What are we doing this weekend? Previous trip news.

This is limited to those 2nd stages/octopus purchased before July 2008 that have not undergone an authorised annual service.

It has come to our attention that an incorrectly assembled 2nd stage has been purchased. If you have an Apeks regulator or octopus that has never had an authorised annual service, regardless of how recently purchased, please take the regulator/octopus to your Apeks dealer to be visually inspected.
All Apeks dealers and distributors have been made aware of this issue.
Do not dive with the regulator until it has been visually inspected. If it is not possible for you to return the regulator for inspection then please contact Apeks' Customer Service Department for assistance. Apeks apologises for any inconvenience this may cause. We are dedicated to making the world's best diving products and ensuring diver safety at all costs.

Apeks Marine Ltd. Neptune Way, Blackburn, Lancs. BB1 2BT.
TEL : 0044 (0) 1254 692200 FAX : 0044 (0) 1254 692211 Email: info@apeks.co.uk

see http://www.apeks.co.uk/

I just noted this recall when sending my Apeks regs for service in Singapore

Nigel DO

Nitrox mob, NEWS

Sunday the 8th of June was the 63rd anniversary of the loss of the USS Salute (American Wreck)

The Club has now got

THREE BS-AC Instructors

to Complement

the Great work being Done by our

PADI Instructors

Paul, Rob, and Nigel, completed their Open Water Instructor ratings (NQI - Nationaly Qualified Instructors)

Paul has further Qualified as "Sports Mixed Gas" Diver (Normoxic Tri-Mix) to 60m

Nigel has still to finish his SMG diver (3 Tri-Mix Dives to complete) but should get these done in next month or two.

This completes another step for the club and Takes us into the realms of Technical Diving

So as well as Having a Nitrox Group we will Probably have a Sub Group of SMG Divers that will hopefully increase in size and in time allow us to explore those wrecks that we know are there but were to deep for the club to dive to date

Words from The Sec

The Old sec words and general articals and info from pre 2008 have been moved to a new page the News Archive

With the two recent events of divers either being left in open water or caught in a strong current and having to endure several hours adrift before being rescued it may be well served to restate the BSADC recommendation that divers carry some surface signaling device with them at all times.
In the October issuue of "Scuba Diving" magazine there is a review of several surface signaling devices and the results are rather interesting.
Just how far from the boat can a SMB be spotted and a whistle be heard plus what color works best under certain lighting conditions might help you determine what to buy.
If you want to borrow this article to read please contact me.
Dick

I actualy used my DSMB in an un planned Solo Ascent from 55m last weekend. This is of course one of the main perposes of a DSMB but one that I personaly try do avoid. I was doing deco from 35m to the surface on the DSMB for 40 minutes. For this type of dive we actualy normaly carry 3 DSMBs. 2 RED and ONE YELLOW and 2 REELS. This kit is mandatroy for Deep DECO diving.

As the Diving Officer of the Club I am at present condidering making it a requirment for all our club dives, that each diver must carry a DSMB and Deployment Method. Most, members of our club alredy carry have at least one DSMB but not all perhaps carry them every dive.

Sunday, the 8th of June, was the 63rd anniversary of the sinking of the USS Salute AM294 (American Wreck) and the club did a memorial dive to remember those who gave it all for the liberation of Borneo from the Japanese in 1945. Also the families and former crew members of the Salute were holding their annual renunion back in the USA and from the feedback that I am getting our efforts were greatly appreciated.
After a couple of stormy days of heavy rain, thunder and lightning Sunday was a beautiful day to be out in the boat. The sea was calm and the sky clear. 11 divers turned up and we left the Yacht Club just after 8 am. Dave drove us out to the wreck site and the shot line was thrown. Paul and Matt were first down to tie-off and about 10 minutes (maybe 15 as Cat was a little slow gearing up) later Cat and I went down with the Plaque. The wreck came into view at about 19 meters but the vis wasn't very good with lots of stuff in the water. We met up with Paul and Matt near the stern and moved along the port side about 15 - 20 (I'm guessing) meters to secure the Plaque. Matt and Cat were busy taking pictures while Paul assisted me in securing the Plaque. While I was trying to secure the D Shackel bolt through the wire cable loops someone tapped me on the arm and pointed to the Plaque. Seems as though I was going to install it with the back facing out. Rookie mistake! I quickly changed it hoping that no one would notice and Cat wouldn't get a picture of it. Never live that one down if she did........
After that we had some time to swim around and I checked out the mast looking for the ray but I guess he has long gone. The wreck has opened up alot since last year and you are to see more of the interior of the ship. Wouldn't it be great to have 50 meters visibility of this dive?
After the dive and the shot line was untied, Paul brought us directly over the wreck site and flowers were scattered on the water in respect for those that lost their lives.
On the way over to the Cement Wreck Paul brought the boat to some GPS coordinates of a new wreck discovered by Shell and he got a positive reading on the depth finder. It's a deep, technical dive and some will do an explortory dive on Saturday.
The Cement Wreck was the Cement Wreck. What more can I say?
Check out our BSADC web page and the new Photo Gallery section that Nigel is building up.
Also congratulations to Paul, Nigel and Rob on becoming Instructiors and thanks to Martin for all his hard work and time spent in keeping the dive boat in top shape.

School holidays are starting so no scheduled dive this coming Sunday.
Dick

Sunday the 8th of June will be the 63rd anniversary of the loss of the USS Salute (American Wreck) so I'd like to do a commerative dive to replace the plaque and take some pictures to send back to the USA for the annual reunion of the Salute families.
Dick

UP COMING EVENTS

LOST and FOUND

post PT trip found Blue-green small dry pouch (A5 ish size) with kneck cord (note the velcro closure has come unstuck) in back of my Truck, which is interesting because I did not take my truck to the Club on that trip. However that is where I found it - may be from previous trip??

Sunday looks good, Tuesday Night to find out and put your names on list.

RECENT & PAST EVENTS

TBA = TO BE ADVISED = Waiting some text from one of our Members on the dive - any other text after is what was remembered or heard from Tuesday night .

Ten divers assembled at RBYC on Sunday morning to head out to the Blue Water wreck, they were: Martin, Fleur, Dick, Cat, Kimmy, Oriel,
Ian, John, Tom and Myself. The weather the night before had been bad so the views of the Crocker Range hills from Serasa was spectacular,
the clear air really making them look like you could reach out and touch them....

The diving....
The sea state was not at its best, however, the boat, fully fuelled, sped towards the Blue at a very nice 21knts. The sea became bigger
the closer we got to the destination making it a marginal call, but we are made of stronger stuff and we decided give it a go. The bow
crew spotted a buoy on the wreck which was a good job as Martin and Fleur were far from ready to follow the shot line down and tie off!
When they were ready they went down a very short rope as we had pulled the buoy off the wreck! So sorry to Star divers from Labuan
we will put a buoy back - promise! We had to shot the wreck after all, but at least Martin and Fleur were ready now. Oriel came over
all environmental and wanted to let the poor barnacles on the buoy live and cast them adrift, causing "a small boat shipping hazard" in
the process (props caught on rope etc...). We set Martin and Fleur onto the task in hand - to tie us off, in they went, Martin had
agreed 10 mins to do the job [just getting my defense set - Ed].

Once we had recovered Oriel's barnacles we got back to the buoy after the allotted 10 mins and tied off the boat. Divers were busy
getting ready when we all heard the sound of a strange seabird, and then again, it turned out to be the call of a lesser spotted
Australian wreck diver who had had the shot ripped out of his hand just as he was about to tie it off! I will let Martin tell his side
of the story on Tuesday night about how he and Fleur used 100bar in a 13min dive, sounds like fun! Still fleur got to practice her DSMB
skills and Martin has a great scenario we can use as part of his DL course! We decided as the weather was not getting any better and the
waves were occasionally 2m we would head for safer water and tie off on the buoy on the Cement wreck for what turned out to be 2 great
dives. As I have said more than enough already I will leave the dive details until the meeting on Tuesday, enough to say that we were all
safe back at the club by 3.30 and the storm didn't arrive but it was a very wet trip back.

Looked like a perfect day for diving. The sea was calm, sky clear, 11 divers and the tides that should have (maybe) given good vis on the wrecks. First stop was the Australian Wreck and when we arrived on scene Todd threw the shot and shortly after Paul and Matt went down to tie-off. It was a good throw and Paul tied the line off on the high side of the starboard rail. So far, so good.
Cat and I wanted to go out away from the wreck and look on the sea bed for debris that's out there but the vis was very poor, maybe 3-4 meters at a depth of 36 meters. I tied a line to the wreck and we went out and made a couple of sweeps but didn't see a thing then went over to the port side and did the same but again saw nothing. So back up to the deck and swam around until it was time to ascend. Others may have a better story to tell on Tuesday evening.
Onward and upward to the Cement Wreck where there was a marker buoy so all we had to do was tie up and start diving. From the surface you could look down and see the gantry and the water was a pretty blue. Below 25 meters the vis ran out and the color disappeared. Cat wanted to look for the big ray that we had seen a few weeks earlier on the starboard side so on the bottom I clipped a line on her and sent her out to explore while I kept the shadow of the wreck insight. No luck so a fast run to the bow and back to the stern where the vis was better at a shallower depth. Saw a small octopus and a large fish hoovering just inside the wreck but couldn't ID the fish type. While doing the safety stop we spotted a large frog fish below us so Cat went down to take a look but couldn't get a picture ot it. Once the last divers were back it was a quick trip to Serasa to end a pretty good day out.

