Peace and Quiet... Too quiet at Hantu! :(

My first Hantu Blogger dive of the year! I missed the first four months of fun and excitement! :( I'm into the final 3 months of my Masters programme and had been working on my project. Just last Friday, I had to give a presentation and thankfully it went well! :)

Also, something that I had meant to do was to fix these macro lens onto my housing... After surfing the net and pondering on the design, this is the outcome! Yes, though it may not look fantastic, but it was innovative! It's the first time I'm bringing it down for a use and here's some of the results and sightings on Hantu.


On the way to Hantu, Debby spotted a huge green turtle surfacing for air! Could it be Betsy, aka the turtle I saw last month? I wonder... On the whole, the dives were not too bad but everyone agreed that the reefs were eerily quiet... Dive guides Cindy and Pei Min saw the Fingered dragonet that I had last first seen on the same reefs! This is exciting because that means 1) there is a population of these dragonets and 2) our reefs are ever surprising us with new fauna... I went down to look for the dragonet but to no avail. Alas, probably next time then...

Today I didn't see many active animals, and noticed a large number of crinoids hiding in the holes on the ground. Whip animals were few and sparse. It appears that a portion of the reefs was damaged as well. hmm... Hopefully it is not dredging or anchor damages. With my buddy, Chay Hoon, she spotted this TINY icon seastar. OMG...


Pretty pink basket stars were common on many of the red/pink seafans...

I started trailing some filefish and taking portrait shots of them... Cute eh?

Just before the end of my first dive, I spotted the blue-spotted fantail ray hiding beneath the pilings... This is my first time being so close to it! Most of the time, I would avoid it like a plague as I do not want to get stung by it...

The saw-toothed shrimps could still be found on the black coral whips... Very big ones too (~7cm long)!

Cave coral (Tubastrea sp.) tentacles

Chay Hoon explained that during this time of the year, slugs and nudibranchs are few and sparse. We did not see as many slugs as we would like to but here are a few: Elysia sap sucking slug...

Special unknown Doto sp.

Translucent Gymnodoris sp.

I had fun with my camera today! Although visibility was rather poor (2-3m), at least some animals came out to greet us on this hot Sunday... With the macro lens, I can see much more details on the animal now! :D

Till the next dive... (One week... :P)