The night before I was fiddling with my borrowed underwater casing and external digital flash. The flash was big by my standards (until I saw the bunch of Hk-ers equipment), however they weren't bright at all. In fact the inbuilt flash of the camera was way brighter! Something must be wrong somewhere, but it was late and I was tired and wasn't going to find out. Just use the inbuilt flash.
The journey to the dive sites at Bunaken Island was less than comfortable, surprisingly. Once the boat started I felt queasy in my tummy. Maybe I ate too much for breakfast. I thought with the years in OBS driving a small motorboat almost everyday was enough to leave my seasick days behind.... Haven't felt seasick in a long while, I'm getting soft. Went to the bow with Sherlyn but after less than 5mins decided to return to the cabin, otherwise the fish below would have an early lunch.
First dive site was Lekuan 1, at the southern tip of Bunaken Island. As with the other Bunaken dives, this was a wall/slope dive.
Visibility was good, 25m? Highlights....the endangered Green Turtle! However my borrowed underwater casing was kind of "frosted", meaning there's a layer of white powdery substance on the inside of the casing making it hard to impossible to view the LCD screen. Reminds me of a popular Hokkien line used in army: kua bo luan pa! (can't see so anyhow shoot!) Sometimes anyhow shoot also can get lucky!
Crinoidea. These are marine animals, can you believe it??
Neon Nudibranch
What's this??
Puffer fish
Blue Seastar
The boat only consisted of 6 divers, excluding the DMs. S and me, and 4 divers from Hong Kong. Each of these HK divers had been diving for more than 10 years and all had a huge frame of a camera with them! Reminded me of the big frames that Indian devotees carry during Deepavali. Their cameras had to be handed down to them after they plunged into the waters as they were too big to be carried while jumping. Comparing their cameras to our little ones was just funny, made ours look like toys.
2nd dive was at Tanjung Paser dive site, at the south eastern tip of Bunaken Island. Marine life here was much more colourful! And so many Green Turtles! The DM was pointing turtle here, turtle there, turtles everywhere! There was also one critically endangered Hawksbill Turtle. Decided to chuck the underwater camera for this dive and go down with my iPhone. Yes, the iPhone 4! Since I (impulsively) purchased an (expensive) underwater casing for the iPhone at the last ADEX which allows a 40m depth, I should use it. Right? But when I was shooting underwater, I realised the flash bounced off from the casing onto the lens. Argh. Change plan, shoot video instead. Photos here were taken by S.
Trumpetfish
Colourful spotted fish?
Hairy crab
Parrot fish?
Endangered Green Turtle
In flight
Critically endangered Hawksbill turtle
S!
Lion fish
Ascending
Surface
Tasik Divers boat
After the 2nd dive I felt uncomfortable to go for the 3rd, maybe because of the choppy boat ride or just not used to diving (it had been 2 long years since my last dive trip). Decided to skip the 3rd dive which didn't sound exciting anyway. Returned to the luxury of the resort pool and just nua-ing (Singapore slang for doing nothing).
Dinner was at the jetty restaurant, aptly named the Sunset Jetty Bar and Grill. It was a buffet dinner, which I later found out is the usual fare every night. Food was good....though predictable after one night. Met the HK divers there. Seeing their underwater photos, we wondered if we really did go to the same dive spots???
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