Helping others is a new source of happiness…

Many of you, like myself, dream of making a serious commitment to a humanitarian project someday: devoting a few months or maybe even a few years of your lives helping people in need, participating in some conservation project or even protecting endangered species. All these thoughts will need a lot of compromising and probably mean that we’ll have to step out of our comfort zone and embark on a new journey in life – It is not easy to achieve this goal in mind, that’s why we keep putting it off. But do we need to engage in this kind of a long term project to make a difference? Have you ever wondered?

I’m sad by the recent ecological disasters happening around Asia and my heart goes out to these people. My initial reaction was donating a small sum of money, a measly $100 that I’ve put into the donation box placed at my company lobby – I was glad that I have done my part. The topic of donation came up during lunch yesterday – Mark told me that he went to the China Embassy on Monday to make a donation of $1000. He also quoted that he saw many others donating big sum of money ranging from $6000 to $20000. How generous, I thought! When asked how much I have contributed; I was almost embarrassed to answer. I know I didn’t do enough!

Last night, I started to question my conscience – I would spend few thousands on a single diving trip lasting a week or two but why wouldn’t I donate that amount to help others in need? Desperately in need! The victims are homeless and starving, they’re left without anything. I feel sad when I read the newspapers, I cry when I watch the news, I feel for them but how am I helping them? Is chasing my dreams far more important than feeding them, proving a shelter for them? I struggled! Eventually, I wrote a cheque and sent it to the Red Cross this morning. I know that I might not be able to go on a big trip this year-end and will have to put on hold some of my dreams till later. But at this very moment, I’ve found a new source of happiness in helping others. Finally, I know that I have done my part. What a privilege to be able to!

“No one has ever become poor by giving” – Anne Frank

Reflecting life …

How many times have you hear people around you say that they want to live life without any regrets? It really sounds good to say but do people actually do it? I know that I’m one such person who say it so often and thought that I do until I start reflecting on my life recently. Do I have no regrets? Did I not make any wrong decisions along the way? I wish I could say NO! Some days it seems that life would be perfect if only we could “hit undo” and re-starting them all over. But reality will be reality…we can’t travel back in time. We need to let go and move on.

Going forward…

Emotions are my worst enemy – I want to learn to have better control of them. I almost lost a special friend recently due to some misunderstanding. At that moment, I was deeply hurt by his indifference; my bottled up emotions and anger got the better of me and I almost given up on the friendship we shared. He, whom I thought didn’t care normally actually care enough to take time to explain things over and we’ve cleared things up. How silly of me to have doubt him! I’m really glad that we’re still good friends or I’d have regretted that for life!

Procrastinating – I need to be independent and stop putting dreams off. The yearning to see faraway places and the fear of visiting them alone seems to be universal human traits. I can’t deny that this is also my greatest fear – traveling solo. I love traveling to different places to pursue my passion – Diving but I dislike the idea of traveling alone. Lately, I’ve been thinking – If I don’t experience all the things that life has to offer now, I might never will. So, even when my regular dive buddies can’t join me on my trips this year; I’m going to conquer my fear to chase my dreams…I want to see my first whale…I’m going solo. I’ll survive!

Appreciate life – I shall not take life for granted and learn to appreciate the little things in life. Life is what we do between the time we get here and when we go. We don’t measure life in hours, minutes or even seconds. We measure life in memories and moments. I am now GRATEFUL for the lowest lows when they happen because they make me appreciate the highest highs.

“Everyone dies, but not everyone truly lives.”

Donsol & Ticao March 2008 Trip Report

Whale sharks (Rhincodon typus), the world’s largest fish with lengths of up to 18 meters and weighing as much as 20 tons, are the gentlest of creatures and feed only on plankton, shrimp and small fish. These POLKA-DOTTED giants (or Butanding in Bicol dialect) are spotted cruising just below the sunlit surface of the sea in Donsol, Sorsogon at the Southern most tip of Luzon islands. It is believed that Donsol waters, which is abound with tiny organisms such as plankton, krill and small fish, are a seasonal feeding ground for whale sharks between November to May.

Together with Conan, Phua and Aiwee, We left Singapore on 29th March early morning, on a 3.5 hours Philippines Air (PAL) flight to Manila, and connecting on another 50 minutes flight to Legaspi, for the much anticipated whale shark encounter. Upon arrival, Conz and Jun from Adventure Bound (Dive with Manta Rays in Ticao – Whale sharks Donsol, Philippines), who have helped to arrange for our trip, picked us up. We had a “quick” breakfast before proceeding to Donsol, which is about 1 hours 10 minutes van ride from the town of Legaspi.

After dropping our bags at the Woodland Resort, we set-up our camera equipments and
headed straight to the Vistior’s Office to meet our BIO (Butanding Interaction Officer), Michael and registered for the butanding interaction program. We set sail at 11.30am on an assigned outrigger boat with 4 boat crew- members and can’t wait to have our first rendezvous despite lacking of sleep from the overnight journey.

The whole butanding encounter started as our outrigger boat cruised about 20 minutes to the bay where the gentle giants congregate in the municipal waters of Donsol. Michael and the boat crew will be standing under the hot sun on the look out for these elusive creatures. The sea was crowded with boats competing for interaction opportunities as only one boat is allowed to swim with whale shark at each time and the interaction has been limited to 3 hours for each boat, a new regulation imposed recently.

Minutes later, our guide announced a sighting and asked us to get ready for our first jump in the water. We frantically put on our masks and fins and sit on the boat’s ledge whilst the boat captain slowly moored the boat towards it and positioned the boat in its direction before making a full stop. We all jumped into the sea as our guide shouted “Go Now” and not knowing where the whale shark was, we followed and kept pace with him. Then within seconds, nothing quite prepared us for that massive rush of adrenaline when we saw a monster of the deep, with gigantic shark fins, seemingly rushing straight at us, mouth agape. We swam and tried to keep up with it for a minute or two before it vanished into the murky waters. This one is about 6.5-meters, and was Conan’s, Phua’s and Aiwee’s first whale shark sighting and they were grinning from ear to ear when they got onto the boat and ready for more.

