Comic Hero, eh?

The lil' bugger did it. I lurve my nudis.

From:	Frédérique Jaffeux
Subject:	Group icon
	Hi Lee, Your picture: www.flickr.com/photos/womaninawetsuit/562997287/sizes/m/in/pool-367474@N24/ was chosen to be the July and August icon for our group: Weird and Wonderful Wild Fish. If you agree, I'll make the changes as soon as you give me permission! Thanks for contributing to the group with your great pictures! Take care, Frederique

The "Yoshi" Effect

.Photographed by Mr.Yoshi Hirata.

Day: Saturday, 16 June 2007 - Day Dive
Crew: Myself, Angel, Joseph, Steven, Simon, Albert, Nusun, "Some1", June, Uwais, Cik Azli (Instructor), Boatman
Dive Site: Arun's Wreck and Brunei Patches (Brunei)
Viz: So-so
Max Depth: 20m & 12m
Dive Time: 45m & 70m

Tempted by 3 boat dives in one trip, Angel and I got up at 7.30am on our day-off to join Cik Azli. We met at the bay off Jerudong fish market; fishermen were all preparing their boats to go out to sea, twenty over tanks stand waiting to be loaded on our boat, both my hands full with bags of food, i look up to the bleak skies hoping it wont take a turn for the worse on us.

Arun's Wreck is approximately 20-30 minutes away depending on sea condition. We descended to this sand barge that is sitting upright on a sandy bottom. Even with poor visibility and the lack of sunlight, this wreck exudes a kind of mellow beauty. It is completely floored with willowy pink and lilac soft corals that is home to carefully camouflaged cowries.

During this dive, the name "Yoshi" and the "Yoshi-Effect" kept running through my head everytime i focus for a shot. When i was in Mabul, Andy from Scubazoo told us about SWV's consultant marine biologist, who is also an underwater photographer, Mr.Yoshi Hirata. He raved about Yoshi's style of photography; focusing on a particular feature of the subject.. their face, their eyes and all else are out of focus. They call it the "Yoshi-Effect". They said his book "My Expressions of Love for the Sea with ... Yoshi" will send tears down your face. His pictures certainly justify the phrase "Every picture tells a story". I was inspired.

...So i fiddled with my camera... heh heh heh.

Conclusion: The strobes that i've been trying to avoid buying is inevitable if i wish to get closer to my subjects. I . got . to . resist . the . temptation.

There is actually a third Glossodoris at the back, but i've cropped it out. They were huddled together, usually a sign of mass-mating behaviour.

.I'll stand by you.

'Tailgating'

Risbecia tryoni has an interesting habit of tailgating - the phenomenon where one animal follows another often with the 'follower' usually resting its head on the posterior end of the foot of the 'leader'. More often than not, i see this trailing behaviour in tryonis. It is thought of as a prelude to mating behaviour in this genus.

.Peek-a-boo.

Our second dive was at Brunei Patches. We dropped off to part reef and part sand. I was quite excited because we learned in Mabul, sand dives can be very rewarding. A good part of my dive was spent peering over burrows in the sand, looking under featherstars, and scanning seafans. It has to be me if i havent found anything interesting YET! Then a featherstar sitting on the peak of a pyramid-shaped coral caught my attention. I thought it would make a good picture. I thought i could have a look at the featherstar before i take a shot. Suddenly, something red poked its head up from the other side. *@#$. Gawd. It looked at me straight in the eye. I backed off in a split second and it slithered off. My eyeballs almost popped out of their sockets! It wasnt anything extraordinary but the fact that it crept up like that scared me shitless.

Since this is probably the best encounter so far, i looked around for Angel, Steven and Joseph. No sight of them + bad viz = hysterical banging on tank while keeping an eye on Mr.octo-who-is-slithering-away.

.You got me!.

.You cant exactly get sick of them. It's Nemo!.

Our 3rd dive was cancelled due to bad weather and a few sea-sick divers. No resistance from Angel and I as we were dead-beat tired and sleepy.

The night was spent with people who were much younger than I am! Thank god for these two i didnt feel so out of place. Muuhuuhuu.

Flying without wings

.This is how it feels to fly without wings.

