Busy...Busy...Busy

Recently, I have been crazily busy preparing info for our soon-to-come divers gorillas website - www.safetystop.com.my. This has been a wonderful moments of my life since I got the chance to prepare something which I have long dreamed of.... The creation and preparation of the website has given me a lot of initiatives to dive in our homeland Malaysia... .we have so many wonderful dive sites to check out and dive spots to explore.... Beautiful marine lives around each corner of the ocean at our East Coast and East Malaysia have revealed to me exactly how great are God's creations.....
I never really spend time in my own hobbies since my 5th grade and sooner forgot already how lives are really meant to be... to most people in the busy city of Kuala Lumpur, we have been working like shits day and night.... always busy with appointments and opportunities.. while neglecting a lot of things happening around us... families, friends and our own selves... (well, sometimes you just eat to live; not live to eat, right??) But since started to run this little "project" of my own in collecting a lot of info on the dive equipments, dive sites and trips, diving tips and attending all sorts of underwater forums, I found out - "Life wasn't bad at all". After caring for our wives/husbands and kids, we still have a great bunch of diving buddies around the region to get to know about... I am very glad and thankful that I already got certified as OWD and am looking forward for AOWD next year if possible... while meeting more and more friends in the line.... Gear up guys and gals... we are coming your way in safetystop.com.my .. I will explain more about the site in my coming posts if I ever can find a tea break slot.... Adios!

Hunting or Being Hunted

I recently read up one of our marine magazines published with a huge Chinese character which I do not understand the meaning of it. So I went to ask my wife and she explained to me the article's writings and the word pronunciation. Do you know what this means??

Its the Chinese writing for Sharks. The constructions of the word came from the combination of a few elements. First of all, sharks habitat in ocean as you can see from the three dots on the upper left corner which means "water". Shark is one kind of the fish species which we can see from the bottom of the work "fish". The third element is the pronunciation that we used to call this word which derived from the mother word "less" or "shao" on the upper right corner of the word.

But incredibly the third element taught us that sharks are lesser and lesser nowadays due to extinction. Is it a coincidence or the ancestors already forecast shark's fate? Of course, we can help to do our part in preserving this predator from its unfavorable fate especially if you are a diver, the guardian of the ocean. Think twice the next time you organize any banquet involving their fins. Say "No" to Shark Finning if you still want to capture the glory of those hammerheads at Kapalai.

Asia Supermodel 2008 Search Heat 2

27 August 08, Centro KL - The Heat 2 of Asia Supermodel 2008 Search kicks off with 11 beauties vying for the finals with intensity and much excitement at the stroke of 10pm. The Sponsors for the night are of course Carlsberg, and AC GREY who made it all happened. Apparel sponsors are Union Bay for casuals, Mizuno for sports and Mad Wave, bikini wear from Russia. Evening wear from ENVEE closed off the night with sexy partywear.

The 11 contestants are Elvina Leong, Pei Pei, Joey Lim, Mookie, Yvonne Khoo, Camily David, Jessica How, Goh Siew Fong, Queenzy Ling, Peggy Teoh and Penny Lee. Everyone is beautiful and it's hard to distinguish who will move forward to the finals. It was a close call but in the end, we will have to decide who makes it to the next round.

The qualifying contestants are Queenzy Ling, Joey Lim, Mookie, Yvonne Khoo, Goh Siew Fong, Jessica How. The 7th place was a tie and both Peggy Teoh and Pei Pei also qualify for the finals. Both Peggy and Joey are pole dancers and they're very good at it. So if you have some function where you need some pole action, give them a buzz.

Friends and buddies turned up to suport the event, thanks to Kar Seng/Keat and friends, thanks to KK and pgfc team, special thanks to all the contestants supporters and families, and also thanks to Jimmy, our diving buddy and judge for the evening. The other two judges are Caren Ong, Ms Oriental World 07/08 and Juinese, Mad Wave rep.

