Wreck Specialty =D

Thu, 29 Mac 2007
Started journey at nite, we drove a car, me, kor, Eric and Eric's dad and YewHong's car with his mom and sis. Tiring 6 hours drive, not me driving, kor is the one driving but i did not sleep coz i'm the co-pilot mah, how can i sleep woh...

This 1st diving trip of the year, i'm taking Wreck Specialty, meaning taking a special license to penetrate into sunk ship therefore, we have to find a place with ship that sunk in the middle of the sea soooooooo we can only do Wreck Specialty in Perhentian because there are 2 sunk ship there. :D

Again, it was because of my curiosity that i wanted to try wreck dive coz i want to see what is inside the ship. :p No regret.

5 of us doing Wreck Specialty this time, me, kor, Sanya, YewHong and Rho Wen. Plus, Richard had some Advance Students as well.

Fri, 30 Mac 2007
Reached the jetty very early, had breakfast before taking the boat in to Pulau Perhentian. This is my first time visiting Pulau Perhentian at Terengganu.

In the boat to Perhentian, i'm starting to imagine about 'the nitemare' - mask removal skill that i'm very afraid off, normally our first dive will be a check-out dive whereby we are supposed to do all the basic skills before going for diving. Whenever i think about mask removal, i will be very scare... goshh... how to dive la if like this... heheheeee

Just when we touch down, touching the sand of Perhentian, our instructor, Richard asked us to gear up for our 1st dive! So tiring, didn't sleep the whole nite and going to dive already... Part of me was quite excited coz diving again! But another part of me was quite nervous because of the check-out dive - mask removal...

1st Dive: Fun Dive @ Tokong Laut @ 10:20

Pic: Map for Tokong Laut

The first dive is our FUN DIVE... heheee... so no lesson to do (we need to do lessons coz we are taking license mah... so need to pass some test and all la... we have to study also, which we did earlier before the trip, did the knowledge review and supposed to pass to Richard later today).

This is a dive site that kor said very nice so my expectation was quite high actually, but turn out to be quite bad with current, bad visibility and nothing much to see. HHhmmmm... but Richard didn't ask us to do all those skills... hehehehee... thank God, hahaha... so it's like my own check-out dive with newly bought basic gears, adjusting buoyancy and all.


Pic: Me and my buddy!


Pic: Makan session after every dive


Pic: Lunch time before continuing our dives.


Pic: Getting ready to go into the boat to dive again!


2nd Dive: Wreck Familiarization and Mapping with compass @ SUGAR WRECK @ 14:23


Pic: This is the pic of the wreck!

History: Sank in December 2000, shipping sugar from Thailand to Singapore.
Depth: 18 meters.

Here is where our lesson begin, this is a dive to familiarize the wreck as well as mapping the wreck out, drawing the bow, stern and propeller out on our slate underwater, showing where is North using compass (this is the wreck that we are going to penetrate into in one of our dive lesson). Our instructor scare us saying that there are a lot of sea urchin underneat so our buoyancy must be very good so that we can hover and not fall on the sea urchin making me very scare coz is the 1st dive of the year, scare of my buoyancy. I keep telling kor that i'm very scare... heheheee.

I'm bringing 4 weights down this time, making sure that i can sink faster. The current was so strong that we have to hold on to the buoyant line to go down, the visibility was even worse than the previous dive, therefore we have to get very close to look at the wreck and goodness, the whole wreck was soooo HUGGGEEEEE that it look like a dark giant monster to me! I was very very nervous, plus the not-enough-sleep effect, and my torch was quite dim (not enough power) so i hardly see anything very clearly and this dive really are the worse in my whole dive experience all this years.

Guess what? I'm the first who go low-on-air, just in a while after circling the wreck which i do not know where is the bow and stern, my air gone to 50 bar, good thing i check on my gauge and noticed it so i immediately tell my buddy which is kor and he asked me to tell Richard. So Richard pair me with Azman, the dive master to do safety stop first while the rest still continuing their dive. I was low-on-air because i was nervous, therefore, i inhale faster than other people and not diving relaxingly... hehhehe... "malunya..." kekekeee...

We have to hold on to the buoyant line to do our safety stop which was at the depth of 5 meters for 3 minutes. The current was very strong, if don't hold on to the buoyant line, we will fly away following the current. But thank God, it was during this time with strong current above the wreck that i actually saw the whole wreck because the wreck is at the depth of 18 meters and i was at 5 meters doing my safety stop. So this is the time that i draw the whole ship out on my slate as part of the lesson, mapping the wreck showing where is North. :)


Pic: Speedboat ride after dive.

3rd Dive: Wreck Familiarization, Mapping with compass, Simple Penetration @ VIETNAMESE WRECK @ 17:20


Pic: Vietnamese Wreck

History: A wreck that doesn't look like a wreck anymore because it sank too long already, in the year of 1976 while bringing Vietnamese across to Malaysia.
Depth: 24 meters.

3rd dive for the first day, very very tiring already. Still in a very nervous mode as Richard kept telling us to have good buoyancy because we are going to do a simple penetration through a very small hole that has a lot of sea urchin at the bottom and shell on top of the wreck. Before going off to dive, i still whisper to kor that i'm very scare and kor said, "Don't be scare, do it slowly, ok? Slowly..." :D

I'm still in the midst of adjusting my buoyancy with 4 weights, playing around with the air to pump into my BCD making sure i have a very good buoyancy so i can penetrate into the hole.

