5/31-8/13/09-Trip Report: Budget Diving Adventure in SE Asia!

[ScubaSam]

Good to hear you're being careful. Pics and report are great.

How was your 200th dive?

 

[micboucher]

Good to hear you're being careful. Pics and report are great.

How was your 200th dive?

Happy 200th Kathy!!!!
:colours::colours:

 

[drbill]

Kathy, a friend of mine here on SBB and on FB was diving Banda Aceh when the tsunami hit. She said they weren't aware of what happened until the dive boat returned to the port and saw all the dead bodies floating in the water. Ugh.

We had 70 ft visibility here in the dive park today. I should have been underwater but I was editing footage from last night's dive. Definitely be diving over the weekend!

Be safe. Have fun (assuming the two aren't mutually exclusive).

 

[kathydee]

I have the kelp ready and waiting for your return.

Thanks TC!!! :kiss2: Cant wait for that fall vis!!!

Good to hear you're being careful. Pics and report are great. How was your 200th dive?

It was great! Much better than my 100th which was my first day of drysuit class with 1 meter vis .

Dive 200 - drop off the boat into vast blue - decend and try to land just in the current shelter of a small rock - ride and swim through the changing currents to the relative calm, drop down to 80ft circle the rock with currents going this way and that (ready to grab rocks or quickly change course) vast blue water & amazing amount of schooling fish including giant travelli & tuna. Beautiful & quite dramatic.

After a while we ascended to about 30-40 ft, a swell rocked us this way and that. Sometimes we clung to the rocks and other times we rocked/flew with with the swell. At times finding shelter admist the rocks/walls long enough to spot a small nudi or eel. Overall it was quite amazing & it was nice to be diving with a skilled instructor.

Happy 200th Kathy!!!!
:colours::colours:

THANKS Michelle!

 

[kathydee]

Be safe. Have fun (assuming the two aren't mutually exclusive).

Who can complain about the house reef diving here. Just surfaced from a 97 minute relaxing dive to 40ft with 60ft vis and a fantastic CMAST partner. Saw frilly ghost pipefish, a cuttlefish who posed for quite sometime changing from brown to white, a bright purple crown of thorns starfish with black spikes, schools of razor fish and small catfish, a few huge scorpion fish, a giant moray eel, a beautiful reef and, oh yes many types of eels including a large area of speckled garden eels and so much more !

We enjoyed diving together so much - he ditched his planned afternoon boat dive & we'll do two more long dives today including a night dive ! And hey each dive is only $7 !

I take it back, the house reef is fantastic for beginner divers and a great place to chill.

I know where I'll be diving for 3-4 hours a day durring the last 1.5 days of this amazing SE Asia dive trip!

 

[Wisnu]

Hi Kathy
Why you hide this post at NorCal :blinking:.. . .I miss the train.

Hey, you should put a link at General Asia, Indonesia and Philipine forum
We were at Gapang 3 weeks ago. We dived batu tokong just after total eclipse - it's washing machine - but lot of fishes. We saw 3 sharks and more than 20 morays, incl. the biggest morays I've seen in my life. Here, one of them - not the big one.

If you still there - since you love the gapang house reef, please send my regard to these fellows:

and

and

I love this view on the way back to Balohan ferry port.

And if you still have a time, before you leave aceh, you may need to visit this 2600 tonne floating power plant swapped away by mighty tsunami 3.5 km from its position at Ulee Lheeu Port; and now standing over 5 houses.

Cheers
Wisnu

 

[kathydee]

Hi Kathy
Why you hide this post at NorCal :blinking:.. . .I miss the train.

Hey, you should put a link at General Asia, Indonesia and Philipine forum
We were at Gapang 3 weeks ago. We dived batu tokong just after total eclipse - it's washing machine - but lot of fishes. We saw 3 sharks and more than 20 morays, incl. the biggest morays I've seen in my life. Here, one of them - not the big one.

Cheers
Wisnu

Hi Wisnu! Thanks for posting pictures! Yup all these critters are old friends. Did a 130 minute house reef shore dive this afternoon for a very relaxing grand finale to this amazing dive trip!

If you have pics of other destinations I visited -- I am sure the folks here would love to see them so post away!

 

[kathydee]

94 dives since June 2nd! What a summer ! Survived a million instapartners - made some great friends! The wetsuit & gear is washed and drying in my semi-luxury bungalow (I splurged ). Now I am sufficient waterlogged but already missing my fins !

3 flights, overnights in Kuala Lumpur and a day/night in Singapore hanging with my dive buddy from Lembeh, a ferry and countless taxis - still 1/2 world and many countries to go to get back to my California buddies.

Today my brother surprised me with a random visit on this remote Sumatran Island - Who would have though? So tomorrow we may go check the jungle out - perhaps Ill post some pictures. Wonder if my sea legs still work? Ah it will feel so good to get back home to fresh veggies & the gym!

 

[kathydee]

Started the trip with 111 dives and ended today with 205 - after all this diving I can honestly say I only love it more than ever !

Soo incredibly excited to finally go home to my new instructor and learn how to use all this sporty DIR equipment much more efficiently!! In hopes that someday I can return to dive sites like Coron Bay and safely wander deep into those little mysterious passages that are so intriguing. Or perhaps if I'm not cracked up for crawling into little dark holes (who knows)- I'd just be happy to learn to be a safer diver with better dive skills that lead to greater exploation potential of our amazing underwater world!

Humm do you think after training - the DIR folks will still let me ride on motorcycles with my gear to the dive sites ? Do they have rules about stuff like that? Perhaps if I upgrade the bike to black tee hee! :blinking: !

And while the wetsuit is drying, my drysuit with its new pockets was just delivered to my house today! So rather than an abrupt end to an outrageous journey... It seems the underwater adventure just continues...

 

[mikeguerrero]

Enough already, just come home brat... heheehee... Your thread is just incredible....