DJ Gilbert spin some cool numbers for the night to set the mood going and it was fun overall.

Everyone is beautiful, hell, even the bartender is beautiful. The next time you pop by the place, look for Charis, you won't be disappointed. Heat 3, the last heat will be staged on 3 Sept and then on to the finals on 10Sept @ Centro KL. Who will be the One?

Asia Supermodel 2008 Search Heat 1 Updates!

Hi ladies and gentlemen, divers and futsal players, golfers and clubbing kakis, last wednesday of Asia Supermodel 2008 Heat 1 kicks off at Centro with a string of 12 beauties, of which only 7 will make it to the finals. It was also a tough call to make as the contestants come from all over the country, from Penang to Johor and from Sabah to Kuantan. The 12 contestants are 1. Caster Tham 2. Angela Audrey 3. Daphne Lau 4. Hallie Teh 5. Selena Ooi 6. Joanne Ng 7. Eva See 8. Pinky Liew 9. Pui Leng 10. Elaine Tang 11. Eleanor Eliza 12. Jessy Lim. The event started at 9.45pm but most supporters were already there since 6pm, guzzing down happily the booze and for divers, set on a mission to convert at least half the floor to diving activities. Divers have an unofficial sense of duty to dive hard, but party harder, life is good.

The 7 finalist are 1. Caster Tham 4. Hallie Teh 5. Selena Ooi 6. Joanne Ng 8. Pinky Liew 10. Elaine Tang and 12. Jessy Lim. These are the finalist who will compete on the 10 Sept next month at Centro 9pm. However, we still have 2 more Heats to go, Heat 2 on 27.08.08 and Heat 3 on 3.09.08, who else will make it to the finals? Come and see what's missing in your life. Next stop 27.08.08 Centro KL, be there at 7pm Happy Hour.

Someone asked me what's the event got to do with divers and why is it being talked about in this blog? Bro, can you see swimwear existing here? We are not in-the-box divers, we are 'open water' divers. Means we're open to anything that's fun, good and exhilarating. Means if you think diving is only about island and fishes, then might as well be a fisherman, no hard feelings. But cherio mate, diving is only the beginning of fun, the rest are great buddies, good companions and everyone's a winner. Cool? You get the drift.

Unofficial Divers Hangout at KL Centro

Marcus, Calvin and me hung out at KL Centro Pub and Restaurant yesterday night (20.08.08) for the Heat 2 of Carlsberg Super Model Search 2008 again plus supporting our very own buddy cum bro Alvin for organizing such a great event. It was really fun back there as we got to meet up with Jimmy and Ken (both the invincible Rescue and Advance OWD), Eric (quite white and fair guy - very friendly and nice person, not briding you ok??), Vincent Choong (DragonNet Diving MD + Instructor), Andrew (Malaysia Male Model), Shane (FTO club member and very socialize too), Gary (our long-awaited brother coming back from UK and work in Malaysia again, very patriotic - too bad not being appreciated much here la) and many more (sorry that I can't get all the names... too much liquor and smoke makes my memory chip under-performance). The food is superb, the liquor is good except we need to pay (that is not the fun part, haha), and the models are wonderful. Congratulations! on the event and Buddy Alvin and his team did a great job entertaining the crowd....

Special thanks to Buddy Jimmy as well as he had shared a wonderful techniques in underwater breathing with both Buddy Marcus and me... well, of course I am not that stingy - I will share :-

(a) The moment you dive into the water you have to inhale and exhale for a few times before deflating your BCD. This will prepare your lungs for the underwater breathing rhythm that you are going to have later.

(b) Inhale deep and deflate your BCD in maximum.

(c) When submerging, exhale slowly until lungs empty.

Tada... you're underwater in no time and little consumption of your air.... Well, semua pun jimat.

