Bad Weather

Just a weather recap for May.

On 1st to 3rd we got hit by the tail end of a typhoon west of Philippines at the same time as cyclone Najis hit Myannmar (Burma) in Bay of Bengal. Then on 10th to 12th we got hit again by tail end of typhoon Rammusan west of Philippines again. Immediately following this on 13th until now we are in the middle of a tropical depression in South China Sea. Another tropical depression at the same time west of Philippine. God is great.

Not a good time to be in paradise at the moment. This morning the 2nd flight got delayed and almost could not land. The pilot could not see the runway. He was circling the island and was trying to decide if he should return to KK. When he saw a lull(60 seconds) in the raging storm, he landed. Took off KK 30 minutes later in the storm. What a pilot.

Dives for the day was only in the lagoon. The seas was too rough for the dive boats to go out of the atoll. Boarding the dive boat at the jetty was an adventure by itself. Guess the only hammerheads we'll be seeing is in the gift shop of the resort. Still raining at this moment. Even the plants have overdosed on wind and rain.

Now for the good part. We still have wifi, food and mobile phone service. Forgot, beer and wine too.

We will be holding a candle light prayer tonight for good weather ASAP. Failing which we will just have to switch it off.

Hello All 2008

We are back. Better late than never.

For the past couple of months we have been very busy. Greater number of divers per day compared to previous years. The number of happy divers still outnumber the unhappy divers. So far so good. From all the previous postings, we guess you will surmise who the unhappy divers are. Unfortunately some want their money back by running down the resort. Can't win them all and definitely no money back.

Schooling hammerheads are regularly sighted with 22.5 mobulars (pygmy devil rays), mantas, silvertips, threshers and the rest of the underwater marine gang.

The weather was fantastic with sunshine almost everyday until 3 days ago. The guy upstairs decided we need to get wet before we actually get wet. We have been asked by guests to switch off the bad weather until they leave (we will try to oblige as soon as we contact that guy upstairs).

We have started 2 new blogs on the weather and the sightings. You can go over there to check up on the latest.
layanglayangsweather.blogspot.com
layanglayangsightings.blogspot.com

The resort have wifi permanently available. BYO laptops, iphone, pda and it will be free. NO COMPUTER available for rent in the resort. We have mobile phone coverage/roaming available as of this year. If you want to use local numbers, then make sure you get telco CELCOM (013 or 019). It is not owned or operated by us, so if it does not work, don't whinge to us. if you feel that an island so out of the way should not have mobile coverage, you are behind time. Just switch it off, at least you have a choice.

We have also started a facebook group (maddy is the admin). If you are looking for your friends or want to join up, do a group search for Layang Layang Island Resort (at facebook, not google or yahoo please for the internet unsavvy). Hope you find a friend there and if you don't, we will not think the worst or pathetic of you. Friends like us are not easy to come by, heh,heh. We will start twittering one day. And when we do, we will be twits just like any other twits.

We will try to continue posting on this blog when something interesting comes along or happen. We will also try to put more better quality photos if and when we get our hands on it.

Ciao ciao until ..........
ps. the aircraft for this year looks like a puffer and seats 12. Oh, and the price of oil just went up, we guess you know what that means.

Goodbye All Until 2008

Forget the weather, the sea conditions and the typhoons. We are closed from today (merdeka) until the 28th of February 2008. Officially we will be opened on the 1st of March 2008. See you guys and gals then.

It has been a great season but like all good times/things, it has to come to an end. We had some fun times, fun divers, fun divemasters, fun staff all around. But we also had our little shares of ass....... All in all, it wasn't too bad. For those of you that came this year, we hope that you had a good time. We know some of you were disappointed with your expectations. A lot of you were surprised with your unexpectations.

So whatever it is, we hope to meet up again next year or sometime in the near future if possible and if not, good luck to your other dive trips. Some of you have read about this place and have always wanted to try it. Please do it and not let the price faze you. Afterall, how many places are there left in the world that you can get a guarantee of annual Schooling Hammerheads. Even if you failed/fail to see it, at least you can tell your diving friends that you were under water at the same time and in the same vicinity of the awesome schooling hammerheads. The catch word is "guaranteed annual Schooling Hammerheads" but nothing about guarantee for you to see it.

For those of you that haven't been back for a while, we still exist. If you are reading this, then you must be one of the divers that likes us. Thanks.