Our second encounter came twenty minutes later, and we had an awesome interaction with a small-sized fish about 4 meters. We swam with it for close to 10 minutes and definitely had many opportunities for photograph, but Conan and I did not bring our cameras with us. Feeling a bit disappointed, we could only wished for another similar experience the next time. Aiwee blurted “The feeling was just so surreal” when we clambered back onto the boat and we all had the same mutual agreement.

We had another 4 more sightings on Saturday afternoon but they were all fleeting rendezvous lasting about 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Time passes and before we knew it, it was 3 hours into the interaction and time to head back. We decided to try our luck the following day starting out at 6.30 in the morning, which was reported to have better sightings and requested Michael to make the necessary arrangement.

We invited Michael and the boat crew for lunch and beers at the resort’s restaurant. We ordered the Bicol Express, a spicy local dish and some other local dishes, which were quite appetizing but the service was slow. The afternoon was spent reminiscing about the whale shark interaction experience, sharing conservations with some other guests from USA and Denmark, watching a spectacular sunset falling below the horizon before we headed to Barracuda Bar & Grill for dinner and drinks. This is a small but nice restaurant by the beach, about 100 meters from our resort. Juliet, the owner makes the best Margaritas and she served the freshest catch of the day, which is always appetizing, particularly the grilled prawns and pasta. Juliet- she has got to be one of the most welcoming and gracious person I have ever met, always with a big smile despite having to make drinks, help out at the kitchen and serve, all almost at the same time. We had a delightful dinner and a few Margaritas before retiring back to our rooms at 9pm.

Sunday was judgment day! We woke up at 5.30am, had a light breakfast and feeling energized, we were all ready for the interaction. Our boat left just after sunrise, at about 6.30am and the sky wasn’t fully lighten up, making the waters gloomy. This made underwater photography harder due to the lack of natural light. Luck was not on our side and we did not have very good sightings, only went into the waters 4 times and the interaction were brief- they seemed to be in a hurry to lose us. This has got to be mother’s nature at work, as the wild refuses to follow schedules.

Not content with the morning’s experience, Conan & Aiwee decided to go back and try their good fortune later in the morning whist Phua & I were scheduled to do 2 dives at the macro sites at Ticao. The sites are about 1 hour away from Donsol and we did our first dive at San Miguel, with Carlos as our dive master. San Miguel was as wonderful as I had remembered but visibility wasn’t good at around 12 meters. Stunning soft corals gardens are abundance and pristine and every macro photographers’ favorites – nudibranchs were everywhere. Colorful feather stars with crinoids shrimps were also aplenty and I also saw a sea snake and some whip gobies.

2nd dive after lunch at Capating was also interesting. The corals at this site weren’t as rich as San Miguel but it was another great site for nudibranchs, nudibranchs, and nudibranchs. I couldn’t stop clicking away. The visibility was much better, around 20 meters and the water temperature average 27 degree Celsius for both sites. On the boat ride back to Donsol, we were lucky to see few dolphins performing their acrobatic acts at the surface.

When we got back to the resort, Conan was thrilled and told us that they had some good interaction with the whale sharks and showed us some amazing photos he took. I was jealous! We showered, watched another beautiful sunset and then head over to Barracuda where we had pre-ordered our dinner. That evening was crazy and naughty- we had a fabulous dinner of grilled prawns and fish, pasta and garlic rice with potatoes. Juliet, Jurgen, Michael and Martin joined us for some drinking games and I do not remember how many glasses of Margaritas and tequila shots I had. I only remember dancing and swimming in the sea under the stars and waking up the next day at 5.30am for my morning dives.

Conan and Aiwee left early that morning for their journey back to Singapore. Phua and I went diving at the muck site, Bantol Kokok, about 20 minutes from Donsol. This site was considered to be an open water classroom until the recent discovery of the critters- hairy frogfish, wonderpus, the flamboyant cuttlefish, ornate ghost pipefish and blue-ringed octopus were sighted here. I made both dives averaging about 6 meters depth and visibility about 5 meters and found numerous colonies of anemones with different species of anemone shrimps, 2 seahorses, cleaner shrimps, juvenile lion fishes, ringed pipefish, mantis shrimps and many strange looking fishes. My housing fogged up after minutes into my first dive so I do not have many photos to show.

After the dives, we went for our 3rd and final interaction program with the whale sharks. As soon as we hit the bay, Michael shouted “Get Ready” and we were in the waters and came upon a 6-meters giant that headed straight at us and then paused face-to-face. The gentle giant then allowed us to swim beside it for as long as we could. I think I must have swam about 15 minutes continuously, till my legs turned jellies and decided to stop. I still vividly remember the gaping mouth, the swift motion and elegant stokes of the tail. The gills were huge and so was the dorsal fin, which was broken. The moment was magical! 30 minutes later, we went into the waters for another one but this small one was shy and took off into the deep before we can approach it.

It was the best for last. Imagine, having two whale sharks, a 7-meters giant and another 3.5-meters juvenile, together at the same spot- we were spoilt for choice on which one to photograph. Absolutely mind blowing!

That evening, our hospitable friends, Conz and Jun invited us for dinner in Legaspi town and Jun picked us up at the resort. We had a great time spent catching up, as well as sharing dive trip stories at a German Restaurant, Gasthof, which served delicious pork knuckles, sausages and back ribs. The car broke down 9 Kilometers from the resort on the way back and we had a chance to ride on a trishaw, which was a pretty cool experience.

