M'sia Pulau Aur 21st ~ 23rd May 2004

Day 1, Dive #1 -Telok Keador (Depth 11m, 40mins, 280c, Visibility 5-8m)

 


Feel the adrenaline rushing thru my veins.. . my first dive experience. . the first taste of my dream. . we did the backroll dive into the water. . *grinz* was amazed by the christmas tree worms.. . a whole array of colours. . that retreated into the boulder when you brushed them. . fairie wrasse fish were swimming all around us.. . nibbling and feeding on the sand Puppy was trickling over them. . couldn't stop laughing at the Wrasse's who bit at my knees and was screaming to get them away.. . cos we weren't allowed to release the hor line. . Dino took many pics of us. . and Raymond did a line-up shot of us. . started to shiver incontrollably. . we were experiencing a thermocline. . bringing temperatures down to <27oc was wondering how long more we had to stay there when we did the alternate air source ascend. . thank god that our dive instructor was even more afraid of the cold than us. .  also saw corals like the brain corals, lotsa acroporas. .
Dive #2 -Pulau Lang (Depth 13m, 45mins, 290c, Visibility 5-8m)


   

After a hefty breakfast, went plunging into the waters again.. lucky there wasn't a thermo cline.. . saw hills of acroporas, brain corals, more christmas tree worms, cauliflowers and School of Jack, batfish, and Napoleon wrasses. AND.. bumphead parrot fishes about 1 . 2 m in length and 1 m in width. . was amazed and hovered in complete stillness as they swam past like a herd of elephants swimming past. . camera's still with our instructor. . till the 3rd dive then. . 
Dive #3 -Captain's Point (Depth 13m, 40mins, 290c, Visibility 5-8m)


     

 

Gotta touch and took a photo of Puppy holding a Box Star fish, giant starfish, nemos in anemones, ribbon eel, more wrasses, moon corals, sea fans, spotted ray, dog-faced puffer fish, more nemos, cauliflowers of all colours, batfish,  the marine life was just too breath-takingly enchanting and abundant to take note of all the species spotted.. and of course my limited knowledge of their species.. . Green Sea Turtle that swam away when we approached. . wow. . 
Day 2, Dive #4 -Rayner's Rock (Depth 24m, 33mins, 270c, Visibility 5-8m)


 

    
Saw caulis of various colours, purple, orange, pink, red, sixband angelfish, barracudas, big titan trigger fish, yellow band fusiliers and butterfly fishes, acroporas with blue damsels and deep blue sea slugs seemed to glow in the water. . did drifting. . was almost impossible to stop as we were swept along the reefs. . huge sea fans, batfishes in a pair. cliffs of tabletop corals, huge rock boulders rise from underwater to surface , strong surface currents that threatened to sweep us into the rocks. . here's the island's cat. . really beautiful!!
Dive #5 -House Reef (Depth 13m, 46mins, 290c, Visibility 5-8m)

 

 

            
The most beautiful of all the reefs here. . cliffs of tabletop corals, acroporas, blue-tipped acroporas, crown of thorns, christmas trees, sea fans, giant clam, parrotfish, barracudas,. went fish feeding with bananas??.. . and huge sea cucumbers with little stars on them. . still can't shake off the thought that sea cucumbers look like caterpillars. . saw a big cuttlefish . . from this dive sprung my love for corals. . like a beautifully designed landscape. . was really reluctant to surface. *sigh* can't bear to be out of the water. . away from my dreams. .