Perhentian Diving Trip Review
Overview
The Dive sites there is not as good as I like, most of the corals are dead, dying or already overgrowth the algae making them appearing green. Some of the sites also have lots of Echinoderms (sea urchins), which might indicate that the coral there is not very healthy. Saw a couple of crown of torns too but then still not too much. Just spotted some cushion stars which is the most common starfish over there and a couple of more common ones..., lots of feather stars but didn't spot any brittle star which suppose to come out to feed during the night. Also have alot of Christmas tree tube worms and shells....like cone shells, Cowry, etcs....large in size. The shells tends to be feeding on the Urchins and starfishes over there...not sure if that is the reason for the lack of starfish...but Y stil so many urchins?
Inspite of the poor condition of the corals, there is alot of species of fishes over there. Pipefish, Razorfish, Angelfish, Lots of Parrotfish, Tons of Triggerfish, Lionfish, Blue-spotted stingrays, juvenile nurse sharks, juvenile barraccudas, Boxfish, Poucipine fish, Puffer fish and of course saw 2 different species of clownfish as there are lots of anaemone (those are not corals), also more common food fishes like Trevalli, Groupers and Seabreams.
Deep dive (28.9m), Secret reef
The visibility is really low during this dive and there is abit of current around the dive site.
The very first thing we saw is the moray eel that sticks its head out of the crevice of his hidout, he is not very big at all....and just above his hidout is a large clear tubeworm's tube...didn't go for a closer look at the tube thou...too many divers ard and the DM already swimming away. The tube of the worm is white in color...quite large, at least 2-3cm in diameter. Did not see the worm itself thou not sure if it is in the tube...the tube is quite transparent as the color of the rock can be seen. At first thought it is a skin or something like that but the tube does have lots of segamental rings on its exterior and the ends embeded into the crevices of the rock.
There is also alot of wire coral...
Lots of big school of fishes...Juvenile Barraccudas, Yellow-tail treadfins, trevallis etcs...surprisingly saw a group of Lionfishs too...abt 10 individuals of different sizes. Lots of rock formations but no other corals.
Wreck Dive @ Sugar Wreck, 18m
My first Wreck dive, the wreck is bigger than I've imagine. The light penetration is still okie but then the visibility is also not very gd. Managed to see 2 cuttlefish and some razor fish. Lots and lots of Urchins and big shells crawling ard...I can almost imagine a battle ground in slow motion of how the shell slowing approach the slow moving urchins to try to feed on them and the urchins trying to out run the shells in slow speed...hahaha.... Swim into the cargo hold for awhile....really dark and the torch doesn't seems to work well..because the light outside the cargo hold is too bright thou it cannot penetrate into the hold.
Night Dive @ Teluk Pauh, 12m
Of the two night dives that I went to...this is the best. It is the first night dive there and the Sun already set in this dive. The crabs and shrimps starts crawling out of their holes and the stingrays starts to feed. The cushion stars and the Crown of torns also came out of their cervices to feed on the sandy bottom but surprisingly not so much of feather stars nor any brittle stars. Huge sea cucumbers also came out into the sandy flats and they seems to move faster than when there is light. Visibility is gd, thou dark.
Other Dives, 15 - 18m
The other dives are okie....T3 have alot of nice rock formations that I like thou repeat dives doesn't have any trills anymore. Seabell rock also have lots of rocks and coral flats... most of them are staghorn corals and mushroom corals. Most are dead thou.
K, thats the review of the place...in conclusion it is not a dive site that I will wanna go back again and again.... Moreton Bay corals are much more beautiful than there...thou the number of fishes is lower... Acidians are much more beautiful too.
The Dive sites there is not as good as I like, most of the corals are dead, dying or already overgrowth the algae making them appearing green. Some of the sites also have lots of Echinoderms (sea urchins), which might indicate that the coral there is not very healthy. Saw a couple of crown of torns too but then still not too much. Just spotted some cushion stars which is the most common starfish over there and a couple of more common ones..., lots of feather stars but didn't spot any brittle star which suppose to come out to feed during the night. Also have alot of Christmas tree tube worms and shells....like cone shells, Cowry, etcs....large in size. The shells tends to be feeding on the Urchins and starfishes over there...not sure if that is the reason for the lack of starfish...but Y stil so many urchins?
Inspite of the poor condition of the corals, there is alot of species of fishes over there. Pipefish, Razorfish, Angelfish, Lots of Parrotfish, Tons of Triggerfish, Lionfish, Blue-spotted stingrays, juvenile nurse sharks, juvenile barraccudas, Boxfish, Poucipine fish, Puffer fish and of course saw 2 different species of clownfish as there are lots of anaemone (those are not corals), also more common food fishes like Trevalli, Groupers and Seabreams.
Deep dive (28.9m), Secret reef
The visibility is really low during this dive and there is abit of current around the dive site.
The very first thing we saw is the moray eel that sticks its head out of the crevice of his hidout, he is not very big at all....and just above his hidout is a large clear tubeworm's tube...didn't go for a closer look at the tube thou...too many divers ard and the DM already swimming away. The tube of the worm is white in color...quite large, at least 2-3cm in diameter. Did not see the worm itself thou not sure if it is in the tube...the tube is quite transparent as the color of the rock can be seen. At first thought it is a skin or something like that but the tube does have lots of segamental rings on its exterior and the ends embeded into the crevices of the rock.
There is also alot of wire coral...
Lots of big school of fishes...Juvenile Barraccudas, Yellow-tail treadfins, trevallis etcs...surprisingly saw a group of Lionfishs too...abt 10 individuals of different sizes. Lots of rock formations but no other corals.
Wreck Dive @ Sugar Wreck, 18m
My first Wreck dive, the wreck is bigger than I've imagine. The light penetration is still okie but then the visibility is also not very gd. Managed to see 2 cuttlefish and some razor fish. Lots and lots of Urchins and big shells crawling ard...I can almost imagine a battle ground in slow motion of how the shell slowing approach the slow moving urchins to try to feed on them and the urchins trying to out run the shells in slow speed...hahaha.... Swim into the cargo hold for awhile....really dark and the torch doesn't seems to work well..because the light outside the cargo hold is too bright thou it cannot penetrate into the hold.
Night Dive @ Teluk Pauh, 12m
Of the two night dives that I went to...this is the best. It is the first night dive there and the Sun already set in this dive. The crabs and shrimps starts crawling out of their holes and the stingrays starts to feed. The cushion stars and the Crown of torns also came out of their cervices to feed on the sandy bottom but surprisingly not so much of feather stars nor any brittle stars. Huge sea cucumbers also came out into the sandy flats and they seems to move faster than when there is light. Visibility is gd, thou dark.
Other Dives, 15 - 18m
The other dives are okie....T3 have alot of nice rock formations that I like thou repeat dives doesn't have any trills anymore. Seabell rock also have lots of rocks and coral flats... most of them are staghorn corals and mushroom corals. Most are dead thou.
K, thats the review of the place...in conclusion it is not a dive site that I will wanna go back again and again.... Moreton Bay corals are much more beautiful than there...thou the number of fishes is lower... Acidians are much more beautiful too.
posted by jomitsui at 9:41 AM
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