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Published: July 13th 2006
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Singapore....
The border has changed so much since the last time I am here. Last time I was in S'pore, the Woodlands MRT station opened on the day I flew back to NZ.
Made my way to Chhay's place at Bukit Panjang. Noting down great directions as usual. After this petrol station and that petrol station. I overshot by 2 or 3 bus-stops. Still walkable to his place. We then met up with Chhay's gf, YunnChyi (hey let me know if I spelt your name wrong), for lunch. She was not joining us for the easter weekend diving trip.
In the evening, we all met up at Apache Dive HQ, board the van when everyone (32 people) arrived. Looks like most people are doing dive courses (Open water and Advance), there's only a few of us who's on leisure diving. Equipment sorted all loaded onto the van, and we are off.
Its a long drive across the border to the West Malaysia's east coast, Mersing Pier, speedboat transfer to a bigger boat, and then a couple of hours of boat ride out the island in the middle of the night. Short de-briefing on whats happening tomorrow morning and
we all settle in for the night. We stayed and our refueling was based at Atlantis Bay.
14th April Didn't see what the island looked like in the mist of darkness. Today looks like a great day of diving ahead. 4 dives in total, including a night dive.
NZ has very cold waters. Its so nice and warm here. After my 2nd dive, I threw away the shorties and just dove in my swimming trunks. The locals thought I was nuts. With my blabber, it provided enough insulation. The water temp was just LOVELY...
First time diving in tropical waters, so much colours, fish life. And in less then 10 meters too. The corals are not very well due to years of fishing. But you can still see alot of colours, as you can see from some of the pics. I was swimming much slower for the rest of the group trying to take everything in. I was like a kid in a candy store. Just so many colours. And to think Pulau Aur is not even known for its dive sites. Its more a learning and training ground for divers. I really need to hit some
Chhay's Camera
One of the last picture he took before it had a permanent focusing problem more famous tropical dive spots on my next stopover. (e.g. Sipadan)
Saw a trigger fish (From a distance). We first spotted a diver, from a different dive company, swimming in turbo speed with his camera in tow. Apparently trigger fish are very territorial and they are known to attack and charge at divers. They are quite big too.
Night dive was a bonus as I spotted a sleeping turtle under a ledge. Of coz Chhay with his super bright torch woke it up. It didn't look happy when we disturb its beauty sleep. Gave us such an evil look.
After 4 dives, we were all starving. The spread was AWESOME that night. Again sorry, no pictures. I'll try and paint you a mental pic. Fried rice, fried noodles, beef rendang, chicken rendang, fried fish, chilli craps, beef and chicken satay (with the real handmade peanut sauce), kangkong belacan... sorry have to stop there. My mouth already watering from all this.
Just say I couldn't move an inch after the meal. Fruits too, watermellon, papayas, juicy mangos.... :p
Went to bed a very very exhausted and happy. what a great start...
15th April Had further
All aboard
Heading out to the boat 2 dives today and passed on the next one and the night dive. Must be all that food I ate last night. I couldn't equalise properly. So generally just chilled on the boat and on shore to get some sun in. Got much better in the evening. The spread that night was not as good as last nights. No more chilli crabs, but just as nice.
Some of the group was celebrating a b'day. I wasn't feeling 100%!,(MISSING) so I hit the sack early.
16th April Two more dives before we headed back to the Mainland. I have just doubled my diving record with the diving i've done over the pass 3 days. Before we know it, we are back in S'pore by 8:30pm.
I have to say it feels rushed and exhausting for a holiday. Maybe I'm just too used to the layback Kiwi style. Perhaps the S'poreans just want to maximise their activities during their hols. If you are to go one such dive trips, I suggest you skip a couple of the dives, you can enjoy and soak in the Sun and location much more.
Ok tomorrow... Hong Kong here I come.
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