Pulau Payar, Pulau Perhentian & Pulau Mabul In One Month

Pulau Payar

Before you guys go "Who the hell dives in Pulau Payar?", I had purchased my Langkawi ticket even before I took up my Open Water. It was supposed to be a holiday with my girlfriend but unfortunately, she became an ex girlfriend when the time came, hence I went to Langkawi alone.
Transpo from hotel to jetty
Pulau Payar
Suiting up
Semangat Diving
Just a few more seconds and I'm in the water
Or so I thought

I paid RM280 for 2 dives, boat transfer, hotel pick up, gears and lunch. I was the only one diving and had one Dive Master all to myself. I read in a dive forum that Payar has bad visibility and you know what....it's so true!! The vis was very very bad and it's not advisable for newbies like me because the bad vis experience will just put you off diving totally.
Apparently, the time that I dived was during the worst season in Payar. In fact, a Thai fishing boat had capsized recently and all the crews were missing. Plus, two tourists drowned by the beach a day before I arrived. The moment I descended, I knew I was in trouble. I couldn't see anything!! The current was strong because I could see the particles just coming directly at me. Another indication was the anemone flowing at only one direction, all bent on one side. I swam against the current and in 30 minutes, it was getting worst. My DM went near a rock to shield himself from the current and when I tried to do the same, I was swept up to the surface. As I was ascending, I tried deflating my BCD but I just kept going upwards. By that time,I had already lost sight of my DM. Panic did not sink in as I've gone through worst or similiar situations before. Imagine two jealous women I had to placate on Perhentian island..now that's a panic induced situation. Anyway,I surfaced and then I realized why it was a bad season. Huge swelling waves crashed onto me and what's scary was that I surfaced near jagged edge rocks. I then swam away from the rocks and looked for the boat. This is where I learnt a scuba diving lesson the hard way. I could see the boat but the boat could not see me due to the swell of the waves. If I had a whistle, I would have gotten the boatman's attention but without the whistle, there I was, floating on voilatile waves for about 15 minutes. At times, I swallowed sea water. So guys, bring a whistle at all times. The boatman spotted me and came over. By that time, my DM surfaced and he shook his head. We both knew why.
Dazed and confused
The second dive was no better but the only consolation was the sighting of giant groupers. These buggers were as huge as your car windscreen. Apparently, they're residential groupers there and it was a sight to behold. Other than that, it was bad viz.
I wouldn't recommend newbies to Payar as it would cloud their enthusiasm (no pun intended) for diving. Although, now I know the difference between bad viz and forever viz. Not to mention, how to stay calm when separated from your DM and last but not least- bring Mr Whistle during every dive.

Perhentian Island - Seahorse Dive Centre - Remaining Advance Open Water Course
My first underwater photo shot
I had 3 more adventure dives to obtain my AOWD. I chose Fish ID, Navigation and Night Dive. For my Fish ID adventure dive,I went to Tanjung Basi. At the boat, I was able to already view the corals from above. I descended and aw man...forever viz. What a relief after my nightmarish dive in Payar. I really needed this. Fishes were aplenty at Tanjung Basi and I was given a writing board and a pencil to identify the fishes. I place the board on my strap and 30 minutes later, I realized that the board was gone!!!! It must have slipped out while I was swimming along the rocks of Tanjung Basi. I signalled to my DM that I lost the board and he asked me where was my direction. He was accompanying an Open Water student. I just pointed to the opposite of where I swam and off we went to look for the board. I thought it was a lost cause but just ahead in the horizon, I saw a white object on top of a rock. By golly, it was the board!!! I swam towards and grabbed it with the thought that I've also executed the search and rescue adventure dive with this stunt. But this
shows that the current at Tanjung Basi was calm enough to not sweep my board away.

Next was Navigation Adventure Dive at Shark Point. I saw schools of bat fish, a baby turtle, sting ray and more. It was awesome. Anyway, navigation is super easy.

My last adventure dive was Night Dive. We did it in front of Seahorse Dive Centre and surfaced at the jetty of Lembaga Kemajuan Ikan Malaysia (LKIM) jetty. I saw groupers, rays swimming away, baby moray eel in one of the PVC tukun tiruans. I motioned to my DI to turn off his torch and I did the same. ABSOLUTE TOTAL DARKNESS. it was only for 5 seconds.
Graduation Ceremony at Sea Horse Dive Centre
With that, I obtained my AOWD but most importantly, my Perhentian dive regained my enthusiasm towards diving again with the excellent viz and amazing underwater life.

