Marine Mammal Memories

MareCet, a Malaysian NGO focused on the research and conservation of marine mammals in Malaysian waters, has recently started a series of online lectures on their Facebook page with the release of weekly videos till the end of June and will only be up till July this year so go check the videos out while you can.

To date, two videos have been uploaded - the first as an introduction to marine mammals and the latest on marine mammal tales and traditional uses in cultures across the globe. I just completed the latter lecture and it certainly brought back memories of these unique organisms as seen in the wild over the past three decades of my existence on this blue planet.

(WARNING: Much digression ahead.)

My earliest memory of marine mammals is probably from when I was about 10 years old, maybe younger, on a family trip to Pulau Langkawi. I must have seen a pod of dolphins leaping in the horizon while on a boat trip around the island as my mom captured scenic images of the beautiful sea with the jumping dolphins as black dots on the photographs using a compact film camera without a zoom. I remember my mother describing the moment to my relatives using the photographs as a visual aid, "The dolphins are the 'boogers' on the photo!"

The next time I saw marine mammals in the wild was during my first semester as an undergraduate at University of Hawaii at Hilo in the fall of 2008. I volunteered for a semi-annual Hawaiian monk seal, Neomonachus schauinslandi, count and travelled to predetermined locations on the Big Island by car to spot this endemic pinniped (semi-aquatic carnivorous marine mammals like seals, sea lions, and walruses) for an island-wide (or was it a state-wide) study on its population size and individual migratory patterns. I got in a car with the small group I was placed in led by the super inspirational and damn cool Darren Roberts (fanboy-ing now; ask me why personally) headed north to places that I have forgotten the names of (one good reason to start journalling seriously) for this count. We finally made our one and only sighting of a Hawaiian monk seal at Kauhola Point (I only remembered this location because of the lighthouse). It was sunbathing on the rocky shoreline. I was reminded to adhere to federal laws and to maintain my distance from this animal as to not harass it and also to not get my face bit off by this strong, semi-aquatic, wild animal. It was super chill though, ignoring Darren's closer examination of the identification tag(s) on its tail for the report at the end of sighting effort. After this virgin sighting of the Hawaiian monk seal, I observed it a few more times with the most memorable sighting on a summer afternoon at Richardson's Beach Park where a huge individual made its way to a freshwater/brackish pond by the car park. Good times.

The lighthouse that helped me figure out the name of location where I sighted my first ever pinniped in the wild, the endemic Hawaiian monk seal. 

A digitally zoomed image of the Hawaiian monk seal basking on dry land.

I think I zoomed in for this photograph too. Look at the orange identification tag on its tail. I think there could be more tags on its tail, maybe even flippers, because I keep remembering seeing more than one tag. Maybe this memory is of a different individual some other time after this sighting.

The following semester in spring of 2009 (I think) while on a field trip out at sea for my Marine Biodiversity Laboratory class, I actually got to see and hear Humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae. This is towards the end of an annual affair of migrating from the icy cold waters of the northern seas to the warm tropical waters of the Hawaiian archipelago to mate along the way and give birth to young. I vaguely remember observing some partial breaches from a pod of a few individuals.What I do remember very well is the song of the Humpback whales captured from the hydrophone of the vessel - it was magical. Although only able to listen to a small segment before losing the signal, I remember feeling extremely calm and grateful for being able to be there with my classmates and instructor. Unfortunately, I do not have any visual (nor audio) records of this warm experience. Thanks, Humpback whales! Like the Hawaiian monk seal, I made few more sightings of these giants while in Hawaii.

Fast forward to the year 2015, I made sightings of dolphins from the shores of Datai bay where I used to work at The Datai Langkawi, a five-star luxury resort as an informal educator. These are Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, Sousa chinensis. I have created a reputation at my former workplace for the person that all dolphin (or any other "cool") sightings must be reported to so we can contribute to MareCet's long-term research on Langkawi dolphins. I would request my then watersports colleague to take me out on the inflatable to capture images of their fins to assist MareCet in the possible identification of individuals visiting the bay but without much luck. My colleagues, resort guests, and I would get very excited to see these animals in our bay, it was always a very special treat. The "Old Guards" of the watersports pavilion at the resort always told me that the appearance of dolphins in our bay would ALWAYS usher stormy events in the very near future. Unfortunately, I never found this to be true since the islands' weather is determined by the monsoons.

The best that I can do from shore with the animal being more than 200 m away from me, a person with no prior experience commandeering an inflatable equipped with a then five-year old 200 m zoom lens.

I then got to learn more about this animal and other cetaceans (fully aquatic marine mammals like dolphins, porpoises, and whales) in September of the same year when I finally got the opportunity to participate on my first MareCet fieldwork as a volunteer in a study on population density of the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin (and I think also the estuarine Irrawaddy dolphin, Orcaella brevirostris) of the coastal waters off of Matang Mangrove Forest in the state of Perak. Other than the aforementioned species of cetaceans, I also managed to observe the elusive (or is it evasive?) Indo-Pacific finless porpoise, Neophocaena phocaenoides, mostly reminding me of floating tyres. I got to see a group of young Malaysian "cetaceanists" (you read this here first) passionately (and patiently with a lot of discipline) go out on explorer boats with a local captain in search of cetaceans for eight days. It was an eye-opening experience. I learned a lot about the science that goes behind studying marine mammal ecology in Malaysia and also the character needed to dedicate so much of one's life in doing so. There were many profound personal experience for me throughout the eight days but the happiest, most fulfilling moment as a volunteer with MareCet over roughly four years (this is after considering the times when we buried a dolphin carcass above the high tide mark of a secluded beach along the obsolete part of Jalan Teluk Datai and sieving the guts of a dead porpoise after dinner into the early morning of the following day) would be on perhaps the third day of this particular trip when I managed to alert the team of a sighting of a Irrawaddy dolphin. This would be the first of the very few times I have alerted the group  of a marine mammal sighting, an achievement that I am still very proud of myself. (It is tough since it is quite easy to mistake a white cap of a the crest of a breaking wave as a dolphin's dorsal fin. Plus I have bad eyesight....)

