wish he'd held me. hahaha gatal. ;p
that night i slept early. even mr. yummy slept early. i guess he was tired handling me. hehehe :p oppss... but i was really sleepy. i didn't want to sleep early but i think i was just resting at about 9:30 pm.. when i fell asleep.
woke up really early. first the fishing boat at 3:30 am. then the cat in heat.. hello.. i was horny too but i didn't wake everyone up ok.. finally at 6:30 am.. i woke up and took a shower. ooi was surprised that i take a shower every morning before i dive. well.. i can't remember how it started but it seems that everytime i take a shower before my dive, i get lucky. i get to see extraordinary things..
Dive 10 - Mabul: Lobster Wall
we planned on doing 4 dives again on our last day of diving. so lobster wall again this morning. i was hoping to see the white variety of pikachu. i've never seen that one yet. we missed the pigmy seahorse. somehow the day before we arrived mabul it has disappeared :( mr. yummy couldn't believe that the pigmy has gone.. so as soon as we have descended, he made a quick search of the pigmy seahorse. still wasn't there.
the current was quite strong.. and somehow in this trip i suck up on air. a lot of air. i finished my air quicker than anyone else. was i that sexcited? hahahaha :p menyampah tau ...
i swear when i looked at my gauge.. i saw that i had like 70 bars left. then we saw the pikachus.. not 1, not 2 but 4. and we saw both the white ones and the yellow ones! i was taking photos of the 3rd one when suddenly mr. yummy tapped my head and showed my gauge. OMG! 10 bar je? where did the rest go? then i looked at the dive computer. deco! i had to do deco stop! OMG! two firsts! i never ran out of air like that.. and i never once had to do a deco stop before! i was laughing when we reached 5 meters. then i realized.. mm.. i shouldn't be laughing when i only had 10 bars of air left in my tank. luckily mr.yummy showed me his octopus.. (no.. not that octopus) and i said yes. he grabbed my arm and we shared air.. i'm so glad my first time was with you mr. yummy....i shall cherish this moment forever. heheh poyo tak? poyo tak? hahahaha
Dive 11 - Kapalai: Mid reef
when mohan told us that we're doing mid-reef kapalai i was quite disappointed. last time i was there back in 2008, i didn't see anything nice except maybe an octopus. hmm... so i didn't expect much from this dive. but... hang on.. there were just too many to see.. and so little time. i guess partly was because our dearest big john joined us in this dive. stephanie was diving with him. and she was soo happy to see all the different things big john showed her.
since i was way over my no deco limit on the first dive, i had to stay shallow on this dive.. ermm.. yeah.. ok.. i was trigger happy then i saw the dive computer. 0 minutes to no-deco limit. erkk? how'd that happen? i quickly swam my way up.. and when mr. yummy saw me, he thought i was having problems with my buoyancy. i showed him the dive computer. he told me to calm down.. and ascend slowly. i think he didn't realize that i had to do deco stop soon.. then the alarm triggered. and he had to do the safety stop with me. hahahaha :p but this time i got to hold his bcd *wink* when doing the safety stop
ermm.. 2 deco stops.. luckily i've got enough air. :p
Dive 12 - Mabul: Boat Channel
i guess they are staying true to the macro magic theme of this trip. we're diving the boat channel. you see i love diving there at night. but during the day .. i don't know.. it'd ruin all the good experience i had of this dive site. hehehe... i'd be able to see all the garbage, the eels.. and what not.
the good thing was i got to see how many sea urchins were in that area. there's even flower urchin! darn it! i nearly touched it too! yikes! and i thought i could only see flower urchins in lembeh
the target was to see the harlequin shrimps, the bumble bee shrimps and i think the boxer crab. i'm so proud to say that i found 2 of the 3 harlequin shrimps. :) we also saw the zebra crab. but no bumble bee shrimps and boxer crab. unfortunately, my underwater housing jammed up when i was about to take photos.. and to make things worse the housing fogged up because i took too long a time to change the settings on my camera :(
so the photos came out.. ermm as faruk puts it ... moody
but i had some pretty good shots of the weird flat nudis :) nice
after seeing that my camera fogged up, i decided to end the dive. told mr. yummy i was cold. we peeked to see where we were.. and swam back to the homestay. hehe ;p
he helped me up.. and helped change the tank for me. cair lagi. :-/ he even made me hot coffee.. uwaaaa... can i have him ma? please...
we rested a while then saw the rest of the gang surfaced not long after we reached the homestay. they were quite happy with the find. well i was happy but not totally satisfied.
