PHOTO BY KITESHARK www.kiteshark.com aloha@kiteshark.com CARBON FIBER KITE KAYAKS CUSTOM BUILT ON KAUAI UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY BY KITESHARK
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Divers from the Woodville Karst Plain Project begin their preparations for the continued exploration of the cave system at Wakulla Springs by placing safety equipment and investigating new leads. Music copyright 2007 by wooferbitch.
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Where dating is concerned, gifting is a very special and mind racking procedure. However it is very important to make it as unique and out of the box as possible. This will definitely make your companion feel loved and cared for. It is not imperative that each time you meet them the gift should be expensive. Creative and extraordinary are the key words and not luxurious and classy.
While choosing a gift make sure it’s a one that’s memorable for your date. The souvenir should remind them of you. The date should also feel special and relevant with what you give them. These are the two strong points one should remember while hunting for a gift.
Try and consider the mutual interests of both of you before buying any product. A gift of common interest can be perfect at times. The following are the gift categories that might help you in the long run-
Personalized Gifts: meaningful gifts and those that come with a bit of emotions and sentiments are what personalized gifts are all about. Include inimitable gift options like-
Monogrammed Items
Clothing
Luxurious items like watches and jewelry
Personal grooming products
Fragrances, body splashes and other body care products
Technological items and toys: If you select this category of gifts, it becomes quite easier to choose one. There are only a handful of people who are not crazy about toys and technology. These gifts can help you enjoy as well as relax. Practical and capricious are the key words for such gifts. The mentioned products can be considered where unique dating gift ideas are concerned-
Digital photo frame
Digital camera
i-Pod
Mp3 player
Fun gadgets
Cell phones
CD’s and DVD’s
Equipments related to sport
Recreational equipments
Experimental Gifts: This means a gift that is a possible dream-come-true for your date. Something that they really wanted to do for a long time. This can include some date plans that are adventurous or exclusive and make it memorable for a lifetime.
Aviation: Sky is the limit here! Go for jet planes, hot air balloons and biplanes.
Water Sports is another great idea where experiential gift ideas are concerned. Scuba diving, swimming with dolphins, sailing and snorkeling is some of the best ones to go for.
Learn something new together. Go for dance classes or any other unique ones to come closer.
Traveling. Go out for a weekend with your companion and make it extremely special. This can be the best gift you can give your date.
Organize parties or events. This can act as a little surprise as well as a gift for your companion. Try and call in your and her close friends and make it wonderful!
Jazz it out! Go for jazz parties and concerts if it’s of common interest.
About the Author:
The Match Maker global dating network is a great place for fun and relationships. Some of the sites include Adult Match Maker, offering free adult personals, and Gay Match Maker, which provides a gay chat room to meet singles online.
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Sabah is part of Malaysian Borneo, located in south east Asia and is surrounded by the South China Sea on the west coast, Sulu Sea on the East coast and the Celebes Sea on the South Cost. Sabah is located within the Coral Triangle – the Coral Triangle is known for being home to some of the most diverse marine life in the world. Fortunately you dont have to travel far in Sabah to appreciate its tropical waters. Kota Kinabalu, the capital city, has Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park on its doorstep. The marine national park is only 20 minutes by boat from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah’s Capital and Malaysia’s youngest city. This makes it a popular choice for visitors interested in diving, snorkelling, watersports or just chilling out on the islands beaches. The rest of this article provides an overview of the scuba diving sites located in Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park located just in front of Kota Kinabalu.
The Marine Park, named after Malaysia’s first Prime Minister, came into existence in 1974 and at that time it was Sabah’s second National Park. It is home to five islands Pulau Gaya, Pulau Mamutik, Pulau Sapi, Pulau Manukan and Pulau Sulug. The three busiest islands are Sapi, Mamutik & Manukan (each with the facilities to cater for tourists). All five islands are fringed by coral reefs and home to dive sites and areas suitable for snorkeling. With over 20 different dive sites in Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park the visiting diver, or those wanting a try dive, really are spoilt for choice. Lets take a closer look at the reefs surrounding each of the islands and the variety of marine life you can expect to see.
Sapi is the second smallest island in the Marine Park. It is fringed by a reef on its east, south and west shores. Sapi House reef is probably the most popular dive site in the Marine Park for divers. It is home to a shallow coral reef, artificial reef balls and a sandy bay which is ideal for diver training. On the home reef youll see a wide variety of coral reef fish Damsel Fish, Fusiliers, Barracuda, Parrot Fish, Wrasse, Puffer Fish, Porcupine Fish, Bat Fish and its the most popular reef for visiting Hawksbill Turtles. Along the sandy bank youll find some interesting marine life too including Garden Eels, Blue Spotted Rays, Gobies, Lion Fish, File Fish, Puffer Fish, Anemone Fish, Pipefish, Flounders (known locally as the Ikan Sebelah or side fish), nudibranches and more. The house reef is 3m 18m with a sloping reef. It rarely has currents making it perfect for a check out dive or a very relaxing dive either enjoying the fish life in the shallow reefs, muck diving along the sandy area or checking out the marine life around the artificial reef balls.
