Manta Mission - Accomplished

.Great shot of Sebastian molesting a manta ray.

.By Caroline using Nikon D80 in Hugyfot housing with wide-angle lens.

8 of our divebums left 10 days ago on Thursday, 20th September 2007 on a 8D/7N trip to Sangalaki, Indonesia. All avid photographers equipped with some of the best digital cameras around today coupled with amazing photography skills were out to hunt 'em manta rays.

They've returned yesterday Mission Accomplished!

Caroline has written an account of their trip. Read it on divebums here. The pictures are jaw-dropping gorgeous. It should be posted on divebums very soon.

.Divers and divers-to-be, join our underwater adventures at divebums. There'll be more upcoming dive trips. And check out our photo albums :)

I love wide angle lens!

Day: Sunday, 17 September 2007 - Day Dive
DiveCrew: Boat 1 (Myself, Caryn, Andrew, Boon Hui, Lisa, Edward, and Cik Azli), Boat 2 (Ricky, Billy, Emily, Chang, Chris, Kimmy and Hj Kula)
Dive Site: Cement Wreck and CLEAR Reef II
Viz: Good
Max Depth: 31m
Dive Time: 60m & 90m

.When my alarm rang at 6.30am, all i could think of is *I.want.to.sleep.in*.

The only reason why i got up is Boon Hui is already on his way to pick my lazy bum up. And another is diving with him is like diving with a resort... he carries your tanks, he changes your tanks, he helps you gear up, he helps you up the boat. We're sooooo friggin' lucky chu...

Boat No.2 was heading towards Cement Wreck so Emily can do her deep dive for Advanced. After much contemplation and shuffling between the dive sites at the end of Muara port, we decided to join them at Cement Wreck but funny thing is.. when we arrived, their boat was no where in sight! Apparently they had detoured to Blue Water wreck.

Weather wasnt all that great to begin with, but the world below us appeared more than calm! Viz was decent towards the bottom so early into the dive, Caryn and I descended to the bottom of the freighter... i watched the needle on my SPG drop, metre by metre, until i touched sand. I was 32m deep into the sea and as i looked up at this enormous ship, i felt overwhelmed but yet belittled.. it was a somewhat daunting feeling. I snapped out it when Caryn's divecomp starts to beep, we were too deep.

Today I get to try out my new macro lens and red filter lens. I must say it's really a pain to use without strobes! I gave up on red filter after 2 shots, and the macro lens was really testing my patience.. grrrr..

I got the magnification, but i couldnt not accomodate the sharpness. It was a huge struggle when i saw this xeno crab! It was big though it can easily be missed by the casual diver who doesnt know of its existence. It was cleverly camouflaged among the polyps of this wire coral that extended from the side of the wreck. I spent 3/4 of my dive photographing it and not a single good shot and this is actually the 1st time we've seen a xeno crab in Brunei. I'm very disappointed.

According to Andrew, - who was blooody pissed because he had wide angle lens on - they do not migrate until a long time after so he suggested i show him where it is during our next dive trip. Right... The wreck is like h.u.g.e and there are thousands of wire corals...right.

Towards the end of my dive in Cement Wreck, i managed to get the hang of 'em macro lens.
.The core of a coral.

We did our 2nd dive at C.L.E.A.R reef II.. named after Caryn, Lawrence, Emily, Andrew and Ricky. I had lots of fun modelling for Andrew, though half the time i dunno what the hell is he trying to say. Your sign language sucks.. and he said i looked too pucat and reckoned i should put on some lipstick the next time i dive with him.. *faint*

I totally love these pictures. He was only inches away from me when he took these shots. Amazing.

And this baby nemo took up half of my bottom time.

.The many faces of an anemonefish.

.Displaying - probably hollering to Celion Dion's i will always love you.

Back to the sea

.Mua just doing my thing - hanging out in the deep blue sea.

After 3 weeks away from saltwater, my hair seems more human, i got fairer, skin is not as dry... all this can really tempt you to just stay in on fridays, sundays and do normal land things.

It can make you really lazy at the very thoughts of draggin' your tanks on board, basking under the hot scorching sun, bearing those jellyfish stings, and the idea of throwing your guts out.

Neverthless, i am going out to sea tomorrow.

I've had a long day...

Considering the weather's been so unpredictable, raining pits, and crap. What do some of us poor divers do when we cant go out to sea?

Brace yourself!

.Beautiful mermaid in the pool!.

.Would you believe, a whaleshark?.

.2 nincompoops.

Models: Linda, Sebastian, and Andrew

Photographer: Andrew

Gears: Nikon D200, Nexus housing and wide friggin' angle lens

50 years later

they will still be arguing over who's the better cook...

Congratulations Bryan and Tina. T'was a beautiful night.

.Some of my favourite shots.

07.09.07

Who's your favourite

in the Brunei Cup 2007?

This year is the first time out of the entire history of Brunei Cup that i've actually went to watch a game. It was all by chance, and by chance we met a bunch of kooky dudes that gives me cramped stomach from laughter.

One classic example is someone peeling an orange,
"i dont eat oranges, but i like to smell them.."
then went on to sniff the orange peels.
Whatta??

Another is,
"what should we wear to the ambassador's house?"
"hmm... tshirt, shorts and... slipperrrrrrrrssssss.."
Slippers to the ambassador's house!
Whattaaaa...

Helpppppp...

I was only away for 3 days, 3 days without watering, and when i came home, my Little Myrtle shrivelled up. It was dried to the point of crispiness, the softest touch would send the branch raining leaves. My precious bonsai!!

When mum saw it, she shook her head, took the scissors and starting snipping away. Before i could finish yelling "What do you think you're doing??!!" She started sighing and giving me the pep talk about growing plants and being responsible.

"Look at it, it's already dead anyways"
"If it grows back, u're lucky.. if not, that's it, it's gone"
"How could someone as lazy as you think about growing bonsai"

.Huge and heavy sigh!.

.(L) July. (R) August.

Since then, i would religiously put it out at night to collect dew, bring it in during the day, water it, the works basically, until one day....

I squinted like 20 times before leaping around.. waving my arms hysterically "It's alive, it's alive!!!"

That tiny green sprout of life totally made my day. I thought i had green fingers after all. I brought it back to life! I was one happy woman!

But i'm ashamed to say, i got comfortable with the knowledge that it survived the worst, and at times forget to remove it from direct sunlight, so that tiny hope turned crispy brown.

.Praying for miracle No.2.

.I must learn to be consistent.