Unforgettable and surreal as it sounds, this is the true Donsol and Ticao experience.

Photo link: Jovin’s Cool Photos!! :: Donsol & Ticao Mar 2008

Happy bubbles,
Jovin-

Cabilao Trip Report- 20-24 March 2008

“If you love macro, you should definitely go to Cabilao”. These words from the videographer whom I met at Moalboal in December 2006 are etched in my head and ever since then, being a dedicated macro enthusiast, I had always been anticipating a visit to this part of the Central Visayas waters. So, when Philip told me that he is planning a trip during the Easter long weekend holidays with Kylie and there is still one space (3 to a room) available, I couldn’t resist and said I’m IN without much deliberation!

Cabilao has a land of area of 7.2 sq. kilometers and is one of the smaller Philippine Islands. It is located just off the western side of Bohol in the straights separating Bohol Island and Cebu. On 20th March, we departed Singapore and flew to Cebu Mactan International airport via a 3.5 hours Cebu Pacific flight. Upon arrival, we were picked up by our pre-arranged driver and took 1.5 hours by road to the village of Argao, where the resort has arranged a private bangka for us. Another 1 hour 20 minutes later, we finally stepped foot on the island, had breakfast, check-in and ready for our first dive at 11am.

There are 3 resorts at Cabilao, namely La Estrella Beach Resort, Polaris Beach and Dive and Cabilao Beach Club. We stayed at La Estrella (Tauchen auf den Philippinen – im La Estrella Beach Resort, Cabilao Island, Bohol) owned by a German/ Filipino couple and dived with Calibao Dive center, ran by the resort. The staff is a friendly bunch and seems happy to be serving you. 90% of the guests here are middle-aged German families and couples. Accordingly to dive master, Roy, we were the first Singaporeans diving with them. The 17 bungalows are surrounded by beautiful verdant tropical gardens; and have many hammocks hanging from tree to tree. The superior hut bungalow that we were assigned to was basic and roomy with 3 single beds, a large cupboard and fan cooled. It was recently renovated and has a clean en-suite bathroom with fresh water shower (without heater) and built-in cabinets with plenty of storage space for toiletries. There is no 24 hours electricity supply and it usually runs from 11am to 2pm and then again from 6pm to 4-5am. The resort’s private generator supplies electricity to the restaurant at daytime so at times we charged our batteries there.

The food catered mainly to the German crowd and the menu has quite a fair selection. I’d rate the food to be fairly good depending on the choices. Fried bee hoon, rum pork chops and beef goulash were delicious but the “frisbee-like” pancake and grilled fish were disappointing. Ice blended fruit juices were always good and refreshing no matter what types of fruits we ordered. Kitchen was rather slow so we usually pre-ordered our meals and told them specific time to serve, which is recommended.

The dive center is managed by a friendly German couple, Ronald and Catherine and has 3 local dive masters, Bobet, Roy and Jun Jun. The dive center is relatively new and everything is arranged in an orderly manner. Tanks were set-up with BCDs/regulators and taken care by the boatmen throughout our entire stay and everyone was given a crate labeled with our names for the rest of our gears. Fresh water is an issue as there is only one showerhead for rinsing before/after dive. There are 2-cemented rinse tanks, one for wetsuits/masks/fins and the other for cameras/dive computers but they are quite small (can only sits 2 camera set-ups) and had to be filled from containers. There are about 10-12 divers at any time and the water got dirty fairly quickly so eventually, on the 2nd day, Roy brought out a big pink pail for the cameras. There are two dive boats, a smaller speedboat, which can accommodate 8 divers/2 divemasters/1 boatman and a bigger bangka, which has engine so loud that everyone were covering our ears for the rides. Luckily for us, we were using the speedboat for most of our dives except day 2.

Now, onto the diving…

Cabilao diving is a rare gem and the array of species you encounter is astonishing. The island is almost completely surrounded by an intact coral reef, and you have fantastic diving close to your accommodation.

We dived with Roy and Bobet, who are always jolly and certainly a pleasure to dive with. They are both excellent spotters and know absolutely every inch of the underwater landscape, and are always enthusiastic in showing us all the different species of marine invertebrates and fish life.

Their usual dive schedule is at 9am, 2pm and night dive at 5.45pm. To accommodate our request for an additional day dive to maximize the diving during our short 4 days stay, the dive schedule was adjusted to 9am, 11.30am, 2.30pm and night dive at 5.45pm, which was pretty rush in-between surface intervals.

I did a total of 15 dives inclusive of 4 night dives, which are not to be missed! I will say that the Philippines have the best (macro) night diving I’ve ever been. Although, there are only 10 dive sites, we didn’t manage to cover them all. The dive sites that we did are Light House, Fallen Tree, Gorgonian Wall, Shark (Or Current Watching) Point, Chapel Point, Cambaquiz II and they are only 5-25 minutes from the resort. Water temperature was around 27-28 deg Celsius.

The diversity of the corals on these sites is outstanding. On the shallower reefs, there is profusion of coral growths and in excellent conditions. Amongst them, there are a great variety of brilliantly colored reef fishes and prolific communities of invertebrates. Many species of shrimps and crabs, lion fishes, ghost pipe fishes, frogfish, cowries etc with a lush background of various tunicates and sponges provided ample opportunities for great photos.

The walls drop down to about 60 meters or so. Visibility was excellent too, it felt like I could see for miles but I reckoned it was probably close to 30 meters. Along the wall are numerous ledges, overhangs and small caves. The area has a rich growth of many kinds of sponges and massive sea fans. Within this encrusting community, we found spider crabs, gobies, nudibranchs, various pygmy sea horses, commensal and anemone shrimps and crabs etc.

