The Leopard Shark

This is the leopard shark a.k.a. Zebra shark because it has black and white stripes when it is a juvenile. This is one of 3 leopard sharks which we were so fortunate to see during our dive at North Point. Out of 3 groups, our group were the ones who managed to see these slick swimming sharks thanks to our experienced dive guide Tuk. He decided bring us out into the blue hoping to see the big stuff.

This particular one was actually swimming with another one before it turned around and landed here to hangout. It was a great moment.

After taking pictures of this fella we headed back to our boat. Visibility on this dive was an amazing 40 metres. On the way back, again we saw another leopard shark right at the bottom of the seabed. This time it was a full grown 11 and a half feet in length. We were at about 20 metres when we saw this fella 20 metres or more below us. Crazy! Its dark silhouette appearing so clearly way beneth us looked so cool you have no idea.

We saw a lot of new, interesting & rare marine life this trip but this really was the highlight for us.

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Dive Master Trainee Bob With The Leopard Shark

Bob's from Serbia. He's like the only person I know from Serbia. He's also quite a chatter box which is a good thing coz its his job to talk to new divers that he meets everyday.

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Loads Of Baby Barracudas

This was during our wreck dive. Everything is swimming up close to your face its awesome I tell ya.

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Emperor Angel Fish

This is one of my favorites. The juvenile emperor angel. These fishes are dark blue with electric blue and white rings and when they grow up they have blue and yellow stripes. The juveniles like this one is way more stunning than the adults which are pretty common. These juveniles are rare from what I heard so if you see one, get a good look at it.

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Ribbon Tail Eel

We had to go down 30 metres just to look for these fellas.. wtf! Anyway it was worth it. These eels often go back into the sand if u get to close. Then you gotta wait for them to come back out so you can get a good shot.

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Nudibranch

The other nudibranch which we spotted during our wreck dive. This is my first time seeing one of these as well. Its so difficult to keep track on the nudi's coz there's just so many types around the world. There's always a new one to look for wherever you dive. This one stood out clearly on the wreck.
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Scorpion Fish

Scorpion fishes are perfectly camouflage creatures. These guys are also related to the most venomous fish species in the ocean such as the lionfish & the stone fish. They are very difficult to spot so we divers have to be extremely careful & that we don't make any contact with them. Nevertheless they don't normally move as quickly as other fishes so picture taking can be easy.

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Our Tent

This is the tent we stayed in for a night on Donald Duck Bay. They are good tents I must say. Sleeping bags and pillows are also provided.

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Cleaner Shrimp & Giant Starfish

This is far the most exotic star fish I've ever seen in my life so far and the round part in the middle is actually pinkish red but you can't see in this picture. This giant star fish also eats other star fishes and mussels. I just found out all this infomation from ATSY.

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Female Spotted Box Fish & Bumphead Parrot Fish

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Emma The Moray Eel

Lucky for us Emma was home before she decided to go for a swim. We were right on time. Very friendly moray because she often comes out to greet divers.

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Fresh Common Spiny Lobster

So tempted to catch this for dinner. This lobster prolly had jetlag coz he was out during our afternoon dive.

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Colorful Nudibranch

This is one of 2 Nudibranches we manage to spot during our wreck dive. Don't be deceived by the picture though coz it was actually very small. It was my first time seeing this kinda nudi. I'm a big fan of nudi's by the way so you'll get to see many different types later on. I'll make my way to Lembeh, Indonesia to get more pics of these fellas since its one of the best places in the world for micro stuff.

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Cabbage Like Corals

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Me Going Through A Channel

This was a pretty wide channel.

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Thousands Of Glass Fishes a.k.a. IKAN BILIS

The schools of glass fish are amazing. The way they move together and create a passage way for a diver when you slowly swim closer to them.

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Peacock Mantis Shrimp

This shrimp is called the peacock mantis shrimp because of its colors. They can fold themselves up making them look like a peacock. They are very colorful. These fellas have shades of browns to bright striking colors on them however divers should be very careful when taking pictures of them. Their powerful claws are used as their defense. The shrimps claws are so powerful that they can crack an aquarium glass with a single strike. So divers becareful of your cameras.

