First officer's log

Part 4: ...beneath the sea

Day 4, and a day trip to the Bangka Islands
Best thing about it is breakfast on the boat, and very tasty it was too. It's a good two-hour ride up there, but worth it... read on!

Sahaong
This is billed by Eco  as their signature dive... so I will leave it to their Web site to describe it....

"For fit and experienced divers, as there are often strong currents (and a little bit of surge in the shallows). A big rock with a couple of peaks penetrating the surface, followed by a large underwater sea mount having a big sloping plateau loaded with a richness and variation of fish, soft coral and big sponges hard to find elsewhere. One of the several large table corals here often has baby sharks hiding under it! Bigger sharks as well as eagle rays are often spotted here as well. Pygmy seahorses can be found at around 24m / 80ft. This is a drift dive that requires a 'negative-buoyancy entry' (as waves can be present at the surface at drop and pick-up points). Visibility varies between 12-30m / 40-100ft."

And there you have it, straight from the dive boss's pen.

Lunch was at anchor in a small lagoon, where the snorkeller is rewarded with pipefish, including ghost pipefish, filefish and a few isolated lumps of coral inhabited by all manner of reef fish. Well worth a dip, and nice not to have eight tons of gear on for a change. Boots are a must, though, as stonefish are said to inhabit the seabed.

Batu Mandi
Oh what fun, it's easy they said, just drop in here, swim around the wall the up over the top. There might be current... not half! After ten minutes of pedalling away and developing thighs like Wile E Coyote after some Acme pills, we called it off, and Jason turned back to the wall with his faithful - Jon, Paul and Bill - paddling in his wake. Mark Spitz couldn't have got up there, so we never had a prayer. It's pretty though, and when we found a more benign way onto the shallow top of the reef it was worth it. Eat your brekky-wheats before this one.

Day 5

The Manado or 'Molas' Shipwreck
Sunk on February 14, 15 or 22 February, 1942, nobody seems to know. Is it Dutch, is it German... nobody is sure. If the dates are right, that's about the time of the fall of Singapore, when lots of ships were heading for Australia, so it could be from anywhere. It's about 60m long, is a twin-screw, counter-sterned (think mini-Titanic) coaster and is an excellent dive spot! It's deep though, the bow starts at about 24m and the twin propellers can be found at 40m. The visibility can be poor due to the proximity of the city of Manado (and we don't want to think too hard about why that is, do we?) but for us it was fine. Interesting to see the way the sponges change colour under a strobe or a torch (so take one with you). The brief offers an alternate strategy of wreck dive alone or head for the reef after the dive. At this depth, we decided that a look at the wreck and a long safety stop was the sensible option... of course André's computer seemed to think he could take up residence on the wreck, whereas all the Suuntos were screaming 'get me outta here'. The moral is, if you are a bottom dweller, get a Scuba Pro.

A few words on Mary's ascent technique would be appropriate here, which is to say that while we all hover on or near the ascent line trying to look cool, she slowly circles the group like a great white looking for lunch. Whassat all about?

Pangulingan
No explanation was given for this name, or if it was, your narrator missed it. What more can I say, excellent, excellent dive. Go do it!

[At this point the editor has to leap in with an alternative version. While Bill was having a fine time at Pangulingan, my group was kicking mightily into the current. 'Don't touch anything' quickly evolved into 'Hang on to any damn thing that isn't a scorpionfish' and we started wondering who would be the first to have a major coronary event. Those of us at the rear of the group hinted that perhaps it was time to abort. 'Come on, come on,' encouraged Monika. And so on we went, sucking air so forcefully that I'm surprised I didn't turn my tank inside out.

And then finally my patience ran out and I grabbed my tank banger and hammered vigorously on my tank. The others could what they pleased, but I was going up, end of story, bang bang bang BANG BANG BANG!!! Monika turned round to see what the enormous fuss was about, spotted a 3m hammerhead cruising past and - with great excitement - pointed it out to the rest of the group. Hurrah!

Except... I was too frustrated to look around. When I climbed out to a chorus of, 'Well done for spotting the hammerhead,' all I could say was, 'What hammerhead?' Mary]

Alung Banua
The narrator's ears were bunged up for this one and he was so grumpy that he wrote nothing in his log. So there. I expect there was coral, loads of fish, Jason breathing every ten of your earth minutes, and of course those Burberry shorts, but I am not telling.

[Your grumpy narrator has also forgotten to mention his shopping expedition. The reception area at Tasik Ria is decorated with a number of carved wooden figures. Bill, Paul and Jon, noting the resemblence between one of the figures and a certain long-haired dive instructor, were determined to purchase it. After complicated negotiations, the carving was acquired and Monika was persuaded to present it, along with the following dive briefing:

Dive site: Jase Marsden

Air consumption: One bubble
Depth: 40m to infinity
Profile: Perfect
Fish seen: Toothbrush fish
Hair style: Long
Equipment: Old
Body: To be lusted after
Game: Kings and 'Women of Ill Repute'
Prize: Man of the Reef

Of course all this led to much confusion on the last day, since no-one could tell whether they were talking to the real Jason or the wooden replica. Mary]

Day 6

Ye gods! Is it almost over so soon?

Lekuan I
See Lekuan III.

Lekuan II
See Lekuan I.

It's not enough really, but my pen arm is tired, and really all the Lekuans have to be seen to be believed.

And that's it, we finished off on the house reef, and emerged, in your narrator's case, with 18 hours and 23 minutes of no-fly time and a flight in 19 hours. Perfect!

And so to the aftermath... and a night on the town. Jason had promised not to snore too loudly and so dinner was followed by a bar and some music... and he was as good as his word, bedtime was extended from 8pm until 11.30pm, and much Jack Daniels was imbibed. Dave failed to return until late (ooooooh!) and when he did he had the teachers with him (double ooooh!!) and they had to be escorted to their rooms by a security guard (more oooohs than I can manage!!!). I am sure a full exposé will appear in his autobiography in due course. We hope the Eco Divers folk enjoyed the evening as we did, they had looked after us well, entertained us royally with the diving, and I am sure that some of us at least will be back for more.

Once again we entrusted ourselves to Silkair, and arrived back in Singapore without incident. Jon even remembered his luggage and his (still intact) bottle of Southern Comfort. What do Kiwis do with that stuff? For those of you who have been waiting for the tale of the Southern Comfort with baited breath, that's it. It returned to Singapore with its seal intact. Whatever they do with it, drinking it does not seem to be involved. Answers on a postcard please to Mary at Marsden Bros (but keep it clean folks, this is a family Web site).

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