There are also some good dive sites on the south coast of Sapi Rons Reef and Rays Reef both have gentle slopping reefs from 8m 18m and can be a nice gentle drift dive when the tides changing. Another nice dive site on the west coast is the reef extension know as Clements Reef. Clements Reef has very pretty hard and soft corals interspersed with coral cover boulders and Barrel Sponges. It is 8m on the top of the reef with a gentle sloping reef fringing the dive site down to between 18m 25m. A nice deeper coral reef site.
Mamutik, a slightly quieter island, is home to a nice beach and two decent dive sites the fringing reef located on the north and western side of the island (which has a 10m x 5m patch full of anemones with False Clarke Anemone Fish, or Nemos). It also has a dive site called the Pyramid located off the west facing side of the island so called due to its shape. The Pyramid is an interesting dive site it may not have the best corals in the Marine Park but it has interesting critters on its slops (Nudibranches, Scorpion Fish, Shrimps etc.) and typically has a large schooling group of Barracuda at the top of the pyramid. The dive sites have the nicest conditions during the North East trade winds (November March) when they are more protected from the prevailing winds.
Manukans best dive sites are on the west coast, facing out to the South China Sea. These are probably the least visited coral reefs by divers as most Dive Operators dont make the effort to visit reefs that are the furthest distance from Kota Kinabalu. Typically youll be the only divers in the water when diving the west reef. Home to a shallow reef (5m 12m) full of large table corals with a gently sloping sand bank from 10m 20 dotted with coral boulders. Around these coral boulders you can often find an interesting mix of Nudibranches, Lion Fish, Shrimps, File Fish, Puffer Fish, Porcupine Fish, Moray Eels, Sea Cucumbers and more.
Gaya is the largest island in Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park. Whilst most of the island is fringed by coral reefs, the nicest quality reefs (in terms of coral coverage, health of the corals and mix of marine life can be found at a small number of locations Soft Coral Garden on the west coast (so called due to the volume of colourful soft corals covering it), Policy Bay and the reefs just to the east of Police Bay. Police Bay is a protected bay during the south west trade winds providing for nicer visibility. The reefs towards the edge of the entrance to the bay (on the northern tip) have lovely steep sloping reef walls from 10m to 25m 30m and often have large shoals of Snappers and Fusiliers.
Last, but by no means least, Sulug. Sulug has a tongue shaped coral reef protruding from its north face. The reef has a flat top at 5m 7m with steeper slopes which can reach 25m. The slopes are covered in coral covered boulders and bombies. Its on the northern reef slopes where youll find the most Orangutan crabs, a surprising range of Nudibranches and some of the largest Gorgonian Fans. If youre lucky you may also get to see a Frog Fish or a Ghost Harlequin Pipefish during the mating season.
Whether you be visiting Kota Kinabalu, Sabah as an experienced diver, a new diver, wanting to learn to dive or enjoy a try dive there are dive sites in Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park to meet your needs.
Find out more about scuba diving in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Borneo at http://www.borneodream.com
About the Author:
I was born in North West England and spent my childhood there. I achieved a MA Hons Economics from Cambridge University and subsequently spent time working for in England, Europe, the Seychelles and now in Sabah, Borneo. I spent 15 years working for a Global Clearing Bank. I left the banking world behind to follow one of my passions in life – scuba diving – and, along with my partner, to create http://www.borneodream.com
http://www.scubadiving-snorkeling.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to ("Scuba Diving and Snorkeling Resource Centre" (amazon.com, or endless.com, MYHABIT.com, SmallParts.com, or AmazonWireless.com). |
Rebreathers are a great way of enjoying longer dives (we had rebreather divers on our boat last week in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah who enjoyed a four hour dive!) and getting closer to marine life as there are no noisy bubbles to scare fish away. Imagine diving in silence except for the crackling from corals.
Borneo Dream is the only provider of rebreather training in Sabah, Borneo we run a range of semi closed and closed circuit rebreather courses from Kota Kinabalu, the capital city of Sabah so we know a thing or two about rebreathers.
