Diving is GREAT FUN !!! Hate the sea urchins though ...

on fri, 100306, i lugged my fila bag over to andy's place and took a lift to the SAF yacht club near Changi naval base ... We were on our way to Pulau Tinggi, where their sand and sea were waiting for us .. cant wait ... our first open water diving trip! The transport to malaysia awaited us at the yacht club and from there. we procceded to Jurong East MRT to pick up the rest ... after hours and hours in the coach, we finally arrived at Mersing jetty where we took a boat to Pulau Tinggi, about an hour's boat ride away ... During the boat ride we got our first taste of tinggi marine life when silver fishes jumped out of the water right next to us !

Pulau Tinggi ! First time staying at one of these islands so dunno wat to expect ... according to the instructors, the accomodation here is really GOOD ... with running water and air con, it IS certainly comparable to a normal chalet ... abeit a small one .. the marine life here though, is not as vast as say, Pulau Tioman .. i like the rural kampong like style ( with hot showers and air con) though !

the chalet like rooms


bunk sweet bunk ...



for our first trip, we went snorkelling ... That was when we first encountered the URCHINS !!! spiked porcupines of the sea ! to snorkel in shallow waters with tens and tens of these creatures peeking up at you ( YES THEY DO HAVE EYES ! ) while adjusting their bristles to inflict maximum pain is really an exprience one doesnt forget easily ... They even have LEGS underneath the ball-like exterior ... luckily their speed is comparable to a starfish ... One of my friends even got poked by one .. ouch ... Urchins aside, the corals there hid small fishes of many colours ... many ( if not ALL) of which i dont know the name of ... saw fan-like corals, brain-like corals , rock like corals, tube -like corals etc etc ... ( forgive my limited knowledge of sea life :-/) We even spotted a small jellyfish floating right beneath us ! cool ... andy and i saw this stony looking brown fish floating just above some corals ... wanted to go nearer to see what it was but did not since it looked dangerous ... we also tried diving to the bottom w/o an air tank to collect sand ... training for a situation when we lose something to the 'beach' bed ... after snorkelling for sometime, the smell of food from the eating halls lured us up ... ( ya right ..)

after diving my skin looked like a lobster's, my hair stiff like corals and i smelt salty ...


Our second trip for the day was the time we finally donned our air tank ! again we practiced our drills of clearing the mask, looking for the 2nd stage and sharing air .. this time not in the pool ! wahaha ... Initally we spent most of the time just trying to maintain neutral bouyancy underwater ... but i kept on floating upwards ... after i added one more weight to the weight belt, maintaining neutral bouyancy became no prob though ... after a short rest, we dived in the shallows of pulau tinggi .. bout 8 metres in depth max ... we dived furthur from the beach and got to see more of the marine flora and fauna ... i even spotted a pair of clown fish just next to a pathetic looking sea annemone .. haha ... have always seen them in tanks but never just directly underneath ! also saw many small fishes that are quite common in aquariums ...




Our third trip took place the next day ... this time we had to dive to a depth of 20 metres near a rock island 20mins boat ride away from pulau tinggi ... me, andy and kenvin went as buddies ... we jumped off the boat into the water ... then, we started our descent ... 5metres, 10 metres , 15 metres... finally we reached the sea bed ! it was just sand sand and more sand ! haha ... but it was our deepest dive so far so it was still rather cool ! then when we were at the bottom, andy's O ring bursted ! air shot out thru the air tank so rapidly that by the time we went up, his pressure gauge measured zilch ... andy first noticed this when the bubbles obstructed his view .. luckily i was just next to him when he signalled me .. didnt tink of sharing air with him at that time .. neither did he ... which was actually a big mistake ! guessed this was our first exprience with a potential danger thats why ... we signalled to go up ... meanwhile kenvin was some distance away and couldnt do much anyway ... we wanted to chiong up fast at first ... hoping that enough air would last him ... but thankfully andy remembered that shooting up could pose some danger ( air embolism ) and we slowed down the ascent ... anyway by the time we remembered we were already reaching the top ... thankfully we were already on the way up when we started to ascend quickly, thus the short depth in which we rosed rapidly posed no danger .. when we reached the top we signalled the boat ( which was some distance away as the current made us drift from the island ) and climbed aboard ... bobbing up and down on the sea waves doesnt seem as easy as it does on TV ... i got sea sick just by bobbing up and down ... when we climbed aboard it became worse ... thankfully the seasickness improved as time passed ... well , we didnt get the full amount of time spent underwater but the experience more than made up for it ... besides, it was just sand all ard the sea bed .. hehe ...

The 3 musketeers ! and one spooky hand ...


Our 4th diving trip ! this time we simply dived furthur away from the shore in another area compare to the 2nd one .. carrying our air tank( full tank ... very heavy ..) , regulator, BC, masks, fins and weight belts( my weight belt 10 kg ! tink total ard 20 kg ?) we staggered across the beach to find an entrance to the sea ... and it made a huge diff ... instead of the many corals and rocks and away from sea urchin haven from our 1st and 2nd dives, we now stepped into the boundaries of starfish and sea cucumber haven ... we dived to about 12 metres depth ... along the way, the instructor let me hold a sea cucumber .. it felt like a marshmallow ...seriously ... sea cucumbers there were the biggest i've seen yet ! about 3/4 the length of a normal keyboard and almost as thick as your mouse ! starfishes there was also rather huge ... i've even spotted a 4 legged one and one with spikes ! some of us spotted a green unicorn fish ( a fish with a horn on its head ) but i missed it .. phooey ...


Soon it was bon voyage ! we went home the same way we arrived, by boat and bus ... this time with new friends and new memories ... and a pretty bad sunburn ...

Homeward bound ! Till we meet again Pulau Tinggi !


Here are some pics courtesy of Karen, who unlike us guys, actually bothered to bring along a REAL camera ...