The boat departed Serasa shortly after 8 am with 5 divers for scheduled dives on the American Wreck (USS Salute) and the Cement Wreck. The sky was clear and the sea calm which was a pleasant change from the beating the south China Sea gave us the Sunday before. We threw the shot and Martin and Andrea went down and tied-off. Once they returned Paul, Fleur and myself went in. It was rather gloomy for the first 10 or 15 meters going down the shot line but the wreck appeared below and we actually had pretty good vis right down to the sea bed. We checked out the stern and found the plaque and generally did the tour to give Fleur the "Big Picture". I was mainly looking into the wreck and not paying much attention to the fish life but did mention to catch sight of two sting rays in the sand. All in all a pretty good dive. Fleur managed to get some practice deploying a DSMB for the first time and experienced some of the pit falls of this skill. Not as easy as some of the professional dive guides make it look, is it?
On to the Cement Wreck where I was hoping to make it during slack tide and better vis but I guess we were right at the time the tide started moving out as the vis was terrible with a slight current moving from the bow to the stern. With only about 3 meters vis I didn't see much but at the bow several Big Eye Travallies came out from beyond visual range and swam by to check us out. Also a good number of large Bat Fish were hanging out. Fleur got to do another practice deploy of her DSMB and that was about it for the day.
There may be more to this story that Paul might want to share on Tuesday night that may be worth a laugh or two.........................

With the tide forecast and past experience with this dive site not too many of us expected good diving conditions today. Sadly it was as advertised........

We departed Serasa shortly after 9 am with 12 divers and our marine engineer (Chia) onboard for the trip out to Rig Reef with a second scheduled dive at Abana Reef. (who says we don't dive reefs?). The ride out was pretty rough with 1 to 1.5 meter waves and it took about 1 hour to arrive on station. The shot was thrown and Matt and Ben went down first to tie-off and 15 minutes later Cat, myself, Jeon and Chiong went down. Although there was a strong wind and waves on the surface there was no current below but the vis was only about 4 meters. There were fish in large numbers but you had to look quick before they passed and were out of sight. Blue and Gold Fusiliers, Rabbit fish and Cat saw a small sting ray plus 3 bumphead wrasse.

While we were down the wave action picked up and were running about 2 meters when we boarded the boat. In these conditions with the boat still tied-off, getting back on the boat without getting knocked around by the ladder can be tricky but all the divers handled it without any problems. Martin and Andrea (NITROX Divers) were last up and had the difficult job of releasing the shot line from the rig. At this point we all had given up the idea of doing a second dive.

With Matt at the wheel and Chia jockeying the throttles we started our 1 hour and 10 minute ride back to Serasa with a following sea. Great job, guys, of getting us home safe and sound.

Vis good. Saw a small marble ray or blotched fantail ray and very small octopus. Lots of small barracuda and other bait fish. Pretty good dive.....

I had to work back to the stern to orientate myself then wondered back to view the plaque. Still there and looks to be in very good shape. Not much in the way of marine growth and I was able to dust it off......

If NITROX is so great, why can't the NITROX divers tie the shot and wait then untie?

SUNDAY 6TH of JULY
LOCATION: BOLKIA & RIG REEF
DIVERS: 9
Cox: Martin ?
Dive Manager: Paul ?

With the excellent conditions and the high tide we decided to repeat the dives of 2 weeks ago - Rig reef and the Bolkia, only this time we
righted the slight reverse profile and dived the Bolkia first.

The conditions were indeed excellent; all the wreck was visible from about 4m, it is covered with stunning soft coral growth and schools of small bait fish - hence the real big signal on the echo sounder, I can't understand why I have found this wreck hard to find in the past. Martin and Andrea (the Nitrox mob) tied the shot and myself and Tom untied, an easy job on the Bolkia as it has a perfect bar near the bow.

Whilst mentioning the Nitrox mob, Stuart, Oriel and Adam have now qualified to breathe the magic mix during dives - well done! Now go and speak to Martin who for a small upfront fee will mix you up some of the dive elixir every week (technical note - we don't mix we continuously blend!).

With the calm sea conditions getting calmer and calmer we headed off the 2km to rig reef, again we shotted the rigs to perfection. The viz was good but getting worse, still it didn't spoil a great dive.

Its a pity that this site gets so many fisherman as I don't remember seeing enough fish down there to warrant the cost of getting boat and gear to that location!

One very keen fisherman – from RBYC (not to mention names but the boat name is - Ah Jimmy!) needs to learn what a dive flag means!

Anyway the nine divers on board had a good day – we won't mention the diver who forgot his weight belt – Bruce Willis Ruins All Films –
isn't that the PADI mantra!

We were back at the club for 2.30 enjoying some large cans of Loan Service Nitrogen Scrubber……

Left Serasa at about 8:15 with 12 divers onboard and 55 minutes later arrived at the Blue Water Wreck. The weather was beautiful and the ride out fairly smooth. There was a buoy there to mark the location but it was decided to deploy our shot line as an extra precaution. On descending through 5.5 meters I could see the wreck on the bottom so the vis was pretty good. Didn't see much in the way of fish life so did the "tour" and took a few pictures.

On to the Cement Wreck. Just when you think that it will be just another routine, ho hum dive that we had all done a 100 times before we were in for a surprise today. Moving from the stern towards the bow some large barracuda cought our eye and then a fish that was half again bigger than the barracuda and shark-like in appearance. They were following a large marble ray swimming along the sand and heading towards the bow. We were able to follow the ray until it got nervous and moved out of sight. We continued to the bow then back along the port side and after a few meters cut across the deck to the starboard side to see if the ray had returned and sure enought it had. Cat was able to get some pretty good videos of the ray the the other fish, which we think was a Cobia.

Cobia (Rachycentron canadum) — also known as black kingfish, black salmon, ling, lemonfish, crabeaters, aruan tasek, etc. — are perciform marine fish, the sole representative of their family, the Rachycentridae.

Description
Attaining a maximum length of 2 metres (78 inches) and maximum weight of 68 kilograms (150 pounds),....

Cobia feed primarily on Crabs, squid and other fish. Cobia will follow larger animals such as Sharks, Turtles and Manta Rays in hope of scavenging a meal. Cobia are intensely curious fish and show no fear of boats. ........

Thanks to the boat divers (Drivers ED), shot line handlers and all who helped out. You know who you are so I won't mention names..................................

First we must give Paul a big "Thank You" for re-fueling on Friday and then volunteering to captain the boat and remain onboard in the interest of safety during our dives on Sunday. With only one boat driver and the possibility of squally weather conditions it was in everyone's best interest.
First stop was Rig Reef. With 10 divers onboard we left Serasa just after 8 am and arrived at the dive site on schedule. The sea had a slight rolling swell and there was a high overcast and I was wondering what the vis would be at a dive site that normally has fair to poor conditions. John and Ben tied the shot line and when I went in I could look down from the surface and see the rig structure. So far so good! The vis was good and it was easy for the first-timers on the rig to get accumulated and venture out to the reef that lies north and northeast. The colors were pretty but there was an absence of fish life and that might have been due to the presence of a local fishing boat that deployed a solo diver with an interesting pair of fins. This guy had fins that looked like the tops of small trash cans but he swam around checking his fish traps and carried a small can of something that I can only assume was a poison of some kind to stun the fish.

After finishing with Rig Reef it was off to the Cement Wreck but just as we got up to speed Paul throttled back and asked if anyone wanted to do the Bolkiah. Seems that when he was setting up the GPS for a course to the Cement Wreck the Bolkiah Wreck coordinates came up and we were going right over the top. After a short discussion it was decided and the shot was thrown and John and Ben went down to tie-off. I really couldn't remember tha last time I dived this wreck and wasn't sure what it looked like however on the way down the shot line the wreck came into view and you could see the entire ship's features. The vis and colors were beautiful and there was enough fish to add to the enjoyment of the dive. The wreck sits upright and rests on a sandy floor in about 25 meters of water. I went inside and found a room with a sign over the door that read "Maurice slept here"......................................................

Towards the end of the dive the vis started to deteriorate but I think that was due to the divers stirring up the sand and silt.
Later I went back into my log book and found that I last dived this wreck on 27/May/01 and not sure if others in the club have dive it after that. My notes showed that the wreck had a 060-240 degree orientation at that time and now it has a north-south position and you can see how the sandy sea bed has been cut out by the shifting of the wreck.

According to the tide tables and slack time period it should have been the best time to dive on these two dive sites---and it was. Ain't it great when it all comes together!

Dick

Dear All
Q - How do you know you are a tech diver?
A - When you have a full set of spanners and Allen keys in your dive bag!

A group of 10 techies and 3 "normal" divers from Panaga, Miri and BSADC, met on Saturday to dive the Baiei Maru, a new wreck that has
not been dived - as far as we know.

The wreck sits on the Brunei side of the deep water chanel about 2km away from the Australian wreck in
60m of water.

Green river water sat on the top 5m of sea reducing the low light to almost nothing at 55m. It was very dark at the bottom - almost like a night dive. Neil and I opted to head left when we arrived at the wreck, I tied the reel line onto the shot, I wasn't going to get lost on this dive! We headed off along the wreck, it looked to me like it was upside down, but trying to identify anything in the darkness was very difficult. Mark later confirmed that it was upside down, he and Billy had gone a few meters right at the shot and found the 3.5m propeller. 20 mins on the wreck and it was time to start our 40 mins of ascent. When we reached our 6m stop we could see that the squall had arrived as the sea had chopped up a lot.

All back on the boat and we headed out to the Auz wreck for the 3 "normal" divers, Brigitte, Jo and Guy to have some fun. The weather was
improving all the time.

A final dive on the cement wreck followed by some degassing on Kuraman rounded off an historic day.

It was Great to have located and dived ( with PANAGA) a NEW Wreck, our first in many years as a club. It is a pity it is so deep and on this occasion very dark but Hey it is a New Wreck!!!.

I should also mention (Paul conveniently forgot) that the last Buddy Pair that went in on this Wreck (60M unknown wreck very dark) got separated after 12 mins and whilst returning to the shot line. One diver made it back to (found) the shot line and waited and searched from the location for his Buddy until he had to start his ascent up the shot on his own. The other Diver of the pair never found the shot line and after searching for his buddy and the shot and finding neither abandoned the dive to make a Solo free ascent using a DSMB.

Why did Paul develop selective memory lapse in his report? If you red Dicks tips/comments at the top of this page you have already put two and Two together and ?

Yes I was the one who lost my Buddy and the shot and Had to do a free (as in no shot line or buddy) ascent.

