An amazing great weekend on The Seaborne (live on board). We left Singapore on the fast ferry Saturday morning and headed for the boat which berths at Nongsa Point Marina and Resort, Indonesia. I really don’t miss the long bus rides to Malaysia as we were diving only 2 hours later.
We managed to do some exploration dives and we found a new dive site. I have named it “Kerang Passo”. Sightings included little baby cuttlefish, everyday crabs, spider crabs, baby octopus and several stingrays were seen during night dive too. This reef has become another of our favourite destinations that lie between Bintan and Batam.
Saturday morning
1st dive – Codd Wreck
2nd dive – Kerang Gelang Reef
It was low tide. There wasn’t any current but the viz was not that good due to the heavy rain that had fallen over the past few nights. The PADI Open Water students cleared their skills, then continued diving the reef. We spotted some nudibranchs and a few stingrays amongst the hard coral. The nemos warmly greeted us and I think they look forward to our weekly underwater meetings.
The visibility at Kerang Gelang was reflective of the low tide and rain. I didn’t want to disappoint the divers, so that was when we decided to do some exploration dives. The divers didn’t mind, as the plan was to return to Kerang Gelang later in the afternoon when the high tide would produce better visibility. We proceeded West.
3rd dive – Kerang Passo
After travelling for about 45mins we reached the site now called “Kerang Passo”. I dived in to check the visibility and currents and to my surprise the viz was good at about 10 to 12m. There were no currents at all. Depth was about 8 to 10m. I got back on board and briefed the divers. We geared up and we did our 3rd dive. There were not many fish but we saw lots of nudibranchs. We all had a long dive of 60 minutes. Air consumption at its best!
4th dive – Kerang Gelang
The tide was much higher and when I jumped in to do a viz and current check, there was slight current and viz was 8 to 10m. What an improvement. I got back on board to brief the divers then we headed in. The divers were quite happy to see the beautiful reef, lots of fish and other macro life.
5th Dive – Nongsa Island Reef
The night dive was missed by GS-Diving PADI Dive Master, Bernard as he wasn’t feeling well. The 2 photographers James and his wife dived together, so I lead the remaining small group myself. The night dive was not a disappointment. Viz was 5 to 8m. The three of us spotted several hairy crabs, spider crabs, frogfish, stingrays, lots of baby cuttlefish and several baby bamboo sharks.
Dinner time came with a little surprise as one of our customers was celebrating their First Anniversary on The Seaborne!
Amr Elsayed Ahmed Eidarous Mohamed surprised his wife with a cake.
It was a great celebration.
Sunday morning
1st dive – Codd Wreck
With high tide the viz was back up again 10 to 15m. We all descended using the buoy tied to the wreck. Divers saw the huge resident puffer fish and were in awe of how the wreck had “grown” into the reef over its time under the sea.
2nd dive – Kerang Gelang Reef North
We saw the resident moray eel and his neighbours, the colourful nudibrancs. I had hoped to see the turtles which we saw last week, but they were not around.
It was a great enjoyable weekend for everyone and with the new dive site Kerang Passo under a belt, even more creatures will be available for us to see.
Congratulations to Mr & Mrs Amr Elsayed Ahmed Eidarous Mohamed on their 1st Anniversary.
Congratulations to the PADI Open Water students too, who are now fully qualified scuba divers!
Cheers, Gary Lim (GS-Diving PADI Dive Master)