Mabul Island - Scuba Junkie, Semporna
I have a military project in Tawau and I went a day earlier to do day dives. Upon landing in Tawau, I rented a Kancil for RM100 and drove to Semporna the next morning from Tawau. If you take a cab from Tawau to Semporna, it's RM150 one way. Scuba Junkie charged 3 dives in Mabul for RM300.00 which includes boat, lunch and gears. I hooked up with Scuba Junkie and man oh man, the number of people diving off the Semporna islands were crazy.
There were at least 15 divers to Sibuan Island, 9 divers to Sipadan and 8 divers(my group) to Mabul. Semporna to Mabul took 40 minutes by boat.
My first dive was at Manta Point and I was excited because this was my first dive in the Celebes Sea. Back roll splash!!! Viz was good and something new I experienced, wall diving. There'd be corals corals corals and then, nothing else but the abyss. It was excellent. the marine life there was just superb.
Scuba Junkie office in Semporna
Boat full of divers

The moment we descended on the second dive, we saw a huge turtle resting. That was the biggest turtle I've seen and we continued on to see lion fishes, nudibranches and loads of trigger fishes. A giant moray eel was also there. It was just picture perfect. The sun's ray penetrated the water and red little fishes were just swarming over a colorful coral. Absolutely awesome.
Celebes Explorer Live On Board and Seaventures Oil Rig Turned Dive Centre Behind Me

The third dive was in front of Scuba Junkie's jetty. Guess how many turtles I saw in that stretch? Seven!!! Also, they were cuttlefishes, groupers and many more amazing underwater life. I saw a curving school of red snappers which made my jaw drop.

Celebes Sea = speechless. You don't have to spend like 4-5 days and taking leave to dive in Semporna. One can purchase Air Asia tickets to Tawau on a Friday night. Drive to Semporna the next morning. Do the 3 dives and fly back to KL on Sunday. It's doable enough to get a fix on your diving.
The island I went to for work
So there it is. My dives in 3 weekends and what do I think about it? I have to probably agree with Meatloaf that 2 dive locations out of 3 ain't bad. My last dive for the year will be at the end of September in Tioman. After that, no more dives until Febuary 2010.

Arguably The Most Dramatic Waterfall In Malaysia (Berkelah Waterfall)

Never have I seen such a beautiful, powerful and impressive waterfall in my life. I am talking about Berkelah Waterfalls. What's great about this waterfall is that it's only 2 hours from KL and a relatively easy trek. However, if it rains, I do not suggest any excursions there. That is because you need to trek on pencil thin ledges and you all know how to complete the sentence.

The beginning
Do start early because again, you all know how to complete the sentence. Don't go on weekends because it'll get crowded with hordes of people making peace signs when their pictures are taken. I'd rather listen to Andrew Ridgeley's(of Wham fame) solo album than to see that spectacle.

Anyway, the best part of the journey are the pools that you find along the way. Emerald pools like these below :
Emerald pool
Jump in
Be careful..it's deep
Perfect Pool
Arguably the best ass in Malaysia
Video Of Berkelah Fall

Reunited After 7 Years

Back in 2002 when I was based in Borneo, my job was to set up a satellite communications network for more than 200 schools there. That meant travelling to god forsaken areas through any means of transportation as shown below :
Hours of walking in my special pants
Facial expressions says 5 more hours to go
Russian plane
Anyway, there was a picture taken while I was in the midst of work back then in 2002. In the picture below shows a young teacher looking in wonderment of the equipment I was handling. This project brought telephony and Internet access to their very very rural school, hence his excitement.
Cikgu in grey shirt,me in blue singlet circa 2002
Fast forward seven years later to 2009, I was asked to visit several of these schools involved in the project back in 2002 and in the list was the school now being mentioned. I brought along the picture and asked the headmaster if he could recognize the teacher. He said "Of course, that's Cikgu Albert!He is still with us" He summoned another teacher to call Cikgu Albert and for the first time in 7 years, we met. He did not recognize me until I showed him he picture. Since then, he has gotten married with 3 kids and still teaches at the school. Before I left, we took a picture together at the same spot for a Kodak moment.
2009
What can I say? Je suis tres tres dramatic.

