Friday, March 31, 2006

It's all about doing your part. Scuba Diving has been one of the best things that I have ever put my mind into.

No, I may not be the next Jacques Cousteau or any other renowned aquanaut but I try.
No, I would never be as effective as Jeff Corwin or Steve Irwin but I try.
No, I do not expect many other people to understand what I feel about the Ocean and nature but I try.

It really is difficult to convince the world and sometimes, it seems that we are fighting a losing battle.

How many times must we see pictures of green sea turtles dead from swallowing plastic bags?
How many times must we be told that flicking cigerette butts into the Ocean would ultimately result in death of marine animals?
How many times must we be reminded that eating sharks' fin soup is no more than eating your fingernails in chicken broth?


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how many more times must we see this happen?

We know this but out of our desire and lust to be the 'supreme being' of Planet Earth, you ravage our Oceans and Forests. Will there ever be a day where we would finally realise our folly? Yes. There will. It will be the day that we have lost all that is precious. But it will already be too late.

If I am at all making any sense, then please, do your part. Join me in this uphill task. Leave a tag here and pledge your dedication. Spread awareness and education. (hey.. it rhymes.)

Things you can do:
1) Spread awareness and educate those around you about how precious our natural resources are.
2) Actively refrain from trading endangered animal parts. This includes giving up sharks' fin soup. I have.
3) Divers, please get your bouyancy in shape before you take part in dives, especially new comers to the sport. It will be ironic if you were to dive and at the same time, damage coral reefs by tumbling all over them.
4) Reduce, reuse and recycle.
5) Do not litter, especially when you are out at sea or in any other natural environment.

When We All Come Together, We Can Do Anything

chiyu

Thursday, March 30, 2006

more pics.. these are from tioman.. 24-26 march 06


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yes.. its me.. check out the hair-do.. haha!


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me taking a quick shut eye..


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me in black.. clockwise, janice, george, li san, vincent.. those guys on the left are the open water students, doing their 1st boat dive! they are listening to sim and jeanine's dive brief..

janice and vincent are married to each other, george and li san too..

ok.. too lazy to add anymore..

chiyu

Monday, March 27, 2006

some pics from the past couple of trips up to aur and tioman..


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that's during a safety stop.. getting 'high' from all that nitrogen in my bloodstream..


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nope.. that's not a giant red fish attacking me.. its the photographer's lens cap! and yes, that's still me getting suffering from nitrogen narcosis.. haha.. well.. maybe not.. ok fine.. i'm weird all the time.. not just when diving..


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this is giant bumphead parrot fish.. its really a GIANT!

all the above were taken in aur..
more pics to come...

chiyu

Monday, March 20, 2006

the weekend was great.. trip to pulau aur.. its triggerfish mating season so there were heck loads of triggers about.. huge titan triggers were chasing divers, esp around Lang Bay.. they chased, we finned.. on and on.. it was quite funny sometimes.. it was scary when Chang didn't notice a huge trigger and swam right towards it.. the rest of us were trying to 'scream' a warning to him but to no avail.. thank goodness the trigger didn't attack him until he noticed it.. it attacked his fins instead.. YP had to 'jump' in and discourage its attack with his pointer.. it was especially funny when YP 'saved' Lily from a titan trigger.. the trigger turned on YP and chased him a good distance.. i was 'laughing' in my regulator when i noticed YP finning towards me.. he passed me and soon, i found a huge trigger on my tail.. i split but it kept on coming.. after quite abit, the trigger disengaged.. only to find damon who was behind.. all the while, there wasn't any sign of Chang and Lynn.. we found them amongs the rocks, chasing the hawksbill we spotted earlier.. despite knowing the state the rest of us were.. smart move.. haha.. had a good test of my equipment.. rather pleased with it.. i'm sure all of us enjoyed this trip.. i know i did.. not just because of the triggers, more so the great company..

by the way.. i'm scheduled to leave on 12 april.. expected to return on 03 july 07..

chiyu

Friday, March 17, 2006

Remember the Fifth of November


Remember, remember, the fifth of November,

The gunpowder treason and plot.

