It was a sunny Saturday at 8am in Singapore when a group of excited divers left for a morning’s adventure dive at Pulau Hantu. While Gary was away on a rebreather course, Instructor Phil and his girlfriend, Georgie where in charge of the Dolphin Explorer boat on this dive trip.
After a slightly choppy 40 minute crossing to Pulau Hantu, the boat parked near the 2 reefs, which are becoming increasingly popular due to their coral diversity, fishlife and generally sheltered conditions. Just as the divers were giant striding into the water, a large stingray jumped out of the water. Most of the divers saw a large splash but several saw the distinctive end of the barbed tail quickly disappearing under the waves.
The first dive was spent exploring the large reef, due to the currents, where various nudibranches, butterfly fish and cardinal fish were spotted. Some divers noticed the resident puffer fish in the distance.
After a hour’s interval, the surface wind dropped but the current increased slightly. First, Instructor Phil went down shot line on the small wreck near Hantu reef and saw a turtle tucked asleep under the corner of the bumboat – where’s a camera when you need one? The eager divers were soon quick to drop in the water, hearing this news. But first a vigorous 5 minute surface swim to the shotline then quickly down to the seabed. All the divers had a good time exploring around this small wreck, finding batfish, the stingray and other colorful fishlife but sadly no sign of the elusive turtle.
It was time for a North East heading towards the reefs and along the sandy bed, seeing some camouflaged crabs along the way. Most of the divers found the reef and had time for a further explore of the large reef. However, some of the other divers were drifted off course with the current, reaching the edge of the reef. While ascending and waiting for the boat, 2 helpful jet skiers appeared and offered to take the divers back to the boat.
With everyone safely back on board and happily talking about the morning’s diving adventure it was back to Singapore, till the next time.