Rebreathers are a great option for experienced recreational divers looking to take their diving further. One of the first questions we often get asked by our diving customers when they see a rebreather on our boat is How does it work?. The rest of this blog provides a simple overview of the workings of the Closed Circuit Rebreather (CCR), with a focus on the APD (or Ambient Pressure Diving Limited) Evolution and Inspiration models. It gets a little technical (as a closed circuit rebreather is more technical than diving on open circuit) but once youve learned how to dive on a rebreather youll have the knowledge to prepare and dive safely on a rebreather and enjoy many long dives
So, how does a Closed Circuit Rebreather work?
The CCR has several key elements. The diver puts the mouth piece of the breathing loop into his/her mouth. The diver breaths out and the expelled air leaves the breathing loop and enters the exhale counter lung which is located on the right shoulder. Any moisture or water droplets are removed by a baffle plate fitted into the entrance of the exhale counter lung. The air now passes from the exhale counter lung to the base of the scrubber unit which is contained in the back mounted case. As is passes through the scrubber the CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) is removed / converted into heat and moisture. The cleaned air passes in front of three oxygen cells. These cells measure the level of oxygen in the gas compared with the amount of oxygen that should be there according to the integrated computer (see below). An oxygen solenoid adds a precise amount of oxygen according to the computers requirements and the gas passes to the inhale counter lung, mounted on the left shoulder. The diver breaths in and draws fresh air from the inhale counter lung via the mouth piece and breathing loop. The idea is to have either one lung full in you or one lung full in the unit, never both. This is called loop volume management.
Diving on a Rebreather
Managing buoyancy when diving on a Closed Circuit Rebreather With conventional scuba you breath in and go upwards, breath out and go downwards. However, with a CCR it has the correct amount of loop volume and the integrated BCD set to suit the current depth. Then, it will not matter how fast or slow the diver breaths he/she will stay still Cool:-)
Diving on a Rebreather. CCRs work on fixed Set Points or Partial Pressures of Oxygen (PPO2). The two standard Set Points on the APD units is 0.70 and 1.30 however they can be fully adjusted above or below the surface. A Set Point of 0.70 means that at the surface (Sea Level) the diver would be breathing the equivalent of 70% Oxygen. If the dive was at 10 metres he would be breathing 35% Oxygen because at 10 metres there are 2 Atmosphere (ATA) of pressure (0.70 / 2 = 0.35). So at 60 metres there is 7 ATA the diver would be breathing 10% Oxygen not good, this will not support life but you get the idea.
This is why we have two Set Points. On a typical 40 metres dive the Diver travels down to 40 metres on a 0.70 Set Point. Change to 1.30 at depth and continue all the way to his/her Safety Stop at 6 metres. Then they would change back to 0.70 prior to leaving the Safety Stop. However, this all changes when doing decompression diving.
Normally, for dives to a maximum depth of say 45 metres they would have two cylinders fitted into their rebreather. One of pure 100% Medical Grade Oxygen and one of Air or 21% Oxygen. This cylinder is referred to as the Diluent, so this set-up would be an Air Diluent CCR. For deeper dives the Air Diluent would swapped out for different mixtures of Trimix (Helium, Nitrogen and Oxygen). Cylinders for the APD Evolution and Inspiration are either 2 or 3 Litre in capacity filled to 200 Bar.
Longer dives on a CCR Depending upon depths and the particular user the units are capable of diving to 150 metres (correct training required) for durations of 2 to 6 hours.
These are amazing pieces of equipment and great to use for scuba diving.
Find out more about rebreather training in Sabah, Borneo at http://www.borneodream.com
About the Author:
I was born in North West England and spent my childhood there. I achieved a MA Hons Economics from Cambridge University and subsequently spent time working for in England, Europe, the Seychelles and now in Sabah, Borneo. I spent 15 years working for a Global Clearing Bank. I left the banking world behind to follow one of my passions in life – scuba diving – and, along with my partner, to create http://www.borneodream.com
http://www.scubadiving-snorkeling.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to ("Scuba Diving and Snorkeling Resource Centre" (amazon.com, or endless.com, MYHABIT.com, SmallParts.com, or AmazonWireless.com). |
Most divers come to Sabah, Borneo to go diving at world famous Sipadan on the south east coast of Sabah. What most visiting divers do not realise is that there are also some scuba diving gems along the west coast of Sabah. Within 45 nautical miles of Kota Kinabalu, the capital city on the west coast of Sabah, find stunning coral reefs, diving on WW2 wrecks and muck diving. With the west coast of Sabah forming part of the Coral Triangle you will also find a fascinating, and diverse, mix of marine life.
I have been diving along the west coast of Sabah for a few years now, on a recreational basis and as part of running my own scuba diving business (Borneo Dream) based in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Based on this experience, and feedback from divers we have taken to the wide range of dive sites we visit, I have provided below a ‘Top 10′ dive sites worth visiting when you pass by Kota Kinabalu. All are accessible from Kota Kinabalu and show the mix of diving you can enjoy along the west coast. Our ‘Top 10′ dive sites are listed below and are in no particular order. Enjoy!
