The Incredibly Magnificent Underwater World... Gone?

One of the things i desire to experience (hopefully sometime soon) is the Sardine Run off South Africa. Millions of fish in a "pathway made up of individual Sardines" stretching for miles and miles, a seemingly endless tube of life... and the predatory Gannets, Dolphins, Sharks and the occasional Whale, all frenzied into a mix of life and death seen nowhere else on this planet.

My desire is not to see the plight of the Sardines, but to see (1) the magnificent and extraordinary migration of the millions of fish, and (2) the annual coming-together of all these thousands of different predators from various oceans to continue this ecosystem of life and death.

Link: The Greatest Shoal on Earth

Soon, however, this magnificent natural phenomenon may be a thing of the past, as fishermen continue to harvest irresponsibly the precious jewels of the sea; the fish, the dolphins and the sharks, all critical elements in the ocean food chain.

Imagine a World Without Fish...
The Movie "The End of the Line" shows the beautiful underwater realm that covers more than 70% of the world we live in, and the reality of irresponsible overfishing. Many people think "even if i stop eating Tuna, others will continue to eat" or "it's already dead, what's the difference". If you think that also, you're mistaken...


Do Your Part in Preserving Our Oceans?
Download the World Wildlife Foundation's (WWF) Singapore Seafood Guide to find out which type of seafood to avoid.

Clarification
I'm not asking you to abstain from all types of seafood. I'm simply recommending that you be aware of what you eat because your choice of seafood has an impact on the health of our beautiful oceans.

Other Recommended Movies:
Sharkwater (Official Website) (Review)
The Cove (Official Website) (Review)

Scuba Dive Aur, 28-30 May 2010

Where: Pulau Aur, Malaysia
Stayed at: Atlantis Bay Dive Resort
Amount of pleasure: Lots
Number of fish: Plenty
Number of divers: Moderate
Visibility: Average (15-20m)

Scuba Dive Aur, 15-16 May 2010

Where: Pulau Aur, Malaysia
Stayed at: Atlantis Bay Dive Resort
Amount of pleasure: Lots
Number of fish: Moderate
Number of divers: Moderate
Visibility: Average (15-20m)

Scuba Dive LOB Seaborne, 8-9 May 2010

Where: Pulau Tioman, Malaysia
Stayed at: MV Seaborne, LOB
Amount of pleasure: Lots
Number of fish: Plenty
Number of divers: 15
Visibility: Average (15-20m)

It was a very enjoyable weekend onboard MV Seaborne, with good company and good food, and lots of friendly macro subjects and a non-shy Cat Shark on the night dive!

Scuba Dive Aur, 1-2 May 2010

Where: Pulau Aur, Malaysia
Stayed at: Atlantis Bay Dive Resort
Amount of pleasure: Lots
Number of fish: Plenty
Number of divers: Few
Visibility: Average (15-20m)
Current: STRONG

Scuba Dive Aur, 16-18 Apr 2010

Where: Pulau Aur, Malaysia
Stayed at: Atlantis Bay Dive Resort
Amount of pleasure: Lots
Number of fish: Plenty
Number of divers: Moderate
Visibility: Average (20-25m)

Scuba Dive P.Perhentian, 2-4 Apr 2010

The long (Good Fryday) weekend presented yet another opportunity to go further North to dive, at Perhentian, with Orpheus Dive.
Where: Pulau Perhentian, Malaysia
Stayed at: Flora Bay Resort
Amount of pleasure: Lots
Number of fish: Extremely Plenty
Number of divers: Few
Visibility: Below Average (5-15m)

Enjoy the photos!





A trip of wonderful finds! =)

Scuba Dive Aur, 27-28 Mar 2010

Where: Pulau Aur, Malaysia
Stayed at: Diver's Lodge Dive Resort
Amount of pleasure: Lots
Number of fish: Plenty
Number of divers: Moderate
Visibility: Average (15-20m)

This trip was a little special because it was the first time i'd dived at the Broken Jetty (directly opposite Dayang Jetty) and it was the first time i'd seen a Stargazer at Aur/Tioman!

Scuba Dive Maldives LOB, 13-21 Feb 2010

I spent the Chinese New Year super long weekend on an LOB in the Maldives. Decided to maximise my public holidays, confirmed everything with a friend within two weeks of the trip and we went for a good week of diving and above-water fun. Total of 20 diving guests on the boat, including 12 of Singaporeans, all of whom (except one) i've never met before. It was a really enjoyable trip despite not having seen Whale Shark or Hammerhead Shark.

Maldives, in the Indian Ocean, South West of Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan Flight to Male Airport via transit at Colombo, Sri Lanka
LOB on the MV Princess Lara
Enjoyed 18 dives over 7 days
Number of Fish: Plenty
Interesting sightings: 6 Mantas on the first Manta day, 4 Mantas on the second Manta day, more than 30 sharks (White Tip Reef Sharks and Grey Reef Sharks) on the Shark day, Turtles, Barracudas and lots of fish
Unfortunately: Did not see any Whale Shark or Hammerhead Shark
Visibility: So-so for Maldives, averaging 20-30m








I will definitely go back to Maldives again sometime in the future, and definitely on the LOB option in order to cover the many dive sites around the various Atolls.

Scuba Dive Hantu, 7 Feb 2010

It's been a few months since i last updated this space and for you who've been regularly coming back to check in on me, you'd be glad to know that i've finally squeezed out some time to start on the backlog of updates. =)

First up, to recap the dive off-season (Nov 09 till Feb 10), i accumulated a total of 12 dives at Pulau Hantu, an island just South of Singapore, over a total of five weekends. There's lots of things to see when you dive in Singapore, you just have to be patient, dive with good buoyancy and look hard enough. I encountered a Turtle, two Octopus, two Cuttlefish, several Seahorses and Pipefish, several Anemonefish (and other fish) and many Nudibranch and Flatworms.

Here are some of the photos from my last off-season dive at Hantu:



Didn't expect there to be so many things to see in Singapore? Join me on the off-season, Nov 10 till Feb 11!