Carried away

Day: Sunday, 20 May 2007 - Day Dive
Crew: Myself, Angel, Ams, Steven, Simon, Sebastian, Peter, Natalie, John, Alfred, Phil, Eng (Instructor) and Hassan (Boatman)
Dive Site: Oil Rig Wreck and Oil Rig Reef
Viz: V.Good ~15 to Poor ~3m
Max Depth: 10~20m
Dive Time: 64m & 40m

.Ams' such a poser.

After multiple trips to Mel's Reef, i persuaded Eng to take us to the Oil Rig Reef for a change. Onboard with us were 2 guys from labuan whom i believed were brothers cos they look so much alike but one later referred to the other one as a friend, and a few BSAC divers. Everyone ooohed and wowed at the calm sea and clear skies. On the way out, Angel and I were talking about our upcoming trip to Sipadan with one of the guest from Labuan. He's hilarious. He said "One thing about Sipadan is, they say you'll get annoyed with the turtles! They're everywhere.. You'd be like 'CHAO laaa, (shoo!) you're in the way". Muhuuhuuu. And here we are, in Brunei, sleepless after an encounter with a turtle.

Viz is really good, as usual it got everyone hyped up... scrambling to gear up and wanting to be the 1st in the water. Angel, Steven and I took the plunge and deflated into the marine world. The corals in this dropoff zone were sparsely populated and it's shocking to find quite a number of dead corals covered in algae. Marine life is not as lively as Mel's Reef, but they do have a large variety of parrotfish; blue-green, pink-black, aqua-purple.

.Baby lionfish.

.Magnificent Chromodoris.

.Whatchu looking at?. (Phillidiella Pustolosa)

Eng reckoned we should go to Abana Rocks, an island near Kuraman Island, a few kilometres away from oil rig reef for our 2nd dive. We were all up for it until Hassan told us he doesnt have the coordinates for that site. So oil rig wreck it is.

.Oil Rig Wreck taken last year.

This rig now act as a man-made reef and is home to a great variety of fish. The pylons are entirely wrapped with featherstars, soft corals, grogonian fans, sponges. The triangular oil rig jackets are about 15 metres long. Every next metre we descend, visibility gets poorer. We hit the sandy bottom at 20m. Then something red and round caught my eye.

A flatworm, wiggling inch by inch.
.Ringed pipefish.

The next thing i know is tank banging left and right, Angel spotted a lilac coloured nudi. And it's friggin fat. Before i got a satisfied shot, she nudged me to go to another spot. I kinda hesitated. Then she pointed "2", ooooh 2 nudis?? Two friggin fat nudis, Steven pointed out another big fat white nudi with orange spots. Gawd, i can only take so much surprises at one time. There were so many of them. At one point i almost went berserk deciding which one do i fancy most given our limited bottom time.

.Red-Papulose Gymnodoris. Can you see that it ate something big?

.Risbecia Tryoni.

Angel nudged me again, and pointed up.. and i thought she wanted to show me another nudi! So i signalled wait and continue shooting. Infact, she wanted me to ascend higher so we can dive longer. Next thing you know she pointed to her watch and i heard it beep. Uh-oh. We have exceeded our bottom time and had to do a 10-minute safety stop. :/