We are hoping that more and more divers or soon-to-be divers (Eric, that means you eh??) can come together and share these kind of informations in our blogs or our forums... so more newcomers like us can benefit from it and we can all enjoy all the dives that we are going to have in future... Thanks KL Centro, Thanks Carlsberg, Thanks Models... and thank you Divers...

Buddies Everywhere??

Its really good to meet up with a lot of divers and you will find it's true fact that divers are everywhere around us... When I spoke to one of clients the other day, we were chatting about sky and moon.... suddenly she mentioned to me "Hey, you've been to Sipadan??" I was shocked as I looked at her she was just like a normal OL... not that type of particularly sporty outing type... I told her about my OWD courses and certifications, and even more shockingly she told me that both her husband and she already certified as OWD plus her husband already upgraded to AOWD but she could not managed to complete the course due to her pregnancy 2 years ago... Wow! It really thrilled all my diving worms in my body cells... so desperate of thinking for going on my AOWD....

And we met with a few more divers along the way - whether you are hanging out at pub, eating at some "Cha Kui Teow" restaurant, or even you just came across any macho guy with a dive site logo T-Shirt.... they are all our kaki-divers... In fact, you will find that diving is very common for nowadays... its not like ancient years ago... where you take a diving certification is like you are making a lifetime important choice...

Next, I hope any of you bloggers, divers or lepak kaki, please submit in your comments and blogs on divers-safety related issues... I would like to elaborate more on that in order to re-educate the public on diving activities and safety - so u all squirts out there will understand that it is not so DANGEROUS after all.... Always like our clode buddy Marcus used to say - "We Prefer To Play Safe!" Ok??

p/s - Durex please don't sue me... I didn't mean to use your slogan... Haha :D

ASIA SUPERMODEL 2008 SEARCH launch at Centro KL

Last Wednesday on 13.08.08 marks the soft launch of the Asia Supermodel 2008 Search which is held at Centro KL, near the KLIA expressway. This Carlsberg sponsored event showcased the preview of 14 stunning models, who kick-start the event with a Gwen Stafani number. Sponsors and friends (divers) all turned up to lend support to this prestigious event. The actual event 1st Heat starts on 20.08.08, 2nd Heat 27.08.08 and 3.09.08 respectively. The Finals will be on 10.09.08. All shows start at 9pm, so come and early or place your booking at Centro 03-2785 1811. Truly an event NOT to be MISSED!

Unbelievable, we (Marcus, Calvin, Alvin + Simon) met with some good divers buddies over the events as well. Jimmy and Ken are already both rescue and advance divers on the ground and we had a good chat on their experiences at Pulau Aur and quite a number of other dive sites... Like we always say - Dive With The Best - Drink Like The Rest...... No matter you are divers or not, you are always welcomed to chat.... The ocean and the beauties of Asia Supermodels are just in the click to attract everyone.... Gear Up, Enjoy the Show and then we dive.... 

Pulau Aur Merdeka Dive 2008

Quick Annoucement to all Divers!!

Pulau Aur Exotic Diving Trip (before fasting month) 4D3N

Land: Atlantis Bay, Pulau aur.
Dates: 28th August to 31st August 2008 (4D 3N)
Price : RM750Stay : Room provided quarter sharing
Travel to mersing : Own transport
Ferry Schedule: Meet at mersing jetty28th August
- depart from mersing jetty to Aur at 1.00am (0100)31st August
- leaving from Aur to mersing jetty at 1.00pm (1300)
Full of pleasure from unlimited diving (day & night)
- food provided 4x/day
- Free flow of hot & cold beverages
- Equiment available for rental at only RM120 for the whole trip

Open to everyone.

Anyone interested, please let me know.... I will inform my buddy and see what is the arrangement.... looks at it... damn cun package liao, buddies....

Let's gear up and dive...

Parental Guidance??