Sometimes, local vessel owners would allow for the temporary installment of what I call the "umpire's seat" at the bow of an explorer boat as seen in this image. This seat can accommodate two primary observers, towering perhaps four to five metres above the waters in search of swimming cetaceans. Since the primary observers have a wide angle of view to focus on, a third observer when there are sufficient individuals onboard, would stand below the the seat to look a narrow angle of view (right ahead) to catch missed observations by the primary observers as they scan through their viewing field. I was the third observer when I called out my first ever alert. It was exhilarating! Pictured here from left to right is the fearless Vivian, jovial Sandra, and amazing photog Long. 

A pod of Indo-Pacific dolphins in the waters of Pulau Langkawi in November 2016. I think this is the first trip for Sandra's behavioural/social study on this species. Dolphin researchers like Vivian and Sandra require clear images of the dorsal fins of individual dolphins for identification. Think markings on dorsal fins as fingerprints for humans. I hear it is a tedious process trying to identify individuals like this but it has proven to be a very accurate, non-invasive way to doing so.

During my time as a Masters student in the Global Field Program offered by Miami University, I had the chance to travel to parts of the world that I would not have thought of to learn about inspiring conservation work and unique biodiversity on summer field trips known as Earth Expeditions. It is during these Earth Expeditions that I manage to see foreign marine mammals in the wild. Baja California is a magical place and our Sea of Cortez leg (at Bahia de Los Angeles) of my 2016 Earth Expeditions allowed me to see my next pinniped, the California sea lion, Zalophus californianus swimming in shallow waters. You can view a video of this sighting here. I was feeling a mix of excitement and anxiousness - excited because well, it is a cool animal that I have only previously seen in captivity and anxious because there was a huge male that swam quite close to us. I thought he was going to obliterate me!

The Sea of Cortez, or more commonly known as the Gulf of Mexico, is a deep sea due it being a rift from tectonic events off the North American Plate. Upwells in this see transport nutrient-rich waters from the cold deep sea, allowing microorganisms to thrive, creating the base of a food web capable of sustaining large organisms. While the boat carrying me and my classmates were out on "swelly" waters, I manage to catch a glimpse of a whale as the boat was travelling up the crest of the swell. It could have been either a Fin, Balaenoptera physalus, or a Bryde's whale, Balaenoptera brydei, from the size of the animal but we were not close enough to see discerning features so I cannot confirm the species. On different day out at sea, the entire class was lucky enough to observe a pod of Short-finned pilot whales (technically very large dolphins), Globicephala macrorhynchus, swimming very gently at the surface of the water. I remember being incredibly shocked and in awe of the size of the animals in this pod. There was one, I kid you not, that was the length of the boat we were on. I did not pack my DSLR on this particular Earth Expeditions, which I regret till this day (should not have packed the extra clothes), so I only have a few scenes using my GoPro Silver 4 which you can see at the beginning of this video of the non-Whale shark aquatic highlights of Sea of Cortez. (For the video on my first ever Whale shark experience, click here. The Whale shark, Rhincodon typus, is a large, filter-feeding cartilaginous fish.)

My final Earth Expeditions was to Belize in 2017. The class was out on the boat travelling in the calm coastal waters of Belize within the largest barrier reef in the western hemisphere in search of Antillean manatees, Trichechus manatus, with Belize's Manateeman, Jamal Galves, a local Belizean dedicated to the conservation of these gentle giants. When we approached an estuary at the mouth of a mangrove river, someone pointed out manatees in murky waters. This is perhaps the cutest marine mammal sighting yet for me. Even though I did not get the see the general form of the Antillean manatee due to murky waters, my classmates and I got to see the "snoots" of manatees coming up to to breathe dry air. Sirenians, the group of marine mammals like the Dugong and manatees, are related to elephants! The snout of the manatee poking out from the water for dry air reminds me of how elephants would use their trunks as snorkels when travelling in water! The snouts of sirenians are also prehensile like the trunks of elephants. My heart was leaping in excitement when I saw the manatees. Not what I expected to experience (think clear waters with tens of manatees surrounding the boat or clear waters where one can easily watch a manatee graze on seagrass from the surface), but a special experience nevertheless which I am grateful for.

The emerging snouts of a mother-calf pair (mom on the right, calf on the left). So cute!

If you watched MareCet's first video in their online lecture series, you would have learned of the different types of marine mammals. Three were mentioned here, cetacean, pinniped, and sirenian. The other would be marine "fissiped", apparently a defunct term to refer to carnivorous mammals who are fully reliant on the ocean for sustenance and reproduction. This includes the Polar bear, Ursus maritimus, and "ocean" otters like the Sea otter, Enhydra lutris. I have yet to see these species in the wild. In addition to this, I have also never seen the Dugong nor the other cetaceans, like the Bryde's whale, present in Malaysian waters. I really hope I will get the chance to observe them in their natural habitat one day.