Light House and Fallen Tree are also excellent locations for night diving, when many of the nocturnal creatures come out of hiding amongst the caves and crevices. The creatures seen on this reef at night will amaze you. Hermit crabs of infinite colors, sizes and shapes were scattered like confetti across the reef. I also spotted a tiny bobtailed squid, few snake eels, nudibranchs, Pegasus sea moth, juvenile flounder and many more.

Well, you get the picture, and Cabilao certainly gets my concurrence as a macro haven. The location is relatively remote and unknown to many, but that’s precisely why the diving is so wonderful. This will truly be one of the World’s finest macro paradises and I hope it’ll stay so forever.

Here is the link to my underwater photos: Jovin’s Cool Photos!! :: Cabilao Mar 2008

Happy bubbles,
Jovin-

Chasing new dreams…

This morning was one of those days when I woke up realizing I was chasing dreams that will never come true…..but some dreams can be elusive and are never within our reach. They will evaporate and disappear into thin air just like burst bubbles.

I realized it was time to let go and chase new dreams, to open my heart and arms to the many possibilities awaiting me. Alexander Graham Bell said “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” I’m reaching for the open door….and I finally found a sense of peace within myself.

Cocos Island Trip Report Jan 2008

To kick-start 2008, I traveled halfway around the globe to fulfill one of my greatest dream to the remote Isla de Cocos, better known as Cocos Island for some of the wildest and most adventurous diving experiences.

Cocos Island is situated 375 nautical miles out in the Eastern Pacific, off the coast of Costa Rica. The main Island covers an area of approximately 24 square kilometers, the majority of which is covered in dense tropical rain forest. The landscape is very rugged, thus forming many waterfalls, some of which are spectacular as they plummet from great heights to the sea. Cocos Island was granted UNESCO recognition as a World Heritage Site in 1997 and has a 12 nautical miles fishing exclusion zone for commercial and sport fishing around the perimeter of the island. Rangers of the Costa Rican Parks Service, who maintain two ranger stations on the island, the only human habitation now remaining on its shores, administer the island.

Getting to Costa Rica – Zooming through different time zones
31st Dec 2007: After settling a minor glitch with the airline, I departed Singapore via Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong before connecting to Los Angeles. After a 4-hour lay over, I then flew with TACA on another 6 hours flight to San Jose in Costa Rica. Total flight time ~ 30 hours. Phew, what a lengthy and exhausting journey and guess I must have celebrated two New Year’s Day on the airplanes. Upon arriving at San Jose airport, I cleared immigration and customs without any hassle but was amused by the immigration officers. I think they must not have met many Asian, particularly from Singapore so they were passing around my passport and each one examining my stamps on the pages. I was then picked up and transferred to Grano de Oro, a nice and orderly ran hotel, which was arranged by Alan from the Undersea Hunter.

San Jose – The long Wait for Chris
1st Jan 2008: After checking into the hotel, I took a few hours nap to try and recover from the jet lag induced by the traveling. Chris will be flying in from Miami and his flight was scheduled to touch down at 4pm. He was supposed to meet me at the hotel by 5pm but at 6pm, he was still nowhere in sight. I went down to the front-desk and logged onto the internet to check on his flight status and found out that it had been cancelled. Jesus Christ! What should I do now?? He does not have an US mobile number and I was feeling loss. Then I got a call from Irene (I hope I got her name right) of Undersea Hunter and she helped me to call American Airlines. But upon checking, they said that there were two Chris with the same name on that flight and they won’t give her any details unless we can provide them with the booking number for security reasons. I decided to call American Airlines myself and luckily I have Chris’s address that he used to book his flight and finally gotten the answer that he was re-scheduled to fly into San Jose at 2pm the next day. I called Undersea Hunter to arrange pick-up for him and then I sent him an email hoping that he will get to read it. Feeling relieved but disappointed, I went back to the room, ordered room service for dinner, showered before hitting to town for some gambling fix at the Casino to kill my boredom. After 2 hours at the jackpot machines, I lost 100 USD and reckoned that this was not a very good start to the New Year so I headed back to the hotel to check to see if there is any news from Chris. Finally, I got an email from him confirming his flight status and off I went to slumber land.

2nd Jan 2008: Woke up late to a chilly morning, had breakfast and decided to take a little walk around the area near the hotel. Found nothing very interesting and went back to the hotel to check on Chris’s flight status at noon, found that it was delayed for 30 minutes so I went back to the room to stare at the rectangular box, TV i.e. while I waited. I checked that the flight has landed at 2.25pm and was expecting him to be at the hotel by 3pm, but as each minute ticked by, there is still no sight of him. By 4.30pm, I decided to call Undersea Hunter and Alan told me that the driver has just picked him up and they should be at the hotel in 30 minutes. What a relief! We were both starving by the time we met; ordered room service, did some catching up before retiring for the night and looking forward to the Big day.
** The bottom line is, plan plenty of time for your arrival to San Jose to avoid problems. Once the boat leaves for Cocos you can’t catch up with it.

Getting to Cocos Island – Sailing into Sunset, Sunrise and another Sunset
3rd Jan 2008: The day before boat departure, Undersea Hunter will leave you a note at the hotel with the pick-up time for the following day and a representative will call you in the evening to confirm the schedule. Grano de Oro is one of the few hotels that the Undersea Hunter bus will pick you for the ride from San Jose to the coastal town of Puntarenas where the boat is docked. We were picked up at 7.15am sharp and the trip takes about 3 hours through lush forests and rich farmlands of the region, with a pit stop where you can have some snacks and see some butterflies. Along the way, our friendly tour guide highlighted to us various crop plantations, gave comments and would gladly answered any queries asked.

