Of Rain and Hammerheads

Wx- Rain almost everyday. Sea condition dependent upon the wind speed. UW- vis dropped slightly during the raining periods. Current is normal

What do you do when you are having a beer with friends by the pool after the last dive of the day, enjoying the sun, waiting for sunset and it starts to rain (really pissing on you) with some wind blowing in your face? Stay put, ignore the damn rain and continue enjoying the beer (mad dogs and Englishmen). What's a bit of rain when you are having a cold beer (drenched cold beer).






It has been pouring rain 5 out of 6 days of the week. Sometimes as long as 3 to 4 hours. And we still got our BBQ night in once a week, but subject to change of day due to weather

Baby whale shark still cruising around. Last sighting was yesterday. The hot layer of water is almost gone. Corals returning back to normal. No damage done. hammerheads schools and mobulars still sighted. Jacks, white tips, dogtooth and the other stuff still around.

Next month is the Photo Competition again. Should have more interesting stuff to talk about then. Take care and bye. Pictures courtesy of azumi

Reefs Life Besides Hammerheads

Wx- Heavy rain in the middle of the night. Followed immediately by hot scorching sun in the day. Sea condition calm and flat one moment , then big waves the next. Water temperature is getting higher near the surfaceand turning brownish. 30-31c at surface to 1m below. Under this layer is blue at 28c, then at about 30m is the thermocline.

Some of the anemones are turning into gold. The last time we had this situation was in 1997, when we had the El Nino. When they change to white, that means we are definitely in Nino conditions. Good luck to all the reef with a shallow bottom. With the experience we had from the last Nino, Layang Layang should be okay. Part of the shallower reef will get some bleaching but will recover within 3 months. The bleaching will not be in a large area. Just little patches here and there. The reason why Layang Layang recovery will be fast is due to the cold currents coming up from the deep to balance the surface. This is not scientific mumbo jumbo, just what we went through from the last time. So don't hold it as gospel truth.

For the past week, we have been siting the baby whale shark. The mobulars are still around but are in smaller groups of 10 to 15. HH siting are irregular but could be found in single, pairs and group sizes of about 7 to 10.
When we have the flat calm sea, we are sometimes able to swim with the spinner dolphins.

REMINDER:
1. Make sure you clear your safe deposit box and your room and have everything with you before you get on the plane and leave the island. The aircraft will not turn back if you leave your passport, dive computer, watch, girlfriend/boyfriend or whatever else behind. You will have to stay in KK until we send it out on the next flight or you can charter an aircraft to fly you in to collect it yourself.

2. Listen to your DM briefing. Especially your entry and exit procedure from the dive boats. Remember, the boat captain cannot see through the boat. Always ascent and descent where you can be seen by the boat captain. DO NOT chase/swim after the dive boat from below or on the surface. Let the captain bring the boat to you.
A SPINNING PROPELLER IS DANGEROUS ONLY IF YOU ARE NEXT TO IT.

Thank you and have a nice holiday.

Quickie

Just a quick post.
Wx- have been switching from sunny days to passing showers every other day. Sea conditions about the same as the Wx.

That 2m whale shark have been hanging around here for quite some time. Almost a month. The same goes for the mobulars. As for the rest of the regulars, they are still around. HH still around but not that regular. No photos to show at the moment. Will post all the photos as soon as we lay our hands on it.

Photo competition again next month. Anyone can join, in fact last year one of the guest joined for the fun of it with his sony camera and won a Sony powershot. BBC film crew was here for 2 weeks to do some filming for their documentary.

On a negative note. Never leave your camera, dive computer or small items lying around regardless if it's in the rinse tub or on a table top. It's just that there are too many new guests everyday. If it goes missing, it's your own fault. Don't expect sympathy from us if you lose your stuff. We can search all our staff but we can't search the guests. We can also vouch for all the staff but not all the guests. We are not saying that it happens all the time. In fact about twice in 12 years. We do have guests that lose their camera during a dive in the water and that happens more often.

Do you leave your bag next to the check in counter at the airport, go for a drink at the bar, come back to the counter to find it missing and blame the counter staff? And then go home and tell everyone that the airport is not safe and the staff are not sympathetic?

Thank you