The six month break is to let the island, corals and the marine creatures destress. Also to do some work to the resort to make it better for us to work in. Bye and take care.

From all of us here in Layang Layang Resort.
ps. Between the last post and today, there were some sightings of the schooling hammerheads but no photos.

More Mobulars

Wx- Sunshine and everything fine. Sea-quite calm

Typhoon Sepat didn't affect us too much. Unlike the previous.

We can safely say that the mobulars are here the whole season. Remember that small 2m whale shark? He/she is still around. Must be the good vibes we have been sending out (Layang Layang do not serve or eat whale shark, hammerheads and all the other sharks fins....ping).

We are coming to the end of this season. We will try to upload and post as many photos/videos as we can. We will all be shouting MERDEKA on 31st cos we'll be leaving the island.

Corrupt video. Too bad guys

HammerHead School In August

Wx-Sunshine with with passing showers, Typhoon in Phil. Sea-1M+




So, Who says there aren't any schooling hammerheads in Layang Layang in August? The photos may not be that clear, but the bottom line is evidence and witnesses. Thank you.

These Photos are taken by Tsukamoto Osamu from Japan with a canon camera.


The bottom 2 photos by Maria Nalon from Italy sony camera.

ANOTHER BUNCH OF IDIOTS

Wx- get your body burned time. Sea-bloody flat. No wind

Not much marine action going on UW. When the sea gets calmer and the dolphins come out to play, we will let you guys know.

We have a bunch of guys from some Govt Ministry playing around with a remote model airplane (UAV). Bigger than the normal hobby types. From what we can see this bunch of guys doing, it reminds us of an old chinese saying "nothing to do but shoot aeroplanes". And if you don't know what that means, go ask a cantonese friend that's older than you.

And not to be outdone another bunch of idiot divers went down to 60M. A.....holes looking for 6x6x2 holes permanently. We won't name the countries they are from (all being equal fools). And all for what? Horse Eye Jacks. Yes my friends, JACKS.

Then as if to reinforce that there is such a thing as Decompression sickness/illness, a diver gets hit. Could not medevac him out cos it was 5 pm when he got hit (remember? runway no night lights, pilots happy hours in KK and no other aircraft available). Sent him out 0830 next day and in Labuan GH by 10.30 and warded in for observation. Next stop will be the chamber. Lucky the chamber was available and we had to fly the chamber crews from KK to Labuan to run it. Looks like he won't be able to fly back to Australia by day after tomorrow. Hope he had travel insurance to cover his ticket. And that's all folks.

Your life is in your hands or brains, ACCIDENTS do happen and we are not GOD's gift to the fishes. We are only diving to enjoy the wonders of the sea and NOT trying to find out if we are stupid enough to join the sea permanently.

Disclaimer: If you don't like what you read here, don't read. We won't blame you if you feel it is you we are writing about. Thanks.

Layang Layang Wide Angle 2007 Winners

Wx-Still good with loads of sunshine. Sea-calm







Wide Angle
1st Bradley Graeme Australia
2nd Leander Wiseman Australia
3rd Tsuneo Taniguchi Japan
4th Kim Yu Woong S Korea
5th Gerritis Remco Netherlands
6th Sylvie Grall France

Mobulars Galore

Wx- Sunny and a bit windy, Sea- choppy 0.5-1m

We think a break from the Photo Comp would be a good time now. This group of mobulars was spotted yesterday. They didn't stay too long to get a better close up. Well, better than nothing and at least have proof they still hanging around.



Video clip courtesy of kriss.

We will get back to the wide angle winners soon. Thanks.

Lucky Photo Comp Weather

WX-sunshine and everything nice, sun tan time. Sea- 0.5m







We had bad period for the past 10 days, it was raining cats, dogs and elephants. Howling winds and overcast skies. Still it was diving time for some of the stout hearted. For those that were feeling down, we feel for you all. That's Layang Layang for you. Totally unprdictable

That means that the period when we had good weather was during the Photo Comp. Damn lucky for the divers then.

Sightings of mobulars, jacks and the usual suspects. One lone hammerhead was sighted but no picture to prove it.

These are the winners of the 2007 Layang Layang Photo Competition Macro category.

1st Bradley Graeme Australia
2nd Takeko Taniguchi Japan
3rd Matthew Lawrence Australia
4th Tsuneo Taniguchi Japan
5th Kim Yu Woong S. Korea
6th Mitsuo Higure Japan