We are currently on Lankayan Island in the Sulu Sea, Malaysian Borneo and feel we just have to share some of our sightings as the diving is just incredible at the moment !!!

Octopus are mating, Black Tip Reef Sharks are circling, Leopard Sharks are in abundance, yesterday our boat saw a Whaleshark and today a Giant Manta !!

All this along with the usual suspects Nudibranchs, Giant Jawfish, Leaf Scorpionfish, Seahorses all kinds of Crustaceans .... and the list goes on !!!

We must now dash as we're off for a night dive.

Images of the trip and results of the photo competition will be posted upon our return to Kota Kinabalu next week.

For more info on Lankayan Island with booking info please visit Lankayan Island section

The PADI Open Water Diver Course teaches us that a dive knife can be a useful tool to carry when diving but in many cases we forget to keep one with us, i recently found myself in this very position.

On a dive at Sulug Island in the TAR Park, Kota Kinabalu such a tool would have been very useful and i for one learned a valuable lesson in remembering to pack this rarely used tool.

We discovered an abandoned 10m long fishing net tangled among the corals, posing real danger for the surrounding marine life which includes the endangered Hawksbill and Green Turtles.

Various crustaceans had already perished after becoming entangled which attracted other animals to feed on the remains, putting them in danger also.

After 20 minutes we managed to free one Lobster - had we been carrying a knife the process would have been much quicker, suffice to say the creature survived.



Fortunately we were able to revisit the dive site the following day with a cutting tool and after an hour of hard work remove the net from the reef and dispose of it safely on land.

In many cases it is better to just cut up the net and leave it in place because more damage can be done to the delicate corals when trying to remove it. So long as marine life cannot become entangled in the net then it can remain in place causing little harm.

Questions as to why anyone was fishing within this National Park is for another discussion but the lesson learned here is as divers carrying a dive knife can be very useful because sadly from time to time we do encounter disregarded fishing nets that pose hazards for marine and human life.

Thanks to Spencer Steadman for the images and his patience and assistance during the dive.

For more information on the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park, please read our dedicated pages.

A web-site has been created to host a petition against "Whaling for Scientific Research"

Every year thousands of precious mammals are slaughtered in the name of so-called 'scientific research'. Add your voice by signing this campaign then forwarding it everyone you know. They hope to obtain 1 Millions names on the list and they've almost achieved this ambitious target.

Please help to stop the killing.



www.whalesrevenge.com

We'll be visiting Lankayan Island Resort in the Sulu Sea from 20th -27th April. Famous for its natural beauty and tranquility the small tropical island is accessed via speedboat from Sandakan in Sabah, Borneo.

The surrounding waters are Marine Protected Areas and offer the diver Macro and Wreck dive opportunities as well as passing seasonal Whalesharks (April - June).

The resort has adopted an eco tourism concept and has the same owner/ managers as Sipadan Kapalai Dive Resort in the Celebes Sea, Borneo.

Should anyone wish to join the trip please drop us a line and we'll put you in touch with the resort to book your reservation.

Please visit our Dive Trip Photo Album to see a selection of images from a previous visit.

Should you wish to visit Lankayan Island Resort independently please contact us and we'll provide you with a direct contact at the resort.

I've never really given much consideration to what happens to my toilet waste after i pull the chain. At home of course its treated at dedicated plants and disposed of correctly - but what about when we stay on a beautiful tropical island or stilt resorts over the ocean, where does it go then ?

The truth is in some cases our sewage can be extremely detrimental to our environment, especially within small islands where government treatment plants are not available.

Take for example the situation on Sipadan Island, where ground water became polluted due to untreated wastewater, sewage seeped out to the sea and polluted the surrounding ocean.

Forward thinking Kapalai Dive Resort and Lankayan Island Resort in Sabah Borneo both use the Hydroponics system to treat all sewage and wastewater before it is discharged to the open sea.

The waste is pumped through several large containers containing plants and ozone which filter the bacteria and harmful microorganisms and purify the water. At the same time plants absorb their required nutrients and enrich the water with O2.

This responsible method of treatment not only produces clean water that can be re-used but also irrigates the resort plant nursery and so saves on water consumption.

The initial set up cost for such treatment systems is fairly expensive and every year they must be maintained - this is perhaps why other resorts are not adopting the same concept.

However with growing environmental awareness we as guests should support resorts that genuinely adhere to responsible sewage and waste disposal practices. They may be slightly more expensive than others in the area but in our opinion this is for good reason. Sadly we have witnessed how some budget resorts save money and its the environment that pays the ultimate price.

We will certainly be voting with our feet and support places that we feel make efforts to not only protect their surrounding environment but also not harm it.

To our knowledge the only two resorts to use this in Sabah are those mentioned above.

Featured in this months Australian Sport Diving Magazine is our Mating Mandarinfish article - Spawning Splendidus.

Images within the piece show how these beautifully stunning little creatures mate and how we as mere mortals can visit and photograph their delightful habits.

You can subscribe to the magazine online and/or read the article at http://www.divetheblue.net.