Once at Puntarenas, dive master, Manuel greeted us and we were ushered to board our ‘mother ship’ the Undersea Hunter while the other crewmember quickly transferred our gears on-board. It was crucial for us to set sail at 11am, which was high tide on that day. The journey to Cocos takes approximately 32 hours across open and exposed water. There may have been a little roll here and there but the crossing was considered quite smooth on our trip. While en-route, we got briefed on boat rules and assigned our cabins. We also set up our dive gears and the dive masters collected our C-cards/Nitrox certification, asked us our dive experience and most recent dives and briefed us on the diving and safety rules. Each one of us was given a safety sausage, an EPIRB transmitter (the signal of which could be received by any boat within a range of 8 miles) and a torch that was attached to the BC throughout the week. We were also introduced to the crew – Luis (the captain), Juan Manuel and Puis (dive masters), Manuel Campos and Youdi (panga drivers), Chico (the chef), Pedro (the barman) and Mackey (the engineer). The boat sailed into sunset, sunrise and another sunset; I spent most of these enduring transit moments sleeping, eating and watching DVDs. Chris told me he saw some dolphins from the deck.

The Boat: Undersea Hunter – Our Floating Home
The 90 feet Undersea Hunter is a truly outstanding dive boat. Being all steel and heavy, it is very stable in a rough sea. It can accommodate a maximum of 14 divers in 7 staterooms, all en-suite, roomy and comfortable. The salon/dining area is functional and large enough for all 14 passengers and several crewmembers to eat or watch videos at the same time. The boat also has a sundeck above the salon, pretty small area but it makes for a nice spot to off-gas after a dive.

The dive deck is huge and there is plenty of room for donning wetsuits. Each diver was allocated a tank pod labeled with your name and a footlocker in which you can store huge amounts of gear. There is a 3-tiered camera storage areas complete with charging facilities, both for 110 and 220 volts power plugs. In addition to that, there is also a large camera rinse tank, a fresh water shower and hose for rinsing. Towels were always available after each dive and we were told to return them to a designated basket after we dry ourselves so that the crew could re-wash and dry them.

The meals were buffet style and were very good, varied and plentiful. Warm snacks and fresh fruits were served after each dive, except for the ones before lunch. A wide variety of drinks, including two kinds of beer were permanently available in the refrigerator. Tea and coffee, made from an Italian coffee maker, different types of cookies and chips were also available throughout the week.

General Dive Routine and Information
The general plan was four dives a day, with dives at 8am, 11am, and 3pm, and a night dive at 6pm. All the diving was done from two 24-foot fiberglass skiffs, known as pangas. We were divided into 2 groups: The All-German Gold team comprising of Siegfried, Thomas, Petra W, Thilo, Petra K and Michael, and the Blue team comprising Andre and Jan from Germany, Nikolai and Natalia from Russia, Chris from USA and myself. Alonso and Maria from Costa Rica are non-divers; Alfonso has won a poetry contest to Cocos Island with his mother. Manuel from Columbia and Pius from Germany were our dive masters; and they would alternate dinghies every two days. There was a limit of 60 minutes per dive, and due to dive depths, most of us dove on 32% Nitrox (which is recommended) except Siegfried and Thomas were on rebreathers.

Detailed dive briefing with map will be given before each dive, except for the repeated ones. Most dive sites were no more than a 15-20 minute ride. Due to the strong surge at the surface, the routine normally was to have all divers ready at the same time and roll in as quickly as possible via backward roll (no air in BC, preferably with cameras in hand), drop directly to 18~20 meters, regroup and then head for the 1st cleaning station. After the dive, the panga skipper will be on lookout for surfaced divers and moored the panga near to them. First, hand up the camera, weight belt, and then climb up the ladder unless you’re having some back problems, then hand up your BCD and tank as well.

The weather – There were almost always clouds hanging around somewhere; we had mornings that started out sunny and ended up rainy and vice versa. The visibility was 10-25 meters, varying by site and by day and made worse by the overcast skies. Cocos is for advanced divers and well known for having strong currents and swells; and we had a fair amount of current during our trip. Water temperature ranged from 22-26 deg Celsius, with a thermo cline down to about 18 deg Celsius at varying depths. It was interesting to encounter the same site (Ayclone) having temperature varying by 5-6 deg Celsius on different days. I wore just a 3mm ScubaPro and felt almost unbearable at some sites.
Advice: Bring a thicker wetsuit and a hood, as there are many comb jellies at shallower depths. Don’t forget your gloves too. The bottom is mostly lava, not coral, and so it’s okay to hang on but beware of the nasty sea urchins.

Now onto the Diving – The Big Animal Encounter and Adrenaline Rush
The submarine underworld around this area of Cocos Island is simply fantastic, absolutely breathtaking and extremely rewarding. The undersea landscape is barren and rocky with little attractive coral in evidence. It is not the place to visit for pretty scenic diving. You come here for Big Animal encounters in their natural environment and the place simply does not disappoint from the moment you enter the water.

The week passed as if in a dream; there’s just something magical about seeing schooling hammerhead sharks swimming by the hundreds, without any apparent manifestations of mating, frenzy feeding or any other particular activity. They just group in the seas and seem to enjoy each other’s company, like a very special social gathering. Whitetip reef sharks are so plentiful here you get bored with them by the second or third day. Thick shoals of jacks, snappers and grunts battling against the currents and an occasional yellow-fin tuna pouncing like lightning to capture its prey. Above all, this is the kingdom of marbled rays, which swim alone, in pairs or in groups. Occasionally, an eagle ray, a mobula ray or even a giant Pacific manta ray might be cruising by too. You never know what might be coming by so it always pays to be looking off into the blue, above you and behind you.

I did 19 dives that week. The dive sites that we visited included Manuelita Coral Garden, Manuelita Channel, Manuelita Outside, Dirty Rock, Punta Maria, Viking Rock, Big Dos Amigos, Small Dos Amigos, Alcyone, Submerged Rock, Silverado and Pajara.

