With only two morning trips and 18 divers due to the New Year Break, I enjoyed having the afternoon off to relax a bit. Sorry no group photo for Saturday morning . . . I forgot. Where is my Intern when you need him? BTW, Favian was on board on Saturday and forgot to remind me.
We completed 4 dives at Hantu. Hantu is a local island within easy reach of Singapore. No passports required.
Saturday saw us sheltered at the Northern Jetty Reef and Sunday at The Breakwall.
The weather was not really on our side with winds and waves all weekend. The viz, well let’s just say I have seen better. Saturday was poor. Some estimate at 60 cm on Saturday, with an upgrade to 100 cm on Sunday’s first dive to 150 cm on Sunday’s second dive. Maybe Christmas Day was not as bad as first thought? I put it down to the king tides and full moon. But in any case, a bad day diving is better than a good day in the office.
It was a challenging weekend with one SDI Open Water Student, two PADI Open Water Students and one PADI Advanced Open Water Student. Over the weekend, GS-Diving PADI Dive Masters, Favian and Karen helped me with my students.
The two PADI Open Water Students were having issues with staying down, I guess the visibility was a bit of a shock. So we had a few ups and downs during the first couple of dives.
Luckily the 3rd and 4th dives were better and my students managed to finish the PADI course and all of the required skills.
Despite the bad viz, Kelvin also managed to get some nice shots.
Karen also got a shot of a grandmother or perhaps, a grandfather carpet eel blenny. The fluorescent green “hulk” like fish had a head span of at least 8 – 9 cm. The smaller picture of the juvenile was last seen on 28 July 2014. For the previous trip report of this sighting, please click here.
Congratulations to Angela, John, Vasley and Ned!
Glenda’s Tip – Expect the unexpected when you don’t expect it.
Cheers, Gary Savins
Thanks to Kelvin Pung and Karen Savins for the use of your underwater photos. Additional photos can be viewed on our Facebook page – click here to view.