31 July 2006

weather: sunny whole day

sea condition: choppy in the morning, viz 15m-25m

guides: Jimmy & Nina, Ron, Jay, Lee, Sophia

Another good day!!! Everybody's sooo happy that the viz is getting better this few days. In some parts of Sipadan the viz almost reached 30m.

Ron's group saw a big school of bumpheads in Mid Reef. Jimmy and Nina saw big school of barracudas, batfish and snappers in Barracuda Point. The best dive in Sipadan belongs to Lee's group. They saw a big school bumpheads, big school batfish, and big school barracudas...not in South Point, not in Barracuda point, but surprisingly everything in West Ridge :-D, and in the afternoon! Sophia and Jay saw big school of jacks in Drop Off...Macros, we saw leaf fish, blue ribbon eel, many gobies, stingrays, cuttlefish, scorpion fish, nudibranchs, frogfish, mandarin fish, sponge crab, decorator crab, octopus, Bobtail squid etc etc...too much to tell guys...no worries, there's still tomorrow :-D

Happy Diving !!!

30 July 2006

(A scenic view from the entrance of the mystical turtle cavern. Pic by Amerijckx Johan)

weather: rain in the morning, sunny for the rest of the day
sea condition: slightly choppy in the morning, viz 10m-25m
guides: Allan & Bobby, Jason, Lee, Nina, Sophia, Ron

There were some brilliant dives today. The viz today was the best in 2 weeks. Allan, Bobby and Jason went to Baracuda Point in the morning. This was the amazing scene that greeted them during the entry....

(a small school of batfish with a huge school of jacks behind. Pic by Amerijckx Johan)

Everyone who went to Sipadan today saw the big school barracudas doing the tornado. There are no words good enough to describe the feeling underwater when u see this kind of stuff...just take a look at the fantastic pics below.

Allan & Bobby's group saw a great hammerhead! Shallow round 15m .very close to the reef (while Jason's group was in Drop Off) . And in their second dive they saw 4 leopard sharks in Mid Reef (while Jason's group was in Barracuda Point!). So it's proven that Jason does not have luck with sharks...poor guy.... :-D

The giant trevallies and white tipped reef sharks were quite active today, circling around the jacks. Tough luck for the jacks, feel abit sad for them....but that's how things goes underwater...everyone is part of the food chain. Jason once heard someone telling him, if we dive and when we swim into the deep blue, we automatically become part of the food chain :- ....The viz was good today so shallow part the reef looks very very colorful.There were turtles everywhere, a lot of colorful small fishes especially the anthias and the bannerfishes, and alot of triggerfishes!

We found a lot of small stuffs today also. Leaf fish, pygmy seahorse, alot of shrimps (eg the bubble coral shrimp and the photogenic ambonian shrimps), alot of crabs (eg the odd looking orang utan crab), many many moray eels, snake eels, pipefishes, the ever shy gobies, frogfishes, mandarin fish and loads of colorful nudibranchs. We managed to get hold of one pic of macro seen today. Below is a pic of Okenia sp. (pink) found by Jason. There were 2 of them, and they were mating actually. Maybe when Johan took this pic they already finished mating. u guys can try see, one of it is on top while the other one was below...

Okay, think that should be all for today, but before we end this post we would like to thank Johan for his wonderful pics.

Happy Diving !!! ^__^

29 July 2006

weather: sunny all day :-D
sea condition: choppy sea, viz 10m-20m
guides: Lee, Jason, Jimmy & Jay, Bobby, Allan & Nina, Sophia

Oops...still no pics today....so another short post...

Big school barracudas, big school jacks, tonnes of turtles, white tipped reef sharks, grey reef shark, school of batfish, school of snappers, loads of bannerfishes and fusiliers, leaf fish, frog fish, crab eye goby, yellow flagtail goby, mantis shrimp, mushroom coral pipefish, mandarin fish, dwarf scorpion fish, decorator crab, hermit crab, octopus, broadclub cuttlefish, giant morays, ribbon eels.....pheeww, the list goes on and on....we will try update a longer post tomorrow.

HaPPy DiVinG !!

Baby Corals for Group B (continued)

ok...this is the details of the other 2 corals from Group B (Jay & Nina's group)

Shimura Hideko (B10)

Massive coral - Porites sp.