There are many things that contributed to the separation but the primary reason was I was not checking often enough that my buddy was with me or keeping him in continuous view as far as possible. A moments distraction, or lack of concentration and I lost my Buddy.

That said I look at the positive aspects of the event and what ha s been learnt.
The potential for a serious incident was very much there, waiting, but did not happen because of the training that had been given, and followed.
To find myself doing a sole ascent on my first Tri-Mix (NOT Nitrox) dive from that depth with no visibility and under training is not something I would wish on anyone.
However due to Mark Tuttle (Panaga DO) and Dave Locks (BS-AC National Instructors)Training and experience gained with Mark on the KK trip I was well prepared and followed that training without being unduly concerned (panicking) and did a standard abandoned dive solo ascent with no problems.

I will post a more detailed account to share the things learnt from this incident in a separate posting when I have time.

USS Salute (American Wreck) 63 Aniversary

"Sunday the 8th of June will be the 63rd anniversary of the loss of the USS Salute (American Wreck) so I'd like to do a commerative dive to replace the plaque and take some pictures to send back to the USA for the annual reunion of the Salute families.
Dick"

We had 11 divers and 4 of us were taking pictures so I hope that you receive more photos soon.
Unfortunetly the underwater visibility was poor so the quality is not what I had hoped for.
Paul and his son, Matt, went down first to tie-off our down line and 10 minutes later Catherine and I went in with me holding the Plaque and Catherine taking pictures. Once on the wreck I met up with Paul and Matt and we selected a section of the hull and attached the Plaque. I think that it is probably near the aft engine room on the port side of the ship. Over the winter months the wreck has shifted and settled some and more of the interior is accessable for viewing. Later on we will try to get some better shots to help determine exactly what we are looking at.
In one of the photos I grabbed a handful of 30-06 ammo and had Catherine photograph what I think is part of a hedgehog business end but I am not sure. Other hedgehogs are lying around and in better shape and I will photograph them next time. Nigel says that the forward gun barrel is lying not far from the Plaque. I saw it but thought it was a pipe of somekind.
At the end of the dive we scattered some flowers in the water over the final resting place of the USS Salute AM294.

Paul, Rob, and Nige,l completed their Open Water Instructor ratings (NQI - Nationaly Qualified Instructors)

with Paul also completing the Sports Mixed Gas Diver qualification (NORMOXIC TRI-MIX)

The day started out beautiful with a slight chop and high overcast and it only got better as the day progressed.
We had 8 divers and left Serasa at around 8:15 for the 50+ minute drive out to the Blue Water Wreck. After the last 3 or 4 dives on the Blue H2O I swore "never again" but Cat and I wanted to do a tune-up dive before we left for Layang Layang in mid May. Dave skillfully navigated us to the Blue Water and the shot was thrown. I tell you, having this sore back excuse has put me on "light duty" and I'm rather enjoying it. Martin and Andrea were first down to tie-off and after a few minutes we could tell by all the extra line floating on the surface that they were successful. When we went down it looked promising and after 10 meters the wreck started coming into view. Very clear and you could see all the way to the sea bed and off into the debris field several meters away. The soft coral colors were very pretty and a school of small barracuda just hovered near the bow and a large group af several bat fish moved in from the blue to check us out. Back on the boat we were informed that they (whoever they are) wanted to do a second dive so we waited patiently for the 2 hour surface interval to wind down. Well, some of us were patient but there was some grunbling from one of the divers, who shall remain nameless but you know who it was. She's small, maybe 40 kilos, Chinese and drives a dark Merc sports car. But Martin took it all in stride and ignored us like he usually does. Once the 2 hour bell sounded it was back in the water for round two.
I noticed an improvement in the vis and at 7 meters the boat came into view. Matt said that he saw it at 3 meters. Who are you going to believe? Me or Matt????? However at 30 meters it got a little cloudy so we stayed high taking some pictures and just enjoying a relaxing dive in preparation for Layang Layang. Some of the other things to see: octopus and several large scorpion fish.. There is now a fuel leak coming from the wreck which leaves a surface slick and annoying sickning smell so best to give your dive gear a good cleaning with soap and water and not leave it up to the amah.
Dave drove us home while most of us relaxed and off-gassed.
Thanks to Martin and Dave for getting the boat ready and to Dave, Martin and Rob for putting the boat away. It was a good day out and the Blue Water Wreck has redeemed itself for it's name and good vis.
Oh, did I mention that Cat and I will be going to Layang Layang?

With 10 divers on a pretty nice day we headed out to the Blue Water Wreck with full fuel on board.
OK, enough about the Blue Water Wreck, then we motored towards the USS Salute (American Wreck).............
The Blue Water Wreck really isn't living up to it's name or reputation, in my opinion, and I'm thinking of petitioning for a name change. We arrived on station and the shot was thrown and Kerri and I went down first to tie-off. It wasn't really blue and there was a lot of "things" in the water to give it a greenish flavor. The shot must have hit the bow and slid down to the sea bed so all we had to do is haul it up and secure it to the anchor on the wreck. In 4 minutes it was "mission accomplished" and we were ready to start the tour. Starting from the bow and cruising to the stern and back you realize just how big this wreck really is. The colors of the soft coral on the hull were pretty but where were the big fish? I need big fish! Not today but there were plenty of smaller bait size swimming around. Not a bad dive overall.
Now for the American Wreck and the question of the day, which will be answered later, is: "how much does a lift-bag weigh when filled with water"? There was a marking buoy on the American but we our Skipper wanter a more secure line to tie-off on so a plan was made to lower our shot line using the marking buoy's line as a guide. Kerri and I got in the water and stayed clear while the crew lowered the shot then on cue released it to free fall to the bottom. I always wanted to be underwater when the shot was thrown (please don't ask me why) to see just how fast the shot drops with the down line trailing behind. I'd guess 2meters/second. It moves! On the stern we looked for a suitable place to tie-off and I selected a beefy chunk of structure and Kerri swam over with the shot. No problemo---not yet.
I wanted to get some pictures of the wreck in it's present state but the water clarity was not the best so I looked inside through a few new openings but really couldn't identify what I was looking for. I wanted to give Kerri the "big picture" tour trying to point out some of the items of interest and at the swim through by the sonar pod I saw some large barracuda and jacks underneath the hull. Moving back towards the stern and shot line we actually saw the shot line coming towards us at a high rate of speed dragging part of the structure where I had tied-off. It went past us and snagged on another part of the wreck and stopped. There was a trailing piece of line that I used to tie to the heavy wire cables on the wreck hopping that it would hold until all the divers down had surfaced. I gave Martin and Andrea a situation report and they went down to dive and untie or cut loose the line. Martin did cut the trailing line and tried using a lift bag but in the end the shot and attached structure was free and now it was time to haul everything up to sort it all out. The answer to the question is: when a lift bag inverts and fills with water it weighs a lot. It took 4 or 5 of us to haul everything up to the boat, dump the water in the lift bag and free the shot line from the heavy metal. It was gut-busting and where was Richard Hills when we need him???????
In case you didn't know we have our own version of Wikipedia if you have any questions concerning the USS Salute. If you have a question you can email me and I'll forward it to some of the guys that were there that day the ship went down.
Dick

And there we were; 20 minutes out from the Blue Water Wreck and the port engine suddenly went very quiet. There seemed to be a fuel issue or lack there of so we used our emergency fuel and proceeded to the Cement Wreck for 2 dives while waiting for fuel to be tankered out from the Yacht Club.
Ben threw the shot and Cat and I went down first to tie-off. Almost a perfect placement but it slipped over the side of the wreck down to the sea floor. After hauling the shot back up to the wreck and tying-off we headed towards the bow. Being first does have it's advantages as we were greeted by a Giant Grouper swimming across the wreck then moving back out into the greenish blue. Also out there were some large tuna, barracuda and the normal assortment of smaller fish that we all expect to see. Returning to the shot line I heard another boat approach overhead but was surprised when surfacing to see 3 boats all tied-off to ours. It must have look ed like Grand Central Station down there with all the divers but again, being first does have it's advantages. The second dive was more of the same and very relaxing with the vis improving slightly from the first. The 3 boats left us after completing their dive so it wasn't as crowded as before.
Ben had made a few calls on his mobile and right on cue over the horizon appeared the cavalry in the form of Danielle bringing the much needed and appreciated fuel to get us home. When you think about it we somehow lucked out on this one and we owe Ben and Danielle our thanks for saving the day.

Dear All We had 12 on the boat for the first trip of the year to the "Blue" wreck. The sea had a biggish swell but only now and then so Martin decided to give it a go.
We arrived at the site and the wreck was shotted. Matt and I had the honour of tying off the line. The vis at the surface and down to about 8m was bad at less than 2m the good news was that below that the vis was fantastic at 20m+ and bright blue -
now the bad news, only down to a depth of 20m below that is was 1m or less with the big swell sucking up the sand at the bottom. We arrived at 35.4m only to see the shot weight resting where it had been dropped - no line in the sand to indicate it had moved. There was no sign of the wreck - we may of just seen it if we had banged into it! We had a look around and decided to abandon and headed up to do a 3 minute stop. At 6m I sent up a DSMB to alert the boat crew that all was not normal (we have not missed a wreck for a good few years so I didn't want them pulling the line up whilst we were doing our stop). As the 10mins allotted to tying the shot was up before we surfaced we were very surprised to find the boat was miles away, anyway this may make it into the scenarios section on the DL practical course we will be running later in the year!
Back on the boat we decided to head for the cement wreck and do 2 dives on that. It was after 10AM by the time we got to the wreck and we found we were last in the biggest dive day on the cement I have ever seen - we were boat 5! We tied off on the back of Kula's boat.
The first wave of divers (everybody except Matt and I) didn't need much encouragement to get diving. They all came up raving about the conditions, the viz was reported to be great yet when we went in it was poor being very bad at the bow (<3m).
Our first dive was bad in the viz area but we were very lucky to see a green giant frogfish neat the stern area, the first I have seen on this wreck. On surfacing we were a bit hesitant about doing a second dive but we had gone to the trouble of getting out here and that whale shark may have been lurking out there waiting for its chance to come through and give divers the dive of their life. Besides I had forgotten my camera so it was a certainty!
The second dive for most was not good, they had the poor vis of our first dive but by the time we did our second dive the vis had improved significantly. We didn't see the frogfish again but we were rewarded by the sight of an octopus (I have not seen one on this wreck for over a year). We had an excellent dive down to the propeller area - an area I don't often go to, it was well worth it.
When Matt and I surfaced the wind had blown up a bit and Martin decided to head home - a good call as we arrived back at base at about 3pm after an excellent days diving.
It turned out to be an even better day for Matt and I as Nick informed us later, over a cup or two of tea, that an 11 min trip down to 35m could be claimed as a dive - at least PADI instructors would claim it - so we did and recorded 3 dives for the day.
Regards Paul
P.S. BS-AC regard any dive over 9M longer than 10mins to be a recordable club dive (should be at least 3 BS-AC divers involved… cough ….cough) or that is how it was in my day. Would have to check current definition.
DO

It was a busy Sunday with 13 people onboard.