Favorite Dive sites Highlights…

Alcyone: (Heaven in French) is a large submerged seamount, evidently discovered and made famous by Jacques Cousteau. The area is frequently subject to erratic currents and thermo clines, and is undoubtedly an incredible dive site known for the large numbers, and wide varieties of sharks and other marine life. Usually, you’ll have work your way down an anchor line, find a comfortable, sea urchin free spot among the rocks and watch the show. We did multiple dives on this site, and every one had it’s own highlights.

On one particular dive, the sea condition was flat and the current was mild or non-existent. After I descended, I decided to swim out to the deep blue to check out to see if there is any action. Almost immediately, I ended up right in the middle of this huge schools of hammerhead sharks, and I had my own private show for the entire dive (check out my video). After I surfaced and got onto the boat, there were few playful pilot whales jumping out of the water around the boat and one came very close to the boat and the rest of the divers still underwater, doing their safety stops had the chance to see him up close. Perfect timing and what a surreal experience!

Manuelita Outside: This is one of the more famous sites and rightfully so. A gradually descending slope, it contains huge boulders where divers can easily hide to watch the hammerheads action. The long cracks that run through the boulders are loaded with lobsters, tons of them and very huge ones too. This is also one of the site to encounter the gentle giant; the whale shark but our luck deferred us. We did, however saw a few Galapagos sharks, and on one particular dive; massive schools of jacks were spiraling like a tornado at the side of the rock. I think the Gold team saw a small bait ball here too.

Silverado: As it’s name suggest; this is a shallow, sandy bottom spot with a big outcrop of rocks where silvertip sharks come into the cleaning station “The Rock” and the Barber fish slide up to them, cleans parasites and nips off any loose skin. We did two dives as a 3rd dive on this site and encountered 4 silvertip sharks on one dive and 2 on the other. We watched as these elegant sharks went round and round “The Rock” and sometimes went into a trance as they were being cleaned. An absolutely amazing sight to watch! We also came across a group of 8-10 whitetip sharks swimming frantically across the bay, possibly preparing for their night hunting frenzy.

Submerged Rock: As we descended into the blue, I was amazed by colors and numbers of reef fishes I saw. Underwater, this rock plunges down both sharply and gradually, creating a lovely swim-through at about 25 meters. There were numerous whitetip sharks resting on the bottom or swimming lazily around the bay; hordes of lobsters crawling inside the cracks of the rocks, and also many marbled rays gliding gracefully around the entrance. The sun pours through from above, and the colorful, prolific fish life, suspended in the entrance gives this place such an unworldly feeling. What an awesome dive! After the dive, the panga then takes a very scenic ride back to the boat and we came across a large pod of dolphins; and I donned my mask and flippers and slid into the water to snorkel with them. Such a mesmerizing experience.

Manuelita Coral Garden: One of the highlights is the highly touted “Whitetip Hunting Frenzy Night Dive” and it completely deserves its star status. This happens every single night and no one knows why. As we worked together by shining all our lighting systems in a single direction: they gathered in hordes, roamed in formation, frantically searching and sticking their noses into cracks and crevices, all following each other trying to catch a tiny fish. I witnessed a struggle for life in the predator-prey chain of the ocean. An exhilarating experience that no other night dive could compare to this.

Land Visits- Paradise In Dire
During one of our surface intervals, we visited one of the ranger station and trekked up the hill to witness a breathtaking and picturesque scenery surrounding the island. On another land visit (which I didn’t go), the group visited another ranger station and a magnificent waterfall. Returning from the trip, Chris told me he saw huge crates of hooks, long lines and other fishing equipments that the rangers found over the times in the sea at the ranger station and they had even constructed a bridge using these materials. He said it was an interesting experience, meeting and chatting with the rangers and he could see the hard work of these lowly paid rangers and we must thank them for their work to protect this paradise.

The Crew – The Hardworking and Dedicated Team
There were 8 crewmembers on our trip of 12 divers, who stuck to their specialties, and were totally accommodating, and genuinely friendly. Dive masters, Manuel and Puis were thorough, well spoken, and always ready to serve. The panga skippers, Manuel, Youdi and sometimes the Captain, Luis did an excellent job and were always right on with the pick-ups. The rest of the crew is terrific, too, and took really good care of us.
Meals from Chico and Pedro were always tasty and welcome, and Mackey kept the generators and engines humming. Not forgetting the land crew, Alan, Andreina and Irene, who did a flawless job in planning and coordinating.

Final Notes – Pura Vida and Gracias to ALL
Cocos is a wonderful place to dive and experience the ocean life like you never have before. It’s for those for looking for one of the ultimate thrills in scuba diving and it takes a bit of work and it’s rather costly but the effort is absolutely worth it.

The island of the Sharks – This is what we came for and I hope it will lasts forever.

Finally, I would like to extend a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who made my trip a memorable one: the outstanding crew from Undersea Hunter for their hard work, 12 wonderful new friends for their company, and lastly my darling baba, Chris, who is such a great travel companion and for putting up with my occasional fits.

Saying goodbye to our new friends, Chris and I embarked on another week trip to wander around the beaches and countryside of Costa Rica. We spent 3 days at the beautiful and white-sand Playa Grande beach, walking 20 miles just trying to find some good surfing waves and simply enjoying the sun and the sea. We then went to Arenal, a perfectly cone shaped volcano that is still active and watched Arenal’s glowing lava flows at night. We spent one-day white water rafting the class 3/4 rapids Torro river. We flipped once and I bruised both my kneecaps but it was so much fun that we wanted to do it again the following day. We also did the canopy tour (ten zip lines, horse riding) and it was fabulous! Nothing I can say or have written here can truly convey what an overwhelming experience we had. What a beautiful country with so much to offer!

