Newletter

from Koh Samui

Greetings once again from ABC DIVERS, Samui.

Firstly we regret not being able to send out our newsletter in July. We had a family member who passed away and thus we did not have the time and mind set to finish the newsletter. BUT here is our Christmas and new year mail. Enjoy the bubbles.

We had a very hectic first six months due to family matters but still had time for some teaching and diving. It was great to see our regular divers and share some fun bubbles underwater. The waters of the Gulf of Siam was much warmer this year due to La Nina causing coral bleaching. It was very sad to see a variety of coral turn white. The good news...In August nearly half of the bleached coral have recovered and hopefully by next year the damage caused by La Nina will be minimal..

Life on Samui is always interesting and full of surprises. This year we are both on a health regime - age is beginning to show heh heh. Adi Swims a kilometer everyday in the sea and I do exercises at home. We had a very dry season till July and now we have a very wet season. Weather is hard to predict theses days. This year we decided to travel more around our area. So we drove the car onto the Ferry and explored nearby towns and national parks. It was big surprise to us to see so many nice beaches, waterfalls and culture just 3-4 hours away from Samui.

Our first travels took us to the Khanom district just a ferry ride and 40 minutes away from Samui. Our first stop was the Rajaprabha dam. The construction of the dam caused the area to flood. many of the villagers that lost their homes now work on the dam ferrying tourist and managing small overnight floating bungalows for visitors. The scenic dam looks like a huge bay filled with hongs (lime stone hills). We stayed one night on the dam. Our sleeping song was the sound of frogs and other animals that live there. Swimming in the dam was great. We also saw many birds including my first wild wood pecker, a wild pig, horn bills, squirrels and a baboon in the forest nearby.

The boat ride into the depths of the dam

A small island within the dam

Our home away from home amidst the wonderful scenery

Adi with our boat captain

A scenic point on the dam

Then we visited waterfalls, caves and beaches and the best part was while we visited these beautiful places..no entry fees, no guides and no one else! We also attended a bike party while we were there with good music and food. It was an interesting trip and we learnt a lot.

Beautiful beach at Khanom

The peaceful reflection seen at the waterfall

Into the dark cave..you had to put on the lights yourself and they worked!

Enjoying a cool dip at the waterfall

Impressive stalactite and stalagmite formations in the cave

Adi with other bikers at the party

Beautiful formations in the cave

On the dance floor

hen taking the same concept to Kota Kinabalu, we drove around visiting gong making villagers, visited the tip of Borneo and stopped to enjoy beaches on the way. Adi finally bought a gong for home which he always wanted to do. It also made us aware there are still many places in Borneo we have not been to.

Tip of Borneo, Kudat

Adi's gong

Tip of Borneo coastal scenery

We saw many of these at one of the beaches. Locals say it is a normal occurrence in April/May

A little surprise found one of the jellyfish

Enjoying the crystal waters of Kudat

Faces of Borneo

Then in July we managed a trip to Sabah and met up with friends for a trip to Sipadan, Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation center and Sukau rain forest reserve. We were continuously amazed by what we saw and experienced.

We were lucky to see Orang Utans in the wild, long tail macau and proboscis monkeys as well. We saw a blinding array of birdlife from hornbills to egrets and smaller species like sunbirds. Best of all we saw the pygmy Borneo elephant - the newly proven elephant species besides the Asian and African Elephant. Snakes, river otters and butterflies were also spotted on the trip.

Diving Sipadan was as usual special and visibility was in excess of 25 meters. We usually dive Sipadan at the end of the year so diving in July was a new experience. As most of you have seen so many aspects of Sipadan's underwater scenery in previous newsletters, we decided to concentrate on the rainforest this time and let you enjoy the underwater sceneries from Palau, Micronesia instead.

Meet the Proboscis monkey, only found in the rainforest of Borneo

Riverside scenery along Sabah's longest river the Kinabatangan which has a large population of wildlife.

Green snake with a full belly

Man of the Jungle - The OrangUtan

Female Orangutan with juvenile

Close up Orangutan

Pygmy Borneo Elephant

Monkeying around

Flowers seen on the river cruise

Kingfisher

Hornbill

There was a bit more travel in August as we took to the road again in Thailand and visited Nakhon Si Thamarat. The area has national parks, hot springs, caves, puppet dancing, shadow puppets and temples. The cave was very interesting as it has a river and a waterfall flowing through it.