Dick, Cat, Rob, Guy, Mark, Matt, Martin, Todd, Fleur, Andrea, Simon, Dave and myself - Nick.
The first dive had us set out on our adventures to the American wreck!!

There was a slight swell as we got out from the cut, which made for a bit of a roller coaster ride out to the American, but luckily no green faces and all happy to dive...

Matt and I were first in to tie the shot. The water seemed rather green and murky and there was quite a rip of a current off the buoy. We descended slowly with Matt trying not to drag the shot line off the wreck, but I had to hang on to the line to fight off the current and to save air!!
After Matt had stitched Martin up good and proper with a shot tie off that would puzzle and dumbfound the best of Boy Scouts!...we got down to midships and it seemed really miserable, murky and gloomy!!

Matt's first intention of finding his weightbelt had to be scrapped, as there was just no hope in this poor vis. We mooched around, clearing our masks, trying to de-fog, thinking that the vis would get better but no luck.

The current was still pretty strong, so we tucked into the close confines of the wreck to streamline ourselves and I followed Matt to the tip of the Bow where all of a sudden the dive turned into one of the best ever mass fish sightings off the American...well for me anyhow!
A huge school of large adult Round Batfish, Platax orbicularis, there must have been well over a hundred of them, streamlining with the current, jetstreamed off the Bow of the American Wreck.

I motioned to Matt, with an imaginary camera click, as if to say this would make an awesome photo, but sadly neither of us had a camera!!
A pair of Moorish Idols, Zanclus cornutus, hung nearby the bow, with a backdrop of Batfish, it would have made an excellent photo, but still all this, captured in my mind, really made for a most amazing first dive of the day...

We returned to the usual banter onboard, one person commented that the dive was more like a "military operation" than the normal calmer currents experienced!

All good training...
The Cement Wreck was as expected much better vis with a less severe and slight current.The wreck as usual is blossoming with colour, dominant with whip corals of many different colours and clumps of soft corals...
What a beautiful dive.

I must say that the season seems to be on its way with some more unusual residents coming in to seek protection and to find a mate...
My first sighting of a Titan Triggerfish Balistoides viridescens, patrolling the territory watching her nest. The last time I had to fight off these beasties was off Koh Tao, Thailand where they are in huge numbers and are quite aggressive...

Also spotted were, Surgeonfish, Acanthuridae, flitting by on their winglike pectorals.
Small shoals of juvenile Barracuda, Sphyraenidae, and some very large mean and menacing looking fish...Trevally, Carangidae of some kind...These in particular had three black spots underneath the lateral line and mean looking mouths.
Back onboard it was all happy faces, a great dive off the Cement yet again!!

I'm sure all of us look forward to some awesome, stunning dives this summer, once the turbidity has cleared up and the visibility is nearer that of 30 metres!!

A spot of light refreshment off the spit, along with some civilised crackers provided by the girls from Temburong, had us all in good spirits as we returned to reality back at Serasa...
Keep your eyes peeled for the only shark you might ever see in Brunei waters, the one we all hope to see this season, the spotty graceful giant, the Whaleshark!!

Ed. Nick

Dear All
We had 12 divers eager to get out whale shark spotting – it's the right time of the year and one has been seen in KK last week. The
lucky lot were; Fleur, Andrea, Brigitte, Dave, Maz, Tom, Paul, Dick, Cat, John, Matt and Cecelia.

We started at the Australian wreck wherewe were very surprised at the visibility on the surface, still we have been conned by that before! The shot line was sent straight into oneof the holds – well done to Matt who put us spot on the wreck (mental note to self: club GPS is about 60m off to the N). The vis wasexcellent for this wreck being about 10-15m with a gentle current going from stern to bow. With it being Tom's first dive on this wreck we did the grand tour staying above the wreck the whole dive, what a day for the tour, the Jacks were spectacular and the chevron barracuda were all huddled in the wreck about ¾ the way to the stern, mind you with Marlin being spotted from the dive boat – I don't blame them!

On to the Cement wreck with a big swell rolling in we stopped at Barret Banks to search for the illusive BSB Hash trophy (if you don't
know about it ask Matt) – we didn't find it. At the Cement, the buoy Matt had put on the wreck about 5 weeks ago was still there so it made
for a relaxed tie up. Again the visibility was excellent about 15m+ allowing divers to see the barracuda patrolling around the wreck with
the giant trevelly steaming in to have a go at the bait fish. Dick took some photos and I have put a few on the Yahoo site have a look
at http://sports.ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/Brunei_diving/photos . The best dive seemed to be the trip to the bow, but I guess anything you
fancied would have been great, an excellent dive – the best of the year so far.

We headed to the isle of K for some cultural readjustment and ritual Nitrogen scrubbing and then back to the club for about 3PM. A great
day out – where were you all?
Regards

It was at 7:25AM on Friday morning that a very heavy dive boat set out to "Survivor Island" 56 n miles up the coast of Sabah. On board were 14 people, we had the divers Martin, Nigel, Nick, Andrea, Fleur, Paul, Matt, Tom and Todd and the non-divers John, Alison, Marian, Gordon and of course Mr Chia our resident engineer. Also on board was enough fuel to start a small war - 1060 liters, dive gear and all the essential items to make for a civilized weekend.

The route to Tiga takes you NE to Labuan with the infamous island on the left-hand side, N through the Labuan channel and the final 26 n miles NE to Tiga. Luckily the sea was kind to us with only a slight swell and we arrived at Tiga at 10:10AM.
The first dive was scheduled for after lunch, the site being West End reef. Julius, our trusty dive guide, directed us to the site and all 9 divers were eagerly awaiting their first Tiga dive. First in were Tom and I quickly followed by Nick and Fleur. The boat was anchored in the sand to the SW of the reef so we had a short swim NE to arrive on the reef. Visibility was a reasonable 5-8m the water being milky with silt from the swell. The reef ran NW/SE so the navigation was easy. After about 40minutes Tom and I navigated our way back to the boat only to find the anchor had dragged leaving a large furrow in the sand, the boat was 250m down wind and we started a long surface swim, until the crew came to get us.

For the second group the boat was repositioned in a slightly different place and the remaining divers had a fantastic dive reporting cuttlefish egg laying, turtles and many other wonderful sights - an excellent start to our trip.

The second day started late, with most people preferring to stay in bed until well after nine - the previous days early start of late finish much in evidence. The plan was to dive Dunlop Corner followed by Mid reef with a possible night dive perhaps at Asmarqa Point. It was about 11AM by the time we arrived at Dunlop, we tied off on the buoy and were surprised to find a very strong surface current - this was going to be a drift dive, so we rethought our plans to dive one wave and split into two, allowing the crew on the boat to spot and chase the divers when they surfaced. Martin and Andrea and Nick and Fleur going down first with myself and Todd and Nigel and John later. John had arrived at Tiga just as we set off to dive and was lucky to catch us. The current turned out to be only at the surface an 8m down on the reef there was very little. All divers reported very healthy reef with lots to see. The best part was west and south of the buoy with the reef to the east in poor condition. Nick found evidence of dynamite fishing in that direction, very sad considering the reef's position well inside the National park! A happy boat of divers returned to the resort just in time for lunch.

Next it was off to Mid reef, unfortunately Julius could not locate the reef so we went back to West End reef. We dived one wave with Tom and I going last. Matt had abandoned diving as he had developed a cold and Tom was on the edge of a cold with a slightly blocked nose, but we thought it worth a try. Unfortunately he couldn't clear his ears at 4m so we sat the dive out. A great pity as Andrea reported the dive her "best ever" and Martin rated it as "four excellents".

Todd, Nigel and Julius also enjoyed what must have been a bit of a drift as an hour after they started they surfaced half way to the resort. Even though conditions were excellent they were still very difficult to see. Thankfully they had a bright orange DSMB which was just visible.
Back again to the resort where the beer was already flowing, Julius informed us that the possible night dive was off the park authorities would not let us do a night dive saying they don't allow it as we might be using diving as a cover for illegal fishing. and so we joined the beer drinkers and sat watching the sun go down on an excellent days diving.

Sunday was a very different day with the wind having moved in from the South making the boats jump around alarmingly - good job we had a good anchor. There was no possibility of getting a dive in so we all sat around trying to ignore the boats attempts to end up on the beach. I went for a long walk so I could stop worrying about it. Most other people sat around drinking large amounts of tea. The weather improved a bit and we left the island about 1:45. The trip back was lumpy but fine taking about three hours. All in all the diving was much better than I thought it would be, it was a shame we didn't get to do a night dive as I am sure it would have been excellent. There is enough diving there to attract us back but when shall we go?