The speed of their strike is equivalent to a 22 caliber bullet so you won't see those claws coming at you. While I was taking pictures with my camera at the time, I never knew all these things. I went so close to these guys to get close up shots. I got good shots but unfortunately I lost my camera on my last day of diving.

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Sunset From Donald Duck Bay

Words can't describe how beautiful the sunset was from the beach. The best part is all the tourist already left the island so it was just ATSY & myself. The whole beach was ours. At night it was pretty damn dark though but we were prepared with our power pack dive torches.

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Hermit Crab

I spotted this little fella walking around on the beach. He was making his way back into the water but he had a long way.

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Donald Duck Bay

As you can see the water is crystal clear. Visibility during our dives are mostly 20-30 metres. Occationally we had 40 metres vis which is freakin wicked!

Look at the picture with ATSY's feet. I shit you not the sand is just like powder. I have been to loads of beaches & I can honestly tell you the sand's texture on Donald Duck Bay is the finest I've ever felt. The beach is so well taken care of even though tourist come here on a daily basis for day trips. I'll be back!

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Climbing?

I was very tempted to climb that huge rock behind me but I didn't have my climbing shoes. Dammit! Well I also didn't want to hurt myself coz we're quite far away from Khao Lak. The other picture is me enjoying some sun on the beach before getting back onto the boat for more diving.

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Beginning & The End

So these are some of the very few pictures taken at the beginning & at the end of our amazing trip to the Similan Islands. Top left is ATSY with her pancakes with thick chocolate sauce, an orange & a RED CHILLI as her candle =)

We would have bought her a cake if I had told our Dive guides earlier but this was pretty funny. After our dives on our first day we had dinner & then a perfect celebration.

Top right was just before our first dive at the Similan Islands. This dive site is called Anita's Reef which is a perfect dive site for a check dive. All geared up & good to go.

Bottom left is ATSY with the whole bunch of divers & on the bottom right is our group picture just before leaving the boat. It was a memorable trip especially being my first Live Aboard. Oh and the group with us in this group picture are different people from the first 3 nights because we took a 6 day trip. So we didn't have time to take a group picture with the first group coz we had rush off the boat. We stayed one night at Donald Duck Bay while they go pick up the next group.

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Bowling

ATSY & I were having a friendly best of 3 game of Bowling. It was a close game. Its our first time bowling together coz we had some time to pass before heading for drinks with some friends. This was at 1 Utama shopping mall. I must say we had a good time.

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15th TIME GRAND SLAM TENNIS CHAMPION & LEGEND ROGER FEDERER & MYSELF :D

I still can't believe I managed to meet the man himself Roger Federer. Currently world number 2 in the rankings, he was down in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in November 2008 for an exhibition tournament with US players James Blake, Borg & John McEnroe. Federer beat Blake in case you all are wondering. Federer's a cool guy. He thanked the 5 of us who were waiting to meet him for all our support for him after taking pictures & signing autographs. He's freaking tall as well. I think he is 6 feet 2 inches. I'm like 5' 7. As you can see in the picture Federer had to bring his head lower for me to get a shot with him.

After meeting Blake on the courts I went for lunch & headed back to Mandarin Oriental hoping to meet Federer. I didn't think I was gonna be this lucky. I have to thank these 2 kids who told me to wait for a short while because he was having lunch somewhere in the hotel. These kids were waiting since morning till like 3pm for Federer to show up.

Because I am a fan of Roger Federer, I originally woke up in the morning to go KLCC for the official meet and greet session with the tennis great. After 45 minutes lining up with my mom, we were so close to the front when the dumb bouncers decided to open the barriers to everyone. Fans obviously rushed to the front and kept pushing until the cops had no choice but to say no more autographs with the star. In the end everyone didn't get any chance to meet him because of this incident. That's when I decided to head to Mandarin Oriental Hotel to meet him because I had some inside information that he was gonna be there having lunch after KLCC's session.

So for those of you who rushed to the front without waiting in line, too bad you didn't get to meet him or even get his autograph!

