Mei Lin, the explorer's last dives of 2010

Instead of spending this Boxing day at home looking at my thesis and papers, I joined Pei Min and Cindy out at Semakau-Hantu! Sadly, Cindy couldn't make it though she had organized the trip. :( Nevertheless, it was a great company of people who love diving and food! Yes, the boat was jammed pack with food (from Christmas leftovers to junk food like chips!) I enjoyed their company a lot, and I was completely enthralled by some of the animals that I have seen today with some surprises!

Dive 1: Semakau
It's been almost a year since I had last dived at Semakau. If you have heard of Semakau Landfill, it's the same site that we are talking about. Upon descent, my fellow buddies got pricked by the resident algae-feeders, Black-spined sea urchins. Alamak... As we explored around, I spotted a few pretty sea whips and guess what one of them had?

This beautiful and HUGE allied cowrie! Oh my! It was 3cm long and instead of the usual pink-spotted, this one has black spots with yellow appendages! I will have to check with Hoong Wei of the ID.

Some nudibranchs such as the Phyllids were out and hanging about...

Others like this Flabellina sp. bends itself into unusual shapes... haha

I spotted one sap-sucking slug (Thuridilla gracilis) out and about bobbing its head on the substrate. I caught the feeding behaviour on video. hehe...

Cushion stars are not very common but in Semakau, you can usually spot several of them just like this one below.

Several whip gobies could also be seen on the sea whips, darting about as we shine our torches on them...

Finally, I was able to spot some pipefish! haha.... This one here is the Ocellated pipefish that is common around Semakau waters.

In the shallow reef zone, large anemones were attached on top of coral rubble, with its residing False Clown Anemonefish.

Dive 2: Hantu
After a hearty lunch (with little pastries, sandwiches and orange juice from every one on board) and a short lazing around on the boat, we hopped into the water for another dive at my favourite place, Hantu!

After Chay Hoon's post on the Tubularian hydroid, I spotted some today. Really pretty!

It is a common sight for baby featherstars to hold onto sea fans and whips, but an orange coloured featherstar is a first for me!

More whip creatures could be seen today such as the shrimps - white and reddish-orange (below).


Another resident allied cowrie that resembles the host whip...

I spotted this HUGE snail on my last trip, and today, I saw a total of 3 of them! They resemble a type of Murex shell... I'm not too certain what is the exact name. This snails were at least 20cm long and 15 cm high! Don't be deceived by its white shell (which is usually a trait of dead shells), these snails are very much alive.

Strangely, upon arrival, I spotted this snail shell taken out of water and placed under a shelf on the pontoon. At first I thought it was plain weird to have a shell there and it was a really mean thing for that diver to pick it out of the water. Later after we finished the dives, I realised that the poor snail was still alive sticking its foot out! Worse, it had a bubble gum stuck to the foot! So angry! It was still very much alive though it has a blue gum on it... I decided to drop it back into the water of depth 5 m onto the sandy part. I hope that it will be able to get the blue gum out.

This is such a terrible thing to do and whoever the diver was, should be punished (*curse, swear and kick)!

Moving onto the remaining animals (yes, you have not reached the best find of the day). I spotted only one nudibranch egg curl unlike Chay Hoon who found nudibranch laying eggs on her last trip!

Though there were no nudibranch within the vicinity, I spotted others such as this Cuthona sibogae...

Janolus sp. found by Pei Min's friend, Agnes! Whee!

AND Glossodoris cincta!!!!!!!!! :D

Haha... After all these excitement, there's even more! Flatworms...


Fishes such as this semi-juvenile batfish who was staying so still that every diver around me failed to notice him/her... lol... A portrait shot of the fish. I also saw a 6-banded angelfish zoom past me...

Ji-kok ji-kok - Tiger-tailed seahorse!

Winged-pipefish... Cutes!

This black pipefish whose name is forgotten... :P

Dum dum dum!!!! Before my 5 mins decom stop, I spotted this funny 'nudi'... Later then I realised that it is a FISH!!! What kind of fish looks this cool! It has the best head gear, and prettiest colours on the body...

Check out the back view of the body! Electric blue!! :D

So I pretty much spent 20 bar worth of air keeping underwater and photographing this little critter up, left and right... Can't do down. :P It wasn't shy at all... (which is good since I'm only good at still shots). hehe... I don't know its name. Pei Min probably seen it before, and she's gonna find out! :)

Yay, Mei Lin the Explorer signs out and see you next year with more critter reports!