Regards
Paul
PS have a look at http://www.asiadivesite.com/malaysia-dive-sites/tiga/ for the dive sites

Dear All
Well another good turnout with 13 divers showing up at Serasa for the trip. Welcome to Steve and Allison for their first trip on Down Under
III. The trip out to the Australian was a bit lumpy in the Cut but no more than expected, the swell easing as we headed to the wreck. Sam
drove the boat under the watchful eye of Matt and the shot was positioned to perfection, Martin and your correspondent tying off the
shot only a few meters from the bow of the wreck. There are many advantages to tying the shot you get the first go at the relatively
silt free inside of the wreck – useful for treasure hunting and you see more things before they are scared off by divers! The viz was
typical for this wreck at 10m or so and the water was a chilly 26 degrees. Again typical of this time of year were the numerous jelly's
and "sea snot" in the water, lets hope that the whale sharks are on their way to help clear it up. On to the Cement where the vis was
better than the week before but still poor at the stern end. The bait ball was still there but a lot smaller than the previous week – shows
that there are big fish about? Still a nice dive, Matt put a buoy on the gantry – let's see how long it lasts. Next was the Isle of K where
Nick and Fleur did some training whilst the rest of the crew commenced a concerted effort of Nitrogen scrubbing!
Don't forget the AGM at Danielle's house on Tuesday night house 61D Spg 1046 Jln Muara BBQ (bring meat and a plate!) 7PM
Regards

Dear All
This is a first for recent years, a dive report in January. The boat was brought back from its refit and as if on cue the NE blew again.
There was no let-up yesterday as the wind got stronger throughout the day. There were 16 divers on the boat - another record for recent
years. A few new faces, with Stuart, Andrea, Kelly and Tom joining us for the first time. A few old faces Celia, Sam and Ray returning. Our
new treasurer Rob, Fleur on her 3rd trip with us and the usual crew, Dick, Cat, Matt, Dave, Oriel, Martin and your corespondent. A full boat!

The plan was to do the Cement and Rig Reef. On our way to the Cement wreck we decided to abandon all hope of Rig Reef until the calmer
weather returns. The swell was not to bad but built up all day as the wind grew stronger. What to say about the diving - not much really, we
did it! The vis was poor at 4-5m but there were more fish on the wreck than I have seen before, with divers being lost in the bait ball as it
zoomed around them. The bigger fish were feasting on the bait ball but with the vis being so poor it was hard to keep track of them. We did 2
dives on the wreck with the second being a little better than the first. We headed back to base with all happy to at least be out diving again.

Not sure what we will be up to in the next few weeks but the NE can last until the middle/end of March. We will dive when ever we can.

PS don't forget the AGM on the 5th Feb at Danielle's house Spg 1046
Jln Muara (don't know the house number) bring a plate it will be a
BBQ. Bring your $120 subs as they are due.

2008

Thanks to all the hard work of our Social Secretary, Danielle, the end-of-year dinner at the Yacht Club was a great success. The decorations and setting were very well done and I'm sure Ben had a hand in helping out too. The food was good and plentiful and we had around 30 attend. You can hear more about all that went on at the meeting on Tuesday evening.
Thanks again to Danielle.

Sunday Sites: Petani Mistral and Australian Divers: JohnE, MarkT, MattN, Brigette, Martin, Grant, Richard, Nigel, Dick, Cat, Nick and Paul
This was the dive we have been talking about doing for two years, to my knowledge the club have not dived it for at least 8 years. Its not hard to see why as it is 35 nmiles away and sat in 47m of water, way past champion oil field and out where you can see no land, defiantly logistically difficult and a good weather window needed. The sea was lumpy on the 1 hour 50 min trip to the wreck, but not enough to slow us down much. Even with 12 divers, 4 twin sets, 700 ltrs of fuel and more gear than you can poke a stick at, we were still doing 20knts through the rain. We arrived at the wreck only to find it was getting a soaking from a rain squall, we waited for the rain to leave and then shotted it - the shot line had been extended by 5m to allow for the extra depth. There was no mistaking the wreck on the sonar - easy to spot with the fish clouds all over it. First divers down were John and Matt - one hour later when they came up (long deco dive) we found out how accurate the shot throw was. Anyway so as not to rub it in for those not on the dive - we all had a fantastic dive with excellent visability in blue water. The number of fish on the wreck was amazing with some very large snapper and barracuda as large as those seen at Sipadan (should of worn my bandana!). Defiantly worth all the effort of getting out there. It will not be the last time we dive the Petani Mistral, Martin was talking about another trip this year, I'm in! Second dive was the Australian - what a contrast to the vast blue of the Mistral, the dark green 3 - 5m vis of the Auz, still it was a good dive, not as good as Saturday but the schools of fish on the wreck are defiantly benefiting from the lack of a Brunei fishing fleet - long may it continue! Back at the club by 4pm and all done before the rain squall hit.

Sites: Australian and Cement Divers: Martin, Richard, Simon, Matt, Guy and Paul
A small but select group of divers for the first two dives of a four dive weekend. The sea was a little lumpy as we headed for the Australian wreck, about 0.8-1.2m with little wind and reasonable bright skies. The wreck was shotted and Martin and Richard tied off. The wreck had goodish visability being about 5 - 8m the school of jacks seem to be there every time we dive and they are getting more entertaining the more we see them. Treasure was found by Matt - his bedroom is getting full of little trinkets, this time he found a small brass door sign with the inscription "Mandoer" we thought it might be Dutch (have a look at mandoer.nl) but turns out that it is a Malay word meaning "overseer or foreman" I suppose it is derived from Dutch - so it must of been on one of the doors, it has polished up nicely. On to the Cement wreck, the seas were calming quickly now. The visability on the wreck was very good - not unlike the week before with very good vis to the sea bed all round the wreck, so that was the dive for us, we went to the bow along the sea floor at 30m and down to the scour area at the bow 33m (getting ready for Sunday's dive!). At the bow about 5m off on the port side (10 o'clock from the bow) lies a memorial to a diver who perished on the wreck last year - a somber sight. We tried out the "disco bar" or decompression trapeze to give it its proper name. It all seemed to work, with the bars at 9m and 6m a little too low for Suunto computers as they don't count down your stop if you are below 6m, this problem was rectified by resetting the knots that hold the bars to 5.5m and 8.5m. We were back at the club by 1.30 after a very relaxing pair of dives and a superb start to the weekend.

We set off with the weather report from the previous day still fresh in our minds "wave height 1 - 1.7m". Still the sun was shining and the sky was blue and so it proved that the weather was very good, a slight swell that reduced throughout the day.
We almost cancelled the day before and that would have been a great pity as it turned out to be one of the best days we have had for some time.

We had a full boat with 13 divers on board for the trip to the American wreck. The wreck was shotted to perfection by Richard and helper. The shot tiers - John and Dave finding their job easy even in the poor visibility of 3-5m. All had good dives as most divers know this wreck very well the poor vis did not hamper many dives.

Second dive was on the Cement wreck - this wreck has caused us a few problems over the last couple of attempts to dive it, not so on Sunday. The vis was unusual as it was not as good as normal on the stern end but was much better than normal on the rest of the wreck. A good dive plan had you diving near the sea bed all the way up to the bow. At the bow the sea bed could clearly be seen - most unusual.
Dick and Cat were amongst the divers that enjoyed this rarity. Martin found treaure - Simon's dive slate lost 30 mins earlier and a knife donated to me - which I left on the boat.

After the dive a vote was taken and a cultural experience was called for, we enjoyed 2 cases of culture! A great day out. Next weekend we are doing a training dive with the Panaga club on the Petani Mistral, the boat is full, however there will be a dive on Saturday.

See you tonight (Tuesaday). Regards Paul

We started out with 13 divers, a calm sea and on arriving at the Blue Water Wreck we found that someone had placed a buoy for us to tie-off. The only thing missing from this picture was good vis on the wreck.

It was poor where the down line was tied and improved only slightly going toward the stern. It was almost colorless but some large barracuda and bat fish were around plus a few jacks.

Onward and upward to the Cement Wreck and let the games begin! Did anyone see the wreck? I'll let Paul tell the rest of the story on Tuesday night.

One good point is that we are getting more divers to assist in the boat handling and learn the in's and out's of the shot line duties. But in the next few months we we be losing a couple of key members so we still need people to learn some new skills. After diving with us it will make diving at your next dive resort look like child's play.

Well only 6 passed muster to set off to the Australian wreck. The sea was ok if a little lumpy. The new(new) shot line was employed to perfection with the weight going straight inside the wreck. The vis on the wreck was about 3-5 meters. The current on the surface was absent on the wreck. Not as many fish on the wreck as 3 weeks ago but the school of jacks are still zooming around the deck structure - but were not that easy to see. We did a long swim at 30m along the seabed on the starboard side to the bomb hole and from there to the "secret place" and looked for treasure - didn't find any. A very typical dive on this wreck and most enjoyable.

On to the Cement wreck where we discovered 6 divers down so we waited for them to finish before shotting the wreck - I was nervous about this as we had had trouble the week before with the new shot line, however, the new(new) line did the trick again and it was an easy tie on on the port side stern davit. As my buddy and I were waiting for our turn to dive (last) we were joined by Eng and the crowd from the Empire, they were in the ski boat and it was said that their bags were packed for a night in Labuan.
The light on the stern end of the wreck was an eirey green, the vis was very good at about 15m or so, things got much worse as you ventured further towards the bow. My buddy and I did a trip round the interior and I was looking to practise my new skills - learnt at Steve Oakley's lecture on Tuesday night. I found all sorts of things I thought I knew the name for acidians - solatory and colonial and what was the other stuff.... oh yes yellow fish!

On the way back just to top off a great day diving we were treated to a squall on the way into the cut vis was not much better that the Auz wreck! Excellent day and such a pitty that only 6 of us were out there.
This weekend we are very busy. On Sat the Panaga divers are going out on our boat. They will be diving the Blue Water and the cement, I am told there will be a few places spare - please let me know if you are interested.
Also on Sunday we have 4 divers from Miri joining us, they would also like to do the Blue and Cement, again, please let me know if you are interested.