I brought my daughter to a spelling contest on this Saturday 9th August. This is the first contest ran by a local private school conjunction with some books sponsors. So, there were about 60 teams in the contest, each team consisted of 3 students. Just imagine, those kids are only 6 years old and they already had to memorize all basic spellings categories such as vegetables, animals, transportation, etc. I was quite amazed by my daughter when she spelled out all those categories to me a day before the contest. I say" Wow!" and I recalled we only learned spelling at Standard 2 or 3, right?? So, kids today have to face pressure at a very early stage. But I told my wife we just have to bear in mind that not to over-pressurize my girl. So, we told her to enjoy the games rather than encourage her to win any prizes.

She managed to compete into 2nd round but couldn't make it into semi-final. Then there were 2 children (same school with my girl) came out crying and told that their parents will not be very happy with only 2nd rounds. The teachers told me that their parents have been chasing around the teachers for weeks to ensure their kids are well-prepared for the contest and a father already gave the impression that his son must be able to enter to final and win something. Gosh, dear! How can we pressurize a 6 year old kid to this level... Sorry to say that I am so sad to hear about it - in fact, I am quite pissed off!!

So, I made a commitment to my wife that day that I will try my best to bring my kids to certify for PADI Open Water Diving when they reach 10 and they can go diving with me and enjoy what God has beautifully created for all of us underwater. We will try our best to make sure they will enjoy their studies as much as leisure activities. Furthermore, I also have more reasons to go diving lor.... hehe :p

To those passionate parents, please feel for your kids as much as you feel yourselves and relax, ok?? Let's Gear up and Dive, dudes...

China Olympic 2008 - A New Standard or We Are Overdoing It??

I caught a glimpse on the Beijing 2008 Opening Ceremony on my cable TV after coming home watching Mummy 3 (which I felt it's a disappointment - its like the Americans really want to earn some cash showing their interests in China history). The ceremony was grand and the opening credits were beautifully carried out by a whole lot of our Chinese cultural arts presentations. The best part is the opening drumming sessions, sky Olympians presentations and of course, the major fireworks.....

Suddenly I felt China is well-prepared for this event, whereby are they over-prepared for this?? Though we might say it is a 100 years dream, the whole world is looking at China but how about other organizing countries?? Man, I mean next stop London - UK got to do some real serious preparations.... to maintain with the new standard set by Beijing this year for the OC.

Many ppl I spoke to - they mentioned.... its normal as you know - Chinese likes to show-off.... but is that true?? I put myself into their shoes and I felt if we have been dreaming for this thing in 100 years time... then this 1st time will be the best at all cost.... that's the seriousness of being an Olympic organizer.... and the rest might just have to review their attitude towards this event and keep up with China standard....

Proud to be able to see this event of a lifetime.. and may China success in superb results for 2008 Olympic.... Congratulations, China Beijing! Good Job!

p/s - I wonder will they ever have any event in Diving Competition.... measuring who can dive the longest time records using 200bar cylinders... at least, Buddy Alvin will out beat both buddy Marcus and me.... hahaha

Mission Acomplished - #1

Good Day 'o buddies!! Glad to say we have made our first open water dives in Tioman Island, Johore Malaysia. Wow! Not only to mention the underwater lives and pubs are fantastic, the water there are superb!

We all arrived in the very early morning around 7PM, me and my buddies Buddy Alvin and Buddy Marcus checked out the local store for their "roti canai" and teh tarik kau-kau. I checked into my relax gear (short pants) and we moved to the jetty for the ferry to enter the island. Somehow the tides were too low and the boats are not managed to get their butts to the jetty entrance which have left Marcus, Alvin and me strangled at the jetty waiting for another 2 1/2 hours.... Finally we moved on at 10:30AM and I had no choice but just snoozzzzzze my way to the island (damn tired of the overnight drive). Once arrived, we checked into our "luxurious" hotel room which consists of 2 twin-sharing bed (just the bed and nothing else) and a 5-Star bathroom with a pail of cold water which used to bath. (Ha! Ha! Buddy Marcus already stucked there - why do divers rooms always not equipped with hot water system). Yo, bro, divers don't even bath if it really comes to a situation like this..... agreed, divers??