My photos do not do the place justice but I’ve posted some onto my gallery anyway. I’ve also posted 3 videos onto Multiply. The quality is not very good and it will take some time to load…Enjoy!!

Photo link: Jovin’s Cool Photos!! :: Cocos Island LOB & Costa Rica Jan 2008

Video link:
Jovin’s Site – Hammerhead sharks close-up
Jovin’s Site – Hammerhead sharks in Heaven
Jovin’s Site – A barber shop named Silverado

Some useful Information:
Undersea Hunter: UNDERSEA HUNTER
Grano de Oro(San Jose): Hotel Grano de Oro
Hotel Bula Bula (Playa Grande): Hotel Bula Bula – Serenity in Playa Grande, Costa Rica. Lodging, Surfing, Diving, Eco Tours, & more.
Playa Grande: Playa Grande, Costa Rica – A city guide to Playa Grande – Go Visit Costa Rica
Hotel Silencio del Campo (Arenal): Arenal hotels, San Carlos,La Fortuna by Hotel El Silencio del Campo Costa Rica
Arenal Vocalno: Arenal Volcano Costa Rica – photo gallery

Happy bubbles,
Jovin-

If I should die while diving….

If I should die while diving…. Let everyone know that I died doing what I loved and shall have no regrets.

If I should die while diving… Please do not hesitate to discuss the incident and assess every element with a view to furthering your understanding of how to enhance diver safety.

If I should die while diving… It will most likely involve fault on my part to some degree or another. Leave my dive buddy alone, for they suffered worse than I. May you learn from my mistakes and make less of your own.

If I should die while diving…. Leave my body to rest at sea where it was at peace in life.

If I should die while diving…. Quickly get over any phases of grief, sadness, anger, depression, or for that matter any recollections of joy or reminiscing .…both will tie you down unnecessarily to my memory. Get over, move on.

If I should die while diving… At least I didn’t die working.

If I should die while diving… KEEP DIVING.

Happy bubbles,

Jovin-

Raja Ampat onboard MV Raja Ampat 16th to 24th Dec 2007

Ever since I started on underwater macro-photography 3 years ago, I have decided that Irian Jaya to be on my list of must-visit destinations and I had always been anticipating a visit to this mythical land. ‘Raja Ampat’ translates as four kings from Bahasa Indonesia, comprises an archipelago of over 600 islands off the western tip of the Indonesian half of New Guinea. Studies show that the exotic and mysterious islands of Irian Jaya to be the epicenter of global marine biodiversity. Dec 15th 2007…. FINALLY the day has arrived and I’m on my way to discover this paradise on Earth and diving the last frontiers.

Getting there
To get to Raja Ampat, we have to fly into the town of Sorong, located on the North West of New Guniea’s Bird’s Head Peninsular. We flew first from Singapore to Manado via a 3 hours 15 minutes Silk Air flight and then another 2 hours on a domestic Indonesian airline, Merpati. The flight schedule of the local airline, connecting Manado to Sorong was incompatible, so we had to stay one night in Manado. Both flights were uneventful with some minor delays. Upon arrival at Sorong Airport, we were met and greeted by representatives from Grand Komodo. They promptly collected our bags, and a 20 minutes taxi to the dock; we were ferried out to our floating home for the next 8 days, MV Raja Ampat by dinghies.

MV Raja Ampat (Liveaboards Dive Cruises Bali Komodo Sulawesi Flores Alor Papua Raja Ampat Indonesia) is a beautiful wooden yacht, extensively re-fitted and furnished in 2006, with 14 en-suite private cabins, an air-conditioned lounge and dining area, and two camera tables with enough sockets for every photographers. The dive platform is well organized; each diver was assigned a basket for our equipments and tanks are fully secured and tagged. There are also a huge table and two big rinse tanks for cameras ONLY. The sundeck is sheltered and sun-chairs available for those who wants to chill-out in the breeze during surface interval. Aili and I were assigned to the double cabin on the upper deck, Room 1314 meaning “Eternity” in Chinese.

After we have got our gears stowed and camera equipments set-up, Herry, our DM and coordinator for the trip gave us a short orientation and introduced us to the ten crew on the boat. We were also briefed on the dive sites that he has planned for the next 8 days. We were divided into 3 groups: Raja 1- the non-photographers: Patricia, Josephine, Kylie, Michael and Fabian and were christened “Rock & Roll” divers due to their love for drift currents, Raja 2- 1st group of photographers: Goh Siang, Eve, Jo, Yen and Conan or “Canon” whom Herry mistakenly referred to and Raja 3- 2nd group of photographers: Phua, Philip, Aili and myself. Dive masters: Herry, Johny and Noak will rotated among the three groups but the “Rock & Roll” divers definitely prefer Noak as he is like a fish in the water and can spot stuffs from macro pygmy seahorse to eagle rays from a distance.

We did our check out dive at Matan Island in Sorong to ensure that our equipments are functioning and weighting was correct. I have got a new 3mm ScubaPro wetsuit and felt negative buoyant using my usual two kilos weights… the aluminum tank was unusually heavy. Despite that, I was happy to be breathing underwater again and saw my first Wobbegong shark, few nudibranchs, anemone shrimps and an orang utan crab. The boat set sail for Raja Ampat after lunch. It will take about 5 hours to get there and all of us were feeling tired so off we went to slumberland. The boat anchored near Mansuar Reef for our first night dive in Raja Ampat. Night creatures like gobies, shrimps and crabs, barramundi cods and nudibranchs kept me busy throughout the 64 minutes dive. After a delightful dinner, we have a little surprise installed for Aili; we requested the chef to bake her a birthday cake and she celebrated her 33rd year on the high seas. Sweet!

