it's been 3 weeks?!

Oh dear, just realised that I have gone blog-less for 3 weeks!! Hmm... What has happened since the last entry is that I have gone to Tioman (for my nav course), done tonnes of work dives in SG (though I somehow managed to escape doing any at all this week in spite of it being mid-term break), lost and found a dive slate at Kusu, and promptly lost my handphone (on the same day as finding the slate!!!).....

On top of all this, this week has been spent travelling to Sentosa EVERYDAY, to go Underwater World to count my Pocillopora damicornis larvae~~~ Been counting near to a thousand of them daily for the past 2 days... Now all the people working on corals have unofficial titles thanks to Angie.... Coral taxonomist (DW), Coral ecologist (HX), Coral conservationists (Angie, Wai), Coral master (Karenne), silt guy (Eugene 1)... And me? I'm the coral nanny... Feel like asking for a testimonial if I every decide to work in an aquarium (looking after me little ones, the fragments at the level3 aquarium, Angie's little soles, and occasionally, PY's crabbies....) In a way, it's a good thing that I don't have any pets of my own. Definitely won't have any time (or energy) to look after them...


Would be undergoing OJT on the upcoming ReefWalk on 8 Oct (Sun). Do sign up and join me!! For more details and to sign up, go to http://www.bluewatervolunteers.org/ ^_^

Also, the Sunday after that, 15 Oct, the Hantu bloggers are having another dive trip. It's SGD80. Go to the Hantu Blog at http://www.pulauhantu.org/ for more details and to signup!!

Yep, yep... Oh, one last thing. The latest issue of FiNS is out!! =^-^=

Click for the rambling...

beware of stingray!!

This may be a little late, but I still don't know if I should feel amused, bemused, or saddened about this entire incident. Steve Irwin has had his fair share of close encounters with all sorts of dangerous animals, especially crocodiles, and he met his (untimely?) end at the sting of a ray... He HAS been accused of going too close to animals while filming his documentaries, but I guess all those other animals didn't have any toxin on them to inject him with, plus I really wonder how they managed to get him on to the boat since divers are NOT supposed to ascent too fast or risk DCS... Though honestly, it's a bit of a joke to die of stingray toxin since they are rather shy creatures, and generally not known to be superbly poisonous. However, since he was filming for "Ocean's Deadliest" the ray he encountered was probably one of the few that had toxic stings? Plus the fact that he was unfortunate enough to be stabbed right in the heart (another indication of him being WAY too close)... Oh well, guess it's a mix of largely bad luck and a bit of too much foolhardiness... Wonder if he ever felt that he was invincible with all his experience in handling dangerous wildlife...

So the world mourns the loss of one charismatic wildlife documentary presenter. May not always agree with how he conducts/stages he exploits and stuff but he HAS brought nature to millions of couch potatoes and has contributed to the spreading of wildlife awareness... And so the world learns that stingrays CAN kill.... What a thought to remember as we go diving in the Singapore murk tomorrow...

Steve Irwin killed by stingray
'Crocodile Hunter' Steve Irwin killed by stingray on Great Barrier Reef
Australian 'crocodile hunter' Steve Irwin killed by stingray

Click for the rambling...

Shower of blessings~~~

Since Sat, things have been great!!! Did our LIT training dives at Hantu on Sat, and hitting the sea after one month sure was great for all 5 of us from lab. SUre, the water is not the usual clear, blue that most divers would be used to, but it was rather interesting exploring a part of Singapore's reefs! Many happenings (yesh, me dive buddy would have LOADS to tell you!), rather trying trying to ID fish in the half-murk, though there were a couple of cool stuff spotted. Like this CUTE bumpy nudibranch with a main turqoise coloring, and a guppy at the guppy hole with it's partner shrimp digging away (probably didn't see me due to the muck!) Can just go on and on but since the more technical points are in my divelog, and the longwinded-non-technical points are in my diary (yes, it's still exists), shall not ramble on any more here...

Then there's Mon, Delphine is revived and back, safely in my arms too!! Though I probably should re-format her real soon (not this week since I have just too many things to do...). Just so happy to have her back, then can hide in room and do work and play and all the things I do with her~~~ Oh, and HY got her call that she got into SPF on Mon as well!!! *jumps for joy*

And to top this all off, THE DIVING SUSPENSION HAS BEEN LIFTED!!!!! Meaning the cloud of gloom can be finally lifted off of lab~~ *bounces* And since Wai and I don't need to meet Martin on Thu anymore, I can go join the rest of the labbies for diving on Thu~~~ And I would be going off with HX to Tioman on Fri for our navigation course. Pls, there's pizza for dinner tonight!! Life just can't get any better, can it?

Click for the rambling...