waiting desperately for pay day to come.. bleah.. planning for a dive trip at the end of the year.. most likely in thailand.. and when ADEX (Asian Dive Expo) 06 comes in the midst of april 06, i'm hoping to stock some rigs for my subsequent dive trips.. i'm compiled a wish list... haha...



The above is the transplate that i am eyeing.. make:diverite
Below is the aircell that is to be on the transplate..



that is the suunto stinger.. the dive computer i'm interested in..


regulator system by mares.. the proton ice..


the wetsuit i'm most likely gonna get soon... make:quiksilver..

and these are my current equipment..

my snorkel.. only that mine's black..


my mask.. mine's black..


my darling jetfins..

to lazy to put up the pics of my booties (bodyglove), SMB and Slate (problue).. haha.. show me the money!! ahaha... bleah... sounds 'jerry maguire'-ish.. yes.. i admit to it.. i am addicted to diving.. but i'm proud that i am!! LETS GO DIVING!!

chiyu

Games, changes and fears
When will they go from here
When will they stop
I believe that fate has brought us here
And we should be together
But we're not
I play it off but I'm dreamin of you
I'll keep it cool but I'm fiendin.

I try to say goodbye and I choke
I try to walk away and I stumble
Though I try to hide it it's clear
My world crumbles when you are not near
Goodbye and I choke
I try to walk away and I stumble
Though I try to hide it, it's clear
My world crumbles when you are not near

I may appear to be free
But I'm just a prisoner of your love
I may seem alright and smile when you leave
But my smiles are just a front
I play it off but I'm dreamin of you
I'll keep my cool but I'm fiendin

I try to say goodbye and I choke
I try to walk away and I stumble
Though I try to hide it it's clear
My world crumbles when you are not near

Here is my confession
May I be your possesion
Girl I need your touch
Your love kisses and such
With all my might I try
But this I can't deny
I play it off but im dreamin of you
I'll keep my cool but I'm fiendin
I try to say good bye and I choke
I try to walk away and I stumble
Though I try to hide it it's clear
My world crumbles when you are not near

chiyu

ok.. the pictures are a disgrace.. mostly crap.. only about 75% of my pics came out (but not all are clear).. as for junyi... only 2 pathetic shots... haha.. i'm too ashamed to put up the pics so.. sorry.. haha.. enough about the disappointing pics.. about my trip..

we reached Pulau Aur at about 0345hrs early saturday morning.. and being the lunar 15th (thanks murih..) the tide was super low.. its called the 'leap tide' i think.. so low that much of the corals (mainly staghorns) were exposed.. the boat couldn't reach the jetty so we had to walk and weave our way through the exposed coral.. trying hard not to trample on them.. (sadly, not everyone was as careful or concerned as i hope they would be..) turned in at 4+..

woke at about 8 to commence our check out dive.. just to orientate ourselves to the surroundings.. visiblity was as good as i hoped it would be.. lots of damsels and all sorts of butterfly fish.. was a good time for me to recall all the skills and drills as well as get my buoyancy control on an acceptable standard.. bottom time: 42mins, max depth: 14.5m

next dive was the peak performance buoyancy module.. my mask didn't fog up at all so it was a rather pleasent dive.. saw huge butterfly fish amongs boulders.. huge yellow and electric blue striped ones.. wow.. even giant clams.. we launched our SMBs too.. some lost control of theirs.. i was just worried mine would drag me right up to the surface if i'm not careful.. haha.. bottom time: 41mins, max depth 20m

next was our underwater navigation along the house reef.. water was a little cold but still manageable.. saw a cuttlefish.. i'm totally impressed by how i can change its colour as and when it likes.. it settle onto some coral and immediately assumed the exact same colour of the coral to blend in! bottom time: 36mins, max depth 15.8m

we did our night dive at the house reef as well.. it was great! although we could see nothing without our torches, whatever we saw was gem.. saw the largest pufferfish i've ever seen! it just froze when we approached it.. we came across a black spotted moray eel zipping along the bottom.. the colour was fantastic.. just as we turned about, a dog shark emerged from the darkness.. it was beautiful.. swam towards us then darted amongs the reef.. going round and round and round.. haha.. bottom time: 40mins, max depth: 16.3m

early the next morning, we headed for our dawn dive, which was also our deep dive.. this was the 1st time we were going so deep so we were kinda nervous at first.. we descended to about 18m first, then slowly followed the sea bed to 21m, 24m, finally, at about 27m (nearing the optimal recreational diver's max depth of 30m), we did some 'tests'.. our instructor was trying to show us the effects of nitrogen narcosis.. he made us write our names backwards on our slates.. then gave us a mulitplication sum to do.. the name part was easy.. but them multiplication part.. i had to look and think twice before i could be sure i was writing the correct numbers.. haha.. it was interesting though.. once done, we were asked to do a reciprocal navigation back to our entry/exit point.. bottom time: 37mins, max depth 27.2m

our last dive was a drift dive down to crocodile rock from the house reef.. the current pushed us along the bottom so our dive was as if we were flying! came across several HUGE lobsters hiding amongs some huge rocks.. and of course, the largest octopus any of us have ever seen.. this marks the last dive of the trip.. and of course, the last dive of my advanced open water course.. i'm an advanced diver loh!!! man i love diving.. haha.. bottom time 36mins, max depth 24m..

hoping to head down to phuket at the end of the year with deep blue scuba again.. instructors and DMs were great fun.. anyone wants to head down with me? just lemme know k? LET'S GO DIVING!!!

