Sipadan & Mabul Pictures Uploaded

August 3, 2009 - Filed under Scuba Diving, Underwater Photography

Sipadan & Mabul Pictures Uploaded photo

Just wanted to let everyone know that the rest of the Sipadan & Mabul pictures have been uploaded! You can check them all out here.

Posted by: Kelly

Week 47: Diving Sipadan and Mabul

I’m a spoiled scuba diver. I started diving last October in the Philippines when I realized that my motorcycle habit wasn’t going to be fulfilled and was instantly fascinated with the underwater world. Over the last year, I’ve done around 80+ dives (not too shabby for a recreational diver!). While I’ve enjoyed almost every dive, the first 40 or so tend to be the most memorable since they took place in the Philippines.

The Philippines pretty much had it all as far as I was concerned. Great macro and muck diving in the Dauin area. Fantastic wall dives at Siquijor. Beautiful soft corals and schools of fish at Apo Island. Turtles at Moalboal and sharks at Malapascua. It’s a package that was hard to beat. Traveling through Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia, I never came across a place with the diversity that the Visayas offered. Sure, there were some amazing hi-lights along the way like the whale shark in Thailand and manta rays in Indonesia, but never matching the sheer range of corals, creatures, and dive opportunities. Until Sipadan…

Week 47: Diving Sipadan and Mabul photo
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Posted by: Shim

Week 46: The Perhentian Islands

July 27, 2009 - Filed under Scuba Diving, Weekly Report

Monday was a travel day. It took us almost 11 hours to get from Penang to the Perhentian Islands off the east coast of Malaysia. One taxi, two planes, a mini-bus and one very bumpy speed boat, and we finally arrived.

Week 46: The Perhentian Islands photo
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Posted by: Kelly

Week 33: Last week on Koh Tao

April 22, 2009 - Filed under Scuba Diving, Underwater Photography, Weekly Report

After 5 weeks on Koh Tao, we decided it was time to move on. We’ve had a great month relaxing, diving, and catching up with a few friends (Becca, Jacob and Patrick who we met in the Philippines, as well as Kenny and Ben, friends from Vancouver).

The highlight for this week was undoubtedly the Whale Shark. We had heard one had been spotted a couple of times over the last few weeks, and we’d been trying to arrange a trip to Sail Rock, almost since we arrived, but for some reason none of the dive shops could make it happen. Until last Friday…

Week 33: Last week on Koh Tao photo

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Posted by: Shim

Week 31: Life without internet

April 7, 2009 - Filed under Scuba Diving, Underwater Photography, Weekly Report

Our internet connection has been out for the last 5 days, which means the posting around here has been even lighter than normal. Luckily work’s been pretty slow for the most part, so we’ve been taking a little break from the online world.

Once again we’ve settled into a bit of a routine here, and while it’s nice for us to chillout and not be constantly on the go, it does make for some pretty boring posts. So in an effort to keep things interesting, and because I missed “Foto Friday“, I’ve decided to turn this into a picture post.

Week 31: Life without internet photo
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Posted by: Shim

Week 30: Settling in on Koh Tao

March 29, 2009 - Filed under Scuba Diving, Underwater Photography, Weekly Report

This week we got settled into our new apartment. It was a lot harder to find a monthly rental than we expected, especially one with internet. Most places that had internet didn’t do monthly rentals, and the few places we found that did do monthly rentals, didn’t have internet. We did however manage to find a place. It’s not perfect but so far we’re quite comfortable here.

It’s a one bedroom apartment, a couple blocks off the main strip of town, on Koh Tao. It’s right on the beach and we have a little balcony overlooking the water as well as a great rooftop patio, both of which make up for the fact that our kitchen only has a microwave. Luckily the food in Thailand is great, and most of it is quite cheap, so while we love to cook, we probably wont be doing much of it over the next month or so. Unless anyone’s got some great microwave recipes.

Week 30: Settling in on Koh Tao photo
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Posted by: Shim

Week 27: Phuket, Thailand

March 12, 2009 - Filed under Scuba Diving, Weekly Report

Travel Lesson #347 – It always takes you twice as long to get somewhere than you think it will.

We left our hotel in Kuala Lumpur at 9:30 in the morning and finally arrived in Phuket, Thailand just after 5pm. What was suppose to be just a quick trip turned out to be an all day affair. But we made it. We arrived in Thailand and are happy to be here.

Week 27: Phuket, Thailand photo
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Posted by: Kelly

Week 25: Things to do before leaving the Philippines

February 22, 2009 - Filed under Drinks, Planning, Scuba Diving, Travel, Weekly Report

With a week left before we head to Thailand, we’ve attempted to mark off the last few random things remaining on our Philippines checklist…

#1. Try San Miguel Strong Ice

We’ve never seen anyone drinking it. Is it a cider? Nope, it turns out that it’s yet another pale pilsen. This time its ice filtered and packing a bit more of a punch. 6.3% alcohol, making it a close second to Red Horse Strong Beer.

Week 25: Things to do before leaving the Philippines photo
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Posted by: Shim

Week 24: Another broken strobe light

February 17, 2009 - Filed under Scuba Diving, Underwater Photography, Weekly Report

The battery pack on my strobe light broke again. This is the second time it’s happened in the last 6 months and as you can probably imagine I’m less than impressed. It couldn’t have come at worse time either. We’re nearing the end of our stay here in the Philippines, and there isn’t enough time to get a replacement shipped before we leave so, it’ll have to wait till we get to Thailand. I’m really bummed as there were a couple of dive sites I wanted to return to, to capture a few last shots to remember them by.

Despite this, Mike and I did a couple of dives this week anyway. It’s still beautiful and I love it, but I kept wanting to take pictures of all the cute little critters. I think it’s definitely gonna take me a while to get used to diving without my camera. Hopefully I can figure out how to replace it once we get to Thailand, but until then here are the last of my underwater pictures.

Week 24: Another broken strobe light photo

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Posted by: Shim

Week 22: Dinner Parties with Friends

February 3, 2009 - Filed under Drinks, Eats, Entertainment, Scuba Diving, Stuff to do, Weekly Report

It’s likely due to our limited time left in the Philippines that this week we attempted to be a little more social with a few of our local friends. We’ve been busy working and preparing for the next phase of our trip, but no excuses! Parties must be partied…

Early in the week we had Patrick from Dive Society over for a lasagna dinner accompanied by a few bottles of wine. He’s given his notice at the dive shop where he works as a dive instructor and will be becoming a nomadic yogi rambling through Bali in the near future. We hope to meet up again in Thailand in a couple months. Patrick is also an illustrator. Check out his portfolio site if you’ve got a minute.

Week 22: Dinner Parties with Friends photo

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Posted by: Shim