On this dive, we are suppose to map the wreck out, drawing the bow and stern with North sign but i have no idea at all that i was actually looking at the wreck because it doesn't look like a wreck at all with things growing all over it! :(

I was following behind Richard as we dive and Richard went into a small cave and eventually he stopped hovering in the cave! Of course my buoyancy was not that good then and i did not noticed that there are sea urchin at the bottom and AAARRRRRRRR... I KENA POKE BY SEA URCHIN!!!! OUCHHH!!! SO PAINFUL!!!! :'( When look at my hand, there is a small black mark on it, the sea urchin's poison, so painful but good experience la.. hehehe, at least i tried before and know how painful it was... heheheee


Pic: This is the look of Sea Urchin that i kena poked on my left hand

Richard immediately hold me up and we went out from the small cave that later on only i realize that it was a wreck! Gosh... i can't imagine that this wreck is sooooo smmmaaalllllll compared with that huge giant monster Sugar Wreck. HHaaa... This Vietnamese Wreck is actually a sampan only.... ahhh....

Saw about 4 huge Barracuda in the wreck itself. Later only i know that Barracuda actually bites.


Pic: The pic of Barracuda

Well, again, i was the first who go low-on-air this time, coz i'm still very nervous at this dive! Aarrr... so Azman did safety stop with me while the rest continuing their dive. I did not get to map out the wreck this time coz i don't even know the hole that we penetrated through was the wreck (*well, call me blur*).

Heeheehe... after all the divers went up to the boat, i drove the boat back to our resort. Good experience getting the engene of the speed boat started up and driving it. :D


Pic: Dinner time!

TIRING DAY 1 AT PERHENTIAN FINALLY ENDED WITH 3 DIVES, had our dinner and straight off to our room, bath and sleep!

Sat, 31 Mac 2007
Woke up very refreshing today! Yaahhooooooo!!! I'm ready with more dives! Though i'm still very scare about wreck dives, scare that my buoyancy is not good enough that i will knock and land on things if i do not know how to hover but at least with fresh mind, i can do better!

4th Dive: Compass Bearing, Learning how to use Reel, Wreck Penetration @ SUGAR WRECK @ 10:14

This is a very interesting dive. Still feeling very nervous because we are going to penetrate into the huge giant monster Sugar Wreck ALONE!!! Still telling kor that i'm very afraid and kor just encourage me as usual, to do it slowly and nothing to be afraid off.

During the 30 mins boat ride to the dive site, i was preparing myself mentally. Closing my eyes and telling myself, "Come on Beckz, nothing to be afraid off. You must enjoy yourself, afterall it is because of your curiosity that you are taking this Wreck Specialty, therefore achieve what you want and enjoy it! Breathe slowly." After preparing myself mentally, there goes we jump off the boat.

The current today is not as strong as yesterday's and the visibility was very good! :D I manage to do my best! No more low-on-air this time! Hurrayyy... PTL! My buoyancy was ok too this time. But what freak me out this time was the torch! Suddenly just before we are suppose to penetrate into that huge giant monster, my torch no light, run out of battery! Then how to penetrate into the wreck coz it's all dark?? AArrrr... and i showed it to Richard, then he exchange his super torch with me. Thank God.

But before we are supposed to penetrate into the wreck, Richard went in first with the reel, pulling the string up and down inside the wreck and we are suppose to follow the reel inside the wreck so that we won't go missing. :) We are suppose to go in one by one, kor is the first who penetrate in. After a while, my turn to go in. I'm trying my best to breathe slowly, control myself and tell myself to enjoy it, not to be nervous which it works... :p I'm trying to go slow while penetrating into the wreck and check out what is in the wreck following the reel. We seriously go up and down the wreck following the reel that Richard pull in at first. But at one point, somehow my fin got stuck in between the reel, telling myself not to panic, i slowly remove the reel from my fin and continue penetrating. PTL! Then finally i'm out from the wreck to another hole where kor was waiting there already. Then one by one, coming out from penetrating into the wreck. YES! WE HAVE PASSED! YAY!


Pic: Me and my buddy :)

5th Dive (Last Dive): Fun Dive @ Terumbu Tiga @ 13:57


Pic: The map of Terumbu Tiga

Well, as usual, the last dive normally is the best of all. This is a fun dive for us, no more lesson so we can dive freely enjoying seeing things around us. :) But the surf for this dive was kaw kaw that we cannot stay in the boat for long, once reach the dive site, everyone must dive in already, else will sure get seasick. It was my first time experiencing this super surf.


Pic: Ello... :)

This is a very beautiful site with 3 huge stones so we are circling the stones. This was my first time encountering NUDIBRANCH with my own eyes which was pointed by Azman whereas kor saw more and took pics. For me, still first timer ler, still can't spot NudiBranch which is very small. This is also a time for me to practice my skills while looking at the wall of the huge stones, i was standing straight looking for nudibranch, learn how to hover and scul too. Yet to learn how to reverse. :D


Pic: Nudibranch, this is about 2cm only.


Pic: Another beautiful nudibranch spotted by kor, pic taken by kor also.

At this trip itself, we saw how trigger fish attack human. :p Actually all of us was looking at the wall, looking for small creatures and i was ahead of them... then somehow i turned my head around and saw this huge trigger fish! I was quite scare, thinking deep is this the trigger fish that attack divers. It was a huge Titan Trigger and thank God i recognize how does trigger fish looks like this time and i look back at kor who was beside me and told him that the trigger fish is there. Then we swim higher but too late to tell Azman about it, the next second, kor and i looking at Azman fighting with the trigger fish because the trigger is attacking Azman. Azman have to punch the trigger back else, he will be bitten by the trigger. Heheheee... it was quite a funny scene but yet scary.


Pic: Titan Trigger that chew coral


Pic: Wreck Specialty Students and Richard our instructor.


Pic: Eric and me


Pic: Group Pic 1


Pic: Group Pic 2

I have finally fulfilled my dream / curiosity at night dive (that's when i pursue Advance) and then wreck dive (now took my Wreck Specialty), what else should i look forward to for my next dive?