My short getaway has finally arrived. This will be my second visit to Tioman, and my fourth dive trip. I was too lazy to whip out my camera, so credits to Shiqi, Cheelong and Chenghong for all the pictures in this entry.
the water looks welcoming, don't it?
The trip didn't start off very smoothly. We shared the bus with another three divers from Apache (I think), of which one guy was late, super late. I was totally looking forward to the petrol kiosk toilet break to fill my nearly empty (and rumbling) stomach with some hot instant noodles so you imagine my dulan face when one of the dive masters told us we had no time for a stopover because of that guy.
The rest of the group brought up that the driver sped throughout, but I thought it wasn't that bad. I guess I'm more or less accustomed to such driving... Hm. Or it could be that I was sleeping quite comfortably (due to my hunger) half the time. Heh. We reached the jetty about 30 minutes after we were supposed to have boarded the ferry, and lugged our stuff onboard to meet up with the other half of the group who were already there.
Instead of spending a night at Mersing this time round, we were heading straight to Tioman. I actually prefer it this way, lesser haste in the morning when we wake up. The sky became overcast with dark clouds as we made our way to the island; the lightning that streaked across the skies looked really intimidating and yet beautiful at the same time. Ominous, and foreboding...
in my red bandana, taken with kaiming's G10.
We slept in a different area this time round; I guess that's mainly because the 'Tioman Season' is in full swing right now and the rooms we had the last time round are taken up by the other non-diving holiday makers. The rooms were much bigger (so are the beds), and I can't thank god enough for hot water showers.
The dives this time round were only so-so, as compared to most of all my previous dives. I don't remember any previous dives where the visibility was as poor as this round's, and I didn't spot any turtles or baracudas this time down, or something that's more noteworthy than the spanish dancers. Without such noteworthy spottings, the dives were just not as satisfying.
Yes, call me a spoilt diver. Nonetheless, I'm still thankful I get to dive okay.
with the Mok sisters, in the bikini that Siao got me from LA
Okay la, less interesting sights is not necessarily a bad thing. It meant more time to play around with my buoyancy. It's definitely better than when I first started; better hovering now, and learnt to make use of my breathing to control the buoyancy. I'm quite happy with two weights now (hey I'm sinking!), but I think I should play around a little more and try using just one the next dive.
Equalizing was quite a breeze this time round too; read: no more nose bleeds phew.
with sx; so nice to bend down eh :p
And after we talked about how we got thirsty underwater (all that dryness in your mouth with the regulator in it) sometimes, our divemaster, Kaiming made it known that you could actually drink Ribena underwater. SX and me brought a packet down each after. It felt so surreal okay; I was marvelling at the whole idea of drinking water underwater as I took my very first sip, and I guess I was too fascinated with the drinking process to notice that I was holding my breath.
Go read page where I linked to, pretty interesting.
deck. lovely weather.
And while I didn't manage to savour enough of the BBQ dinner we had the last time trip because of the night dive we had to go for, I made up for all of that this time round. Loaded my plate with chicken wings, squid, fish and I-can't-remember-what; dinner is the meal I look forward to most on dive trips. I love BBQ dinners la, especially when I'm not the one doing the barbecuing. It might not be the best, but it was definitely tasty enough for me.
shiqi's bending down to take a shot with me too... I feel embarrassed as I am typing this hahah
And I realized my love for ice lollies with jelly cores on this trip.
yum yum
I had like, seven of these in less than 36 hours. Very shiok I tell you, the ice on the outside is sour and will make your face giu when you suck or take a bite out of it, but the iciness of it makes the sourness alright. And the jelly core... it's sweet and absolutely a delight to sink my teeth into.
The group started making fun of my appetite after they saw me on my 4th stick. hur.
1 dive instructor, 3 dive masters, 2 leisure divers, 2 advanced divers and 12 open-water divers
First trip to have a female divemaster (bottom row, extreme right lady beside me), and she shared a room with us. She's a really nice person, because she had the ice lollies with me! Felix and Rico didn't join us this time round; Felix is down with some virus that cut him off from scuba (hope he gets well soon), and Rico was diving in Phuket.
SX tried to press me down, I jumped up and hit his chin. This is the aftermath; don't worry, I wasn't in pain, laughing actually... haha
Oh and before I forget, one of the funniest (and probably worst) things to happen when you're on a dive trip is when you get left behind on the island while everyone else is making their way to the dive sites. I couldn't stop laughing when Kaiming asked the other divemasters where one of the two advanced divers was, and everyone realized that he did not board the dive boat in two seconds. (I'm still laughing as I type this) There was no signal out there as we were at sea, so it was impossible to make a call back to the main island to check; and basically, that poor chap was just stuck at the jetty as we made our subsequent dive. Tsk tsk SX...
Shit happens and I guess we're all glad he's stuck on the main island instead of out at the dive sites. Hahaha, don't say I zek ark, it's only human nature.
And that's about it for this trip!
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