On June 12th, 51 Scuba took a group of Open Water Divers and Leisure Divers up to Pulau Dayang. See the pictures and read about the dive experience!

Check out our ultimate Open Water Diver in the history of 51Scuba.

By the way, yes, it’s a rubber chicken in a handmade wetsuit, which makes squeaks akin to those of bathtub ducks… so say hello to Duckie, an amalgamation of fowl impersonation, and the sheer obsession of 51Scuba to put anything and everything underwater.

The first checkout dive was at Kador; the water was still but visibility wasn’t fantastic at about 8m. Joyce and Wai Tuck proved to be comfortable in the water, led by Monica in demonstrating their skills for the certification; while the Three Amigoes Weihao, Liji and Songyan, together with Charles dropped in for a checkout dive. The outline of a large bumphead parrotfish slicked about the Open Water trainees as reef fishies poked curiously about the ankles of the new divers.

Here’s bringing out new OWD divers down for the first time onto sandy bottom, and Duckie having a rocking good time getting completely disorientated- the skills were well done, and we quickly got on to checking out progressively exciting sites as the new divers got used to buoyancy control.

Rowell rockin' 51 feet deep

Lunchtime, and the beachside lunching did not disappoint. Food was good, there was an unidentifiable but delicious gooey paste, someone uttered -is this sharksfin soup- and got dirty looks from everyone else, and we had some time to fool around the beaches… when we say, Dayang’ beach is turquoise paradise, we mean it, and I was so darn in love with the water that I walked in… to find out that my digital camera was left in the pocket. John’s going to throw a stonefish at me or something and at this moment of writing, he is unaware… yet. The three amigoes have declared, based on the power of their fields of study, that the camera is dead.

Lunchin'

Herbal Essences Shampoo Ad

What do you think we did after lunch?

Duckie couldn’t wait, so I was still bumming around with my fins while the chicken took my BCD out… Lionfish galore, sea cucumber fondlin’, and Duckie’s demonstration of immunity VS crown of thorns.

Why Buoyancy Control Matters

Bleaugh

The highlight of the trip proved to be the night dive at Pulau Lang; away from the lights from the island and the unexplained absence of the moon, the full splendour of the night sky took our breaths away as the unnecessary lights on the Princess was turned off. Wai Tuck and Joyce, though Open Water Divers- joined in on the dive boat as the rest of us entered the water, underwater torches illuminating the turquoise depths.

Moray

It didn’t take the group very long before some of the lights started to signal frantically for attention. A magnificent, large sized hermit crab in a large conch shell in all its armoured glory perched proudly and unabashedly on top of some coral, displaying its claws in the combined beams of torches. Flashes from our resident Marine scientist Yujie’s camera completed the spectacle.

Another excitement of disco beams a little distance away. A good sized, blue, spotted boxfish in all its boxy glory perched proudly on top of another columned coral bloom. It didn’t end there.

Mr. Krabs

Moray eels (three in fact, and one yellow spotted one caught and followed about outside its hole), scorpionfish, crown of thorns starfish, an assortment of reef crabs, a really cute, translucent squid, odd sea stars, dark blue cushion stars, shrimps, colonies of sea worms off the coral, a display of active sea cucumbers… the list goes on, and one of the three amigoes prevented a potentially painful incident by warning me before, in attempt to lie face-to-face in front of a scorpionfish, end up buttfirst into a clump of angry orange urchins.

That bright light ain't look like food

Scorpionfish

Each moment promised one more surprise, one more splendid moment of utter awe, and the splendours of the marine night somehow made the dive longer than it should have; everyone resurfacing gasping for more, and once again greeted by the beauty of the sparkling night sky. Back at the resort, others wondered why the night divers hadn’t returned and radioed the boat to check if everything was alright. It was truly a magnificent night dive.

Elbow Crab

Not forgetting some cute baby tentacled creature

The next day, on the last certifying dive, the instructors brandished underwater slates with the Open Water Dive Lesson plans, and threw them aside underwater. Bursts of smiles all around (you know someone means a smile when he smiles with a regulator on) and congratulatory handshakes framed by Giant Gorgonian fan corals; our latest certified Open Water Divers Joyce and Wai Tuck!

Badass looking synaptid sea cucumber

It was a good trip, even without optimal visibility. As the divers logged their dives on the boat back to Mersing Jetty, there were plans to go again, soon. Charles would join the next week’s trip to Tioman, and the three amigoes speculated on the possibility of a trip to Semilans or Manado; Karl looking forward to continue his Advanced Open Water Diver certification the following week, and our resident Duckie looking forward to the Tioman trip as well with Class 95FM on the upcoming July 3rd trip! Special thanks to Zheng Yujie for many of the pictures here, and for being a great spotter!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 at 2:05 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.