I know of no reason why gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

its off to scuba again on the 24th.. to tioman.. a leisure trip at last.. spent quite a bit on the trip though.. $298 for trip, $228.65 for a Ralftech 3/2mm 'wing power' full wetsuit, $40 for ralftech dive boots, $29 for a pair of camaro gloves and $17 for a ralftech mask strap.. wow.. do the math.. broke.. haha.. but hey.. its worth it.. glad ol' jonnie's taking up scuba.. think this is gonna be a good trip.. i'll most likely be doing dives with e dms and intrs who are going for their area familiarisation dives.. let's go diving!

chiyu

Friday, March 10, 2006

went for my interview today.. at cmpb.. yup.. i made it.. haha.. the chairman of the interview board was none other than Mr Zoe Tay, Maj Chionh.. gotta be back at cmpb on tues for another computer test.. you know.. the one where every singaporean son has to do before he enlists? mine's expired so ya.. i don't mind going.. whatever keeps me away from mandai freaking hill camp.. hate that bleeding place.. thanks to alvin, yogi, yy, kenneth, joyce and some of you other folks for making things a lil more barable.. i'm on freaking duty tml.. knn.. thanks alot mr duty planner.. and mobilisation ex on sunday.. my freaking weekend's freaking burnt.. and my freaking boss wants some paper in by monday.. well if u are reading this (which i strongly doubt).. 'why don't u take that paper of yours and shove it up your freaking arse?' thank goodness i'm leaving soon..

chiyu

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

i regret not bringing a camera.. i was eye to eye with a resting resting hawksbill turtle! man.. it was hiding under a plate coral when we came upon it.. we peeped under the plate and it just gazed right at us.. seemingly unthreatened and nonchalant.. i even managed to pet it on its shell (afraid that it'll tear my fingers off with its beak.. which of course didn't happen..). finally a certified rescue diver.. the course was unlike any scuba course i've taken.. this was definitely more demanding.. physically and mentally.. the most memorable would be the 'surfacing of unconscious diver and rescue' scenerio the instructors played on me.. i was keeping a close eye on them throughout our dive.. right until we climbed back aboard the boat.. the instructors new i was watching thus didn't have a chance to disappear and 'plant' themselves as casualties.. there i was happily derigging when suddenly, 'we've got a missing diver!' i was confused at 1st.. i thought they were just joking.. there was a snokler in the water so i thought they just missed him out.. (sim, one of my instructors had jumped off the front of the boat without me knowing and went right to the sea bed and hang onto a piece of rock, pretending to be the 'victim'.. we fought the strong current once already and i was pretty shagged out..) i finally realised that it was one of the rescue scenerios and i immediately kitted up and jumped back into the sea.. the finned as fast as i could over the bubbles rising from the depths - sim's exhaust bubbles.. pierre (another instructor) jumped in with me to observe me performance.. i released air from my BC but somehow, i wasn't sinking.. or at least i wasn't sinking fast enough.. so i flipped around and finned downwards, equalising my ears rapidly on the way down.. the 'victim' was at a depth of about 10m.. i pulled him towards me and slipped my right arm under his armpit and onto his 2nd stage (regulator piece at the mouth), making sure it doesn't fall off.. i brought him to a kneeling position quickly and started to fin upwards towards the surface.. i decided against adding any air into either of our BCs to make us more positively bouyant as i was still strong enough to fin us both to the surface.. i was careful not to ascend too fast.. we broke surface soon after and i inflated both our BCs to the fullest.. i removed the pocket mask from my BC pocket and proceeded to give rescue breathes every 5 seconds as i tried to tow him back to the boat.. by now, we have drifted pretty far down current, to the rear of the boat.. the current was strong and i spent at least 15 mins trying to fin us back, at the same time, giving rescue blows every 5 secs.. it was tough and soon i was getting breathless.. i finned and finned as hard as i could.. pierre was nearby, making sure we were alright.. words of encouragement from him helped.. just as i was nearing the boat, richard, by rescue buddy jumped in and assisted me in removing sim's gear, before i carried him up the rickety ladder onto the boat.. i performed cpr and even stuffed his fin into his mouth as the 'went into fits'.. twas pretty humourous though.. the exercise soon ended and i was pretty happy with my performance.. i received several taps on my shoulder from other diver whom happened to be on board witnessing my training.. it felt even better when not only my instructors, but their instructor (who happened to be there as well) gave me a thumbs up.. that made my trip.. for those reading and thinking about taking up scuba, u can be quite comfortable to know that if anything happens to you while i'm there, i'll TRY my best to help you.. haha.. but i wish i wouldn't have to put my training to real use in future.. i might be going up to aur again on the 17th to 19th.. any takers?

chiyu