tioman!

yes! finally managed to dive since the previous trip to dayang last july. the usual fear is still present in me, especially the descending part, yet when we finally reach the corals or near the seabed does excitement replace that initial fear. i'm still a relatively lousy diver cos my buoyancy's still quite unstable. spent half the time underwater attempting to control my breathing and stop myself from flailing my arms too much, at the expense of fully enjoying the marine life. (which reminds me, planet earth: ocean deep will be showing on central tonight - a must watch!) I may have missed some rarer creatures that my friends saw, but i managed to see turtles!!! 1 was crippled with only 3 flippers left, and the other was gracefully swimming up towards the surface. simply could not get my eyes off that turtle. next marine creature on the 'must-see' list is of course the shark! till now,i still haven't seen a pufferfish..but that day will come!

this trip was a tad different from the previous 2 cos we were brought to a new dive site - the lodges' wreck! it was a wonderful sight - a big big school of yellow-tail snappers, and barracuda swimming on our right..beautiful. dived throught the snappers and looked down into a wreck..wonder if the wreck was done on purpose so as to meet the increasing demands of divers or whether that ship truly sank. but unfortunately for that particular last dive, i involuntarily ascended without doing my safety stop. That explains the throbbing headache i suffered right after. i just could not descend despite exhaling as much as i could, oh well it's an excuse for me to go on more dive trips to practise my breathing. after all, practise makes perfect! we also went to the tiger reef, where i came across a new form of descend - the rope descend, due to the rather strong current near the surface. it was rather nerve-wrecking, especially when visibility was not too good either. but we were rewarded with a wonderful wonderful sight of very colourful corals. 2 baby eels greeted us as we watched a nudi branch do its 'dance' in the water.

this trip really reminded me of how much i love diving.. once underwater, the stress and pressures of the real world disappear, allowing me to truly enjoy the underwater scenery. some may say that we can see the same creatures in underwater world in sentosa or other huge aquariums, but diving is another thing altogether. you'll have to experience it to find out for yourself. being able to come into such close contact with nature is indeed exhilarating, and the challenge of diving is to spot those creatures in their natural environment, rather than seeing many many sharks and huge fishes swimming past you and separated from you by a glass panel. don't like seeing them in man-made environments. i support natural law such that everything is functioning on its own.

i wonder when my next trip with the ushers will be... they are a fun bunch to hang out with! =) 2 jap girls were on the same trip with us. they travelled all the way from japan to leisure dive in tioman. got my chance of practising jap! it's surprising that i still remember quite a number of jap phrases, considering i'm currently learning korean.

tentatively, i have the advanced diving course with marg and her friends awaiting me in august. i do hope i get my navigation right *prays hard* there's night dive to look forward to as well! we missed it this time round becos not only were kaili and i not qualified, even if we were, we didn't have torchlights =(

next dive destinations besides the usual tioman and dayang will be redang, bali, krabi, phuket, phi phi island, sipadan, great barrier reef? shall research on possible dive sites in the US..if have, i'm gonna bring my mask and snorkel over hehe.. oh! a reminder to myself to get wetsuit that fits me PERFECTLY, rather than trying to force myself into one that's way too tight.

waiting to uncover the beauty and mystery of the sea during the next dive trip! =)