Why are the people of Japan burying their heads in the sand over their countries whaling practices?

Through travel we meet many Japanese people and from our experience they are kind hearted. Why then are they standing by or in some cases applauding their government's decision to send a fleet of whaling boats to sea today intent on slaying and processing more than 1,000 whales, 50 of which are the protected and threatened Humpback.

Whalers claim they are continuing a tradition however when the practice began in the 1700's it was only a few family owned businesses with handheld harpoons that went out to coastal waters and bought back small numbers of whales, not factory fleets going as far afield as the Antarctic pulling in more then 1,000 each a year.

Japan is trying to encourage the younger generation to eat whale meat from the 400 or so animals caught every year through so called "scientific research".

What consumers are not told is that the blubber of dead whales in some areas is so highly contaminated with organochlorines such as PCBs and pesticides that it would be classified as toxic waste! Organochlorines are known to damage development of children and affect reproduction.

It is suggested that most people of Japan are not interested in eating whale meat, if so surely in a so called democratic country if they spoke out against their governments whaling practices and refused to eat the meat the whalers and government would have no choice but listen and the rest of the world would think better of the country and its people.

The brave men and women of Greenpeace are following the fleet that departed today with the sole objective to stop as many whales as possible from being slaughtered.

Please visit their website and follow the expedition to the Southern Ocean.

Since our last post requesting information on a species of octopus found whilst diving in the Celebes Sea we have received a number of emails with possible sightings of this delightful critter.

Most we have been able to identify as different species such as the Poison Ocellate Octopus Octopus mototi, recently sent in by Roan Stoel.

However and image by Jeff Guzman appears to bear similarities.

Notice the blue false eye ring (ocellus) on the mantel and the appendage centered between the eyes.






Although many have a pair of false eye spots, to date we have been unable to find a species bearing the appendage.

I would imagine this animal is fairly abundant within this region but finding and documenting them it difficult due to their small size, shyness and particularly cryptic behavior.

At the very least we can confirm distribution to be North Borneo and neighboring parts of the Philippines !

If anyone has any further information to add please drop us a line.

For more images and information please visit our Marine Biology Octopus section.

Conservation efforts by the staff and management of Kapalai Dive Resort continue with the construction of artificial reef systems located in front of the dive station.

Adding to an already established collection of small wrecks the recently sunken boats and purpose built wooden constructions will in time become part of the natural environment providing shelter, protection and food for surrounding marine life.

With worldwide coral reefs in decline space comes at a premium.

An artificial reef system creates its own biomass where coral polyps develop and cover the steel and wooden debris, thus providing extra room for species to develop.






Wildlife concentrates on these reefs and in many cases enhances the development of rare species.

To name but a few Kapalia's artificial house reef is already home to Painted and Clown Frogfish, Harlequin Ghostpipefish, Giant Grouper, Butterfly and Angelfish, various members of the Scorpionfish family and the endangered Bumphead Parrotfish.

The resorts vision in creating this new habitat is, in our opinion to be commented.

Not only will it ease human pressure by divers on natural reefs in the area, it also provides another attraction should Sipadan be privatised or off limits to divers for an amount of time in the future.

Kapalai's House Reef is located a giant stride from the Dive Center

Please visit our Sipadan Kapalai Dive Resort section for more information and images of the area. Should you wish to book a trip contact us and we'll put you directly in touch with the resort.

Kota Kinabalu once again played host to British Army Adventure Training this September.

Open Water, Advanced Open Water, Rescue and Speciality Courses were completed throughout an eight day program in the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park, with an additional day White Water Rafting on the Padas River.

Thanks to Ben and Maria who, whilst on their Digital Photography Course mananged to snap some pictures of the group and a few underwater critters.

The Tunku Abdul Rahman Park provides an ideal location for Team Building and Corporate Exercises such as this with year round diving in tropical coral reef waters just minutes from the city and overlooked by Mt Kinabalu.

It was our pleasure to organize and conduct the trip for the group and look forward to the next time !

Please visit our Dive Trip Photo Album to see a selection of images from the event.

For more information on tailored group and corporate events please contact us directly.

We're pleased to announce a trip to Lankayan Island Resort from 8th - 13th December 2007 (6 nights). Having never previously visited the resort we're looking forward to exploring above and below the island.

Reputed for its natural beauty and tranquility the resort is located in the Sulu Sea and accessed via speedboat from Sandakan in Sabah, Borneo.

The surrounding waters are Marine Protected Areas and offer the diver Macro and Wreck dive opportunities as well as passing seasonal Whalesharks.

The resort has adopted an eco tourism concept and has the same owner/ managers as Sipadan Kapalai Dive Resort in the Celebes Sea, Borneo.

Should anyone wish to join the trip please drop us a line and we'll put you in touch with the resort to book your reservation.

Please visit our Dive Trip Photo Album to see a selection of images from previous trips to other locations.

Should you wish to visit Lankayan Island Resort independently please contact us and we'll provide you with a direct contact at the resort.