These animals are apex predators and/or keystone species in the ecosystems they are part of. Without them, ecosystems crumble and we risk livelihoods and the survival of humans globally, whether directly or indirectly. And of course, they have the intrinsic right of being alive as a species. Therefore, we must make change and do our part in conserving and preserving these species and their habitats. I urge you to voice out against irresponsible coastal development, demand for better/more transparent supply chain of seafood (or reduce in the consumption of aquatic species), fight against pollution of waterways, do not litter/reduce the generation of solid wastes in your household, and support responsible tourism (no speeding boats, no feeding of animals, and definitely no crowding around these charismatic animals - let them dictate your experience). 

The Canteen

Today's lunch brings us to what my boss and other colleagues call "canteen". It is a typical Chinese seafood restaurant in Klang that is always empty for lunch except for me and my colleagues. The company has been such a regular customer the past year that my colleagues were treated to a massive seafood hotpot ON THE HOUSE.

See, just us.

Today's steam fish was delicious.

The company even had our Chinese New Year company lunch with a company lucky draw earlier this year! Yes, still confused.

The owner likes us so much that she serves us fruits for free after we are done with the dishes. Today, she served us the sweetest jackfruit I have had in years. I have never heard the Mandarin word for jackfruit so I inquired of my colleagues and I learned a new word today - 菠萝蜜 (Bōluómì), which apparently means "pineapple honey". After learning this new word, I thought it would be fun to surprise my Mandarin-speaking colleagues but they did not understand what I was saying. Interestingly, 菠萝 (Bōluó) means pineapple in Mandarin but here in Malaysia, pineapple is more commonly known as 黃梨 (Huáng lí), literally "yellow pear". And during CNY, "to attract prosperity". My colleagues also made me realise that 菠萝包 (Bōluó bāo), a famous sweet bun in Hong Kong I have eaten so many times before that it is called pineapple bun in English. Gosh. Mindblown. Mom, please do not reproach me for being hopeless in Mandarin.

Moving on to making fun of my friend's motivational quote sharing of the day:

"Time and silence are the most luxurious things today. Good morning..:)"

Actually, I have no comment for this. This could be true in an age of information deluge. Wise share, friend, wise share.

Change.

Much has changed since my last entry. 2019 was a crazy, amazing year. I got married after a two-year engagement with my lovely, God-sent partner, Aisha in September, grown so much professionally at work through life-changing challenges throughout the year, and decided to move back to the Klang Valley to be with my wife.

I was working on an artificial reef project for The Datai Langkawi and finally, after what seems like eons (one whole year), we finally got to do so on the 16th of January 2019. Momentous day for us at work, me in my professional career, a portent to many more achievements in 2019.

A professional portrait of the team I led during my second stint at The Datai Langkawi (from 2018 to 2019) in front of The Nature Centre. I am glad to have been part of this team of diverse personalities that coalesced against all hardships thrown at us in 2019. Yes, 2019 had many dark days. Picture credit here.

The wedding band and us.

Love you, Aisha. Aisha blogged about our wedding. Go check it out here and here.

Mine and Aisha's "nest".

It has been four months since I have moved in with Aisha and we are definitely enjoying married life together. I started my new job in January and I am enjoying it very much, although it is in a very different industry doing nothing like what I have been doing since 2013. Funnily, my new workplace is just a five-minute drive from the house I grew up in and my permanent mailing address of 24 years!

Now that I have more free time than the past four years (graduated with my Masters degree in Fall 2018 and no more doing long hours at The Datai Langkawi), I decided I should blog more since I feel blogging helps me journal more.

But it is so tough to know what to blog about, what to journal about. Therefore, I have come up with a formula for this blogging/journal dead-end - my go-to "theme" would be:

• Lunches
• About the discussions I have at these lunches
• New vocabulary I learn from my daily readings
• Making fun of motivational quotes a friend shares in a group chat on WhatsApp

How about I start this tomorrow?

It’s All About the Butts - Empowering Smokers

A typical rest day for me is lying down on a batik sarong on the soft sandy beaches of Pulau Langkawi. I pick my spot under the natural shading courtesy of pokok ketapang. My set-up is made complete with some natural history and Sci-fi literature. When it gets too hot, I simply walk into the sea to cool off. Floating in the emerald waters of Langkawi while looking at landscapes as old as time, I have to concur with renowned Malaysian naturalist and my mentor, Irshad Mobarak, that heaven is indeed a place on Earth, and that place is Pulau Langkawi.

Trouble in Paradise and the Big Blue

However, not all is great in paradise. I often see litter on the beach. Litter like tissue paper, beverage tin cans, plastic bags, straws, and all kinds of food packaging decorate the sand. I pick up whatever litter I can and discard it when I get home. By far, the litter I pick up most often is the cigarette butt. I have collected up to 40 cigarette butts on a 20 metre walk on the backshore of Pantai Pasir Tengkorak, a quiet beach situated away from the busy tourist spots of Kuah town and Pantai Cenang. At Pantai Cenang, I counted the same number of cigarette butts but along just a 5 metre line of its backshore. Ridiculous! Even more frustrating is that these are just the butts that are sticking out from the sand. The gentle quartz sand is likely hiding more.

