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twitter-ing!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010!

it's 2:16 pm now

WOOHOO!

hey people, i'm back from my tioman dive trip!
burnt as usual, but it was all worth it. =)))

can you spot me?
haha i can't.

XD

09april, friday

the whole group of divers gathered at Sunny Cove at 7++pm and got our dive equipments. packed all of them up into the van and left for Mersing at 8.30pm.

torturous 2.5hours of car ride to Mersing, and finally reached Mersing at about 11.30pm, just in time to catch the last ferry before the low tides hit in.

imagine to be stranded on Mersing and forced to wait for the morning ferry! urgh. but luckily, that didnt happen. haha.

another 2hours of ferry ride, reached Pulau Tioman at 2+am. checked in to Paya Beach Resort, got a nice and cosy room as compared to the one i went in march. haha. but our neighbours were plain annoying. i'll explain why later.

bathed, washed up, and hit the bed at 3+am.

10april, saturday

the day started way too early. we were woken up by those stupid teenagers neighbours that came running about at the corridors and shouting at their friends to get up. and that was at 7am!

i was only supposed to wake up at 8.30am!

couldnt really go back into deep sleep after 7am, and i was seriously dragging myself up when the alarm went off. *grrrrrrr* damn the kids.

washed up, changed, and set off for breakfast at 9am.

breakfast was a spread! buffet styled, nice food, but lots of FLIES. yikes.

met the rest at the jetty at 9.45am, and set off to our first dive site at Tumuk, a 1hour boat ride. set up our dive gears, ring-up and off to my ever first dive experience at 10.35am!

went in as deep as 8.8m, and stayed underwater for 34mins.

i swear that i was so scared that i might drown. hahaha. but everything went well. saw lots of interesting stuffs underwater. it was awesome. =)

finding nemo!

one thing i can say is that, pulau tioman is infested with SEA URCHINS. lots and lots of sea urchins. you turn to your left, you see urchins. you turn to your right, you see them. you look straight, you see them again. hahaha, and their spikes are sharp. do not step on them!

got up at 11.09am, and back to the main island for lunch.

lunch was okay, buffet spread again with lots of flies. everyone else seemed to be eating a mountain of rice while i settled for 2 bowls of soup and a few mouths here and there. hahaha. i wasnt that hungry afterall!

gathered back at the jetty at 1.45pm, and set off for the second dive site at Baku Bay! it was an hour boat ride again, and jumped in straight away at 2.56pm.

went in as deep as 11.9m this time round, and stayed for 40mins.

trust me, 40mins is not enough. time really flies when you are underwater.

didnt really have the chance to have a tour underwater at this dive site as all of the open water divers were supposed to do some skills like clearing of masks and regulators.

and as usual, i choked on sea water while clearing my mask. hahahaha.

oh oh! i saw pufferfish! so cute!

went back onto the boat at 3.36pm, and off to our third dive site at Soyah! grrrr, it was another 1hour boat ride.

went into the waters at 4.56pm, went as deep as 16.4m and stayed for 35mins.

the current was practically sweeping all of us away! saw the great barracuda, cushion starfish, and many others. i just couldnt recognise what i saw. hahahaha.

did a safety stop at 5m for 3mins, and it wasnt as difficult as i thought! it was pretty cool to hover at 5m with everything else under your feet. haha.

got off at 5.31pm, and then back to the main island for dinner.

it was our own time own target then, as the other advanced divers went for their night dives. sat around the table chatting and sharing our experiences and all that time i was experiencing swaying moments! haha as though as i was still on the boat. lol.

it was not a nice feeling to feel like you are floating and swaying. haha, it was as though you had a couple of drinks and you were high on alcohols or something. lol.

went to wash up at 8.45pm, and roamed around the gift shops. everyone was too full to have the ramly burgers so we decided to skip that and we back to the dining area at 10pm for our debrief.

hahaha, and i considered myself as quite awake as compared to the others. some of them were falling asleep during the debriefing! lol.

went back to our rooms before 11pm, washed up and went unconscious before midnight.

11april, sunday

last day at Tioman! we left 2 dives to go, and then it was back to Singapore. =(((

the day started pretty early, was supposed to get up at 7am for breakfast, but we were too tired from the previous day. so we decided to skip breakfast and met the rest at the jetty at 8am.

same stuffs, gear up our dive equipments, and embarked on our 1hour boat ride to our fourth dive site at Labas. it was free descend now, with no guidelines for you to hold on. i had a little problem descending, and the instructor had to hold on to me and drag me down like a kite. hahahaha.

went into the waters at 9.18am, went as deep as 16.8m and stayed for 28mins.

and this time round, i finally saw some creatures like the stingrays! =)))) but that reminded me of how Steve Irwin got killed. lol. didnt really go too near cos i was scared. hahaha.

roamed around the place and diving up and down the rocks and cliffs. it was way better than driving! hahaha.

can you spot me here?
i was wearing my red fishbone mask strap! hahaha.

hint: right in the middle of the picture!

did a safety stop and went up to the surface at 9.46am. we were all floating on the surface while waiting for the boat to pick us up. so, as first time divers, we never let any photo-taking opportunity to slip away so we ended up taking pictures! haha.

try matching our feets to our heads! =)))

got onto the boat, changed our tanks and there we were on our way to our last dive site at Renggis Island. it was both exciting and sad at the same time, as it was gonna be the last one before i can have another chance to dive again in the near future. =(

the group was split into 2, and all of us jumped straight into the waters at 11.10am. most of them did a back row jump, or whatever it's called while i did the traditional way. hahaha. i was scared lar. lol.

went as deep as 12.5m and stayed for 35mins.

and i could say that this was the most awesome dive out of the 5!

i saw many beautiful corals, all sorts of corals, and most importantly! TURTLES! =DDDDDDD okay, haha on top of turtles, i saw triggerfish, parrotfish and oh man, they are huge. and tubeworms? nah, i forgot the names. lol.

i remembered how scared i was when i was at Tioman in march for snorkeling when those fish swam around me. haha but not this time round! i'm so proud of myself. lol.

turtles!

in a blink of an eye, 35mins zoomed past and we were all back on the boat at 11.45am, packing up all the dive equipments and waiting for the others to get back to the boat before we return to the main island.

and while waiting, i overheard that the other group got to see blacktip!! a kind of shark i supposed. =(((( and cuttlefish! awwww, i didnt get to see those two. =(

reached the main island at about 12+pm, ordered our ramly burgers before going back to bathe and pack up. met the rest at the dining area at 1.15pm and then off at the jetty at 2pm.

the ferry only arrived at 3pm, as usual, they were always late. haha. and then it was another 2hours ride back to Mersing. slept throughout the journey, i was dead tired and then transferred to the van at 5pm and then we were all on our way back to Singapore.

reached Singapore at only 9+pm due to some hiccups here and there and then it was home sweet home. =)))))

oh man, you cant imagine how much i missed my bed, even though i was only away for the weekends. hahaha.

conclusion, GREAT AWESOME DIVE TRIP! =)))))))))

and lastly, presenting my dive group and instructors.