Last Dive - Dive 13 - Mabul: Ribbon Valley
Big John took off to semporna before the last dive. he was supposed to take the big boat out that day and we were supposed to dive in the smaller boat. but he changed his mind, so he and rossal took off in someone else's boat. so we moved back out stuff in the big boat.
we decided to dive the ribbon valley. it's actually near lobster wall.. along the reef anyhow..
before we jumped in, mr. yummy whispered to me "watch out for eagle rays or even mantas while i look for stuff" what? nice... :) so when we reached the bottom.. he was digging through stuff while i looked around. there it was. i saw an eagle ray. i didn't have my tank banger with me.. mr. yummy borrowed it (ok. am sooo not gonna wash my tank banger) so i screamed .. he turned and i called out for ooi. all three of us saw it. but it's too far to get a clear photo of it .. i remember seeing the eagle ray with lando last year. that was a beautiful moment ...
then we found the rest of the divers with osman. everyone was taking photos.. so i felt like i had to as well.. hahaha :) saw this nemo on white anemones.. mr. yummy told me to take photos of it. but it's really hard since they move too fast and too much! mohan and mr. yummy didn't share my patience hahaha.. mr yummy was screaming and shouting.. mohan came in and took my camera and took a shot. ok that was not necessary. he could've just tapped my shoulder and asked me to step away. i would have. i don't mind. i spent too long a time there anyhow. :p
i was cold and mr yummy was cold too. so we ended the dive sooner than everyone else. when we surfaced, mr yummy said.. emm.. tak ada tangga ... ok so how are we gonna get on the boat!?? the boat was really high! anip then shouted. tak de tangga. lupa.. how can they forget to get the ladder? uwaaaa... i stepped on the propeller.. and mr. yummy and apung lifted me up. sorry i am heavy guys.. next time pack up the ladder ok :p
while waiting for the others.. it struck me.. it's my last dive .. possible the last with mr. yummy .. uwaaa sedih :(
i didn't talk much. it was the saddest moment of the trip :(
washed the equipment and took a shower. mr yummy went straight to bed after dinner. the rest of us just talked and chatted.. got to know each other better. everyone told me not to go to bed too early. so i waited till about 12:30 then i went to bed. it was a long day. i was sad.. not in the mood and sleepy. so i dozed off...
i woke up at about 5:30 am. went out at 7:30 am.. still hasn't showered. just sat and drank some coffee.. and chatted with kakak tukang masak. heheh :) she's like a mamasan. she smokes like one, sits like one. even talks like one. :) but she's nice. then lando came. i apologized for not calling before i came. i guess he's used to it. i'd done it before hehe :) came unannounced. gave him a hug.. he said i looked like i've lost weight.. ye la tu hehehe saje nak buat aku suka :)
then he left. and i had breakfast with mr. yummy. it's my last day i had to make it memorable. but ermm.. i suddenly ran out of ideas of what to say to him. apa la :(
then we started talking.. about nothing. i started packing.. took a shower and continued our chat until the very last minute. he gave me a hug.. and we bid goodbyes. it's probably our last encounter.. but i don't mind. i got what i wanted. i spent some time with him.. and i got to learn to use my strobe. hehe :) and i actually told him i like diving with him and be his buddy. and i really hope to dive with him again soon. till next time.
more photos here - flickr:inayusoff
we went back and had lunch. mohan and the gang planned 4 dives that day. and it was ooi's idea too :p so it's kinda funny when he's not doing the four dives. :p
Dive 8 - Mabul: Seaventures
haha.. i bet if jon were there she'd oppose to this site. actually after what happened last time i was hesitant to go too.. i told mr. yummy i didn't wanna go.. he said, just go.. he'll dive close. ahhh.. cair.. hahahaahahaha... i'm gonna log all my 13 dives.. so bear with me here hahaha :p
i was hoping for no current.. at all. i was really tired. didn't have enough sleep the night before. altho i took a 15 minute nap... i was still very sleepy. i prayed so hard things go smoothly.