The Krung Ching waterfall was very impressive and the journey had us moaning as we had to walk 3.5 km to reach the waterfall and 3.5 km to get back to the car but it was worth it. We also visited a Buddhist temple in the midst of the jungle which gave an aura of calm and peace. All in all another good trip.

Krung Ching waterfall

Adi Under the mighty Krung Ching

The more serene Phromlok waterfall

Very lush forest surround the waterfall Ai Khiao

We saw many variations of the above lizard around the waterfalls

Buddhas inside Wat Mahathat

Wat Mahathat

Monks visiting the Wat

Deity at the temple Phukhaolak surrounded

by mountains and forest

Deities located at a small cave on the temple grounds

Adi among some of nature's beautiful creations

Crawling to see the waterfall..too risky to bring the camera!

Apprentice puppet dancer Adi

Watching the master at work

Visiting the library

Puppet dance

Besides this Adi was very Patriotic this year and we had a decorated house for Swiss national day!

Besides that he is combating his second childhood and rides a huge bike from time to time. I sometimes join him though I cannot get used to the feeling my helmet will be blown of my head heh heh..

Finally in the month of November we set out to explore Palau in Micronesia. It was our first time to Micronesia and we had a great time. People were friendly, nature rich and the sea crystal clear. With a population of 20,000 people Palau is one of the least polluted places on our planet. It also has Jellyfish lakes (only one is open to public).

Diving here consist of drift dives and hooking onto the reef with a reef hook to enjoy sharks and rays. These marine animals are numerous in Palau. On one dive we counted 38 individual sharks. Napoleon wrasses are also abundant. There is macro life but not in large numbers. The walls are pristine with lovely soft and hard corals. Visibility is usually incredible in excess of 25 meters.

On every dive we saw at least one turtle which was great. Besides walls, there is a cave, numerous plane and ship wrecks to dive as well. All in all it is a great destination to visit. We had 3.5 weeks there and gathered many local insights about the Palauan's history, culture and way of life.

Map showing location of Palau

A rare close up of a silver tip shark taken by Adi

As you can see, sharks are seen on almost every dive here which is great as other parts of the world, you rarely catch a glimpse of them. This was our reason for coming to Palau and we were happy to see a thriving shark population. This is due to the hard work of dive schools and locals.

Besides sharks, mantas also patrol the waters of Palau much to our delight. We love mantas. They are so graceful to behold underwater.

One glided over my head

Mantas feeding

A group of mantas feeding in the shallows

Juvenile eagle ray plays in the current

A feather tail ray hides in the sand

Manta at cleaner station

Palau is famous for the Rock islands. The Rock Islands consist of more that 300 lime stone islands with the atypical dome shape only seen here. On these islands, pristine rainforest grow due the the heavy rainfall. We saw Lilies, Casuarinas Trees, pitcher plants, coconut trees and so much more. It is a fascinating ecosystem.

Enjoying the Rock Islands

Beautiful formations like this can be seen around the Rock Islands

War Relics like this cannon are numerous above and below the water

The crystal waters of Palau

The lush forest growth covering the Rock Islands

One cannot help but be lifted by the beauty of Palau

Palau's beaches are picture perfect

Enjoying our surface interval between dives

The famous jellyfish lake in Palau is a mystical place. We thoroughly enjoyed our 3 visits there and spent as much time as we could exploring the lake and its banks. The jellyfish aren't the only interesting life in the lake. Numerous sponges, anemone, mussels, fish such as cardinal and gobies, small snails and starfish dotted the edges of the lake.

Jellyfish everywhere

A great variety of sponges seen at the banks of the lake

The anemone seen in the lake

Cardinal fish in the Lake

Between noon and 3 pm densities of jellyfish in the upper layers of the lake triple

The Chandelier cave in Palau is beautiful. Light bounces about in the cave thus the name chandelier cave. The cave has 4 main chambers. It is one of the first times we have dived such a cave. Beautiful formations of stalactite and stalagmite were seen both under and above the water.

In the Chandelier cave. Note the wonderful formations in the background

Suspended underwater among surreal formations

Having a closer look

Diving the world war 2 wrecks was a great experience. We dived our first underwater plane here. Also it was a strange feeling to visit the museum later on and see pictures of the wrecks we had dived.