Ampa Patches - 30th April 2006

The Blue Manta has made another dive adventure trip to Tutong. This time... at Ampa Patches. Note: the name is Ampa... not "wutever-pa" as pronounced by Sau Wei. Heheh...

We reached the initial dive site, but the water was really dark; symbolised that visibility is clear. When boatman, Hj Ramzi attempted to drop the anchor, it cant reached the bottom. Hence, the water is far too deep for us to dive. Norman, the dive instructor decided to move us further... this time nearer to a desserted oil rig labelled Ampa Patches.

The water is clear and visibility was great. We saw lots of fishes, but i dont know what species they are. Hehe.. We spotted lots of Moorish Idols, Angel fishes, lion fish and more. I spotted lobster which hid in one of the big corals there. I signalled to my buddy "Cute Manta" to check it out. Surprisingly, he spotted a white tip reef shark instead! Unfortunately I didn't see it.

We did two dives at Ampa Patches. It's good to take a break from seeing wrecks with two longgggggggg dives seeing corals and fishes.

I wonder what's coming next....???

Comments received:
from Eu
wa... so nice... when u wan to bring me diving ? Baby Manta ? ^_^(http://spaces.msn.com/chongeu/)
May 10 10:37 AM

My reply to Eu
Hey Eu, Whenever YOU WANT...!!! hehe.. go get your open water license first la... hehe..(http://spaces.msn.com/keileem/)May 15 8:22 AM

from Elvin Hii
Yes, spotting the white tip was exciting, unfortunately, baby manta was not able to share the excitement moment with me. Anyway, I realised baby manta kept chasing the Moorish Idol in the 2 dives, she must be pretty bore. (http://spaces.msn.com/elvinhii/)
May 01 8:43 AM

My reply to Elvin Hii
Ci tan Kao... where got bored? It's fun to get up close with the Moorish Idols.. and also playing with the Anemonefish... :P(http://spaces.msn.com/keileem/)May 01 8:48 AM

Yeoli Wreck & Victoria Patch - 28th April 2006

Today has been a very memorable day for the Blue Manta...

We finally stepped our "fins" down Tutong Beach for our very first dive at Tutong. Visibility were excellent initally but when we were finally down at the bottow, the water was a bit cloudy. Nonetheless, this does not stop the Blue Manta from having a great dive time. We spotted sea-snakesssss, puffer fish, lion fish and giant groupers. Not to mention, we also spotted schools of fishes (but donno the names ).

Next stop, we went to Victoria Patch and were a bit disappointed at first because it is a very shallow dive and claimed to have lots of dead corals. Rachel was the first to jump into the water and spotted angel fishes right away. I was amazed to spot Leopard Moray Eel a minute after we descent. Then comes lots of other colourful fishes such as Pipefish, Boxfish, Puffer Fish, Triggerfish, Moorish Idol, Snappers, Groupers, Lobster (dead one), Emperor Angelfish and more. Close to the end of our dive, Eric spotted a less colourful fish. On our way to return back to the boat, he signalled "Shark + BIG". Suspecting that he is lying, I played along and swam towards the spot he signed. I peeped through the hole between the corals and my regulator almost fell off from my mouth. IT IS A SHARK and IT IS BIGGGGGGGGGGGGG..... We were excited to spot a reef shark about 4 feet long. It just made our dive journey more memorable.

So, what's next? TUTONG again of course...!