This is not a phenomenon unique to Pulau Langkawi. In fact, for the past decade, Ocean Conservancy has reported cigarette butts to be the most collected litter on their annual global coastal cleanups, with a record of 2,248,065 pieces in the year 2015. That is at least a million more than plastic bottles in the same year! Surfrider beach cleanups report that one in every five items collected is a cigarette butt.

While it might be tempting to blame beach users and tour operators, cigarette butts make their way to the coast and into the ocean via natural and man-made drainages. An improperly disposed butt from the plant boxes of KLCC Park gets a free ride to the ocean when it is washed away from the epic downpours of Kuala Lumpur. Rainwater carries the butt into drains that empty into Sungai Klang before ending up in the Straits of Malacca.That butt will then add to the cigarette butts in the ocean, currently estimated at around 4.5 trillion pieces.

More Than Just Paper

Just what is a butt? In the wake of strong research showing that smoking causes serious diseases, filtered cigarettes became dominant in the 1960s for the alleged increase of health safety the filter provides for the smoker. This filter is made of cellulose acetate, a non-flammable polymer created by adding a chemical to cellulose, the stuff that makes up the cell walls of plants and lets them grow tall. While the squishy white filter underneath the cigarette paper appears harmless, it is not readily biodegradable and takes anywhere between 18 months to 10 years to “disappear”. Because the filter is compact and rich in chemicals, the “disappearance” of a filter only happens in extreme conditions and usually means it is broken down into tiny pieces known as microplastics and microfibers. They enter ocean food webs which humans are part of as plankton mistakenly ingest them as food. That delicious ikan tiga rasa you had the other day is probably laced with these micro particles. Furthermore, these persist in the environment for millennia.

The “Cili Padi” of Litter - Small but Painful Punch

The minute spaces within the filter trap dangerous chemicals from burning cigarettes, such as nicotine, tar (no, not the hydrocarbon used to make roads, but “total aerosol residue” of toxic chemicals), carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, and do not forget the many different types of carcinogens. These chemicals can leach into water and have have devastating impacts on aquatic life of all sizes - from microorganisms such as bioluminescent marine bacterium and tiny crustaceans called water fleas, to medium-sized fish in both freshwater and the sea. Cigarette butt litter can even collapse aquatic food webs in severe cases when microorganisms are wiped out due to the ingestion of “empty calories” of cigarette butt micro particles. Basically, no microorganisms, no food for the small fish; no small fish, no food for the big fish; no big fish, no seafood.

A cigarette butt, too, is the perfect size to act as a choking hazard to hungry wildlife that mistake it for food.

Changing Mindsets and Empowering Smokers

Public service announcements to quit smoking bombard smokers in Malaysia on a daily basis. All smokers hear and read about smoking is in negative light. This repressive narrative must switch to an empowering narrative encouraging smokers to stop flicking cigarette butts into places other than the bin if we are to reduce the environmental impact of smoking.

Smokers who simply refrain from flicking their butts can do so much for the environment. It can be tough to break the flicking habit, but here are some tips for binning them butts, after you completely stub them out, of course:

• Only smoke in designated areas - Smoking areas generally have proper bins with an ashtray for all your stubbing needs. Just make sure to use them and not the plant boxes. The soil and plants do not need your cigarette butts.
• Request an ashtray - Some establishments allow smoking on/in their premises. If there is no ashtray close by, request one from the staff members.
• Bring your own ashtray - My friend’s stylish portable ashtray intrigued me when I first saw it about three years ago. It is a metal box with a button that engages a cigarette holder when pressed. Smoke away and flick your ashes and butts into the metal box, then store it in your pocket or purse until you find a bin to discard the refuse.
• Upcycle suitable packaging into a portable ashtray - Small metal containers for mints and glass shakers for your dried herbs and spices are great alternatives to somewhat costly portable ashtrays.
• Encourage your fellow smokers to be responsible - Spread the word that smokers can make a difference for the betterment of the environment. Do it with passion and joy to effectively touch people on an intrinsic level.

The choice to smoke is ours, but smokers should make the choice to bin their butts. Flicking cigarette butts everywhere but the bin has profound effects on the environment. But there is still time to save the environment when smokers unite and take action!

Beyond Stopping Cigarette Butt Littering

Smokers can further help the environment by being informed and responsible consumers. Smokers can write to their favourite brands to pressure tobacco companies to be environmentally conscious. More tobacco plantations must employ sustainable practices to reduce excessive use of water and to stop the clearing of forests. How about getting tobacco companies to rethink the packaging of tobacco products? Perhaps organic-based “plastics” can substitute the current plastic wrapper enveloping brand new cigarette cartons. It is also high-time for true biodegradable filters (like “greenbutts”) to be mainstream so cigarette butts do not occupy our landfills and our natural surroundings for eons to come. All of these require the voice of the 22.8% of the Malaysian population who are smokers. Take action and make change!


I originally wrote this article for a class that was meant to be published as a Star2 article but received no bites from the editor. I blame it on the high of the general elections in 2018 but maybe my composition just sucks. Therefore, I have decided to share it on my blog. Maybe some of you readers may benefit from this.

Flora of Earth Expeditions

Recently, my Global Field Program cohort got their Earth Expeditions placement for this year. It would have been my last Earth Expeditions with my classmates but I have already completed three of them after last year's trip to Belize. I am definitely going to miss this part of my life - travelling to a foreign place to learn about ecology and pedagogy, meeting amazing people, and experience moments that will inspire you for a very long time, if not forever!