So, we just geared up and roll out to the first and 2nd sites for some check-out dive and all I can say is "Its totally refreshing and mind clearing!". The moment I dived in is like everything troubling your mind has to stop for the while.... and I just refreshed and woke up with full battery charged.... Then SI for 45 minutes and gear up again for the next dive.... However, I can't make far for the second dive due to the overnight driving and current over there.... But still better than Marcus.... hehe.... sorry la bro, you have a tough time for the first 2 days having your buoyancy control and air consumption like buffalo.... hehe But one thing for sure.... Alvin's air consumption is really damn cun! and to all our fellow June 2008 Padi graduates, we finally got the chance to meet sea turtles and moral eels... big ones!!! Haha :D

The 2nd day after the long night sleep.... sorry Alvin for sharing bed with me and had to be tortured by my 400hp engine snoring... we are totally recovered and finally having lots of fun diving through the Sea Fan Canyons, Malang Rocks tunneling and finally landed at Labas... where we saw a lot of yellow tails and bat fishes. We thought that we will be able to dive with Buddy Calvin and Buddy Hui but due to some boat arrangement problem.... they were late and couldn't catch up with us.... However, we can still smell the satay feast and big buckle of tax-free Carlsbergs at ScuBar eh??

We finally have to leave for 3rd day - after 2 conservative dives sessions and Marcus finally got his buoyancy and air consumption cun, we have to go back.... He was so sad.... but as we all knew, he is a good father.... so desperate to go home to see his son.

For this Tioman Mission I would conclude that we are quite satisfy with what we have been through learning at Sampoerna and the skills are totally came in handy. We are looking forward to build a divers community in Malaysia and link up as many divers as possible to put on some good diving trips and enjoy what God has naturally created for us under the ocean. Let's put our hands together and spread the news.... this blog site to as many ppl as possible.... please ask them to share their diving experiences and comments.... and also cheap promotion packages if anyone should have - so that we can share the good fruits together....

Finally, we thank you so much to the DM Eddie, Arif and Farizah(sorry if I misspelled) and all ppl from Scubatex to manage this trip for us and introduce us to a few more new diving buddies, Syed and the gang.... (sorry guys didn't get all your names in my log book but I will update asap from Arif, ok). Lets gear up and dive, buddies.....

MIDE - A Success

Hi Buddies,

Wah Lao! MIDE is really another diving success event for Malaysia. Buddy Hui, Buddy Yong and me were there the first day they kicked off at around 5:30Pm (just after Buddy Marcus and Buddy Alvin left la... no fun missing you guys) and just imagine that crowd was fantastic! We started to stroll around at the PADI booth then moved on to some diving packages booths. They had been promoting hard on many locations and I found a few good spots myself. Pulau Tenggol was one of the nearest to us at the east coast with around 20 dive sites.... which are all fantastic! Of course, we can't miss the very special Borneo dive sites that includes of Sipadan, Mabul, Layang-Layang, etc.

Then we checked out some cool gadgets from Beuchat, Tusa, and of course, Buddy Marcus's favourites - Marez booths. There have been plenty of BCDs, 1st stage, 2d stage, thus wet suits as well.... Finally, me and my Buddies decided to invest into our own wet suits since as you know my huge giant size XXL is hard to find.... so we keep surveying around.... (which pissed off some of the shopkeepers though :p) Suddenly, we caught a crowd in one of the booth bargaining and checking out a lot of goodies.. So we stopped by and SHIT! Its really good bargains over there.... We got our wet suits , masks from them - and I even almost grabbed my boots and fins too.... but hold the horses reminding myself that I really want to go for another dive.... so gotta save some "bullets".... Scubatex - Thanks for everything....