Circumference: 140mm; Height: 12mm

Takeuchi Chigusa (B11)

Branching coral - Montipora sp.

Circumference: 285mm; Height: 50mm

28 July 2006

weather: sunny whole day, wind from south
sea condition: viz 10m-15m
guides: Nina, Jay, Bobby & Jimmy, Allan, Leonard, Sophia

Ok, no photos today...so this will be a short one....

school of batfish, tuna, grey reef, big school barraduca, big school jacks, white tipped reef sharks and giant trevallies hunting jacks, napolean wrasse and loads of turtles...as for macros, leaf fish, frog fosh, ornate ghostpipefish, dwarf scorpion fish, groupers, broadclub cuttlefish, ghost shrimp, leaf wrasse, more different types of shrimps, crabs and many many nudibranchs...

hehehehe more updates tomorrow guys...CheeRS!!!!!

27 July 2006

(Stefano with a green turtle. Pic taken by Elena)

weather: Sunny all day
sea condition: viz 8m-15m
guides: Nina & Jason, Jay, Bobby, Jimmy, Lee, Allan

This was a very happening day!!! Jimmy's group was really LUCKY today...they made 2 dives in Sipadan...and they saw almost everything in those 2 dives. 1st dive they went to Barracuda Point, there were giant trevallies and blue fin trevallies hunting the anthias at the entry point. There were alot of very active white tips...swimming and circling around the whole dive. The best part of this dive was seeing a huge school of barracudas doing the vortex inside the channel. The were other fishes also...school of black snappers and batfish, and many many bannerfish.

Their second dive in South Point were as awesome! They saw what every divers wanted to see badly in Sipadan...yes hammerhead sharks, around 10 of them...at 20m deep!!! it just somewhat proved it's not necessary that we have to go to Sipadan at dawn to see the hammerheads...it depends of luck, and on having good guides like Jimmy :-) And it is funny, when u are lucky, u really can get very very lucky....other than hammerheads, Jimmy's group saw one huge grey reef and a leopard shark...and not to forget the school of jacks....*sigh* plus alot of turtles gliding thru on both dives...

Ok, we shouldn't forget about our little macro friends. The special things we saw today were leaf fish, stargazer, blue ribbon eel, pygmy seahorse, lots of nudibranchs, different types of shrimps and gobies...

The weather is getting better these few days, viz is getting better plus there are not so many particles in the water...hopefully the condition will get better tomorrow :-D we were not able to get any pic of the macros, but we were lucky to get 2 good shots of the big school barracudas, but not lucky enough to get any pics of the hammerheads :-(...enjoy!!!

26 July 2006

weather: sunny whole day :-D
sea condition: viz 8m - 15m
guides: Sophia, Diana, Nina, Jay, Lee, Jimmy

The dives today were nice....

In Sipadan there were a school of barracudas, a school of jacks, alot of white tip reef sharks, grey reef shark, lots of lots of turtles, loads of corals....and many many divers :-D (summer holidays is just around the corner)

Macros were just as good....there were many shrimps, crabs, nudibranchs, gobies etc etc...a few worth mentioning are the pygmy seahorse, frogfish, leaf fish, black sailfin goby. The only pic we can get hold today is the pic of the jacks above taken by Sue. Thanks for the pic Sue...

Happy Diving Guys ^__^

Baby Corals for Group B

Baby Corals for Group B
(leaders: Jay & Nina)

(Group B volunteers transplanting corals in Old House Reef 2)

Nagano Kyoko (B1)
Branching coral - Acropora sp.
Circumference: 215mm; Height: 60mm

Haga Yukiko (B2)
Branching coral - Acropora sp.
Circumference: 255mm; Height 65mm

Sumaga Katsuko (B3)
Branching coral - Montipora sp.
Circumference: 200mm; Height 25mm

Momose Yumiko (B4)
Branching coral - Montipora sp.
Circumference: 260mm; Height: 55mm

Nishiya Sayo (B5)
Branching coral - Acropora sp.
Circumference: 235mm; Height: 25mm

Nagata Tamiko (B6)
Branching coral - Montipora sp.
Circumference: 185mm; Height 45mm

Ashino Midori (B7)
Massive coral - Porites sp.
Circumference: 180mm; Height: 50mm

Fuzawa Noboko (B8)
Branching coral - Acropora sp.
Circumference: 225mm; Height: 60mm

Kayako Nakamura (B9)
Branching coral - Acropora sp.
Circumference: 370m; Height: 40mm

we can't upload pics for corals B10 & B11 as the size is full....we'll post the details for those two corals tomorrow :-)

Nina: Sango Gambate !!!!!!

