Disco Clam

This is a giant clam which exhibited 'electrical sparks' running across its body when provoked. We saw it while diving at Lembeh Straits in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. We christened it the Disco Clam.

Redang 2008: Part 3

I had some problems with my camera while underwater. Well, actually I had problems with the underwater casing. Some of the buttons wouldn't respond accordingly and I spent half the time just pressing the macro button like a crazy monkey on its first beetle of the day.

When I finally got it to go macro, the white balance button got jammed up pulak! DANG!

Hence the relatively few and poor quality of pix this time around. Solly lah. Asther, kasi chan ah. ;)

In any case, the poor visibility during most of the dives, coupled with the storng and unpredictable current made it all the more difficult to keep focus and get steady shots of anything animate. So... sponges, anyone?

I went back to Sandy Bottom again to find more qierd creatures I may have missed last year like this scorpion fish that doesn't swim. It walks!

The DM had really sharp eyes to spot this flatworm just lying erm.. flatly on the sand.

This is not a snake, its a pipefish. Sorry bout the green, forgot to switch on the flash / strobe light.

I took about 30 shots of this teeny tiny ... something... perched onto the whip coral. Asther?

Here's the Mrs Pipefish that we spotted swimming not far from the grey one.

Ooh... a new kind of nudibranch. Asther?

Another hermit crab wearing a 'Private Benjamin' type of hat.

The prerequisite shot of Nemo!

This is what they call a table coral. It was really big, about 10 feet across.

Up close, the surface looked like a 3 day beard growth on Nan's chin.... ;)... or on Crew's scalp....

A pair of very shy red feather stars trying to appear as inconspicuous as possible.

When I finally managed to get the camera and its housing to work, all the fishes had gone away.... sigh....

SO, what to do? Take pics of my dive buddy for the dive lor.... Meet Gregory, divemaster extraordinaire!

Redang 2008: Part 2

No trip to Redang would be complete without going for a dive (or two). This place never fails to surprise me with its bountiful fish, beautiful corals and out-of-this-world creatures.

My first dive was to a newly discovered Vietnamese boat wreck about a mile out east from the resort. The trip there was rather eventful as the waves and strong current took its toll on my queasy stomach. :p

The visibility this time around was quite bad, as we could only see only a few feet ahead of us, prompting some of the less experienced divers in our company to panic a little.

So down and down we descended into the blue nothingness, the bad viz not helping much... till we caught sight of an ominous dark shadow....

Imagine swimming in the semi-darkness, straining your eyes trying to make out the shape of something quite huge in front of you, and at the same time, turning round every few seconds to make sure you haven't lost sight of the others in the murky waters.... and then you see this, a huge spear-like anchor jutting out from the stern of the sunken ship pointing right at you.

I don't know why, but every time I see this picture, that dreaded Celine Dion song begins to echo in my mind and I know that it will go on and on....

Everywhere on this ship, all sorts of marine creatures, great and small can be found either attached to its surface or swimming around hunting for food.

Here's a blue-spotted stingray making its escape from pesky scuba divers disturbing its afternoon nap.

It took me about twenty shots to get a semi-decent picture of this tiny spider crab that was hanging on a whip coral for dear life as the currents swept everything (including us) around like rag dolls.

Anybody missing a brain?

I have to say that this dive was one of the most challenging ones I've had in Redang. The currents were really strong and the termoclimes made havoc of the visibilty not to mention causing a lot of us to get a shiver or two halfway through the dive.

Indeed, the lack of visibility only made this dive all the more mysterious and memorable. The only problem I had with it was that it completely jammed up my camera's ability to focus on anything but the biggest of creatures. ;)

Pulau Weh 2008: Part 7

Pulau Weh has got to be one of best dive sites on the planet due to its crystal clear waters and abundant marine life. The sheer variety of corals and fishes was astounding, from pilot sharks to mantas, giant gorgonian sea fans to tiny nudibranches, there is something here for every diver.

And thanks to this lady, my good friend and dive mentor Yanni, I was able to savour the underwater wonders of Pulau Weh.

Ok, on with the final few dive pics. And have I saved the best (most of which were taken by Nazri) for last. This is a black-saddled sharpnose pufferfish. It's basically a pufferfish lah (fugu, you know?) but got a bit too creative (or narcissistic) about its appearance. ;)

This is a very very small nudibranch which only a very skillful diver could stay still enough to capture on film. Who else: Nazri lah!