I have observed many new things during my Earth Expeditions travels and there are many things to write about (if I had my journals with me, hah). But for this entry, I thought I could write about the plants that defined each of my Earth Expeditions. I am not a plant guy. However, having a mentor whose knowledge and passion about the natural world is so deep, I suppose the interest in plants (and birds) rubbed off on me.

For my first Earth Expeditions in 2014, I went to Townsville, Australia focused on coral reef ecosystems and how the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority leads the conservation of the Great Barrier Reef. I signed up for this course for the masters credits to try things out. The class brought us to different locations and habitats. I am so glad to have seen Eucalyptus trees in its native habitat. What took the cake is seeing Koalas in the wild on the Eucalyptus trees on a leisurely, guided stroll on Magnetic Island. It felt so unreal to see teddy bear-like creatures on trees in real life! Plus, the Koalas were on trees in people's yards! GUYS. KOALAS. IN PEOPLE'S YARDS. SO CUTE.

A tall Eucalyptus tree.

Big Eucalpytus trees in a Eucalyptus forest.

Boo!

SO ADORABLE!

THE BABY IS LOOKING AT ME! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Two years later, I decided to enroll into the Program and embarked on my second Earth Expeditions to Baja California, Mexico. I was pleasantly surprised of how green the desert system in Baja California is. I thought that all deserts are void of life. I am just super disappointed that nobody has come up with the name "Cardon" forest or at least cacti forest to describe the landscape of Baja California. Everything was brand new to me but my favourite plant of Baja California has got to be the Cirio. It is also known as the Boojum tree and its weird growth often became the subject for scary folk-esque stories. My instructor described the Cirio as being a tree with the tortured soul of an evil coloniser. (The desert at night can look very creepy. I felt like there should be some sort of myth or legend concerning the flora of the desert of Baja California.)

They grow very tall!

See. Cardon forest... Maybe Cirio forest?

Creepy... and beautiful.

Last year's Earth Expeditions to Belize introduced me to now my most favouritest symbiotic relationship of ants with Bullhorn Acacia. I know, I know. I loved the seagrass in Belize but the Bullhorn Acacia just has the most interesting story. The swollen "bullhorns" along its branches are actually hollow. On closer inspection, you can see a hole on the underside of the tip of the bullhorn. This hole is used by ants as their nest. The ant colony protects its host Bullhorn Acacia from herbivores and I personally think they are super effective since I got myself bitten TWICE while carrying out an inquiry exercise on how quick their reaction is to responding to a disturbance. My ring finger was swollen for three days and it was the most painful ant bite in my life. (I wonder if our body builds up immunity to ant bites over the years. The ants in Malaysia can deliver painful bites but gosh, the ants in Belize bit like hell!) The colony of ants are attracted and "paid" by the Bullhorn Acacia with supplies of carbohydrates and proteins and lipids. There are glands on the underside at the base of the leaves that produce nectar full of carbohydrates and nodules on the tips of the leaves that are rich in protein and lipids called Beltian bodies.

I sadly only have one picture of this plant. I regret not visually documenting this plant more extensively.

These are just a few of the plant species I am blessed to have come across during my Earth Expeditions. While I may be done with Earth Expeditions, I think I will continue to learn more about plants in the future. There are so many species to be acquainted with locally and I hope my future travels around the world will introduce me to new plants.

Diving 2017 - Pulau Tenggol

Before my dive trip to Koh Lipe, I dived in Pulau Tenggol, Terengganu, Malaysia in May 2017. I never heard of this island before 2017, when I started seeing pictures from friends/acquaintances on my Facebook feed. Also, a good friend had this really rewarding internship position with a dive resort on the island where at the end of seven months, she would have gotten her Divemaster certification with all the necessary prerequisites. How cool is that?!

I thought of making this my YOLO trip to kick start my one-month "vacation" of my first job transition in the year by diving in Pulau Tenggol. I got in touch with my good friend, got her to make the booking for my stay in the dorms with five dives. The original financial damage was around RM900 with gear rental but in the last moments before leaving on a speedboat from A'King Jetty to the island, I decided to get a room so that my parents who dropped me off at the jetty can also chill with me on the island for the next three days. I think everything cost around RM1,600, I think. I YOLO-ed x 2 for this trip! (My parents enjoyed this spontaneous trip but would have preferred time to prepare for the trip, mainly to bring all the snacks they can to the island, for everything is limited on the island.)

After an hour journey on quite a calm day, we arrived on Pulau Tenggol. The view was dramatic. One moment we travelling in deep blue waters and then it became shallow, evident of a drop just about 100m from shore of the main bay on Pulau Tenggol. (A visitor brought his drone along and captured the aerial view of the island. The drop is reminiscent of a waterfall! I am no exaggerating, though I cannot find any good drone videos on YouTube to show it to you how unreal  the view is.) We stayed with Tenggol Coral Beach Resort and I dived with their dive centre. The room was incredibly basic but my parents and I found it to be comfortable.

The first thing you see when disembarking the speedboat.

My dad chillaxin' like a villain. (I have another picture of this but with more light on my father. Unfortunately, this removed the details from the background.)

A YOLO family.

The view was great. The clouds were welcomed.

My parents, Shakira, and I. Shakira was interning with the dive centre.

Heyo!

Sometimes Google Camera takes perfect panoramas, sometimes not. Sigh.