25 July 2006

weather: sunny whole day, wind from south
sea condition: viz 5m-15m, choppy sea
guides: Jay, Diana & Lee, Jason & Allan, Jimmy

Ok ok...even a shorter post than yesterday...

school of chevron barracudas, school of jacks, white tip reef sharks, school of batfish, school of black snappers, dogtooth tunas, school of streamline barracudas, giant grouper, mangrove jacks, peacock mantis shrimp, giant mantis shrimp, mushroom coral shrimp, bubble coral shrimp & different types of shrimps, a few types of moray eels, alot of gobies (special ones: sailfin goby, purple fire goby, black sailfin goby), frogfish, leaf fish, alot of nudibranchs, pygmy seahorse, giant jawfish...

we'll update a longer post tomorrow...hehe

^__^ CheeRS!!!!

24 July 2006

weather: cloudy in the morning, sunny in the afternoon, wind from south
sea condition: choppy sea, viz 5m - 12m
guides: Jason & Nina, Lee, Diana, Sophia, Allan, Jimmy

No pics today :-(

We'll just go thru everything we saw today.....

School of barracudas, turtles, grey reef sharks, white tipped reef sharks, giant trevallies, school of jacks, giant grouper, white leaf fish, black leaf fish, pink frogfish, black giant frogfish, black sailfin goby, yellow flagtail goby, crab eye goby, red margin shrimp goby, robust ghost pipefish, juvenile clown sweetlips, nudibranchs, mushroom coral shrimp, soft coral shrimp, blue spotted stingray, broadclub cuttlefish, mushroom coral pipefish, pygmy seahorse, stonefish etc etc.....

*sigh* no photos no fun, so we'll just post some pics of Allan, it was his birthday yesterday...
HaPpY BiRThDaY AllaN !!!!!

23 July 2006

(school of bumpheads)

weather: cloudy in the morning, wind from south
sea condition: viz 8m - 15m, slightly choppy sea
guides: Diana, Lee, Ron & Jay, Sophia

It was a good day for diving....In Sipadan we saw big school bumpheads, big school jacks, school of barracudas, giant trevallies and white tip reef sharks very active (maybe hunting....), huge Napolean wrasse and lots of lots of turtles...

Macros were just as good. Leaf fish, frogfish, ribbon eels, lots of gobies, lots of shrimps etc etc, the lists goes on...We managed to get hold of some pics from 2 divers...

(long nose hawkfish)

(Question: everyone can see what's on this false anemone???)

Happy Diving ^__^

Group C corals datas & pics (updated 20th July 2006)

(from top to bottom, left to right: Jason, Ken, Anna, Chew Nee, Mimoru, Harumi, Bee Poh, Francesca, Paolo, Christopher, Emiliano)

hei guys, these are the datas and pix for Group C's corals...
Location of transplanted corals: Old House Reef 2
Leader Name: Jason Fong

Christopher Low
Record number: 2006/C1
Coral common name: Pocillopora
Height: 39mm
Circumference: 191mm
Symbiotic organism: coral crab
[Jason: Chris, the coral crab is very small, and it kept cuddling inside your coral. No matter how i angle the camera i cant get a good shot of it...this is the best already :-( ]

Kim Bee Poh
Record number: 2006/C2
Coral common name: Acropora
Height: 78mm
Circumference: 270mm

Francesca Giansante
Record number: 2006/C3
Coral common name: Pocillopora
Height: 69mm
Circumference: 280mm

Iannucci Emiliano
Record number: 2006/C4
Coral common name: Montipora
Height: 78mm
Circumference: 245mm

Takashi Harumi
Record number: 2006/C5
Coral common name: Acropora
Height: 88m
Circumference: 241mm

Takashi Mimoru
Record number: 2006/C6
Coral common name: Montipora
Height: 45mm
Circumference: 155mm

