Pelong Rock Sunset & Night Dive - 21st July 2006

It has been our long awaited event... to start the Manta's Dive Marathon again...! Our very own "Fit Manta" (hhmm... alsoknown as the Humsup Manta) haha... is back! Great to see you again Sau Wei!!

Anyway, we were supposed to have lotssssssssss of dives... but I was recovering from my flu and cough and Eric just got sick, Rachel was coughing for a bit and Sau Wei came to brunei with fever. Goshness.... anyway, we decided to do sunset and night dive so that it is not too hot and more relaxing.

We planned to have our sunset dive at Bolkiah wreck and then night dive at Abana. It took us abt 20 mins and we only arrived at Pelong Rock. The ride was really choppy, so choppy that Azli said it will take us more than 1 hr to reach Bolkiah Wreck. He advised us to dive at Pelong instead. We were sad as we've been diving at Pelong for so many times and there is nothing much to see. Azli told us not to worry and he knows where to look for "stuff". This kept our spirit high and we were excited and curious on what are those "stuff".
Upon descent for sunset dive, we saw schools of fishes all returning to their "claimed" corals as their home. It was a beautiful! Reminds me of how we behave on land. Upon sunset, the school bells rang, adults finishes at work and everyone returns to home. As for night dive, we moved over to another site at Pelong. Again, Azli told us we will be seeing different things. And Yes he was right!

This trip, we saw school of juvenile catfish, school of big catfish (superb!), blue spotted sting ray, sleeping coral catshark, parrotfish, lobstersssss (one purple in colour, one GIANT in size), beautiful white stonefish (that Elvin thinks is a frog fish eventhou we told him it is not and now he has decided to name it as a new species and called it a "moon-fish"), glass shrimps and more...! Yapppp! All these at pelong rock...! Surprise Surprise!

Next on our list... BLUE WATER WRECK...!

Brunei Patch Night Dive - 12th July 2006

Moonlight Divers were in the water again yesterday nite! Gosh... dunno if it is me not getting enough sleep, i still feel as if i am on the choppy boat ride. Hehe... Cute & Slick Manta was feeling sea sick yesterday.

Oh well, yesterday we had Farid the DMT (DiveMaster Trainee) to guide us. The first time we descent, we got drifted and we couldnt find the patch. Well, we found sand patch though.. hehe..after about a 2min search, Farid signalled to ascend and we got up, relocate and descent again. This time we found the patch. It was an excellent dive as we spotted lots of underwater goodies. Not treasure la.. but i guess i will call it the "underwater treasure". We spotted cuttlefish, blue-spotted sting-ray, humphead parrotfish, sweetlips, six-banded angel fish, great barracuda (who was following us like a predator!), nudibranch, cornetfish, scribbled leather jacket and more...
Farid was really good and he spotted most of the stuff for us and some from the Bitch who sneak off work early and "moon-ing" (haha) using his new torch. Hehe... On the 2nd dive, Farid spotted a cleaner shrimp which was just beautiful. I was trying to take a closer look at it when i spotted something that looks like a spider! I used my tank banger to touch it a bit and it moved! It was a decorator crab... simply beautiful! On our 2nd dive, we also saw what i will call "staghorn paradise"! Lots of staghorns.. and in my mind.. i was calling out for the seahorse. I was really hoping to spot at least one for Slick Manta... but I couldnt. I turned around and i noticed that everyone else was doing the same. I laughed inside my heart, feeling that we were like sea-horse hunter... except we just hunt with our eyes and camera...
My buddy's torches (primary and secondary) decided to die on him on the 2nd dive and i gave him my primary light and i switched to my secondary. Not long after that, we ascent and end our dive. When on surface, i noticed that my torch was not on my wrist. I dropped it! But, the light is still on. I put on my mask and I can see it in the bottom, my buddy wanted to go down with me to get the torch but DMT Farid offered to go. Unfortunately, he could not find the light! The current was strong and we got drifted from our point of ascent. Boo-HOO.... when we are leaving, i gave out a shout... a shout of farewell and full of sadness.. "BYE BYE Princeton-Tec" ...My very first dive torch... and it is with white lights! Oh.. and i forgot to mention that my O-ring burst on me too yesterday. Gonna get Cek Li to help me fix it... sigh.. sad sad sad.. but good learning experience. Look at the bright (moon) side... We lose something, but we gain another...

So... what's next??? Let's get some day dives and i can probably search for my torch!

Rig Wreck & Rig Reef Night Dives - 6th July 2006

The weather has not been promising but we have been craving for night dives so much that we decided to have it on last thursday. We could not believe our eyes when we saw how calm the sea was. We were delighted. After a bit of a hiccup on the coordinates to use, we finally found the rig wreck. Thank goodness for Hj Kula's Fish Finder. There was 10 of us excluding Azli, our guide for the evening and his helpful assistant, Uwais.

