24 April 2007

Dive Heaven


Sipadan oh sipadan. This year, several groups of people have been and are heading to the legendary Sipadan Island. Caryn just came back early this month and told us her wonderful encounters. And the week after, Angel and I booked ourselves for a 6D/5N dive mania at end of May. You simply cannot resist.

After the disaster last year, the Malaysian Government forced the removal of all the accomodation resorts from Sipadan Island to Mabul Island and Kapalai. We'll be staying at the Sipadan Water Village in Mabul where you get FREE and UNLIMITED house reef dives. *feeling swoony here* And Mabul Island is a macro dream! argued to be one the the richest single destinations for exotic small marine life anywhere in the world. *faint* Apparently renowned underwater naturalist Neville Coleman dived there several times and reported that he never got more than 15 metres along the bottom each time he went under as they were just too many critters to shoot.

I.cant.wait.

I just upgraded my Ixus800IS to Powershot G7, from 2cm to 1cm macro mode and a whole chunk of manual controls to fiddle with. I just learnt stg about Aperture values during my lunch break today.


left: Lower aperture value to blur the background
Right: Higher aperture value to bring foreground and background into focus

I have serious doubts of mastering all these controls before i go to Sipadan. eek

This will be my 3rd dive destination outside of Brunei. 1st is Labuan for obvious reasons and 2nd Oman back in Dec 2006.

Oman has the most surreal-looking dive centre. Built by their Sultan, it is situated in its own mini-fjord called Jussa Bay. The minute you step in, you cannot believe there is paradise like this hidden amidst enormous mountains. Clear blue waters and a pristine white sand beach stretching over 200 metres and palm trees!


Oh, I was wondering what is this man doing to the poor donkey. Strength training for farming chores? I couldnt get the image out of my head the whole day. What little do we know. The next day when we returned to shore from our dive, the donkey was already waiting to transport our tanks and gears back to the dive centre. Sobs. I later found out that his name is Chotte, the dive centre's resident cargo donkey.



With his charming good looks i'm sure he's the apple of everyone's eye in the dive centre, so i felt a wee bit less sorry for him. And word got around that they found him a mate recently!

It was reported that:
"Donkey Chotte is in love. The object of his passions and reason of his torment: Dolcinea, a luscious chocolate brown mountain donkey, recently enrolled at the Dive Center and soon to be sharing in his tank ferrying duties. Finally! A potential friend, a companion, a roommate, someone to go home to after a day’s hard work and have a good old bray and a gulp of trough water with.

All good in theory. Unfortunately, Dolcinea -whose deep brown eyes and silky coat have afforded her many an admirer in her time- remains decidedly unimpressed. But Donkey Chotte is not giving up. He is quite determined to win her over.

Yesterday he spent a whole hour practicing sultry looks in the rear windscreen of a dirty Echo."

And Oman has the most gigantic eels ever! Eeks.

2 comments:

Name on April 24, 2007 at 9:59 PM said...

Omg woman! you got the G7!! Care to let me have a fiddle??

Lee on April 25, 2007 at 1:29 AM said...

I did i did! Ofcourse you can! It's so classic looking. I love it to pieces.. i bring it around with me everywhere in the carry bag, just like a pro. Rofl.

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