This weekend I was diving in Tioman, Malaysia on the live-on-board boat called “The Ark” and GS-Diving PADI Instuctor, Julius was running the local diving from Singapore.
My trip to Tioman was good, but missing two people due to a family emergency. I was planning on conducting the PADI Deep Specialty Course and the PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy Specialty Course with Peter and Nuyget, but ended up only doing the PADI Deep Specialty Course with Robert. Congratulations!
Robert will be diving in the Solomon Islands in a few weeks and the minimum requirement by the local dive shops is for all divers to have this specialty course. The dives will be deep and on many wrecks.
Regulars Phil, Georgie and Frederic also joined GS-Diving on this trip.
The visibility was good and there was a lot to see. A couple of firsts for me.
I saw two turtles fighting and a rock covered in over 40 clown fish. I have never seen so many in one spot! We dived Bahara Rock, Renggis, Chebah and the Sipadan Wreck.
The turtle fight was unusual. A large turtle was happily eating something in the coral, in a “head down – bum up” fashion. A smaller turtle came to see what was happening and the big turtle was not happy and grabbed it by the neck and shook it. Finally the small turtle was released and there was no damage done, except perhaps for a sore ego.
Luckily I did manage to complete Robert’s course on Saturday because there was no diving Sunday. We left Tioman Saturday night due to one of the divers from another group on the boat becoming ill. She needed medical attention.
I believe she is all ok now although sadly she won’t be diving again. After returning to Singapore she was diagnosed with a Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO) by the Specialist Dive Doctor, Dr Kevin Chan from Flinders EMA. Just like over 40% of the population she was also one of those people who never had any symptoms. To read more about PFO – click here.
GS-Diving Instructor Julius did 4 local trips over the weekend both Saturday and Sunday, mornings and afternoons. He also conducted PADI Open Water Diver Courses with father and daughter, Robbie and Charlie. The viz was good at 4-5 m. GS-Diving Instructor Lillian was onboard guiding some newbies on Saturday. GS-Diving Assistant Instructor John also did the same on Sunday.
Julius was excited to tell me he saw his first seahorse in Singapore, along with all the usual turtles and nudis. The students also saw a scorpion fish, flat worms and the school of barracuda. The group photos from Saturday and Sunday are below and congratulations to Robbie and Charlie on gaining your PADI! To view more photos of this local trip, please visit our FaceBook album – click here
Cheers, Gary Savins
Thanks Georgie for the use of your underwater photos taken over the weekend.