Paolo Devalba
Record number: 2006/C7
Coral common name: Acropora
Height: 80mm
Circumference: 286mm

Anna Bernardini
Record number: 2006/C8
Coral common name: Acropora
Height: 63mm
Circumference: 264mm

Loke Chew Nee
Record number: 2006/C9
Coral common name: Acropora
Height: 65mm
Circumference: 306mm

22 July 2006

weather: cloudy in the morning, wind from south

sea condition: viz 6m-18m

guides: Allan, Nina & Jay, Lee, Jason

Nina & Jay's group were the only ones who went to Sipadan today. The sea condtion on the north part of Sipadan is now better compared to the south side (there was always wind coming from south)....The group saw almost everything that Sipadan can offer!! School of barracudas and bumpheads on the first dive, school of jacks on the second dive...plus lots of turtles and sharks on both dives. The other stuffs we saw during our dives today were the giant grouper, ornate ghostpipefish, pygmy seahorse, flambuoyant cuttlefish, lots of nudibranchs and lots of shrimps....We havnt been able to get any pics today :-(...so we just post this sunset view of the dive center...

All the DMs are doing self dive after the boat dives these few days. We need to scale and take photos of the corals transplanted during Mabul Marine Day. Datas and pictures are still being collected, we will post the updates very soon.

21 July 2006

weather: cloudy in the morning, sunny in the afternoon, wind from south
sea condition: choppy sea at noon, voz 8m-25m
guides: Sophia, Ron

Alot of departures today...only 2 boats for diving, the rest were given a chance for a day rest to "de-gas"....Anyway, what the divers saw today in short:
school of barracudas, lots of turtles, white tipped reef sharks, grey reef sharks, school of batfish, 2 huge dogtooth tunas, many types of shrimps, many gobies and nudibranchs...

That's all for today guys, it our rest day...wakak!!! More updates tomorrow...

20 July 2006

(turtle, jacks and diver - pic captured from Scubazoo's Sam's dive video)

weather: rain in the morning, sunny in the afternoon. slight wind from south
sea condition: viz 5m-15m, choppy sea
guides: Lee & Nina, Diana & Jay, Sophia & Jason, Ron

We've had some great dives today...those who went to Sipadan saw big school of barracuda and jacks. The water was cold in Sipadan today..there were alot of white tips, a couple of grey reefs, plus Diana & Jay's group saw a leopard shark. Like everyday, there were alot of turtles, alot of angelfishes and fusiliers...

For macro, we saw flambuoyant cuttlefish, robust ghostpipefish, frogfish, many many gobies lots of shrimps and lots of nudibranchs....

[Jason (orange fin), Jimmy (silver fin) and the jacks, pic captured from Scubazoo's Sam's dive video]

(school of barracuda, pic by Okabe Zenei)

19 July 2006

We're very sorry for the late update..all of us had been very busy for the past week because of the Mabul Marine Day.

Okay, to update everyone about the dives last week...

The weather was not that good, it rained almost everyday in the morning, somtimes cloudy...but some days the sun came out in the afternoon. There were wind coming from the south, which means that the sea was choppy last week...

Underwater was better despite the weather. The viz was around 3m-15m last week. There was a layer of murky water round 1m-3m deep, but deeper side it did get better. It was in the morning underwater, feels like sunset dive ler....

Although the weather was not that good last week, we did have some awesome dives. It's too long to tell u guys day by day, we'll just show some of the good shots taken last week...there were more pictures though, but we cant post everything.

(school of bumphead parrotfish, pic by Suzuki Toyoko)

(giant grouper, pic by Francesca Giansante)

(soft coral crab, pic by Noto Hitomi)

(pink frogfish, pic by Noto Hitomi)

(black sailfin goby, pic by Okino Mutsumi)

(family of ribbon goby, pic by Koji Kamigaki)

(black ray shrimp goby, pic by Okino Mutsumi)

(flambuoyant cuttlefish, pic by Sermsak Posayajinda)

(gold specs jawfish with eggs in mouth, pic by Okino Mutsumi)

(pygmy seahorse, pic by Koji Kamigaki)

We would like to thank all who had contributed the pictures.....

Happy Diving ^__^