My Personal War On Terror

Terrorism is still alive and kicking even after 8 years since 9/11 happened. What's worst is that it has spread to Malaysia's neighbouring countries like Indonesia(JI) and the Philippines(Abu Sayyaf).

I was recently given the opportunity to indirectly fight the war against terror through technology and it involved me travelling to the coastal cities of Borneo.
Hi tech equipment.That's me on the right without a shirt.Il fait chaud
On guard
Climbing the radar tower
Damn high tower
Training with a view
My task was to set up several high tech equipment for survelliance purposes on several key coastal locations. That meant taking 3 different kinds of transportation on a daily basis - car, boat and helicopter to reach the sites. It is scary at times when we still lifted off in a heli during bad weather. What did not help was also the sweltering heat of the sun but what is there to do when work beckons.
Transport No.1 = Van
Transport No.2 = Boat
Transport No.3 = Nuri Helicopter

Nevertheless, it never cease to amaze me that some of the places I go to are just absolutely gorgeous and dazzling.
This is nice
Blue blue blue ocean
All in all, I hope that my minor contribution played a key role in eradicating terrorism on Malaysian shores so that we can live without the threats of voilence but most importantly, so that we can dive peacefully in the Celebes Sea without the threats of terrorist basterds.
Khidmat Untuk Negara (Serving The Country)

Perhentian Island Challenge 2009

Well, this was my third year participating in the annual Perhentian Island Challenge event. This time, I took the bus with a bunch of fellow participants and we were flagged off from KL to begin our 8 hour journey to Besut. Eventhough I had 2 seats to myself, sleeping was a major problem. I don't think a Cirque De Soleil contortionist can be comfortable in those seats either.

This year's race course only consists of one island - Perhentian Kecil which meant the organizers excluded the kayakking discipline. Oh how I love kayakking to and fro both islands at 2pm. That is when Perhentian really exudes her natural beauty. Anyway, the course had an 11km track which included trail running, 600m swim and a 500 step climb up to the twin wind turbines.

As usual, I was in my red speedos to the delight of everyone. I could hear the men saying "Alaaaa, speedo merah dia lagi tahun ni...." and the women "I wanna rip those speedos off with my mouth".

Red Speedo lagi

Pas de comment

We were flagged off at 1030am and as usual, we ran through trails that led us to Long Beach, Bubu Resort, Petani Chalet and the main village. I brought my camera along and captured some stunning shots of the Perhentian coastline.
4 minutes
Look at my semangat run

Nuff said
11am view of Perhentian Besar
Running by Petani Chalet
Undisclosed location of Perhentian
Fill up my CamelBak ladies!!
How many hours more to go??

While we were deep in the jungle and following the trails, sometimes we would encounter some participants running on the opposite direction and when I asked, they said they missed a checkpoint or two. Boy, will they suffer for their ignorance and lack of listening abilities during the race course briefing.

Another thing I noticed was that when I catch up with other participants in the jungle, I feel like I've made contact with The Others ala Lost.

By the time, I reached D Lagoon resort, it was 230pm. 4 hours have passed and with no training whatsoever before the race, cramps were apparent on my right leg. From D Lagoon, we were supposed to swim all the way to the shores at the bottom of the twin wind turbines. Halfway through the swim(awesome blue waters), my leg started to freeze up and aunt agony took over. Like a man, I took the pain....I took the pain for 2 minutes and after that, the cramps subsided for me to continue. I limped all the way through the 500 steps and occasionally, I'd look behind to absorb the most magnificent sight throughout the entire race. If you've been to Gunung Mat Chincang in Langkawi and was in awe with the view, you'll get exactly that when you're at the twin wind turbines.

How awesome is this?

500 Steps To The Twin Wind Turbines...Look at the view behind.The swim route was from the cove hidden from the photo

My facial expression : Shock and awe
I finally crossed the finishing line at 3pm with much funfare. We were shipped back to our tents and at around 6pm, a storm approached and unleashed hell. I felt like the campers in the Blair Witch Project with all the chaos going around outside of the tent. Most importantly, I got the best seats to watch the fireworks they usually have at the end of the ceremony.
I'm In Blood, Should I Wade No More, Returning Were As Tedious As To Go Over

Best seats to watch a 4 minute splendid fireworks
Join me at PIC 2010. This invitation only goes out to the ladies.