Dayang Dive

So I finally find the time to write about my weekend dive trip to Pulau Dayang. It was my virgin dive trip and honestly, I don't think I'll be exaggerating if I say it was one of the best trips I've had. Though there were no bikini beauties in my dive group (save for the big-boned girl on the same boat from Yap Hsiang's Liquid Room X'mas tete-a-tete whom I sadly failed to recognize until it was way way too late...ack, nevermind, she was squat anyways. *sourgrapes*) there was a real synergy within our group dynamic--I noted, however, that it was a strange confluence of three boss-subordinate pairings: Horst and boss Joe from BetaSquared, Thomas and boss June from Frontline Premium, and myself and AO highflyer Hooi Boon (well, he's my boss, sort of, being higher up the slave chain of the civil service) We got on really well with one another in spite of the vast cultural differences: the angmohs and their unyielding American accents versus Thomas and June's equally stubborn localized ones complete with the frequent lapse into mandarin or hokkien altogether. Then my seeming boss and me caught inbetween having to switch between the two frequencies with our flexible mish-mash tongue. At any one time, we were either engaged happily in a joint effort to introduce exotic local cuisine to the anymohs or equally united in chorus in urging June to conquer her deep-seated fear of the sea. At the end of the trip, though the angmohs were still terrified of our unforgiving culinary habits (out of courtesy, I'm sure they would deny it, but I saw those wide-eyed looks before they swallowed--just like on Fear Factor) and June never passed the course having flipped out on her last two dives (woman, if you're reading this, you gotta calm down!!) I think we would all agree that all of us had the grandest time right down to that last supper in JB.

Oh I almost forget to mention Raymond our crazy dive instructor with the crazy hairdo. We probably owe a lot to Raymond for the experiences we had on the trip. First of all, his driving. This sonofabitch drives like a madman high on speed and crack and ecstacy all tossed into five pills mashed up and snorted right into his nose. On the straights to Mersing, in pitch darkness, he tore down the road at about 150, overtaking relentlessly by cutting into the opposing traffic lane--it was only a dual carriageway--at one point even dashing ahead of five cars plus one bus around a blind corner. (I quote June after the ride from hell, "eh. you last time Formula One driver har?") I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep through it all, in spite of the giveaway sensation of my crown jewels floating in midair with every jump the minivan made. Second, the faceoff with the trigger fish. We're on our third dive of the trip when Raymond gets attacked by this fearsome little bugger. Fiercely territorial creatures, trigger fish are little terrors with razor sharp fish which hesitate not to attack all trespassers. So Raymond pulls out his diving knife and engages in a sort of underwater swordfight with this one trigger fish. Now you would think this would make perfect action film material, except it was really bordering on comical because Raymond was nothing like the prototypical action hero. Crazy bedhead hair spiking out in every conceivable direction, and a tummy that could hide a baby kangeroo with ease, add to that his cheeky wide-mouth grin baring his two rows of pearly whites and his bushy unibrow, Raymond was more like a diving version of Doraemon. Now imagine Doraemon fending off a little ferocious fish in an underwater swordfight and you get a mockery of James Bond's deepsea action sequence with sharks.

So yea, the dive trip was really an adventure on all counts. We saw cuttlefish, puffer fish, lots of clown fish living in anemonae ala Finding Nemo (did I even mention Raymond's 'confirm can impress girl' underwater bar trick of putting a clown fish in his mask?) schools of barracuda and other fish. I have to admit, ever since coming back from Dayang, I've been thinking of diving all week. I really can't wait to go do my advanced. Thinking of doing it in a couple of weeks, hopefully I'll be able to! I'll post a group shot in the next post.