Totally amazing first week that has flown by because we have not stoppped learning new things-from diving skills and knowledge to identifying fish, corals and other benthic organisms.
That’s not to say all our experiences have been of the studious kind…not at all-loads of new food in a variety of friendly local restaurants, meeting the locals at the shops and at Cabana Bar-imagine a ship wreck on a beach full of funky seating, entertainment and soooo chilled out-the perfect place to end a day’s diving.
I can’t believe how lucky I am to be able to see so much wildlife right here in Tioman-not just on the reefs but outside our rooms-minor birds, squirrels, monitor lizards, beautiful butterflies and birds of paradise, fishing eagles, monkeys not to mention the cute feral cats, mozzies, ants and spiders!
On the reefs we’ve seen turtles-Hawksbill and Green, Black reef tip sharks, Moray eels, Banded Sea Kraits, Trigger fish, Scorpion fish and loads of other reef fish.
But what am I like-I’ve forgotten the folks!
Here are 6 volunteers on this, the 7th expedition for Blue Ventures in Malaysia: 3 Brits, a Belgian, a Malaysian and an American-3 boys, 3 girls.
We live in the long houses 30m from the sea in traditional wooden houses. We are rubbing along fine together-and the residents seem to be friendly-just kidding they’re great and have made us feel very welcome.
I’m looking forward t next week as we start surveying the reefs properly-for bleaching as the water temp is 30 degrees!!!