1 & 2. Clements Reef (near Sapi) & Soft Coral Garden (near Gaya), Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park
We visit > 20 dive sites in TARP so choosing our favourites was hard. Eventually we decided on these two sites due to the beautiful mix of soft and hard corals. Both sites are located within Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park (TARP) – the most popular diving location from Kota Kinabalu. Find gently sloping coral reefs from 8m – 25m, a riot of colours from a range of hard corals, soft corals, sponges and anemones and a surprisingly wide range of marine life so close to city life.
3. Edgell Patches, just 20 minutes by boat from Kota Kinabalu
Edgell Patches is located just outside of TARP and home to deeper coral reefs. Dive around large coral covered boulders in the shallows which then give way to a sloping reef down to 35m. Full of fish life as well as a good variety of nudibranches and other critters. When we’ve had rebreather divers diving the deeper slopes of this reef they’ve spotted the odd 1.5m – 2m Black Tip Shark. Cool!
4 & 5. The Pinnacle & Barracuda Point – Pulau Tiga (30nm south of Kota Kinabalu)
Pulau Tiga is located 30nm south of Kota Kinabalu. We visit 8 dive sites near Pulau Tiga and these our are two favourites. Dive by large coral covered pinnacles, coral bombies and busy cleaning stations. The hard and soft corals are breath taking, including large cascades of barrel sponges and Gorgonian fans. Teeming with fish life (Barracuda, Fusiliers, Yellow Snapper), home to critters and the occasional mating cuttle fish. Enjoy being the only divers in the water.
6. Mayne Rock (30nm north of Kota Kinabalu)
Go diving a unique underwater landscape at Maybe Rock, located in Usukan Bay, with large white boulders raising 7m – 25m, surrounded by shoals of fish and adorned in hard and soft corals. Then dive along a pristine undulating coral reef home to juvenile Sharks.
7. WW2 Rice Bowl Wreck (30nm north of Kota Kinabalu)
The Rice Bowl Wreck is so-called because a cache of rice bowls was found in the bow when it was first dived. The wreck is ~150m in length and lies between 25m – 40m. Home to Barracuda, Yellow Snapper, Fusiliers and Nurse Sharks. The corals covering the wreck are stunning.
8. WW2 Upside-Down Wreck (30nm north of Kota Kinabalu)
A large WW2 wreck lying in an upside down position. This wreck lies slightly deeper to the Rice Bowl wreck. This wreck has good swim-throughs and is good for exploring. A popular choice with rebreather divers and technical divers.
9. WW2 Usukan Wreck (30nm north of Kota Kinabalu)
This is the deepest of the three at 35m – 45m and consequently only available to technical divers. The wreck is interesting and has a spectacular whip coral coverage that can give it a frosted appearance in a certain light.
10. Pulau Mantanani (Mantanani Island, 45nm north of Kota Kinabalu)
Mantanani is a tropical island located ~ 45nm north west of Kota Kinabalu, The shallow coral reefs surrounding the islands have plenty to offer and have wonderful visibility. Home to juvenile Turtles and some interesting muck diving. We run PADI Open Water Diver courses at Mantanani for groups during the ‘Dry Season’ – an amazing place to learn to dive.
Find out more about scuba diving along the west coast of Sabah at http://www.borneodream.com
About the Author:
I was born in North West England and spent my childhood there. I achieved a MA Hons Economics from Cambridge University and subsequently spent time working for in England, Europe, the Seychelles and now in Sabah, Borneo. I spent 15 years working for a Global Clearing Bank. I left the banking world behind to follow one of my passions in life – scuba diving – and, along with my partner, to create http://www.borneodream.com
http://www.scubadiving-snorkeling.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to ("Scuba Diving and Snorkeling Resource Centre" (amazon.com, or endless.com, MYHABIT.com, SmallParts.com, or AmazonWireless.com). |
Watch as model Bebe Pham poses underwater and on the beautiful beaches of Cebu for photographer Mick Gleissner.
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This is filmed during ’06 & ’07 in Jeddah, Rabigh, and Umlajj. The Red Sea from the Holy Lands Saudi Arabia.
All For Youhttp://www.scubadiving-snorkeling.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to ("Scuba Diving and Snorkeling Resource Centre" (amazon.com, or endless.com, MYHABIT.com, SmallParts.com, or AmazonWireless.com). |
Underwater photography by David
http://www.scubadiving-snorkeling.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to ("Scuba Diving and Snorkeling Resource Centre" (amazon.com, or endless.com, MYHABIT.com, SmallParts.com, or AmazonWireless.com). |
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