Day: Friday, 8 June 2007 - Day Dive
Crew: Myself, Caroline, Tuon, Caryn, Anny, Boon Hui, Uwais, Cik Azli (Instructor) and Hj Kula (Captain)
Dive Site: Lamlit Wreck & Yeoli Wreck (Brunei)
Viz: Good
Max Depth: 30m & 25m
Dive Time: ~50m & 50m

I still remember very clearly, that one day in Mabul after doing 6 dives, I told Angel i wont be diving for a while when i get back to Brunei. Dive until scared already!.

And what happens? 2 days after i return, i wanna get back in the waters again.

It was a blarrrdy hot day!
.Uwais said "Jadi ikan masin sudah ler..."

We set out from the end of Tutong Beach. Beautiful day. Super calm waters. Clear blue skies. Would have been perfect if not for the scorching sun. I think i have more pictures of us on the boat than underwater, for some reason, we were all pretty vain that day. Muhuuhuuu.

.Our captain, Caryn, Anny and I - honestly if i have to choose between her steering a boat and her driving a car, both hands up to a boat!. Look.. there's a duckie in the sky!.

Lamlit Wreck is a barge sitting at the bottom of 30-31m out in Tutong. When Caryn, Anny and I descended, the anchor have already shifted from the wreck so it took us a few minutes to find it. This wreck appeared deserted, I didnt see any signs of fish activity but there were alot of nudibranchs!

.I lurve polka dot nudis!.


.New lovers. Old lovers - when your man starts walking ahead of you. muhuhuu.

While we were snapping away, Caryn suddenly started shaking her shaker and signalled it's time to ascend. What the? We've only been down for like 20 minutes?? And it's almost decom. time. Apparently, when we were looking for the wreck, we stayed far too low at 30m.. exhausting our bottom time. This really sucks.. though we had good fun while doing our extended safety stop. When Caryn told us time's up, Caroline actually waved her off.. HAH.. she wanted to stay longer and refused to come on board. haha..

.Caryn and Anny. Eksen.

.Diverholics.

We spent roughly two hours watching Cik Azli lift and relocate his fish traps (Their ricebowl ok) while we munch away on glorious food. Our second dive site is at Yeoli Wreck - a fishing trawler, i presume it's name after Instructor Yeo and Cik Azli, hence Yeoli. Am i right, Caryn?? I wanna have a site named after me tooooo hee hee. It's a rather small boat that's very popular among damselfish, fusiliers, and a variety of shrimps.

.Glass shrimp.

I got abit bored at one point and starting shooting at small cardinalfish that we usually ignore due to its commonness. It's actually got quite a nice profile!

Another great dive. Thanks Cik Azli!

.The explorer of Brunei Seas.

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. :/

Cant get enough of Mel

Day: Saturday, 12 May 2007 - Day Dive
Crew: Myself, Caroline, Tuon, Wadean, Kimmy (Instructor) and Bala, the Boatman
Dive Site: Mel's Reef @ Little Dale
Viz: V.Good ~15m
Max Depth: ~18m
Dive Time: ~60m & 60m
Caroline's 4 dives away from being a certified advanced diver, tuon would always sneak in a cigarette before a dive and takes the longest to gear up, kimmy stacks the best egg sandwich, wadean is ever so patient and suntans without sunblock, bala is a rescue diver who once aspires to be a divemaster but think he's too old for it now, and me with my camera and obsession with tiny critters. We all had our fingers crossed for good weather.

We were adventurous this morning and decided to try our luck convincing Bala to take us out to Mel's then Brunei Patches on the way back. He's a tough one to budge, using FUEL as a bottleneck. We settled with 2 dives at Mel's but at different descent point. Mel's Reef is the best bet. Visibility has been consistently good there and it never cease to amaze.

.Kimmy and Caroline. Schools of breams and fusiliers. Healthy corals.

Caroline did her navigational skill with Kimmy whilst Toun, Dean and I peeped under boulders hoping to bump into Missy Toitle, peered over vase corals for the occasional coralfish that seeks refuge there and fiddled with featherstars!

.Featherstars.