There was a lot of first time in this dive. It was my first night dive on a wreck dive site. And, it was also the first dive using my own set of COMPLETE gears. I was soooooo excited over it. Beautiful view and experience!

At Rig Wreck, we saw beautiful corals which had grown on top of the desserted oil rig wrecks, a big chubby puffer, lots of shrimps and other fishes. At the reef, we were really lucky to see a seahorse. (Yes! 2nd time we spotted a seahorse!). The seahorse was spotted by Reza not long after we descent from the anchor line. SWEEETTTTT.....!! We also saw a scribbled leather jacket, parrotfishes, crabbiesssssss, shrimpsssss and more...! Azli saw a coral catshark! Damn! hehe...

We finished very late after those 2 dives, approximately 12am! We were exhausted but filled with lots of good memories. Memories of the beautiful underwater sites, of Reza's regulator's O-ring which decided to burst on him when we are planning to dive, Angel lost Norman's torch when we completed our first dive, Rachel could not find her brand new virgin torch, Tat almost lost one side of his Force Fins (Yes another fins, luckily he managed to grab hold of it when it came loose), Lee Ming having sea sick even after she took her sea sick pill (poor gal), Bitch Manta has decided that his Mares wet suit is too hot that he decided to make the hole bigger for conditioning purposes (haha!), Rachel's two on-loan torches decided to fail on her (low Batt!) and many many more.. Hmm.. I wonder if those are beautiful memories, but they are sure something that I would like to remember to put a smile of my face...

Well done, Anny & Tat! You guys had done your first night dive... and hoping for more?

Brunei Patches Night Dive - 22nd June 2006

Praying through the day... No rain no rain.. We were so happy that the sun was out and shining...! I called up Azli and he said, "Okie tu. The Dive is On!" Yay..! I cudnt wipe the smile off my face after that. Excited over the dive, Lee Ming and myself was planning already on what time to get our gears and prepare for the dives. Haha..

We saw a dead porcupine puffer on land. It was kinda sad to see a big puffer dead and imagine what a pretty fish it will be underwater. We sailed off around 7.30pm. Azli was quiet, very quiet when taking us to the site. I know that it was not a good sign as Azli usually talks a lot if the weather was good. It was getting cloudy and on-and-off we can see some lightning. "Looks like the storm is building up", i said to myself. Perhaps, he noticed that I was a bit worried, the Cute Manta jokingly pray that the weather will be great and the thunder will go away.

It was a longggggg slowwwwww ride to brunei patches. When we're there, the current was so strong. So strong that it pushed me waist high while i was holding to the anchor line. When all divers are out from the boat, we quickly descent. And then... the adventure begins... as of today, I will rate this dive as the best night dive...

I spotted a SEAHORSE! It was pure luck.. PuRE GOOD LUCK.. Thank YOU for letting my torch shine on it while it was swaying itself beautifully in a humongous staghorn; asleep. I cudn't believe my eyes and stare at it for a good 5 seconds. Totally amazed and excited, i was searching high and low for my tank-bang while keeping my eyes at the seahorse to not loose sight of it. I finally found my tank-bang and banging all the way till i got all divers' attention. What a Bewdy...?!!

That's not all... we then spotted a cornetfish (which i tot was a trumpet-fish) hehe... We saw lots of beautiful fishes asleep, crabbies and shrimps. Azli spotted a big lobster and baby lobster as well. I was following closely to Azli as I know he always spot good stuff and will quickly signalled us. I was looking at some corals trying to find another goodies when suddenly I felt a "calling" signal from Azli. This time, the signal was really fast and I felt a shiver under my fins! Hehe.. When i looked at the light Azli shone, it was a shark! A coral cat-shark (which i tot was a leopard shark! :P Guess i need to do some fish ID! Haha..). It was swimming really fast but we managed to take a good 30 seconds look at it. Now, isn't this an excellent dive! A coral catshark and a seahorse! But.. it's that all? NO...! We then saw not one but TWO humphead parrotfish hiding in the boulders. It was awesome... it was just fantastc that I felt like dropping my jaw but i can't becos i need to keep the regulator in my mouth. Haha...

I was so happy that I felt like living underwater in brunei patches. So happy that i felt sick after surfacing! Haha.. I vomitted for the first time... Donno why... felt a bit dizzy and headache. Hope i am not suffering from a mild DCS. Heheh... Nonetheless, it was a fantastic dive and i will definitely go back to Brunei patches!
Next dive... BLUE WATER... YIPPEEEEEE!