For the five dives that I paid for, I went on two dives in the afternoon on the first day (The Edge and Tanjung Api) and three dives on the second day, two in the morning (Teluk Rajawali and Moonwracker) and one in the afternoon (Sri Nahkoda). The dives were incredible! The underwater landscape has got to be the prettiest I have ever seen in my life! I am a huge fan of seeing coral cascades and the bottom of all the dive sites were pretty much full of life! The benthos were mainly living hard corals! I was begging for some red light but found none 20m underwater. :(

See, a living seafloor!

What made me fall in love with this place even more is the fact that nudibranchs are EVERYWHERE! I got to see nudibranchs on all of my dives! I always miss nudibranchs on my dives because of how tough it is to spot them when your dive group is being hurried around a dive site per standard practices of dive centres in Malaysia (from my experience, at least) and me lacking the eye to spot these small animals. So I really enjoyed seeing nudibranchs left, right, and centre so easily around Pulau Tenggol. (People like to call nudibranchs "sea slugs" but they are not sea slugs. This article by an avid diver explains it simply the differences/similarities of "nudibranchs" and "sea slugs". They are all marine gastropods and sometimes the defining feature for me to tell apart nudibranchs from the generic sea slug would be the their bushy gills and sensory organs called rhinophores, keyword being SOMETIMES.)

(I saw many nudibranchs and took a picture of a few of them to help me figure out what species they are. Many still remained ID-less to me because the guidebook for nudibranchs of Malaysia is in my previous/future workplace in Langkawi. So, I shall ID them later, I hope? :D)

A blur picture of a few Phyllidia varicosa hanging out. Probably an orgy.

The nudibranch under the bright light (sorry) is apparently a Blue dragon, Pteraeolidia ianthina. You can spot another Phyllidia varicosa on the right. Heh. Thanks, Quek, for the ID help!

I have no ID for this guy yet.

Another Phyllidia varicosa.

An egg ribbon of a nudibranch.

No ID yet.

Again, no ID yet.

Phyllidia nigra. Thanks, Quek, for the ID help!

Another ID help needed please.

I did not get to see many reef fishes during my dives. I was expecting large schools of fish but the fishes remained low-key for all of my dives. However, I did get to see a couple of butterflyfish species that I do not remember seeing, so I am glad for that. Nothing big during my dives. Many people expect to catch the gigantic Whale sharks and cool-looking relatives in Pulau Tenggol. This just means I really HAVE to return to Pulau Tenggol to dive!

The next time I visit Pulau Tenggol, I will opt to stay and go with a dive operator on the mainland (Kuala Dungun). I heard it is cheaper to do so and is something I must research about. My stay with Tenggol Coral Beach Resort was not that good. When asked how to work the water heater, the resort staff did not explain nor demonstrate how to use the heater (it was an old school heater that needed us to switch on the gas line, ignite the gas, and then the fire heats the water). There was a huge group of divers whom all the tea time snacks were kept for (my mother would head towards the eating area ten minutes after tea time started and all food was gone just to observe a new batch of snacks coming out from the kitchen for this group; the group may be special but it does leave a bad impression for us not-so-special guests). I felt that the dive team could have emphasised more on safety and turn down a notch on the horsing around (I only really enjoyed diving with ONE Divemaster). While I returned back to land safe and sound on all of my dives (which I am thankful for), there is always that fear that something bad may happen due to human error rather than the usual risk of being in the ocean. For those of you who are planning to visit Pulau Tenggol, I would like to state that this is a very SCUBA diving-centric location. #eatsleepdiverepeat basically sums up what Pulau Tenggol is all about and I am glad I had that experience. The snorkelling is better than most places I have been to. Pack some snacks and bring a book. Pulau Tenggol is truly a beautiful place to visit! (You can check out my other photos here.) So glad I went on these dive trips in 2017. Perhaps I will dive more this year. Fingers crossed!

Diving 2017 - Koh Lipe

Many people may think I dive all the time because of the nature of my job(s) but I consider myself to be lucky to even go on a single dive in a year. I would like to dive more but I usually come up with excuses (mostly monetary) to not dive. So when I was counting my 2017 blessings, getting to go on TWO dive trips was one of them. While these two dive trips were only possible because I switched jobs twice last year (it was a bumpy ride for me), I am extremely thankful that I did go on these dive trips with no major regrets.

I visited Pulau Tenggol, Terengganu, Malaysia in May and then Koh Lipe, Thailand in December. Originally, I was just going to include experiences from both these dive trips into an entry but decided perhaps I should separate them. So here is an entry of my most recent dive trip to Koh Lipe! (Inspiration to finally write this entry is Thai food that reminded me of Koh Lipe food. I know, very odd inspiration.)

My visit in December was not my first visit to Koh Lipe. I went on a day trip with a bunch of crazy cetacean scientists in November 2016. Getting to Koh Lipe is easy for Malaysians and/or anybody who is already on Pulau Langkawi in the months of November till April (months may differ every year as direct ferry services to Koh Lipe from Pulau Langkawi is subject to weather conditions; November till April/May are generally the calmer months of the year). I purchased return ferry tickets from Tropical Charters for both my visits to Koh Lipe. (Not sure if this promotion is still on, but for my November 2016 visit, the cetacean scientists and I purchased tickets directly from the Tropical Charters office in Pantai Tengah and we got a RM20 discount each for our return tickets. This promotion is only applicable if you visit their office. Original price is RM220 for return tickets, which is what I paid for the December 2017 trip since we just got them from the website.) We embarked the ferry at the jetty in Kuah and took us about an hour and a half to get to Koh Lipe.