Added note : Now that ROGER FEDERER has just made HISTORY today the 7th of June, 2009 by Winning the FRENCH OPEN, EQUALLING Pete Sampras with 14 GRAND SLAM TITLES, WINNING ALL FOUR of the GRAND SLAMS, I feel truly honored to have been able to take a picture with him.

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US Tennis Player James Blake With Myself & Mom

My mom & I were very fortunate to be On Court with the number 10th in the world tennis player James Blake while he was having his practice session before the exhibition tournament. They ( Roger Federer, James Blake, John McEnroe & Borg ) were staying at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel where we managed to get a picture taken. I felt damn short though standing next to Blake.

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I'd like to let everyone know that this is not becoming purely a blog about marine life and diving. I'm just updating some old stuff now so be patient.
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Nudibranch Mating

I'm very lucky to have seen these nudi's mating. It was my first time seeing them mate. I am still trying to figure out if there's a forth nudi mating. There are three for sure. I'll get back to you guys in a bit. These guys are awesome. Their colors really stand out in pictures. Another one of my favorite shots. I am quite happy with my underwater photography so far judging by these few pictures. There's gonna be more diving to come for me so look out for more wicked pictures.

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Clown Fish & Its Anemone

I have to say I love this shot the most. I had to wait for a few minutes for this shot and few minutes underwater is a long time. It was afterall worth the wait.
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Can You SPOT The Hermit Crab?

This is one of my best shots so far. The hermit crab.

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Backside Of A Juvenile Box Fish

Women love em. These fellas are actually really cute but only when they are juveniles. When they grow up, their not that cute. However there are other species of box fish that are quite nice to look at even when they are adults. All of them have this way of swimming which makes them quite distinctive & easy to spot. Why are they called a box fish? They obviously look like a box from all angles!
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Thorny Sea Horse

I like this picture. Since they don't move much it was pretty easy to get a nice shot of this fella.

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Nudibranch

They are sea also known as sea slugs but very colorful. More to come.
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Frog Fish

This is a transparent frog fish which I saw at a dive site called Holy Sand in Redang Island. Pinkish in color makes this fella stand out. There are loads of colorful frog fish which I have yet to see. Can't wait!
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Star Puffer From Below

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Baby Scorpion Fish

These fellas are another type of ugly looking fishes. Scorpionfish are the type of fish which ambush their prey using their camouflage. They are somewhat like the Stonefish because you really have to look out for these guys while diving. Can be colorful fellas but ugly.

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Ugly Looking Stone Fish

Can you see his face? I really don't know what to say but they are really ugly. You will not find one pretty looking stone fish in the ocean as far as I know.

They have needle-like dorsal-fin spines on them as their defense mechanism. These highly camouflaged stone fishes makes them extremely dangerous to other fish as well as divers because its so difficult to spot them underwater. They look so much like a rock which is why they are called stone fishes.

How dangerous are they to divers? Extremely! Their dorsal-fin spines have toxic venom which can be fatal to humans.

I never really go to near them to take pictures. There's a reason why people should not touch anything while diving or snorkelling for their own safety.

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The Titan Triggerfish

All divers watchout for these guys coz they are extremely defensive especially mating season. These fellas have a cone shaped territory hence divers are told not to swim over them during mating season. What they do is they will ramp into any diver that comes through their zone & will take a bite with their large front teeth. I heard they can bite through a divers fins or even break a divers mask. Other than that, they are usually harmless & often swim by divers. They are actually quite colorful fishes and have a distinctive way of swimming which I find quite funny. The titans are one of the largest of its kind.

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Marine Life

The star puffer is the one above. Its a very common fish and can be seen most of the time. Lizard fishes on the bottom left seem to be all over Redang Island. For some reason I always see them in pairs. They always look like they are high on something. And finally the razor fishes. I have no idea why they swim up and downwards as seen in the picture. Their heads are pointed downwards but their eyes are looking straight. Weird!!!

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Ocean, Beauty, Bubbles, Scuba Tanks & A Couple

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At The Surface

This was a pretty good dive. Vis was not bad. Calm seas allowed me to get this great shot before getting onto the boat.

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Underwater Scene At Redang Island

I like my Jellyfish picture. Having some quiet time and enjoying the underwater scenery besides hearing my own bubbles. This was a relaxing dive.

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