We arrived at Tulamben around 5pm and went straight to the restaurant to have some late lunch. We finished up quite a lot of portions!!!!
That afternoon we planned to have 2 night dives around 7pm and 10pm. The first dive was at 7.35pm. The ocean was on high tide and waves were making it a bit hard to enter. But once we were down'..The wreck was just amazing!! A giant sea slug giving us a warm welcome that night while slowly cruising beside the wreck enjoying the moonlight. Thousands different kind of little crabs and shrimps crawling around. Each crinoid has their own residents with matching colors. Our maximum depth was 23.7m with 66 minutes of dive. During the dive, we occasionally turn off our torches just to enjoy the moonlight from down under. It was just amazing, bright and spotless'.
A very speechless dive!!!
During the surface interval, everyone was still amazed with what we have experienced and we almost changed our second dive back to the wreck again. However, some of us decided not to go down for the second dive because either they were not feeling well after had eaten so much before the dive or just simply wanted to relax. During the our first dive, Kodai was having a nap and regretted that he did not bring his laptop to watch some DVD' (hehehehe'.)
Finally the second dive we decided to go to Paradise Reef at 10.14pm. Erwin who first decided before not to dive, could not resist the temptation to go dive again. Since the tank was only enough for the people who confirmed to have 2nd night dive, I volunteered to share the tank with him. It was the funniest dive I've ever had. Since both of us always looking at different direction, we ended up always pulling each other apart'and get the others entangled with the my octopus hose! We then decided to move away from the others and find ourselves looking into this big anemone crab which was eating an anemone as big as its size with a great appetite, as if a person was enjoying a great big juicy steak!!! It looked very hungry and the way it was eating made us want to have our dinner a.s.a.p.!!! Slurrrppp''yummy!
After 35 minutes, our tank reached up to 50 bar and we decided to end the dive. The rest of the diver (Rizal, Armando and Ulin) were still under water when we surfaced. They came up 20 minutes later. They were playing around with an octopus which was doing a patrol in the area.
Dinner was served once we were finished showering and cleaning up. Everyone seemed to have big appetite. The odd thing was'we were only having healthy drinks that night. After dinner, we sat up facing the ocean and start telling story about mostly our work. Until I almost fell asleep, we then decided to call the night off.
At 6.30am, the sky was cloudy, so we went back to sleep until around 8am. Then slowly we proceed to the restaurant to have breakfast. Some of Kodai's friends confirmed that they will be arriving around 11am just in time for the second dive.
The first dive was at the Batu Kelebit at 9.27am. A very gentle current take us for a smooth ride and it was very relaxing. I have set my mosquito to 40m and I went down to 41.1m. It was just great. So calm and relaxing. The dive last for 60 minutes.
During the surface interval, Kodai was already with his friends (Jenny and Vino). Jenny has been certified as open water diver while Vino was still being persuaded to take one.
Second dive we went down at the Ship Wreck. This time Kodai finally plunged down with us. Rizal was taking a good care of him during the dive. Still struggling with gear, Kodai seemed to enjoy the view of thousands of Jack fishes and Surgeon fishes. Going through the wreck was never the same from time to time. It is always another experience and always inviting us to dive some more.
During lunch time, we were trying to persuade Vino to go down with us. With lots of excuses, Vino finally agreed to join the last dive.
The last dive was at drop off. After a small burst from Kodai's tank just before entry, we finally on our way to our last dive of the trip. Erwin was taking care of Vino and Jenny while Rizal still taking care of Kodai. Ulin, Armando, Tim and myself, we were cruising a bit deeper from them. Still finding a lot of crabs and shrimps along the wall and sand around drop off. The current still drifted us pleasantly along the wall until it was time to head back.
The last dive of the trip has been always the hardest part'the feeling of leaving the site and going back to our daily lives makes it even harder.
The trip back to reality was focused on Tim's story telling. Rizal and Kodai seemed to be very keen to know more. I fell asleep right after a swap of the driver. Suddenly woke up near a restaurant near Kodai's place called Maakay. We had big dinner in silence since most of us hungry and exhausted. From the meeting point the day before, I then took a taxi back to my far away coast line.
It was the most amazing night dives I've ever experience. There's not enough words to describe it. The only way is to experience it. Shall we go again next full moon?