"welcome to seaventures. maximum depth is 16 meters. it's a square profile. so please watch your deco limit yah..things to see here.. are the ribbon eel, and a bunch of nudis. thank you and have fun"
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| seaventures.. so many nudis.. :) |
we went up and mr yummy said i've made some progress with my phototaking. hmm.. yeay :)
Dive 9 - Mabul: Paradise 1
our last dive of the day, we went diving at paradise 1. my camera's battery was running out.. but i managed to capture a few shots. diving with mr. yummy was great. because he knows his way around, and because i was his buddy, we didn't stay long at the surface. the minute both of us were in the water, we descended. didn't even have to wait for the others. so i didn't feel so tired. alhamdulillah.
as soon as i reached the bottom, we saw this beautiful nudi with yellow trims around the skirts, and has an all white body. the name later i found out was ardeadoris egretta it was moving pretty fast and it was huge. it's right there on the sand. and i was happily taking photos of the nudi while waiting for the others to descend. suddenly i felt like being watched. i turned left and saw a turtle heading towards me. i gave a little shout (not much just a little tiny one) and moved away from the nudi. i saw stephanie right behind me and i held her hands. and there it was. the turtle that almost hit me, crash landed on the poor white nudi. steph and i screamed as if watching a real accident on the road. faruk was there and was stunned by our reaction. i only stopped screaming when i saw that the nudi was safe. pheww... i slipped into the sand after it curled up when the turtle karate chopped it. mr.yummy just laughed. and we headed on to find the frogfishes.
he told me that he was gonna take me to see the green frogfish before my batteries died. plus the water was too cold.. so we decided to go back to the reef and ascended. it was really cold. i wish he'd held me. hahaha gatal. ;p
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| we saw the pajama cardinalfish near the mandarin fish.. |
woke up really early. first the fishing boat at 3:30 am. then the cat in heat.. hello.. i was horny too but i didn't wake everyone up ok.. finally at 6:30 am.. i woke up and took a shower. ooi was surprised that i take a shower every morning before i dive. well.. i can't remember how it started but it seems that everytime i take a shower before my dive, i get lucky. i get to see extraordinary things..
Dive 10 - Mabul: Lobster Wall
we planned on doing 4 dives again on our last day of diving. so lobster wall again this morning. i was hoping to see the white variety of pikachu. i've never seen that one yet. we missed the pigmy seahorse. somehow the day before we arrived mabul it has disappeared :( mr. yummy couldn't believe that the pigmy has gone.. so as soon as we have descended, he made a quick search of the pigmy seahorse. still wasn't there.
the current was quite strong.. and somehow in this trip i suck up on air. a lot of air. i finished my air quicker than anyone else. was i that sexcited? hahahaha :p menyampah tau ...
i swear when i looked at my gauge.. i saw that i had like 70 bars left. then we saw the pikachus.. not 1, not 2 but 4. and we saw both the white ones and the yellow ones! i was taking photos of the 3rd one when suddenly mr. yummy tapped my head and showed my gauge. OMG! 10 bar je? where did the rest go? then i looked at the dive computer. deco! i had to do deco stop! OMG! two firsts! i never ran out of air like that.. and i never once had to do a deco stop before! i was laughing when we reached 5 meters. then i realized.. mm.. i shouldn't be laughing when i only had 10 bars of air left in my tank. luckily mr.yummy showed me his octopus.. (no.. not that octopus) and i said yes. he grabbed my arm and we shared air.. i'm so glad my first time was with you mr. yummy....i shall cherish this moment forever. heheh poyo tak? poyo tak? hahahaha
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| my only shot of the small yellow pikachu. hehehe cool kan? |
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| bangga tengok gambar ku dah makin improve hahaha .. poyo |
when mohan told us that we're doing mid-reef kapalai i was quite disappointed. last time i was there back in 2008, i didn't see anything nice except maybe an octopus. hmm... so i didn't expect much from this dive. but... hang on.. there were just too many to see.. and so little time. i guess partly was because our dearest big john joined us in this dive. stephanie was diving with him. and she was soo happy to see all the different things big john showed her.
since i was way over my no deco limit on the first dive, i had to stay shallow on this dive.. ermm.. yeah.. ok.. i was trigger happy then i saw the dive computer. 0 minutes to no-deco limit. erkk? how'd that happen? i quickly swam my way up.. and when mr. yummy saw me, he thought i was having problems with my buoyancy. i showed him the dive computer. he told me to calm down.. and ascend slowly. i think he didn't realize that i had to do deco stop soon.. then the alarm triggered. and he had to do the safety stop with me. hahahaha :p but this time i got to hold his bcd *wink* when doing the safety stop
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| i think the main thing is to go closer to the subject and make sure there's enough lighting. the closer you are the better the photos :) |
Dive 12 - Mabul: Boat Channel
i guess they are staying true to the macro magic theme of this trip. we're diving the boat channel. you see i love diving there at night. but during the day .. i don't know.. it'd ruin all the good experience i had of this dive site. hehehe... i'd be able to see all the garbage, the eels.. and what not.