Cheers Paul

Dear All Ten divers were on board the boat as it headed off on the stroke of 8AM to the Blue Water wreck. Much anticipation over the reported rough sea was in evidence from the rumblings down the back and it wasn't from the engines - oh yes Nick was on board!
Truth be told the sea was fine, there was a slight swell but nothing to worry us. We were shotting the Blue at about 8:50 and a poor effort it was!
This scribe and his assistants were at least 40m (they were on nitrox 32 weren't they - Ok 40m FROM wreck NOT depth thank goodness I miss red this first time [DO, ED]) away from the wreck when we went to tie off and it was only from following fish that we got anywhere near. (GOOD SENARIO ITEM maybe) Where is Eng when she is needed I would love to learn the "dragging the anchor" technique. Anyway we were tying off on the wreck after about four mins so I suppose I cannot complain too loudly. The dive was very good, it would of been excellent if we had had a bit of sunlight (if we had good sunlight I think i would have see one of the best vis dives o this wreck in a long time DO, ED - dived last). The viz was about 15m or so and there were loads of fish - schools of yellowtail barracuda with a large one (1m+) eyeing us up from the wreck. Everybody seemed to have a good dive and we headed off to the Cement wreck for the second dive.
This time it was shotted to perfection and Matt and I had it tied off 3 mins after leaving the surface. The vis was good on the stern with the usual murk lower down on route to the bow. Danial (not Parry but our new Trainee - who Qualified the next dive! - welcome on board) seemed to enjoy it - he certainly breathed a lot of his air! After the Cement, Nick and Dan did a short training dive on Barret Banks and then we headed off home and arrived back at a very early 2:30. Welcome to the club to Frank and congrats to Danial who completed his open water. Also welcome to Richards guest Marian who trusted R to take on the Blue Water after not diving for 3 years - brave woman! Some great banter on the boat - another excellent day diving. Next week if the weather is OK we will try and do Auz and another - if Clint is kind to us we could go and look for the barge that went down out the cut.....

SUNDAY 12th of AUGUST 2007
What a difference a week makes! After an attempt a week ago on Friday to dive the Salute, Sunday was a near perfect day with calm seas and about a 4 hour window of slack tides. We had 11 divers. All went well with Paul skippering the boat into position while Dave deployed the shot line. John and Grant were first down to tie-off and 10 minutes later Nigel, carrying the plaque around his neck and looking like a rap singer with heavy jewelry, quickly descended chased by myself and Cat. John and Grant had us tied on the stern so it was a short swim over to where I had placed a rope marker a few weeks ago and in a minute Nigel had it secured and locked in place. Perfect! We believe that this is the spot where the old plaques once were located: mid ship and a few meters above the sonar dome. Please go to www.panagadivers.com to see John's report and look at the pictures.

We did a second dive on the Salute and although the conditions were starting to deteriorate it was still OK. It takes many dives to get orientated on this wreck and the more you dive it the more you see. The GAP students did great and seemed to enjoy themselves with their first wreck dive in Brunei. Mission Accomplished.........

It was off to the Island for a brief stopover then quickly back to Serasa to beat the low tide. All in all a pretty good outing for the club.

Wayne Shafer wrote:
From: "Wayne Shafer"
To: "Dick Pomeroy"
Subject: Re: [Brunei_diving] Sunday's Dive on the USS Salute
Date: Sun, 19 Aug 2007 17:30:10 -0400

I'm so happy the seas calmed and diving went well for all on your dive this past Sunday.
We, the Salute family who have gone to the web site and have seen the new plaque are all very pleased it looks really great so if you will please thank all involed for us and don't forget to thank "rap singer look alike while the plaque was around his neck" Nigel for giving up his prized jewelry leaving it with Salute for all humans who wish they were fish to see. :)
Also thank John for his report and the corrections on your web site they are much appreciated. I as well as others will continue checking out the web site from time to time.

Who knows you may have some of Salute's crew members children and or grandchildren show up looking for you asking you to be their dive buddy.
I do hope you keep coming to us with questions concerning Salute we wouldn't want you going anywhere else. Who else could have told you right off the bat that Salute didn't have a stack (funnel) that its exhaust was piped out the side of her hull while most of her sister ships had a stack?
I may be asked for your email address by JPAC. If so do I have your permission to give it to them?
I don't believe this is possible but just in case. For those who may not have checked out the web site yet here it is once more:
>www.panagadivers.com

Well it was a wild day as we went out the cut - inside it was flat and calm. Still the swell was long and not too bad - if the peaks had got closer together ... We arrived USA wreck and shotted it to perfection tied on by John and Lucy - they were the only two to see any bits of the wreck! When they surfaced the next team were about to dive and after a chat with John it was decided to abort, the vis was about 1m! The sea bed being lifted by the swell and the vis lower down was v bad. Dick and Guy untied the shot and had a very spiritual dive. We turned round and headed home with our tail between our legs. A very disappointing day for this correspondent as he is seriously in need of a nitrogen fix! On a good note we were not able to supply our gap students with their normal night out in a Labuan police cell........

It was that kind of day..... There was something for
everyone.
From not finding the Blue Water Wreck in about 3 meter
vis to striking a submerged log to Cat falling off the
boat and Nick being attacked by some marine organism
at the Isle of K. Also the port engine locked in gear
as we were approaching the Serasa Yacht Club and we
went sailing past.
There is some good news to report and that is Paul was
released from RIPAS, at least for the day, but still
has to undergo further tests just to be on the safe
side.
We did manage to get 9 divers and thanks to Matt for
taking the boat out.

Last night a few of us did a night dive at Little Dale Reef and it turned out to be a very nice dive.

Eng did a good job of making all the arrangments and it was professionally handled by the staff at ScubaTec.

It was a beautiful night with a calm sea and the underwater vis was about 20 meters. You can hear more on this dive and the dives on Sunday
at tonight's meeting.
If you have club tanks please return them to Martin's ASAP. Last count on Monday there were 8 tanks still out so we need them back for servicing for Sunday's dive.

We were a bit late setting off - don't ask! The sea was flat calm as we headed to the Auz wreck. The shot was tied off by Cecelia and Matt
(nice to see you both out diving again), the vis was better than average with only slight current from bow to stern, lots of jacks
swimming through all deck levels - an excellent dive. Nick was taking Nigel (new member) through his open water 3 and 4 dives so we stopped
at Barret Banks for the surface interval it was then off to the Cement wreck for another excellent dive with the best vis of the year (for
me) on this wreck. Again lots of fish - including 2 very big Titan Trigger fish (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_triggerfish) best
to stay away from them at this time of year - ask Eng! Nigel completed his Open Water - well done and welcome to the club. We all headed off
to the Isle of K where the bar is now open again and we celebrated Richards birthday by helping him to finish a case - great days diving.
Tonight a few of us are doing a night dive with the Empire ($30 with your own kit) I will report back to you about it.

After about a three hour rain delay and a stubborn engine we departed Serasa with 8 divers. The first stop was Rig Reef and with a calm sea and the rain clouds starting to breakup.
There was a pretty strong surface current and after surfacing from your entry you were just about at the last grab ring on the boat. Looking down from the surface the reef was in view so the vis must have been 15+ meters. Better than I have seen it in a long time.
I did tour looking for the reef that is located southeast and after a 7 minute swim on a heading of 150 degrees, found it. This reef is prettier than the
reef that is located northeast of the rig legs and the depth on the reef is around 12 meters. Makes for a good navigation training dive also. At the end of my dive I thought the vis was going down and the current getting stronger and that was later confirmed by Nigel so we moved on to Abana Reef.
Abana Reef was pretty and the vis was very good. I have never been a big fan of Abana but this spot was a good reef dive. The current did pick up nd a couple of divers drifted off heading for Singapore.
More on Tuesday night.....
Interested in a Night Dive on Little Dale?
Eng will be at the meeting on Tuesday and will give us the details of diving with ScubaTec.
Also Eng has some info on the new wreck that sank somewhere near Abana Reef.
Dick

A third dive was attempted. As the boat had to pick up the last divers before they reached Singapore - was now off station on Abana, and with the current increasing Nigel and Ian Barker (on walkabout from UK) had still to complete their second dive. It was decided to forget Abana and as Ian had come to see the wrecks we would do the last dive on the cement .

Paul shot the wreck and Ian and Nigel went in and straight down due to possible currents. On the way down Nigel's Octopus was blowing off uncontrollable and the vis was very bad down to 2-3 meters at the bottom at 34.8 meters and no wreck in sight. As Nigel octopus was still leaking and air was down to 130 Bar already the dive was abandoned

It was another on-time departure from Serasa of Down Under 3 with 11 souls on board. Another beautiful day for our first dive of the year on the Australian Wreck.
The shot was thrown and Richard and Martin went over the side to tie off. So far so good. For the first two minutes it was really picture perfect going down the line in beautiful blue-green water with the silver bubbles coming up from the divers below. Then at 18 meters someone turned out the lights and things got dark and the water turned to a murky brown. Vis dropped to about 2 meters and stayed that way all the way to the wreck. I did a couple of short runs out and back from the shot line then figured enough is enough, threw in the towel and came up. Others had a better
experience and you can hear all about it on Tuesday.
The Cement Wreck was beautiful. From the surface down to 20 meters with good vis and brilliant colors. This would have been the perfect dive for Open Water divers...

What a difference a week makes regarding the sea conditions heading out to the dive site.

We departed Serasa shortly after 8 am and made a quick pick up at the public jetty then headed out with 11 of the faithful on board to the first stop, the American Wreck. The sea was calm, the shot was thrown and John and Stan went in to tie off. It was a little gloomy going down the shot line but at about 16 meters the wreck came into view and as we got closer you could see all the way to the sea floor. The forward vis was maybe 8-10 meters and the definition of the wreck features was excellent. Cat and I immediately went to the mast to look for the marbled ray but no luck there so we so we continued around the perimeter Checking the sea bed for debris and then at the stern checked to see if the props were still attached. The port prop remains intact with just a portion of one of the blades sticking up thru the sand. Hopefully no more of the wreck will be destroyed and sold off for scrap. There were lots of barracuda and other fish which made for a pretty dive. Returning to the shot line we managed to catch a glimpse of a white tip reef shark swimming by.

