July 31, 2009

Lembeh Straits and Bunaken, Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia

Well I am back … safe and sound and raring to go in the newly renovated, expanded and updated clinic in KL central.

But first the dive trip….

Bouyancy control is a must when shooting something over fine sand

It was a wonderful trip that was cooked up by my dive pals. We had already been to Lembeh in January and did some ‘muck’ diving (that is, diving in what appears to be barren sand, but actually is something like a treasure hunt as the critters are so well camouflaged they look like rubbish or sand … so you got to have really good eyesight for macro and/or have a really good divemaster!)

The photo on the right is of Zainal and Sam both trying to get a shot of a Leaf Fish in the sand … I took the photo of them instead!

Macro shots take a lot of skill and patience … that’s probably why the three of us usually end up diving together because we move so slow and take so long in one spot. I am no where as good as Sam or Zainal though!….

We moved on after three nights and 9 dives to Bunaken for some wall dives. This meant getting back on the flamboyant bus and another boat ride to Bunaken Island which is just off Manado itself.

We were met on the jetty by Franz, the former GM of Bastianos Lembeh who now is teaching full time Marine Eco Tourism in the community college in Manado. Franz had dived with us before on our earlier trip and hailed us like old friends.

I loved the sunsets and got some great photos.

We had some spectacular wall dives here.

Unfortunately, my camera drowned … yes! my Canon G10 died! … as the underwater casing got flooded during the night dive when we were out looking for the elusive Mandarin Fish. Sigh…

Before it drowned, I got some spectacular shots which fortunately I uploaded before the fateful night dive.