Shameless wefie with cetacean scientists, Vivian, Adrelia, Sandra, and Saliza, in November 2016. I shall call them "cetaceanist". Sounds a little bit like "satanist". Heh.

Since Koh Lipe is small island surrounded by shallow coral reefs, passengers will have to disembark the large ferries and get aboard long-tail boats. I remained dry the entire five-minute transfer on the long-tail boat but you may want to take into account some splashing onto your stuff so pack wisely. Once you get closer to Koh Lipe, you should already be able to see the coral reef at the bottom of the water. The shallow waters of Koh Lipe are generally crystal clear.

On the long-tail boat in November 2016. I did not take too many selfies this past trip. My bad.

When you reach the shore, you must head towards the immigration counter. There is no way for you to skip this process because your passport will be kept by the ferry operator during the transit and will be passed on to the immigration officers. Once you have gotten the stamp, you must approach a non-office station (just a table and a sign) where you must pay a national park entrance fee. (Sorry, did not get a picture of this station.) I forgot how much I paid, I think it could have been 200 baht. If nobody approaches you to do so, please seek out the right officers to make the payment. This is a very ridiculous rule but apparently all travellers into Thailand must have at least 10,000 baht per person or 20,000 baht per family. I do not think many visitors will be checked for this, hence many enter the country with not having to have too much currency. But I suggest if you are staying at least three nights in Thailand, you should have at least 10,000 baht with you. You do not want to end up like these folks.

The immigration counter.  

Lack of shade. So you should already have some sunscreen on you before disembarking the large ferry. The line may be long, so just enjoy the view. (I meant the landscape. Not the booty at the bottom right. I just realised the stranger resting on the bar in this picture, which I captured in 2016!)

After clearing immigration, you can then move to your accommodation. Depending on where you have booked to stay, transportation in small vans or sidecars of motorcycles may be provided. If you are on a budget like me and my buddies, you can walk to your accommodation. If you are staying along Pattaya Beach, walk along Pattaya Beach. If you are staying elsewhere (like Sunset or Sunrise Beaches), make sure you use Walking Street and do not simply take a back lane easily accessible on the right side of the immigration office.

The cetacean scientists and I thought we were taking the quickest route to Sunrise Beach in November 2016 via the back lane. We ended up getting lost but thankfully, the island is small. So we finally found a street linking to the main pathway of the island.

For my most recent trip, my friends and I stayed and dived with Davey Jones Locker (DJL), an establishment that provides free lodging (dormitory style) for people who dive with them. Getting to DJL was a little bit challenging because it is located towards the extreme western end of Pattaya Beach. I have no problem with walking but walking under the sun with no shade? Quite tough.

Walking Street - the street that connects you to any part of the island. And the street to lead you to delicious Thai food! You will be spending a good amount of time along this street. Clinics, convenient stores, restaurants, cafes, massage parlours, and etc. are all located along this street. Do not be afraid to take a "risky" turn. Quite difficult to get lost along this street.

Very nice path to walk on. I saw many people walking barefooted here. Totally fine. But just be reminded that there could be much hazards like sharp objects. It is after all a very busy street.

Me at the zero mile marker. Behind me is the post office, if I am not mistaken.

There are many cool looking establishments along the street. This is my favourite building. I do not know what it is. Just looks nice from the outside.

Enroute to DJL.

We finally arrived at DJL after 10 to 15 minutes of walking on the beach. It is a very lowkey place with a nice sea hibiscus tree at the front. We paid our dive fees which included an additional national park diving fee of an amount I forgot. Yes, you will have to pay two national park fees when diving in and around Koh Lipe. You have been warned, so do not be surprised when the dive centre requests for this payment. The dorms are simple - no hot water for shower and no electricity during certain hours of the day. I found the sleeping arrangement comfortable, even without the air conditioner. (The AC was broken during our entire stay.) Most importantly, the place was clean.

Embarrassingly, I did not take a picture of the front of DJL. This is the only picture of the front of DJL I have. The sea hibiscus tree is the only shade provider of this establishment's veranda.  

The common area. You can use the refrigerator and there is plenty of drinking water.

The bunk beds we slept in. Nicole is on the left and Shion is on the right, my travel companions to Koh Lipe in December 2017.

I paid about 7,500 baht for six dives. This fee included the dives, full gear rental (I got to use a dive computer for the first time in my life, wheee!), boat rental, guide, "refreshments" (just cold water, which was very much enjoyed by me), and lodging. Only Shion and I dived. We did one dive during the first day in the afternoon (east of Koh Talak), three dives the next day (Koh Talu, Koh Adang, and Stone Hedge), and then two dives the day after (east of Koh Talak and Pattaya Corner). I thought the dive service was great. Our guide, Ed, did a good job in briefing us for our dives and helped us to put on our gears. Unfortunately, dive conditions were terrible. The surface waves and underwater currents were strong during our first dive and the visibility throughout our stay was shit. The changing weather pattern has screwed up temporal dive conditions. Anyway, I got to see many amazing creatures. I was so glad to see many species in the wild that I have only seen in captivity!

Shion, Nicole, and I hiding from the hot sun.

Our guide, Ed, at the bow.