After the expo ended (almost 7:30PM), then we went out as what we originally "planned" (Hey! Where are you guys liao??) - we went for some drinks and already started to plan for the next dive trip..... HeHe! Don't miss this - if you really like the ocean.... come on! Let's Gear Up and Dive, buddies!

GEAR UP!! MIDE 2008 is in Town...

The Malaysia International Dive Expo is back again !!! This time the event held in PWTC consists of about 113 exhibitors showing not only equipments but even some diving services and promoting our very own diving locations..... Surprisingly, I came to know that we have about 126 dive sites and 26 marine parks...... WOW! That's can fill up our calender for the rest of XX years.... hahaha!

Expo starts at 10AM - 7PM 4th-6th July. Let's drop by if you can and check out some wonderful gadgets and beautiful aquatic lives that available around our nation....

And this will be the best time for us to get around too.... right Semporna Diving Buddies.....

Marcus was so fast - he already got himself a dive watch... but dunno whether it is a cheapskate Petaling Street type or not...... hahaha... after dive 5 meters, the watch also koyak.....baru tahu!

Chow!

2008 June 22nd - Another 15 Divers Are Born

FINALLLLYYYY......................... I am an Open Water Diver! :D

About 15 of us got certified at PADI Sipadan Scuba Dive Center by our honorary instructor Mr Fredde Ice who has been serving in the army for the past 20 years and retreat as an Open Water Diving Instructor. We had a tough time of learning theory but a full fun time of diving with him along the Semporna House Reef.

Our team record has made up to 12 meter depth and to me, it is already a good kick start. Would like to thank Mr Jerry as well, our co-instructor for his patience and guidance underwater.


From now on, we have only one thing troubling our minds everyday.... What is the next dive site to be conquered??? As usual, Gear UP and Dive!

The 11th Day or Our Last Day

I just got a glimpse of the movie "11th Day" two days ago and found out that we "humans" are really acting like bacteria living on the earth tissue cells. For those whom haven't watched this movie before, please try to source for it. It really telling the suffering that the earth is going through everyday with us living in it. I am not saying that I am a holy man - thus I do pollute the earth everyday as well (like consuming petrol, using air-conditioning) but the movie did tell the beauty of the nature and marine lives of the earth. I am really impressed of the sea turtle swimming through corals in the blue ocean.... Really hopes that we got a chance to catch such a view during our dive eh, buddies.....

That movie also reminds me of our lately Sipadan incident whereby developers are destroying the nature habitat of the marine lives surrounding the Sipadan seashore. Every corals need more than 100 years to grow and each one died has wasted away our 100 years time. What do you think??

Please love the earth and our marine lives.... or We don't have much left for our coming generations.

Diving Tips & Tricks 潜水基本技巧

To those whom have been diving before, can you please enter some of your experiences and tips for us beginners for reference.... thank you thank you

如你曾经考过潜水课程或拥有潜水经验，恳请你留下些经验之谈或任何潜水技巧给我们这些“新朋友”嘛。。。

Kickstart!

Frankly speaking, I am not really a diving crazy. But after following a trip with some of my buddies over to our so-called "Land Above The Clouds" Sabah (which is part of my country Malaysia) for a leisure trip, I can't stop thinking of it.

The first time I went there about three years ago (2005), I conquered the highest mountain Mount Kinabalu and I thought that was the best part of it.... till I been there again last year (2007). OMG!!! The land is not only filled with natural beauty on its surface but even under the sea, everything is superb! I went there for snorkelling (which means you get yourself a life jacket and a mask to float yourself and catch some nature beauty of the ocean from above??) and I found myself totally craze about those larger marine lives just swimming passing by. Then I made myself a promise to go over for another trip but this time.... let's dive!

For any of you guys had been to Semporna and dive before, please add some comments to my blog... and share with more newcomers in diving with these beautiful nature lives.

Save the marine lives and dive....