Diving at Rawa

[marvellous07]

A few weekends ago, 8 of us headed to mersing to dive at islands relatively closer to the coast compared to tioman. Islands like Pulau Besar and Pulau Rawa are less than 40 mins ride off the coast of malaysia.

For our first dive, we set out to dive at Pulau Besar. It took me awhlie to refresh myself. As we descend, I was surprised that the visiblity was not that bad. About 6-9m on the average. The current was not strong at all bearing in mind I only got snorkelling fins on.. I did my underwater navigation and i got lost... Twice... hehehe... For those planning to do your advance, when your buddy has to take bearing for your nav skills, i think it's best that you take your bearing as well... In case you guys get lost like me...

On we went to our next dive site... The sea was beginning to get choppy... The boat stopped at about 20m away from a protuding rock... It was very choppy so we ended up skipping that dive site... Next site and the consequent dives for that day were around Pulau Rawa...

Dive sites around Pulau Rawa generally has considerably mild currents with light surges underwater... Unfortunately, the next day at Pulau Hujong the current was too strong... especially when you see instructors with twinjets fin past you with ease... grrr..

As for underwater sights, my instructor spotted a moray eel.. And my buddy saw a grouper... Myself, I got to see the crown of thorns... They seem so harmless underwater... And another small crown of thorns with a diameter of about 10cm... Plus a really huge angelfish, i'm not sure what kind though..

I enjoyed my trip because after all that... We get to go back to the hotel at Mersing and enjoy a hot bath... and oh yes who can forget those beds... yummy (no dirty thoughts ar).. air con, tv, bath tub, hot shower, toilet bowl and everything.. so it was a good rest before continuing our dive the next day...

[yazid]

Bob, did you complete your AOW?

Seems like you only did the navigation?

No deep dive?

[marvellous07]

hehehe.. i was typing then i thought it was too long... so here it goes..

I did my Peak Performance Buoyancy dive next... As i have done it b4 back at Perhentian, this time i get to practice hovering and everything... The next dive was a fun dive (optional)... and again the instructors gave me the chance to practice... We ended up doing another fun dive b4 the sun sets..

Soon enough, the sun begins to set and we started to rig up for our night dive... Of all the dives for advance, my most concern is the night dive... yah yah i'm scared... plus we had to do nav at night... and we got lost again... hehehe dun laff... but our instructor, Kelvin shone his torch underwater and we finned our way towards the light... phew.. but underwater we practised a 'blackout' drill when all our dive lights are switched off... I was relieved that it wasn't as dark as i thought... In fact, I could see about 3 metres all around me.. After my night dive, I still don't know why divers go for night dive... An explanation from another instructor, I soon could comprehend the reason... That was all for that day... A long day...

Next day, we did a Boat Dive, as a replacement for Wreck Dive cos there was no wreck there... It began to drizzle for a moment.. But it went away in no time... We tried to find deep sites to complete our AOW... but there seem to be no deep sites...

We finally found a deep site... Which I think is not deep for most of you guys... It was at 20m... This was when the current got strong and i gave up my fight... hehehe... For our deep dive, we were assign a task b4 the dive... then at 20m we were required to redo that task underwater... i timed in at 20 secs on the surface... but underwater, i clocked in at 33 secs... This was to prove that your thinking slowed down under deep water... and yes it did... hehehe

[yazid]

Sounds interesting and fun...

Deep dive at 20m.. the requirement for deep dive is between 18-40m.

Should be ok.

My Berhala wreck dive trip max depth was around 23m.

I recall back in August coming back from our OW course. The sea was choppy. I was sleeping on the lower bed in the air con cabin and the boat started to roll left and right. :sick: The bags on the upper bed started to fall on me one by one. Duh! Not to mentioned I also fall and roll on the floor!

40 mins journey to Rawa... not so bad..

I'm going next week.

[marvellous07]

hehehe.. cos we had trouble finding deep dive sites... and finally we found one which was abt 20m.. heehee.. come to think of it, it's much lesser than 40mins actually.. hahah yeah it was very choppy back then ehz... but u should try the speedboat back from perhentian... did i say speedboat?? more like rollercoaster man.. luckily i sat at the back.. learnt my lesson not to sit in front from the previous ride.. hehe

next week..? alrite!

[yazid]

Rollercoaster?? Reminds me of the speedboat ride from Pulau Penang to Langkawi. The wave is as high as a 2 storey building.