This pretty little thing is called a flatworm. And its brightly coloured body is to ward off predators. Unfortunately this strategy had backfired when facing its most notorious enemy: the underwater photographer. Pretty mah.... so take picture lor....

This elusive fish is called the spotted boxfish. It is a distant relative of the pufferfish (probably by marriage) Hehehe

Wah.... a lady diver dropped her handkerchief..... no lah, this is a nudibranch egg mass. Apparently they spiral in an anti-clockwise direction. I wonder if nudibranch eggs in the southern hemisphere spiral in the opposite direction.....

That's me with Simon and his big-ass underwater camera equipment.... looks impressive but damn bloody hard to manoeuvre underwater especially when there is strong current.

The thing about Weh is the abundance of fish and the water clarity that makes the entire vista so enchanting. Everything is just that much more colourful, and many a time we found ourselves in depths over 40m and yet it was so clear and bright.

This is a table coral with its very own centrepiece. Maybe the host is expecting a few divers for dinner. Yummm....

Another honeycomb moray eel guarding its lair against predators and pesky divers who can't seem to leave it alone.

Our final dive of the trip was at a shallow sand bank dubbed the volcano due to the underwater hot springs that spew out boiling hot sulfurous gas.

Even in such an environment, we could see lots of fish, and very large ones at that, swimming around as if they realy relished the sauna-like environment.

This is the aquatic version of a communal Japanese sauna where every one just gathers around the warmth and lets it all hang out. :)

Erm.....I think this is Simon making his contribution to the gaseous environment.


Before we knew it, it was time to go back up.... for good. The last dive on the last day was over.... Time to head back to shore and clean up and pack up everything.

Ah, here's the group photo of all 25 of us... erm... where's Nazri? Alamak, he has been cut out of the pic... Sorry bro!

So until the next dive trip, I wish you all clear skies and everything nice. Oh oh, coming up... my JAVA PICS!!!!!

Pulau Weh 2008: Part 6

Poor boatman's wondering where everybody went...

Well, Aris, everybody had jumped overboard when they found out mantas had been sighted here earlier today!

Well, we didn't see mantas right away of course. What we did see right off the bat was a giant school of jacks in a vortex formation.

Needless to say, quite a few of us tried to approach the vortex, but if you have ever tried to chase after fish, even if they're in their thousands, you will know that fish can outswim human divers very very easily.

So, I decided to concentrate on less mobile creatures... like this very interesting species of sea sponge, which actually reminds me of a multi-toothbrush holder which I bought in Bangkok last year.... or was it from Bali.....?

While waiting for the others to descend, I spotted this huge lobster.... head. Quick, somebody call the CSI: Marine to this crime scene.... Decapitated lobster, COD looks like erm... decapitation.... no signs of forced entry into its coral, need to check for traces of GSR and I guess its gonna be a DOA case.

This heavily adorned star fish is another type of noduled Sea Star. Its arms were about six inches long and I swear the thing try to reach out to grab me! Either that or the narcosis had started to kick in.

Another clump of feather star. Remember, this is an animal, not a plant. Whatever.

This is a striped surgeonfish. Its name is derived from its razor sharp hind fins which are used as a protective measure from would be predators. Hehehe and also due to its resemblance to McDreamy.

This hard coral looks like extra large clumps of white fungus... You know, the stuff your mom puts into the Leng Chee Kang and makes you eat because its "good for you"?

After hours of exhaustive searching through my fish books, I finally 'think' that this is a Vagabond Butterflyfish...see the bluish tinge on the edge of its dorsal fins?

Lest you think that I have gotten tired of my favourite u'w subject, here's a very beautiful specimen of the Chromodoris kuniei nudibranch. Thanks to Nazri for pointing it out to me and also for allowing me to post this pic.

This regal looking fish is an Emperor Angelfish....

And not far behind, is his baby, Crown Prince Angelfish. (That's a juvenile Emperor Anglefish for those who are a bit slow.)

This little surgeonfish went to market.... this little surgeonfish stayed at home.... this little surgeonfish had roast decapitated lobster..... this little surgeonfish had none... and this little surgeonfish cried blwee blwee blwee al the way home.

Then suddenly, just as we were about to give up our search, right on cue! Look up in the shallow water! Its a bird! No, it's a plane! No lah, stupid, it's a Manta ray!!!

See, everybody was so happy that they forgot that they need to breathe through the second stage!

No Lynn, you can't breathe through your mouth like a fish.... Oooh.. nice teeth....