Perhentian Dive Log Entry

Just back from a week on the Perhentian Islands. Had a great time with friends from Canada, and while none of them are divers, I treated myself to a few great dives while there. Did a superb dawn dive, and thought I would share an entry from my dive log:

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Dive #: 143

Location: Tokong Laut (Temple of the Sea), Perhentian Islands, Malaysia

Max Depth: 22.5m

Avg Depth: 13.7m

Bottom Time: 70 minutes

Water Temp: 28 degrees Celsius

Visibility: up to 20 metres

Divemaster: Yoe



I had been bugging Chris from Spice Divers on Perhentian Kecil all week about going on a night dive. On the afternoon of the scheduled night dive,he greeted me on the beach, and I knew the dive was off.



"jeff, i got a cracker of a dive scheduled for you tomorrow!"



With subtle disappointment in my voice, I replied, "i take it this is in lieu of the night dive?"



"Ya mate!", says Chris, a Malay, but with a thick australian accent

he aquired growing up around Darwin,"tomorrow you are going on a sunrise dive!"



I swear my excitement levitated me off the sand! This guy sure knows how to convey "bad" news! Woo Hoo! Having survived a "scuba boot camp" dawn dive aboard MV Grace earlier last year amid murky waters and strong currents, I couldn't wait to turn my perception of dawn dives around. Diving at dawn is said to be the best time to see the "buzz" of life on the reef. I set my alarm, but my excitement kept me awake most of the night.



5:30am the next morning, the guys at Spice Divers were amazingly chipper, and greeted 11 blurry eyed divers with toast, jam and hot coffee and tea.



Dive briefing at 5:45am; on the boat by 6am.



We arrived at the site 20mins later, and after gearing up, backrolled off the boat into the calm, but pitch black sea at 6:30am. The narrow strands of light from our torchlights guided us as we made our descent in the dark, warm waters. We descended to 22m to discover that the many shy-by-day bamboo sharks were lively and swimming about in search of their early morning meal. A few brave moray eels (normally tucked into crevices during the day) were also out and about, winding their way through the black coral

and gorgonian sea fans. As I scanned the sandy bottom with my torchlight, its light revealed a few small flathead crocodile fish hiding under a thin layer of sand. Large pairs of star puffer fish and porcupine fish were also drifting by across the field of view in front of my torchlight.



After 20min, we started slowly ascending up the pinnacle, with the reef silouetted in the pre-dawn light. At about 13m, the shapes and colours of the reef became more apparent, and I suddenly became aware of millions of fish swarming around me...schools of fusilliers, damselfish, glassfish, batfish,all out for their morning exercise, or perhaps trying to evade the lone great barracuda that was hunting just above me. Together with the other 3 divers I was with, and with the sun breaching the horizon of the world

above the surface, we halted all movement at that point, and remained

motionlesss, hovering weightlessly amongst the buzz of the early morning reef traffic. I wanted this moment to last forever. Even when the Divemaster signalled that a sometimes agressive triggerfish was roaming the area, I refused to let its presence disrupt my morning reef meditation.



Some minutes later, I snapped out of my trance to share my excitment with my buddies, and wrote in large emphatic letters on my underwater slate, "SO MANY FISH!!"



After 70 magical minutes, I broke the surface, my face

drenched in the rays of the low lying early morning sun, and said to

myself, "this is a great day!"



Jeff

aka Johari

DM #479744