A long and arduos 2 and half hour journey.

My son and I got so seasick that we knockout flat . Took 3 days to recover the after effect. . We never enjoy Langkawi during that trip.

My wife who is pregnant was relax/cool and enjoying the boat ride and watching The Mummy movie.

We took a flight back from Langkawi to Penang.

Seasick pills, I hate it but I'll never leave home without it.

[kelstorm]

After my night dive, I still don't know why divers go for night dive...

yup.. i had the same feeling too.. i have very high astic problems and i'm lazy to get myself a good torch at night.. and the thought of going into something that u cant see well still scares me at time even though i done a couple of night dives already...sometimes, i get to see a lot of things during nite dives like baby sharks and sea snakes and lobsters (ok, only once and all in the same nite!! ) but the rest of the nite dives that i had, nothing leh.

This was to prove that your thinking slowed down under deep water... and yes it did... hehehe

at least u know that.. i was hit by narcz... i tried to remove my reg to give it to the nudibranch

[marvellous07]

wow 2-storey building..?? i can't beat that for sure.. hehe..

baby sharks ehz.. maybe i'm just unlucky i guess.. i'm looking forward to do night dives elsewhere... still wanna know what's there to see at night.. until i can comprehend why the need for night dives, i will keep on diving at night..

hehehe so i guess we're even then.. i'm lucky i din't get narcz for my deep dive..

[kelstorm]

wow 2-storey building..?? i can't beat that for sure.. hehe..

baby sharks ehz.. maybe i'm just unlucky i guess.. i'm looking forward to do night dives elsewhere... still wanna know what's there to see at night.. until i can comprehend why the need for night dives, i will keep on diving at night..

hehehe so i guess we're even then.. i'm lucky i din't get narcz for my deep dive..

it all depends on your luck and the location of dive.. usually house reef... so, if u are lucky that the baby shark decide to venture near the house reef, u are lucky, if not, u only see sandbed... ... in that case, take the opportunity to practise your buoyancy and breathing lor... dun always have to see something mah.. if u do, consider it as a bonus lor.

[yazid]

wow 2-storey building..?? i can't beat that for sure.. hehe..

baby sharks ehz.. maybe i'm just unlucky i guess.. i'm looking forward to do night dives elsewhere... still wanna know what's there to see at night.. until i can comprehend why the need for night dives, i will keep on diving at night..

hehehe so i guess we're even then.. i'm lucky i din't get narcz for my deep dive..

Bob, Looking forward night dives?

You want to see fishes and corals doing hanky panky or what?

As far as my fishing experience, the monster fishes will come out to play.

When I say monster what I mean is big giant fish like Garoupa, Ang Chor, Stingray etc.

Don't get shocked when that 40kg Garoupa staring at you one feet away.

[marvellous07]

hmmmmz... tat's a good mentality i guess.. just practice skills.. if u see something then it's a bonus.. yes.. yes.. guess i'll change my mindset to that..

not actually looking forward.. honestly, i don't quite like night dives (although i only got 2 under my belt.. that's not the only thing under my belt tho.. .. hahaha shuddup bob..) it's just that i wanna know why pple wanna do night dives... until i don't experience a good night dive, i won't stop... muaahhaha.. monsterfishes..?? hmmzz more like monster-sandy-bottom.. hhehe.. my air supply apparently goes down faster at night.. hmmmzz... maybe i'm just scared..

[kelstorm]

it's just that i wanna know why pple wanna do night dives... until i don't experience a good night dive, i won't stop... muaahhaha.. monsterfishes..?? hmmzz more like monster-sandy-bottom.. hhehe.. my air supply apparently goes down faster at night.. hmmmzz... maybe i'm just scared..

u meant if u see stuff when nite diving, then u stop nite diving??

[marvellous07]

hmmmzz... good question.. hehe guess i didn't put much thought into that.. haha.. k forget wat i said.. the main pt is that i jus wanna know the reason for night dives so i can sleep better at night.. phew.. now it makes much more sense..

[kelstorm]

hmmmzz... good question.. hehe guess i didn't put much thought into that.. haha.. k forget wat i said.. the main pt is that i jus wanna know the reason for night dives so i can sleep better at night.. phew.. now it makes much more sense..

different creatures appear at nite when compared to the day.. it depends on your luck to locate them...of which, i had not been very lucky... ....

[marvellous07]

that's wat they say too... hmmmmzzz...