Sipadan as it happens - Final day

Some interim pix and post fellas... as it happens.

Briefly, it great to be back at SWV. This time it's with a bigger crowd though and it's not exactly pleasant - too many photographers who shove their cameras in front of my shot. As a result, too many shots have been rushed and I'm not exactly happy with the shots. Poor, considering the quality of marine life. Oh well... time to adapt and improvise. Shots to improve as days go by now that I know what to expect from my fellow divers. *grrrr...*

Check it out at Sipadan as it happens... Final pix here...

It's the end of day 4 now...
Day 3 was excellent but day 4 is just so bloody frustrating. It's been just bad visibility in both Sipadan and Mabul and the marine life seems to have disappeared! Turtles and white tip sharks which were overly abundant seemed to have gone missing. And according to the dive masters, they've not seen the barracuda schools for 3 weeks now. Bloody hell!

Tonite the resort was put on alert though. Apparently an 8.2 earthquake shook somewhere in the Celebes sea and the nearby towns of Semporna and Tawau has been put on Tsunami alert. Hmmm... maybe that's why the marine life seemed to have disappeared... oh well.. .1 more day of diving, 2 more days of paradise.

It's the final day...
11am and I'm chilling in paradise.
Day 5's diving was erratic. At least the Devil Rays came out to play with us in the afternoon. Unfortunately I swapped the wrong battery and ended up with out any juice in my camera as I came close to the rays. F#%@!!! Regardless, it was awesome and we made up for it in our final night party at the bar with the dive leads.

I was right though... Sipadan had a conclusion for my long overdue posting about diving... zero humility newbie instructor (from the office! some of you would know who... ;) ), diving ethics and newbie divers.

Anyway, here I am chilling out at the bar, sea breeze is blowing, sun shining and the sound of waves under the boardwalk. This is how a holiday is supposed to end. It's back to the grind tomorrow though...

Back to Paradise

Jacques Cousteau, ocean explorer, pioneer and the inventor of the scuba aqua lung once said, “the sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its wonder forever.”

I for one, am well and truly held in its wonder. So while you lubbers slog it out at work all week, I’ll be sucking air and absorbing nitrogen underwater in Sipadan. For a taste of where I'll be, check out Paradise*LoG.

I promise when I’m back, there will be a loooong posting on scubadiving and moi. It’s been in draft for a long time, but I think Sipadan will bring out a conclusion for me. So stay tuned for a long due posting and many, many awesome photos.

Music is what feelings sound like

I came across this in some quote of the day thingy. Some bloke called Michael Torke apparently said "Why waste money on psychotherapy when you can listen to the B Minor Mass?"

Some time back, Seahorse introduced me to music therapy. She used it to help reflect her moods and feelings, lift her when she was down or simply enhance the feeling when she was happy. I used to get CDs with one or 2 songs in it as a hint to what she's feeling. Since then, whenever I feel in a certain mood or certain events come up, I find that I turn to my iPod and find something I hook onto and just play it back over and over. This blog has reflected this approach often.

Sometimes words just won’t do anymore and the music speaks volumes. Today is one of those days and it also used to be a day to celebrate a birthday. Not anymore.

Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life ~ Berthold Auerbach