Island Paradises and Violent Squids

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Despite having spent a week in Bali I never had a real fresh roti at all, but today I remedied that. People seem to really appreciate it when you speak the local lingo, and the chap at the roti stall was no exception. I chatted to him in Pigeon Malaysian while he turned to small fat dough ball into a huge thin disk, then folded it in a fried it up to make the finished snack, served with a hot vegetable curry - a great start to the day.

At about 10:15 I went down to the ferry terminnal which was now bustling unlike yesterday afternoon. I got a small overloaded shuttle out to where the larger boat was moored a little out to sea. The journey out was pretty uneventful (i.e. both pretty and uneventful!) aside from a slight concern that the emergency exit was being used to store the excess of bags that seem to have been bought along.

We eventually arrived at the island. I expected a paradise lost to tacky resports, but actually Tioman seems relatively unspoilt especially given its celebrity status of being one of the 10 most beautiful islands in the world. I found some cheap accomodation, and as I was sitting outside doing some washing I watched a monitor lizard digging for food. Hearing a rustle in the trees I turned around and saw a monkey jumping from branch to branch... tropical paradise!

In the afternoon I went for a dive off of the pier in the bay. I was initially dubious but saw that it was home to a whole host of marine life including Pufferfush, crabs and eels (and a whole loada fish!). After exploring the jetty we swam across to the house reef - an impressive coral garden in very shallow water.

After a bried surface interval we went down again, this time for a night dive. I saw much the same as on the first dive, with the added bonus of being chased by a squid who turned and darted straight for me when he realised he was being followed!


Dive Log

67 - Jetty & House Reef, Salang, Tioman, Malaysia, 15.2m, 16:35, 53min, 200->140 Bar, 5Kg
68 - Jetty, Salang, Tioman, Malaysia, 15.2m, 19:36, 43min, 200->70 Bar, 5Kg

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Comments

[Sylvia]

Sinking feeling
The diving sounds fantastic. I hope that you are not eating to much and that you don't remain on the bottom with all the extra weight. p.s. remember to wiggle your toes