Diving Memories- Day 3 to 8
I did another 26 dives covering Fam Island (Barracuda Point, Fam Channel, West Fam Wall, Mandarin Point, Barracuda Reef, Melisa’s Garden, Anita’s Garden, Penemu Wall, Air Borei (Manta Point), Mansuar (Mike’s Point, Batu Lima/Five Rocks, Mioskon, Chicken Reef, Sardine Reef, Crossover, Cape Kri), Waigeo (The Passage, Nudi Rock) and Wai Island (P-47 D Thunderbolt “Razorback” WWII wreck ditched in the area on 21st Oct 1944 after having ran out of fuel). Dive briefing with detailed map was given before each dive and each group took turns to go first. The sites were usually about 5-10 minutes away and entry into the water was via back-roll. Water temperature ranged from 28-30 degree Celsius. The water was not gin-clear, with visibility averaging 8-12 meters, due to an abundance of nutrients, which in turn make the sea life so prolific.

The reefs of Fam Island were plastered with brightly colored soft corals. There are healthy colonies of yellow, pink, purple and red corals at virtually every depth, to within 3 meters of the surface. Aili named these reefs the LAND of hydroids…I guess I need not explain why? At the correct tide, the vicinity pumps with activity. Large schools of surgeonfish, fusiliers and anthias block out the sunlight as they shoal down the length of the reef. At times, huge trevallies and jacks circled and attacked the fusiliers and it was always delightful watching the action but at the same time, I was too engrossed on photographing macro objects like blennies, gobies, nudibranchs, pygmy seahorses that I hoped for longer time underwater.

The diving highlight for most of us will be at Manta Point where giant manta rays congregate to perform their graceful somersaults; feeding on plankton while their wings and gills were preened by cleaner wrasses. I counted eight of them, some were white with dark markings, others were black on white and two were plain black. An absolutely magical sight to watch. This was also a macro site where I saw a pair of sea moths, a cute looking pipefish, anemone shrimps, nudibranchs and flatworms.

The Passage, as it is known resembles a river between two islands. The journey took us through thickly forested limestone islands, very similar to Palau’s topside landscape. The shallower slope is a good spot for flatworms, nudibranchs and shrimp gobies. As I drifted with the currents, I saw an abundance of soft corals, sea fans and sponges growing from the sides and floor of the channel. When sunlight penetrates and illuminates the cave, the effect is just WOW as proven in Conan’s pictures.

Diving at Cape Kri ROCKS, one of the most famous dive sites at Raja Ampat as claimed by many dive magazines and it is no surprise why. In the current, divers here can look forward to being literally engulfed by fish, huge swirling schools of jacks, giant trevallies and chevron barracuda. In addition to these expect to see large napoleon wrasse, bumphead parrotfish and reef sharks as you drift along with the fish. At the shallow reefs, there is a profusion of corals growth. Among them live many species of smaller reef fish such as colorful anthias, hawk fish, gobies and numerous invertebrates including shrimps and crabs, pygmy seahorses, nudibranchs, and an occasional octopus.

One of my favorite dives was the night dive at Penemu Wall. Here, the sea sparkled at the shone of my torch and strange looking crabs and shrimps were littering all over the corals and sea floor. Another great but scary night dive was at Mioskon Reef where I found the Holy Grail of Diving- the blue-ringed octopus but it was no fun to be photographing this little poisonous creature at night. I was all alone and took a few shots when suddenly I just lost sight of it from my view finder. I kind of freaked out and decided to shorten my dive. Nice but Bummer!

Topside Memories
The topside stuff is almost as exciting as what is found underneath the water. As the boat cruised through the waters of Raja Ampat Islands surrounded by karst limestone formations, I found myself having these Déjà vu feelings that I was back in Palau. Sunsets, when visible, were always spectacular, sending streaks of impossible colors (red, orange, blue) across the sky, in five dimensions.

We visited a Papuan village during surface interval on Day 6. When we arrived at the jetty, I approached a group of smiling kids, looking shy but ready to be photographed. Their eyes sparkled and there were endless giggles when I showed them their faces taken on my viewfinder. As I walked on, the villagers stopped to say “Hello” and I took many more photographs of plentiful kids in the village and there were laughers everywhere. The village was very well kept and most houses had small garden of flowers in front of their house. We were impressed by its orderliness and cleanliness.

The Crew
The crew consisted of ten hardworking Indonesians who stuck to their specialties, from kitchen work to engine room work to working the tender boats, to sailing the mother ship. The chef, in particular has our votes, as he is the master of creation. In 8 days onboard the ship, there was never a duplicate lunch or dinner. He made the best soups and baked the most delightful cakes. Yummy!!

GS’s Dive Group
Some are old and some are new but what a fun loving bunch! Aili and I are new to the group and Goh Siang; the organizer interviewed her for a cool 20 minutes before we secured our places on the boat. There are the “Rock & Roll” divers who fought currents to seek adrenaline rush; Phua, the “O” ring fetish who spent 20 minutes cleaning his “O” ring after each dive and will soon be “O” ringed on Facebook. The bizarre “Foursome” relationship among Goh Siang, Michael, Fabian and Conan provided endless jokes. Aili, my Dear or lesbian dive buddy, who shares and talks about any topics under the sun. And then, there is Me, christened the Poker machine or Gambling Queen so guess you all know what I excel best besides diving. All in all, I enjoyed everyone’s company and have a wonderful time onboard and I hope you all do too.

Raja Reigns Supreme…
Both above and below the water’s surface the Raja Ampat islands of Irian Jaya are teeming with the diversity of life and this will be an experience I’ll long to remember.

Underwater Photos link: Jovin’s Cool Photos!! :: Beneath MV Raja Ampat

Topside Photos Link: http://sg.homeunix.com/jovin/Papuan-Topside-Memories

Happy bubbles,

Jovin-