Over on Rig Reef the colors of the coral on the structure were nice but again, where have all the big fish gone? In the past Rig Reef was the home to many barracuda and jacks but I didn't see any that day. I used to be able to find 2 additional reefs located in a southeast direction from the structure but after about a 3 minute swim I figured I must have missed it and came back and went to the reef at the northeast end of the rig. Not much there as far as color and fish life so came back and enjoyed a leisurely dive around the rig. Sand Fly City was the next port of call then back to Serasa to end a very nice diving day.

We left Serasa on time with 13 divers and headed out for the Blue Water Wreck. The Sea was choppy even before the cut and got worse the further out we went.
It wasn't the worst ride we have had to endure but not a pleasant trip with 1 1/2 to 2 meter swells arriving at the wreck site. We threw the shot and Danielle and Grant tied us off. The vis on the wreck was OK, maybe 10+ meters, with a very slight current running from the stern to the bow. The colors were pretty at the 26 meter depth but there was a lack of big fish and I really don't remember many fish of any size. One of those days, I guess. Anyway the real trick was getting up the ladder and back into the boat without getting injured or losing a fin. A few of the divers starting
feeling queezy with the rough sea and we had a missing diver scenario but fortunetly he had a DSMB we were able to spot him befor we had drifted out of visual range.
Over on the Cement Wreck we had to wait until another dive boat vacated the site before we could tie-off and start diving. This really didn't help those with a weak stomach. The vis was so so with thousands of bait fish and many barracuda and a few jacks.
After that we were all ready to throw in the towel so we headed straight back to Serasa and called it a day......

Well, after a sighting earlier in the week of a whaleshark on the Cement Wreck we decided to do two dives there on Sunday in the hope that maybe, just maybe, we'd get lucky.

We got skunked but the odds were against us and actually seeing a whaleshark in Brunei Bay is a rare event. But you have to try....
It was a good day none the less with 10 divers and good weather with a slightly choppy sea. The boat looks and runs good thanks to Martin's hard work and all that it needs is more divers to fill the spaces.

The vis on the wreck wasn't crystal but about what we have come to expect and at the upper levels where the sunlight gets through it's colorful with plenty of bait fish and barracuda lurking just within visual range. (See John's pictures in the Panaga web site).

The water temp was a comfortable 29c and not much current. The were some jellies and other things that sting in the water so you need to protect yourself at all times. Our window of opportunity to see the whalesharks pass through is starting to close but I think we might have a couple of weeks left so come on out and dive.

We had 11 divers for the first trip of the year to the Blue Water wreck. Eng drove us all the way out there and we arrived at about
9.15, sea conditions were excellent. The wreck was shotted although not that close as Martin & Richard had to use a reel and distance line
to go off and search for the wreck. The bad shot throw can be defended as the visability near the bottom was no more than a couple of meters
- most unusual for this wreck and so what would have been an easy job with normal vis turned into a more difficult job in bad vis. The vis
at the top of the wreck (26m) was good and masses of anemone (Cnidria Anthozoa?) type things were clinging to all the whip corals around the
stern end of the wreck, I have not seen these here before. Nigel and I explored the wheel house area, it looks to have collapsed and has left
various dangers exposed - things look very unstable, take care if you find yourself in that area. All in all a good dive, the extra time the
Nitrox 30 gave us confused me as I arrived back at the shot line with 100bar and 8 minuets before deco remaining so we poked around on the
upper part of the wreck for a few more mins before untying the shot and heading back - we arrived back on board with 60 bar each having
done a dive with a total time of 41mins - the benefits of Nitrox!

Next it was off to the Cement wreck, the water was cold at 25 degrees.
The shotting this time was very good with the gantry visible on the echo sounder and from the surface. We all expected the very good vis
of the week before. Nigel and I dived last and we had very poor vis on the way to and from the bow. The wheel house roof area was fine and
the octopus was very happy to play a rope game with Nigel - get him to explain on Tuesday!

A great days diving ended up with a debrief on the
spit with Stan providing some excellent smoked meat.

Dear All
As Dick is away diving in the Maldives I better do the dive report. We had 14 divers on the boat including 2 new members, Simon and Albert.
If you think you have to get up early on a dive day spare a thought for these guys who drove from Limbang to be with us at 7.30AM! After
picking up the people at the floating jetty, we headed off to the Cement Wreck. Shotted to perfection the "Nitrox squad" tied off on the
top of the gantry giving us a clasic Cement wreck dive. Vis was very good on the stern but murky down lower. Many jellies were sighted and
the octopus was out on tourist duty only to return to his usual place for the last divers. Second dive was on Rig reef, the structures were
exactly where Matt's GPS predicted, the vis was not as good as it can be but ok. The sea state was good all day even though 1.2m was predicted.

We returned to the spit for a few cans of Limbang nitrogen scrubber - thanks go to Simon & Albert for the donation of a case. I have a
question why did the "Nitrox squad" need more tins of nitrogen scrubber than the air lot it should of been less?

Sunday 8th April 2007 (First Dive of 2007 !!!!! & First NITROX for the NITROX ~~Group~~ SQUAD Squad ?? See 15th April report by Paul

All I can tell you at present is the Dive went ahead, the Vis on Cement was Good, and long for those in the NITROX group (First for the Club). The Reef was not so great Vis OK but not much fish life.

I missed the whole thing as I still had a Cold. Te above came from Martins SMS telling me that I had not missed the whale sharks.

Massive balls of swirling fry were seen on the Cement Wreck as Bandar divers made its inaugural dive of 2007. There were octopus, morays, lionfish and unusually, a sleeping turtle.

The second dive at Abana Reef showed excellent hard and soft coral development, much like our own TKS and Porter Patch but more so. The only downside was the almost complete lack of fish.

A stop at the spit for nitrogen scavenging rounded off a brilliant start to the Bandar season.
-----------------------------------------------

Though not technically a club dive 3 club members and the commodore of RBYC braved the swell and headed out to the Cement wreck. There was no bouy on the wreck and we didn't want to anchor in 30m so we operated a "live boat" as the Panaga divers do (i.e. we dropped off the divers and drove around waiting for them to come up). Martin and Dave were dropped off right over the stern but the viz was so poor that they missed the wreck and had to perform a search to find it - they only found it 5 mins before they hit deco so only had time to tie on the reel and send up a dsmb for the 2nd wave of divers to go down. Mike and I descended the line only to find viz of 2m at 25m. We headed to the stern where viz was much improved at about 5-7m. A very large number of bait fish were swimming about attracting a few trevelly. The big trigger fish seems to have grown and will be worth avoiding come nesting season! We returned to the bow and surfaced to find a squall had hit and the sea was rough. The local divers who had joined us were looking decidedly green!
Not a bad dive but lets hope the viz improves before we head out there again in a couple of weeks time. The club boat is due back at Serasa next weekend so we should be diving on the weekend of the 18th March.
Cheers
Paul

2007 AGM is history

The Committee retired, put out to pasture, told to take a hike; and a NEW Committee was voted into office. Strangely enough, the NEW Committee looks exactly like the old Committee. If we are going under the theory of "if it ain't broke don't fix it" then that might work for awhile. What we would like to see is more input from the Club Members. Paul and other members touched upon this topic and the only way for the club to grow and remain in operation is for the members to take an active part

If the numbers remain good we are considering doing dives on Friday as well as Sunday. But we have to know who is available and willing to commit once a dive is scheduled

Searching for new dive sites sounds simple but is more involved than that. It is time consuming and expensive but if the members are willing and ready to support these trips then the club will do it

Need to upgrade your qualifications or diving skills? We have two instructors, Eng and Danielle

Diving insurance: the club does not require that you have dive insurance but it is highly recommended

Check out the DAN AsiaPacific website or if you are a BSAC member see what their insurance offers. If you get hurt while diving then one phone call will start the process of medical treatment or evacuation. As soon as the weather and sea conditions settle down then we will start diving again. Dick

2007

Sunday 10th December 06
We had a slight delay departing Serasa due to the traffic management fiasco caused by the Brunei marathon but shortly after 8 we were on our way to the "bouncing jetty" to pickup the rest of our group.

In all we had 14 divers. One diver had to cancel due to a cold and another was in the marathon. If what I read in the paper is true, he maybe still running the streets of Bandar trying to find his way back on the course.

The ride out to the Blue Water wasn't too bad and after about an hour ride we were on station and the shot line deployed. John and Mark were first down to tie-off. Descending down the line I was encouraged that the visibility might be pretty good but once on the wreck it was fair to poor. I guess I'm spoiled now after all the good dives we have had this year. During the surface interval John was conducting an emergency scenario for dive leaders-in-training.

Kirsty really has to do something about all those uncontrolled buoyant ascents!! Everyone learns from these drills and we hope to conduct more classes next year.

Over on the Cement Wreck: After first trying to tie-off to a floating plastic jug we tied-up on the remaining permanent buoy. The vis was poor at 25 meters but OK at about the 20 meter mark. I did the "tour" and tried to keep my finning speed down to acceptable limits as to not incur the wrath of my dive buddies. I guess I sometimes get bored and want to keep moving. Sorry about that....

Paul, Matt T and Kristy had a great dive though and Paul said "it was better than Sipadan"

Then it was over to the Isle of K detox centre for some much needed nitrogen scrubbing and the fact that a very large line of thunderstorms was approching was another good reason to seek shelter

The ride to Serasa was quite choppy all the way home but Paul did a great job of "driving" and we were back around 5

Many of the regular divers have or will depart Brunei for the holidays but a few of us will be around and there may be a dive on for next Sunday. We'll keep you posted

and now Here is Kirsties description of our dive on Sunday, hold your breath.......

Another week bites the dust. Wasn't too bad a week too. Sunday I went out diving and had the best damn dive EVER! It was totally amazing and Im not sure if it would sound good if explained but here goes.