chiyu

just got back from Aur.. fantabulous trip.. haha.. visibility was good.. will update tml.. once i get the pictures out.. and if they turn out ok.. fingers crossed.. some pple told me the pics are gonna be bad but i'm hoping... haha..hope that they would turn out fine.. esp the night dive ones!!! took pics of giant pufferfish, giant lobsters, black spotted moray eel and many others..

chiyu

i'm heading for pulau aur tonight.. anyone wants anything can just sms me.. i can still receive there.. been hanging out quite frequently with casey and the rest recently.. he's flying back to San Francisco this sunday.. and jeremy who just came back from Canada.. think he is flying back in a couple of weeks.. had too much prata and briyani too.. haha.. a weird week this had been.. lets see.. monday.. was sending this guy to DB (detention barracks) in a GP car.. i was the vehicle commander since i was the only officer on board.. 2 escorts were seated at the back together with the detainee who was handcuffed.. on-route to DB, we got off the KJE and was waiting at the filter lane for traffic to clear before we went onto the main road.. suddenly, a blue toyota dyna pick-up ploughed into the back of our vehicle.. i muttered a string of profanities under my breath and stepped out of the vehicle to sort things out.. i ordered the drive to move the vehicle further down to road to prevent blockage of traffic and adviced the pick-up driver to do the same.. i got the escorts to bring the detainee to the side of the road and watch him.. the back of our vehicle was smashed.. the glass shattered, with bits flying onto us during the crash.. it was dumb.. i got another vehicle to come pick us up to complete the detail.. how 'suai' can i get.. -_-" work was as usual come the rest of the week.. gotta be at my dive centre in 6 hours.. haha.. can't wait to go diving!

chiyu

Send someone to love me

I need to rest in arms

Keep me safe from harm

In pouring rain

Give me endless summer

Lord I fear the cold

Feel I'm getting old

Before my time

As my soul heals the shame

I will grow through this pain

Lord I'm doing all I can

To be a better man

Go easy on my conscience

'Cause it's not my fault

I know I've been taught

To take the blame

Rest assured my angels

Will catch my tears

Walk me out of here

I'm in pain

As my soul heals the shame

I will grow through this pain

Lord I'm doing all I can

To be a better man

Once you've found that lover

You're homeward bound

Love is all around

Love is all around

I know some have fallen

On stony ground

But Love is all around

Send someone to love me

I need to rest in arms

Keep me safe from harm

In pouring rain

Give me endless summer

Lord I fear the cold

Feel I'm getting old

Before my time

As my soul heals the shame

I will grow through this pain

Lord I'm doin' all I can

To be a better man

chiyu

"It saddens me that these animals are threatened on a daily basis to the point of being categorized as endangered species.
Many people who buy and sell endangered species products are simply unaware of the devastating impact they are having on wildlife. Together, we can influence and educate the world so that these amazing species can still roam the earth in years to come. When we all come together, we can do anything."

-Maurice Greene-


"I cannot imagine a world for our children without wild elephants, tigers, and the other amazing creatures we share this planet with and yet they are being killed and sold into extinction as we speak. We are appealing to the buyers of these products to stop fuelling the poaching and to the governments of the world to redouble their efforts to protect our wildlife and future’. When we all come together, we can do anything."

-Dwight Phillips-


chiyu

This is a little story about the symbiotic relationship between the blind burrowing shrimp and the goby...

It's a common story of how the little guys band together to save themselves from the dangerous big guy. But this story takes place deep within the waters of the Indo-Pacific Ocean…

One day a long time ago, the alphaeid shrimp – better known as the blind shrimp because it's… you guessed it, almost blind – was feeding off the microbes in the sand. As he dug, piles of sand already screened for food were building up. Using its front claws like a bulldozer, it started pushing the microbe-less sand out of its burrow, when a big fish swam by and nearly bit his head off.

Whew that was close! Again he stuck out his head and tried again, but Big Fish was waiting, hoping to snack on Blind Shrimp. Poor Blind Shrimp didn't get any of the useless sand out of his burrow that morning, which didn't leave much room in his home.

All of a sudden a goby fish came fleeing frantically into the burrow. "Please don't kick me out! Big Fish is out there and he's about to get me," he wailed. "I don't have the strong head muscles to dig my own burrow in which to hide like my cousins do." Now, Blind Shrimp very much cramped in the little space, may have not have the best eyes but he had quite a sharp mind. "I'm beginning to see a friendship between us that will continue through our children and our grandchildren and great-great grandchildren," he said. And they devised a plan.

The next morning, Blind Shrimp was out again, burrowing out the useless sand from his home. But this time, he had Goby Fish by his side, one of Blind Shrimp's antennae resting on Goby Fish's back.

Sure enough, only an hour into his digging, Big Fish came out looking for breakfast. Goby Fish saw Big Fish approaching and shivered – not completely out of fright, but to warn Blind Shrimp whose antennae could feel Goby's sudden shudder.

On receiving the warning, Blind Shrimp jumped into their home with Goby Fish following close behind.

And as Blind Shrimp predicted, their children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and… (you get the idea) lived together to protect themselves from all the big fish in the sea.

A little food for thought.. if any of you have been diving, i'm sure you would've come across these guys at the sea bed.. cute little critters in my opinion..

chiyu

that's my darling up there.. just bought them at lucky plaza.. $140.. this is as cheap as i can get them at.. boy is it beautiful.. can get my booties in them come aug 19th.. haha.. anyways.. pilot medical tml.. fingers crossed............. and school duty officer on friday.. think can only knock off about lunch time on saturday.. bleah.. gotta Zzz now.. need to wake early.. again.. chiyu