It was a Saturday morning meet up at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal, Singapore to receive the leisure divers for this weekend’s trip. After all the divers arrived, we cleared customs and had a wonderful enjoyable weekend diving around Bintan Indonesia, on The Seaborne live on board.
1st Dive: Kerang Gelang Reef at Codd Wreck.
Visibility was great at about 10m. Karen and Daniela took some great photos and happily explored the wreck.
Their buddy, James spotted a scorpion fish which was camouflaged in the soft spiral looking coral.
Codd Wreck is a very old wreck and it has become the reef. You can see the ship’s “ribs” in the sand. On one side, the structure is still standing, but the wheelhouse has basically become the square coral boulder at the top of the reef. A great spot to complete a safety stop and watch the fish too.
We all spotted several stingrays, and nudibranchs and I managed to find the moray eels for the divers in my group again!
2nd Dive: Kerang Gelang Reef. Everyone was excited after the 1st dive as the divers did not expect the great visibility. They did also not expect to see that the reef was so healthy. Nor did they expect to see so many fish and nudibranchs.
During this dive we saw butterfly fish, big blue eyed scorpion fish, damsels and lots of intact hard coral. After everyone surfaced we enjoyed a delicious lunch prepared by our wonderful cook Kiki. We continued to chat about the wreck and the beautiful reef . . .
3rd Dive: Kerang Gelang Reef, North. This dive was a little tiring as the divers had to fight against some current before reaching the reef, as the tide was going down. But it was worth the effort. My group spotted a turtle for the first time at this dive site. I also noticed that the fish were definitely bigger than the previous trip. The resident bat fish are growing quite quickly.
After discussing with our Captain Safari, we decided to change dive sites for the night dive, as the current was picking up at Kerang Gelang.
4th Dive: The Night Dive. We moved to Nongsa Island Reef for the night dive. Visibility was about 5 – 7m with some current.
We spotted lots of little crabs, hairy crabs, ornate crabs, lots of shrimps and many little puffer fish! After we surfaced, the boat returned to the Marina where all the divers had dinner and used the Resort’s facilities. We all eagerly went to bed to get a good rest after a wonderful day of diving.
5th Dive: Sunday morning at Kerang Gelang Reef. We dived near Codd Wreck. My group spotted another bigger turtle, feeding on the coral. As the turtle saw us approach it swam slowly. We actually got to swim with the turtle for quite awhile before it swam away. We also spotted lots of nudibranchs and the divers were happily taking their time taking photos as there was no current at the reef.
6th Dive: The last dive, was an enjoyable dive for all as we spotted lots of fish. When we surfaced Karen told me she finally got lucky and their group spotted a huge frog fish. With a smile I reminded her that she missed both of the turtles. Ah! I think we were even in Fish ID spotting scores.
Cheers, Gary Lim.
Thanks Karen Savins for the use or your photos. Additional photos can be seen in the GS-Diving Facebook Album – here.