Ed warned us about keeping as close as possible to the bottom to avoid being caught in strong underwater currents. He also warned us about sea urchins. We were caught in between a moving body of water and a sharp bed of sea urchins.

This is a common sea cucumber but I have yet to learn its name. Many people think that the black stuff coming out at the front are feet of the sea cucumber. I think it is the body part used for feeding rather than movement. Someone correct and inform me!

A lionfish. I do not know which species this is. Pterois antennata or Pterois volitans? They all look the same to me!

And what are you suppose to be? A black Pterois volitans?

Shion goofing around.

Some Christmas tree worms, Spirobranchus giganteus. It is a polychaete worm, many-haired worm. The "many hairs" on its "crown" contains cilia to filter food in the water column.

Painted rock spiny lobster, Panilurus versicolor. I have seen this in captivity and a former colleague found a perfect moult on the beach before. I was really excited to have seen this living specimen in its natural habitat.

The white stuff are apparently Synaptid sea cucumbers. I need help identifying the small black fish that seems to inhabit the sponge.

A very well camouflaged scorpionfish, Scorpaenidae. Like the lionfish, the scorpionfish is extremely venomous. So it made sense when Ed told us to watch before we held on the bottom if we experienced exertion and needed to rest.

You may have to squint your eyes and spot tiny shrimps floating about the spines of the sea urchin. I think these shrimps are Harlequin shrimp, Hymenocera picta. A "lifer" for me.

Some cool looking nudibranchs (the purplish and orangish stuff). I will have to identify them in the future when I can get my hands on a nudibranch guide book.

A very beautiful clam. No idea what the name is.

A very large grouper. I think it was the size of my entire upper body!

This is a Dogface puffer, Arothron nigropunctatus. This is perhaps my most favourite pufferfish in the world! Its face resembles that of a dog and all dogs remind me of my good boy Tiny!

A school of Moorish idols Zanclus cornutus.

Another beautiful nudibranch whose name I do not know.

Which lionfish are you?!

The Giant moray eel, Gymnothorax javanicus, was a common feature on all of my dives. 

My action pose.

The long-tail boat we used to get to our dive sites. Diving off of these guys are an experience of its own.

Waiting for my turn to climb aboard the boat after my last dive at Pattaya Corner.

I forced myself to bring my "dome" this trip to Koh Lipe. I remembered snorkelling with the girls in November 2016 and how clear the water was in the shallow reefs. Regretted not bringing the "dome" back then.

Nicole diving in for me to shoot. She could not dive with us because of a life changing event. I am so glad she got to join us on this trip.

I was hoping to see more and I missed a lot of small stuff another diver got to see (like Sexy shrimp and pipefishes). Below is a compilation of the scenes I captured. Enjoy!

During our downtime, we lazed a lot on the beach and in the water. We walked to other areas on the island, like Sunset and Sunrise Beaches. These two beaches are aptly named because you can actually check out the sunset and sunrise from the respective beaches. Enjoy eating the incredible Thai food along Walking Street and in restaurants. I wrote a little bit on the food I ate while in Koh Lipe in my previous entry.

Fresh coconut with no straw! I drank it out of the shell. Coconut water comes in a natural goblet!

Sunset Beach.

After the sunset.

In the morning at Pattaya Beach.

The bar next to DJL. I had toast for breakfast on the first morning before diving. Spot the cetacean vertebrae.

Yummy coconut ice cream!

We get to put any toppings on our coconut ice cream! I chose not to taint the ice cream with chocolate syrup and added cornflakes and peanut toppings for a crispy texture instead. Sadly, the spoon was disposable.

I had this "Thai pancake" for breakfast on the last morning in Koh Lipe. It is basically banana stuffed roti canai with cinnamon powder and condensed milk. Artery clogging goodness right here!

I refrained from alcohol during the beginning of the trip. My strategy was to save as much money as possible and maybe get a couple of drinks on the last night. There are many amazing bars along the Street and the beach. I spent most nights sleeping while Nicole and Shion enjoyed the nightlife. Nicole found out that one of our dormmates is a singer when she visited a bar on the beach with a huge Peace sign at the entrance on the second last night. Nicole convinced Hillary, to play again on our last night. And wow, she sings and plays the guitar really well! She's also a passionate soul in greening urban areas. Wonderful. If I do not return to Koh Lipe for diving, I may return to Koh Lipe to hangout at this beautiful bar, whose name I never learned!

I really like these art fixtures a restaurant placed on the beach. A very attractive string art!

The inside of the cool beach bar we went to on the last night. I like how the entire building is made with a lot of wood and have no flooring so you can actually still enjoy the beach even when inside the premises! SMART!

My "tipsy" night sky picture using my GoPro. Someone really has to teach me how to capture the night sky using the GoPro.

If you do not SCUBA dive, try snorkelling! The visibility is way better than diving but you see less stuff, though. Just be careful when you go out snorkelling. Always have your orange life vest on and be alert for speeding long-tail boats! There is little to no designated safe snorkelling sites around the island. 
The diving may not have been great but thinking of Koh Lipe makes me smile because of the wonderful experiences with amazing people. Thanks, friends, for making Koh Lipe amazing! 
PS: I just remembered that the day before we left Langkawi for Koh Lipe, I had a fever that rendered me very weak. I thought I was going to have to flake the trip to Koh Lipe and just buy an expensive flight ticket to go home. Thank God I recovered almost immediately the next day and managed to visit Koh Lipe again and dive.