17th December 2006 : Pulau Hantu

Vis at Pulau Hantu was slightly better than last week. It was about 2-3m even though that the dive site was crowded again and the sky was overcast.



My dive buddy was Cynthia, a fellow wildfilms crew. And it was her first local dive.

But I had a quiet day. So here's what I have seen:

My FIRST Allied Cowrie! Underwater I meant (Had seen them without diving, at East Coast before). I know this pic is not good, but can you see the elongated bump on the Sea whip?



The only Flatworm I saw:



Managed to see a jorunna funebris, a gymnodoris alba and the chromodoris fidelis again.



Mmmm....don't know why but it seen that our Nemo (False Clown Anemonefish) were a bit camera shy(at least for my camera) today. See this? This one only shows me its fin!!!

10th December 2006 : Pulau Hantu

Dive with The Hantu Bloggers at Pulau Hantu this morning. It was a crowded day and the vis was about 1m (sometimes zero) today.

Didn’t encounter any new nudibranch today. Nonetheless, we still have the usual suspects.


Lots of jorunna funebris, pteraeolidia ianthina(Blue Dragon Nudibranch) and a gymnodoris alba.



A big flatworm.



An Ocellate Pipefish, False-clown and Tomato Anemonefish



Close up of a Fanworm.



Crinoid/ Feather Seastar hiding under a rock.


Corals, Corals and more Corals! Some with their tentacles out.



The pink ones look like little bouquet of flowers. The orange one (a boulder coral) is huge (a meter wide at least). For that size, It must be more than hundred years old (coral grows very slowly at about 1-2cm per year) and strong enough to go through the dramatic changes in our water quality all these years.

26th November 2006 : Pulau Hantu

Out diving at Pulau Hantu with Ivy and HuiBing. Mission today is to try to find the Frogfish and also HuiBing's dive computer. Today vis at Hantu was only about 1m. It was quite crowded with people taking Open Water. Perhaps this also contributed to the low vis. However, we still managed to see quite a number of stuffs despite the 1m Vis.

In fact, it's a Molluscs Day! Slugs, Bivalves and Cephalopods!

Firstly, of course, the Slugs! Here's some of the Nudibranchs that we saw;

There's the gymneodoris alba (white body with orange spots), dermatobranchus sp (white body with some brown dots and brown rhinophores), tambja sp (dark green body with blue rhinophores and gills) and a chromodoris sinensis (white body with red rhinophores and gills).

Two Cuttlefish in a day! They are quite small (about 5-6cm long) and are very CUTE!

Here's a video of one from our first dive;



There's also two strange looking bivalves that I saw. There's this one with spines and another with beautiful patterns was found on a hydroid.

Of course, there's other stuffs like.....

A beautiful Flatworm!

BIG Filefishes. About 15cm long at least.

A Crab trying to hide...and an Ocellate Pipefish.

19th November 2006 : Pulau Salu

I was back diving at Pulau Salu. Last time I was there, my old camera housing failed the diving test and flooded. Well, guess what? This time I have my torch flooded. :O( But this did not dampen my day because of the marvellous vis (The seabed can be seen from above the boat and it was 5 to 6m at least underwater).

Just look at the vis!

Lots of hard and soft coral!

Flatworms !

Then, there's a Filefish and Carpet Eel Blenny. Managed to see a Blue-spotted Fantail Stingray too (no pic though). In fact, I lost count to how many schools of fish I have encountered.

Lastly, my favourite Nudibranchs!

Came across the common ones like jorunna funerbris(They are always so CUTE!!!), Blue Dragon Nudibranch and phyllidia sp.

It's the phyllodesmium briareum again! The last time that I have seen this nudibranch was at Pulau Hantu in May this year.

And TWO lovely Emma! Hypselodoris emma that is.

Totally enjoyed this morning dive, even though there was a strong current to fight against during the second dive. :O) I hoped that next time when I come back to this reefs, there will be no more flooding.

21st October 2006 : Pulau Hantu

On Deepavali Day, I was invited by Debby of The Hantu Bloggers to a special dive at Pulau Hantu. And we got a chance to dive the reefs near the Southern Jetty and Northern Jetty of Pulau Hantu instead of the regular Western reefs. The vis was wonderful! About 8m at the depth of 15m and it was still very bright at the Southern Jetty and 4-5m at the depth of 9m for Northern Jetty. The Festival of Lights indeed!

Look at the VIS!!! So Good!!!



In additional to the good vis, There's a lot of stuffs too!

Nudibranchs! So many today!







The big white one with yellow rhinophores is a phyllidia sp. Of course, there's the Blue Dragon Nudibranch. The one that has a batik pattern body with orange projections is bornella anguilla (1st time seeing it!). There's a lot of the tambja sp (yellow with blue rhinophores and gills one) and cuthona sibogae (purple body and yellow projections) today too. I then saw the dermatobranchus sp (white body with some brown dots and brown rhinophores) again. And I finally got a pic of a small jorunna funebris (White with black polka-dots)

Then it's Flatworms Galore! So pretty!



With such good vis, who can miss out the fishes!




There's the giant goby and two Six-banded Anglefish!

The Icon Seastars and a baby Mushroom coral.

15th October 2006 : Pulau Hantu

This morning dive with The Hantu Bloggers at Pulau Hantu was wonderful! And WOW! Pulau Hantu never fail to amaze me once again.

Look at the Vis.....a good 3-4m.



It's a Slugfest! So many Nudibranch spotted today. Here are some tiny (the biggest is about 2cm) and big ones.




The yellow spotted one is a gymnodoris sp. and the one hanging on the edge is a dermatobranchus sp The yellow one with blue rhinophores and gills could be a tambja sp. And the red and white one is a first sighting for me at Pulau Hantu which is a chromodoris fidelis. There's also a tiny jorunna funebris but no pic for it. And of course, there's the usual Blue Dragon Nudibranch and also lots of phyllidia.

Other than Nudibranchs, there's also the fishes, fanworms and a crab.





A very very good dive today I must say. And looking forwards to another good dive!

10th September 2006 : Pulau Hantu

Back diving at Pulau Hantu with The Hantu Bloggers again.The vis was a good 4m for the first dive. However, it was greatly reduced in the second dive due to rain.

Lots of fish including a shy Oriental Sweetlips. Here's some other fishes.

An Ocellate Pipefish.

An Eight-banded Butterflyfish.

Cute juvenile Harlequin Sweetlips.

Our very own "Nemo", the False Clown Anemonefish.

A butt shot of a Blue-spotted Fantail Stingray.

Besides the fishes, the usual Nudibranch and Flatworm were seen. The Blue Dragon Nudibranch and phyllidia. The one with the purple bumps could be phyllidia nigra.

And of course, there's always the corals. Some even have Barnacles on them.