Odysseys of George

Wow! This is a rarity especially when it comes so close to the shores. Usually it is a sign – what I don’t know? Good or Bad?

KUALA TERENGGANU: Villagers have sighted dolphins close to the coastline here.
They spotted a dozen dolphins off Bukit Rakit, yesterday evening.
The sighting comes only days after plenty of sea cucumbers washed up along Batu Burok shores last Thursday.
Local folks are keeping vigil, hoping to catch a glimpse of the sea mammals.
One villager, Ishak Derus, 49, claimed that five of the dolphins had beached themselves but were rescued and released into the sea by some fishermen.
This is the first time that the mammals had came close to the shore.

Enjoy this endangered spesies.

There, the drop off a reader spoke off.

This time is a place called Manado, Sulawesi. Adjacent diving sites are the Pulau Bunaken and Lembeh straits.

Great for: Small animals, underwater photography and advanced divers
Not so great for: Large animals, wall diving, drift dives and non-diving activities
Depth: 5 – 30m
Visibility: 10 – 25m
Currents: Gentle
Surface Conditions: Calm
Water Temperature: 26 – 29°C
Experience Level: Beginner – advanced
Number of dive sites: >30
Distance: ~45 km east of Manado (1½ hours)
Access: Manado diving and Lembeh resorts and liveaboards
Recommended length of stay: 5 – 10 days

Serpents according to Wikipedia has many meanings but to this article simply means the name given to a snake in a religious or mythological context. But rather than religious this is reality:

These are the famous moray eels. There are many variety about a 100 species but these are the ones I managed to see in my limited diving experience. These nocturnal (most active at night) fish have a long, muscular, snake-like body.Fierce but gentle, these sea serpents will attack if one decides to disturb its peace. Some are venomous. But again they make the winning shots usually due to its ferocity.

Then, we have the Snails or the sea slugs better known as Nudibranch. I wrote about it earlier . Just to share some more pictures.

A dive trip I will have to pass as November is one busy month. The trip planned on November end will cost RM2500 for 6days 5nights. So ,where is Mataking? An island in the Celebes Sea.

Celebes Sea

The Sea is in the form of a huge basin, and plunges as deep as 6,200 m.The Celebes Sea is a piece of an ancient ocean basin that formed 42 million years ago in a setting far from any land mass. The border between the Celebes and the Sulu Sea is at the Sibutu-Basilan Ridge.
The Celebes Sea has somewhat attained an international notoriety for its pirates who prey not only on small time fishermen but also giant container ships. Nowadays, these pirates have high-tech weapons and equipments and ride on high-speed motorboats.

Mataking

A Malaysian island known for its beautiful landscape and its underwater richness. Mataking is located on the east coast of Sabah not far from the more renowned island of Sipadan and Mabul. It is one of the latest additions on the diving map of Sabah and is fast becoming a divers haven due to its largely unexplored diving sites. Located to the north of Mabul Island, Mataking is about 3 times the size of Sipadan and is only a 40 minutes boat ride away from the town of Semporna on mainland Sabah.

Just take a look at this breathtaking aerial view.

Oh how I miss this!! Always wanted to go here!Too expensive – probably need to go private practice to maintain my hobby! He!He!

Somewhere about 3 weeks after the barge incident at Sipadan in mid-May 2006, my friends and I decided to take a dive trip to Sipadan.

We stayed at Borneo Divers.

Then we went diving and this is what we saw. This was the first time I started taking underwater photographs.

Sipadan is known for its white-tip and black-tip sharks. The also have hammerheads but we could not see any. Enchanting is all that I can say as we rest at the island.

It was a beautiful night full of memories as I fade into never-neverland!