Blog Log Sept 10, 2006

The weather wasn't totally compliant today, but we managed to beat it with a little bit of patience, hope and sheer determination! Rains crept into our cabin at noon time during our surface interval, loaded with blots of lighting and windswept rain. We decided to set a deadline for ourselves and if the rain hadn't stopped by then, we'd head for shore. Our deadline came, and the rain didn't stop, but we decided we'd go in anyway. The storm had however, reduced to a drizzle. Regardless, the rains, winds, and overcast sky meant that the visibility was significantly reduced, from 4m during the 1st dive to about 2m in the afternoon. With well-seasoned and experienced guides however, we managed to make 2 fun-filled and educational dives for ourselves and our guests! Here's a look:

Slugs. Plenty of them, and worms as well. From top: Flabellina, Phyllidia sp., another Phyllidia species, and Pseudoceros sp., a species of flatworm.

Corals. Fortunately we still have many beautiful species of coral in Hantu. Some of them form very large colonies! Sometimes though, it's nice to look at the tiny recruits that are taking growth on the reef!Fungia sp.
Zoanthids
A little recruit
A Pectinia sp. recruit. It's common name is Carnation Coral.
An Acropora coral shelters a tiny Trapezia crab. Can you spot it?
An interesting form develops on the plate of the Pachyseris coral, or Serpent Coral.

What was possibly a Porities coral turns white as it loses its Zooxanthellae, a process called bleaching.

And Fish. Of course, lots of fish!This is a relatively large cardinalfish known commonly as the Split-banded cardinalfish Apogon sp.
This is it's smaller counterpart, the Five-lined cardinalfish Cheliodipterus sp. Cardinalfishes usually appear stoic as they hover over corals or within coral crevices.
The nortoriously territorial Honeyhead Damsel!
The only way I managed this shot was because this damselfish was in fact charging at me! Doesn't it look pretty though?
The fat tail of a Blue-spotted ray. Unfortunately most images of Blue spotted rays are of their tails or of their noses. That's because these rays are ever-so shy. Often disappering deeper into a crevice where they usually hide in the day, or sprinting off to another hiding place when its been discovered.

Finally, Jeffrey Low, who'd also joined us on today's dive managed to observe the newly recorded Janssi's pipefish aka Jani's pipefish, which was last photographed at Pulau Jong. He didn't manage to get any pictures though, so here's a picture Jani shot in Jong of the rare pipefish!Have you seen this pipefish at Hantu before? We'd like to know! Pls email us!


For an other than static perspective, here are some fishy videos. This is a small school of 4 Eight-lined butterflyfish. Does that equal to 32-lined butterflyfish?


Other creatures we saw included a swimmer crab and a pair of feather duster worms.

To wrap things up (no pun intended) during our swim back from the reef to the boat, we were passed by a variety of debris floating in the sea. We decided to collect them for a show of how varied "rubbish" can be and how abundant it is! In less 10 min, we had a toy hovercraft, 2 plastic lids, a noodle cup, a foil packet, a plastic packet, several bits of plastic, a plastic base of a SCUBA tank, a styrafoam bit, a slipper and a gunny-sack float us by! Incidentally, the day before was the International Coastal Cleanup at our mangroves! It doesn't matter how many times you clean the coast, each tide brings in new litter, from across several borders, and from our own land. There will be another cleanup on Sept 16. Visit the ICCS web for details.