The first one was average, but on the way up me and my two dive buddies spotted this MASSIVE jellyfish, like bigger than a football, with stinging tentacles about five metres long, in every direction and god that scared me. but it was a beautiful thing to look at, it was so alien-like, with the jellyfish looking as though it was breathing and thses long thin tentacles floating around it. that made that dive. And again, in between the dives, we did anouther rescue scenario thing where I was the unconscious victim. but this time, there was a bit of a swell so being dragged onto the boat wasn't so smooth and I was bashed around a bit.

Anyway, the second dive started out fine. We got down to the shipwreck and were paddling around the stern of the boat when I spotted some cool fish. One was a trumpet-fish (use your imagination as to why its called that) and it let me get really close to it. I actually touched it! Then I saw a file fish, which is a really thin stretched fish that likes to think it looks like coral. So as I was trying to show my two buddies the fish they were looking somewhere else, away from the wreck and were pointeing to me to look the same way. I focused and could see small tuna fish darting around everywhere, chasing something too small to see. So we sorta just hovered there watching these fast fish when all of a sudden, a massive schaol, of about three million, small glass fish came round the corner of the wreck and we were engulfed in them. It was stunning! I was so excited I could help but squeal with delight. There were so many you couldn't see anything around you but fish, and when you stuck your hand out you could feel them swimming through your fingers. And it turned out they were being chased by bigger fish, the tuna fish. So this massive cloud of smaller fish went darting roudn us in total unison, it was amazing to watch. they went inside the wreck for cover then came back out and surrounded us again. And then even bigger fish, like a foot to two feet long came into the picture and were chasing the tuna fish aswell as the small glass fish. It was a feeding frenzy, there were fish everywhere going completely mad. A few of them actually started attacking the side of the wreck, they were all going phsyco! It looked like something off of national geographic, I cannot explain in words how breath taking it was, the fish paid no attention to us, surrounded us, engulfed us. The three of us spent the whole dive just in that spot, watching this wonderful dance in front of us.
The tuna fish would surround the ball of galss fish, concentrate them and one by one dart in and snatch their meal. Unfortunately we had to go as there was only so much air in our tanks, but all the way up we could see this act of canabilsim which i couldn't take my eyes off.
And again, on the way up we saw another big jellyfish. Not as large as the first one but the tentacles were longer so we got out pretty sharply and were totally high after the dive, none of the guys on the boat could shut us up!

Then when we got the kuraman for our beer stop, or as one of the divers call it, "Nitrogen scavenging", he believes beer is good for you after a few dives; it homes in on any nitrogen bubbles and eliminates them. Sounds good to me! We were there for longer than normal because there was a big storm heading out way, we couldn't drive home in it so we waited for it to pass over. Wow it was great. It was PISSING it down, the wind was blowing...lighting was flashing and thunder was booming. Like a twister or storm movie!

When it died down enough for us to drive home in, we went. But the sea was still quite rough, that was fun! I really enjoy going through seas like that, its adrenaline boosting I tell you! Yeh......

Maybe we can attribute the weather and sea conditions to global warming or whatever but we have had some
excellent dives in the past few weeks. The northeast monsoons have held off, at least for awhile, and the under water visibility has been good to very good.

We wish that could be said for the condition of the wrecks as some salvage operator is slowly and systematically destroying the remaining structures of the Australian and the American wrecks.

On the Australian Wreck they have rigged several 55 gallon drums as a lifting device in preparation to bring a large pipe to the surface and on the American Wreck one of the propellers has been cut off and removed.

The sea was calm but a strong current was present on the American Wreck. The marble ray was on station under the mast but you had to fin hard to get there.

Most divers abandoned the attempt and stayed on the wreck pulling themselves along against the current.
Better come to the dive meeting on Tuesday to hear the rest of the story and get on the list for next Sunday.

Note:
Martin will be away for the entire month of December
so if you have left your tanks at his house then
please retieve them for safe keeping.
Dick

We got off to a late start from Serasa due to an engine not starting but Martin spent a good 30 minutes troubleshooting the problem in sweltering heat to get us going. We should all thank Martin for his effort.

Motored down to the public jetty to pickup the other divers and then we were off for the Australian Wreck.

What a surprise (again) as the vis on the wreck was pretty good for this time of year. Eng and Ashleigh tied-off the shot and did a good job as there was a pretty good breeze on the surface with the swells coming from the northeast. Martin and I were last down and did a tour of the debris field several meters from the wreck. Where did that anchor and chain come from? First time either of us had seen it! We finished at the bow and had to race to near the stern to untie

Once we released the shot line it was an express ride with both of us hanging on and moving down to the end of the line as it was swinging up by the pull of the boat. The ascent alarms were beeping pretty good for a few seconds then everything settled down for a normal ascent

Over on the Cement Wreck we were able to tie-off on the stern gantry buoy and the Empire folks were a few meters away tied-up on the other buoy. There was a strong surface current that continued down for a few meters. Three divers from the other boat surfaced near us. We called for them to take our drift line but they either didn't understand or had another plan but in the end they drifted away headed for Singapore. Their boat had to retrieve them then return to the buoy to wait for the other divers. Still not carrying a DSMB and whistle?? You should have been there to see just how quickly things can unwind. Martin estimated a two knot current and it only took a couple of minutes to put these divers at the edge of visual range

Eng is getting some practice in handling the boat and did a good job getting us home

Next week we will have some low tides at departure time so the boat skipper will decide on a plan and let us know on Tuesday.

It was a beautiful day and we left Serasa with 5 divers and motored down to the public bouncing jetty to pickup 4 divers, who are not RBYC members. It was like going through Checkpoint Charlie as we drove through the gate at the Yacht Club But rules are rules so we had to comply; it's as simple as that!

The Australian Wreck was the first stop, the shot was thrown and Richard and myself were first down to tie-off. It was a perfect spot so all we had to do was lift the shot to a high point, make a double granny knot for the guys that had to un-tie, and start the dive. It was relatively clear for this time of year and with the tide conditions I didn't expect much of a dive but I was wrong (again). This was Richard's first time on the wreck so I wanted to give him "the tour" around the outside to get him orientated. John and Paul went deeper into the wreck and noted that some of the brass around the port holes has been cut away.

You might want to check out Panaga's web site to get a better report of what's happening with the wrecks.

After that it was off to the Cement Wreck where the vis was not so good. The big octopus is gone now but we saw a few large barracuda near the bow and there's always the bait fish that come in to check us out. There's a stainless steel weight and chain at about 21 meters near the bow on the port side that would be nice to recover so maybe next time we could bring a lift bag and get it back to the surface.

There was some training going on and DSMB's were popping up as divers were coming to the surface. A good skill to learn and practice.

Then it was off for nitrogen removal at the detox center on Kuraman. Since they were out of the main ingredient the visit was cut short and we headed back to the bouncing jetty and Serasa.

Dive scheduled for Sunday the 29th
Martin will be away so contact him after the 26th if
you need equipment......

Martin will take the boat out on Sunday. Right now we
are planning on the American and Cement wrecks however
if by some miracle the weather and seas clear up then
maybe we can go out to the Blue Water.
Contact me or Martin to get on the list.
Dick (Sec)

Not much info yet, but looks like it is on and Paul will be Boat Captain. It appears that it will be a PANAGA DIVE DAY. If the boat is not full then there will probabley by some places available. If you are interested then Paul will have more info.

Saturday:
Saturday has been reserved for the Panaga Dive Club in
appreciation for the many times that their members
have come to dive with us and helped support the use
of our boat. There may be a couple of spots available
for our club members wanting to get out on a Saturday
however Paul is needing help with the boat handling
so if you go be prepared to throw the shot line or
haul in the anchor. Contact Paul for details.................
Dick (Sec)

Sunday 1st Oct 06

The Plan was a repeat of last weeks plan - to look at a seldom dived wreck off the south western end of Pulau Pappan - just outside Labuan harbour. The wreck is in 16 meters of water and should be interesting as to my knowledge it has not been dived by the club for at least 7 years.

Again we were intending to do two dives on the wreck and again just like last week it did not go quite to plan although we did dive the wreck on the first dive. Unfortunately see was rough day was overcast and smoke hazed so no sun penetration and the Vis was not Good. The bottom is mud and after one dive the Wreck vis had become to bad to make a second dive. With the weather conditions and the wreck location there was not many options for a second dive location. In the end we decided the closest was Kurts Knob at Kuraman. So off we went it was a rough 30 min trip but Matt got us there safely and on with the second dive.

The wreck is a ship. Steel construction. Lying on its Port side (very similar to Blue Water wreck) but Half of it appears to be buried in the sand/mud bottom. Appears to be Single Screw. Prop is missing. The wreck is basically whole but has some Large holes in it. The interior of the hull is completely empty in all the areas I looked. It seems to have very large open plan decks/holds. It also appears to have an aft and a mid Superstructure. It also has a Large Cargo Door on the Starboard Side Mid section.

With the vis and only one dive it is difficult to tell what it is but with the open decks and the big cargo door mid section it might be a Car ferry.

I enjoyed the New wreck even though the vis was not to good. It has good potential for training in a number of different disciplines in reasonably shallow water. It was good to dive a new wreck but being the only dive site we know (at present) in this area and being a long trip to get to it makes dive planning difficult. We must find some more sites in that area!!

The second Dive at Kurts Knob, was also one I enjoyed being totaly different from our normal dives. I went in and actually just brushed a rock out crop which was only 1m below the surface almost under the boat. The actual bottom was 2.9m. Oriel and I moved off to do a circular swim around the Knob. We move off down the slight slope onto the fringe of the reef in about 5m of water. The vis was good and we just casually moved along looking at all the life of which three was plenty. The bottom is a bit barren but the out crops of rocks are all the better for it. This was the first time I can actually say I have seen a large Stone fish in Brunei. I very nice specimen which I found shading under an overhang on a rock. He refused to accept that I knew he was not a rock and refused to swim so I could show him to Oriel. I had to push him across the bottom just like a Stone. After making sure his was back were h came from we slowly made

DIVE CLUB MEETING 7.30 PM - EVERY TUESDAY -

SEAFOOD RESTAURANT, JALAN MUARA.