Featherstars are gorgeous! They'd make a great coffee table centerpiece. I used to think of them as annoying plants that clings on for dear life to my wetsuit everytime I happened to brush by them. Recently, their beauty is beginning to grow on me. Just like when one starts to learn how to dive, the greatest excitement comes when you see things for the first time.. it is the same with photography, you are constantly seeing and learning things not just for the first time but also with a new perspective. So featherstars a.k.a "flowers of the sea" arent really plants, they're infact animals - related to starfish and sea urchins. They have a 'claw-like' structure that is used to secure them onto seabeds or wetsuits . They feed on microscopic food by wafting their "arms" in the water. Similar to that of a starfish, their mouth is located centrally at the base of these arms.

Caryn told me you can find tiny shrimps living amid the featherstars and Tuon too mentioned sometimes you'll find crabs inhabiting the foot of a featherstar, so i took a closer look and indeed it is home to certain shrimps.

.Shrimps inhabiting featherstars.

Our hour was up. We surfaced to 5meters for our 3minutes safety stop (basically to release nitrogen from our body). I looked up to shafts of sunlight piercing through the water's surface, it was glaring, i squinted, exhaled and took a shot. Most people would say "no wayyy" when i tell them the sea is flat, so here's evidence! Hehehe.

It was total silence, no slushing of waves, no chugging of the boat's motor, no howling winds. You cannot imagine the peace in the middle of an open sea. At one point, we all acknowledged it, sat in awe and sap it in.. the next minute it was a debate on whose nasi katok tastes better. Muuhuuhuu. I had two packets of nasi katok, kueh, chikadees, doughnuts, gawd i swear this is bad.

During our surface intervals (also to release nitrogen from our body), Caroline saw dorsal fins on the surface followed by a patch of ripples! "What, what? dolphins?" "Shark ka?" "Whaleshark??" It was a school of batfish! I put on my fins, my mask, grabbed my camera and the rest went "go in slowly" "quietly".. and yes i slipped into the water as lightly as i can manage with a full stomach. It was another 1st for me. 20-30 batfish were swaying along the surface, unfortunately when i finally snapped out of it they've swam too far for me to shoot.

.Scorpionfish that one should never attempt to touch. Tomato anemonefish.

For our 2nd dive, we drove slightly further away from our 1st dropoff point. I could tell it was way deeper because i could hardly see the bottom, nevertheless we decided to give it a go. It was 18m deep and has a different coral composition. It actually looks and feels like a new dive site to me although it's part of Mel's Reef. My buddy Dean constantly kept me alert with unique or exciting things he saw by WAVING his hand infront of me. I was like dooooooood, use ur tank bang! Cos several times he had to come and get me, and lost sight of whatever it was he wanted to show me.

But he managed to show me something really interesting. He pointed towards a burrow and told me to wait. Obviously for something to emerge? What is it? A minute ticked by and it felt like forever, so i swam around the area to keep myself occupied while he wait. He is seriously patient! I'm absolutely sure he were observing for more than 10 whole minutes! Then he signalled me over. It was a goby, perched on a little rock ooohhh.. but wait, out comes a yellow shrimp and with my excited outburst of bubbles, they both zoomed back in. So dean waited again, for the curious goby to come out. I swear he was totally amused by it all.

When i related this to Kimmy back on the boat, she told me that the goby and shrimp both live together. Some kind of symbiotic relationship between them. The shrimp digs a burrow in the sand or gravel and constantly keep it clean from sediment seeping in. The goby lives in this burrow as a tenant. Because the shrimp has poor eyesight, it relies on the goby to warn him of any danger. So, the goby sits at the burrow entrace as a 'guard'. When the shrimp leaves the burrow, it uses one of its antennae to maintain contact with the goby. At the first sign of danger, the goby will flick its tail and both goby and shrimp will retreat into the burrow for safety. Each party gains from this relationship: the shrimp gets a warning of approaching danger, and the goby gets a safe home and a place to lay its eggs. It's simply amazing and we literally witness the said behaviour. I've learnt something new. Thanks to Dean. I usually wouldnt have the patience for it.

.the common pustulosa. and what i call the cottonbud nudi.

.Oohhmmm.

Nothing feels like reenergising yourself with a dose of nature.

I'm looking forward to my night dive this Wednesday, i.e. if it doesnt rain like a bishhhh.