the good thing was i got to see how many sea urchins were in that area. there's even flower urchin! darn it! i nearly touched it too! yikes! and i thought i could only see flower urchins in lembeh
the target was to see the harlequin shrimps, the bumble bee shrimps and i think the boxer crab. i'm so proud to say that i found 2 of the 3 harlequin shrimps. :) we also saw the zebra crab. but no bumble bee shrimps and boxer crab. unfortunately, my underwater housing jammed up when i was about to take photos.. and to make things worse the housing fogged up because i took too long a time to change the settings on my camera :(
so the photos came out.. ermm as faruk puts it ... moody
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| moody shots |
after seeing that my camera fogged up, i decided to end the dive. told mr. yummy i was cold. we peeked to see where we were.. and swam back to the homestay. hehe ;p
he helped me up.. and helped change the tank for me. cair lagi. :-/ he even made me hot coffee.. uwaaaa... can i have him ma? please...
we rested a while then saw the rest of the gang surfaced not long after we reached the homestay. they were quite happy with the find. well i was happy but not totally satisfied.
Last Dive - Dive 13 - Mabul: Ribbon Valley
Big John took off to semporna before the last dive. he was supposed to take the big boat out that day and we were supposed to dive in the smaller boat. but he changed his mind, so he and rossal took off in someone else's boat. so we moved back out stuff in the big boat.
we decided to dive the ribbon valley. it's actually near lobster wall.. along the reef anyhow..
before we jumped in, mr. yummy whispered to me "watch out for eagle rays or even mantas while i look for stuff" what? nice... :) so when we reached the bottom.. he was digging through stuff while i looked around. there it was. i saw an eagle ray. i didn't have my tank banger with me.. mr. yummy borrowed it (ok. am sooo not gonna wash my tank banger) so i screamed .. he turned and i called out for ooi. all three of us saw it. but it's too far to get a clear photo of it .. i remember seeing the eagle ray with lando last year. that was a beautiful moment ...
then we found the rest of the divers with osman. everyone was taking photos.. so i felt like i had to as well.. hahaha :) saw this nemo on white anemones.. mr. yummy told me to take photos of it. but it's really hard since they move too fast and too much! mohan and mr. yummy didn't share my patience hahaha.. mr yummy was screaming and shouting.. mohan came in and took my camera and took a shot. ok that was not necessary. he could've just tapped my shoulder and asked me to step away. i would have. i don't mind. i spent too long a time there anyhow. :p
i was cold and mr yummy was cold too. so we ended the dive sooner than everyone else. when we surfaced, mr yummy said.. emm.. tak ada tangga ... ok so how are we gonna get on the boat!?? the boat was really high! anip then shouted. tak de tangga. lupa.. how can they forget to get the ladder? uwaaaa... i stepped on the propeller.. and mr. yummy and apung lifted me up. sorry i am heavy guys.. next time pack up the ladder ok :p
while waiting for the others.. it struck me.. it's my last dive .. possible the last with mr. yummy .. uwaaa sedih :(
i didn't talk much. it was the saddest moment of the trip :(
washed the equipment and took a shower. mr yummy went straight to bed after dinner. the rest of us just talked and chatted.. got to know each other better. everyone told me not to go to bed too early. so i waited till about 12:30 then i went to bed. it was a long day. i was sad.. not in the mood and sleepy. so i dozed off...
i woke up at about 5:30 am. went out at 7:30 am.. still hasn't showered. just sat and drank some coffee.. and chatted with kakak tukang masak. heheh :) she's like a mamasan. she smokes like one, sits like one. even talks like one. :) but she's nice. then lando came. i apologized for not calling before i came. i guess he's used to it. i'd done it before hehe :) came unannounced. gave him a hug.. he said i looked like i've lost weight.. ye la tu hehehe saje nak buat aku suka :)
then he left. and i had breakfast with mr. yummy. it's my last day i had to make it memorable. but ermm.. i suddenly ran out of ideas of what to say to him. apa la :(
then we started talking.. about nothing. i started packing.. took a shower and continued our chat until the very last minute. he gave me a hug.. and we bid goodbyes. it's probably our last encounter.. but i don't mind. i got what i wanted. i spent some time with him.. and i got to learn to use my strobe. hehe :) and i actually told him i like diving with him and be his buddy. and i really hope to dive with him again soon. till next time.
more photos here - flickr:inayusoff
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