Diving @ Pulau Dayang (28 Jul to 30 Jul)

Finding the best possible position to have a comfortable sleep on a rackety diving boat late at night whilst on the way to Pulau Dayang is quite a challenge. We left Mersing Jetty around 12 midnight and it would be another 4 and a half hour before we reach our destination. When we finally reached Dayang, it was still quite dark and my fuzzy sleepy mind wasn't in the best of moods.

I had asked my instructor friend if the resort is 5-star, and he retorted it could be 5-STARfish or maybe 5-Sea Urchins... anyway, it was a plain no-frills (not even blankets or towels; toilets/bathroom facilities are communal) quad-sharing bunk. I put aside my urban/Mauritius 5-star Spa resort mentality and slept the next 2-plus hours. It was only for 2 nights... the dive and beach had better be worth it.

In the morning, Dayang revealed itself to be a lovely place, clear turquoise waters with nice soft sand to step on and dig into (like the ones in Mauritius), food was quite good (the enciks fried some nice goreng pisang for tea). The waters were a nice 28 degrees C, and although the dive sites can't be compared to Similans, the viz was still a good 12 to 18m.

I am happy to swim with my first turtle; observed the flickering colour changes on my first reef cuttlefish up close and personal; stayed a distance away from a school of juvenile Barracudas swimming in formation; held a Spanish Dancer which was so comfortable that it refused to leave my glove; tried to feed a Moray Eel with a dead fish.

We did 6 dives altogether and besides the initial problem D and I had with our loaned BCDs (we had to oral-inflate the BCD cos the hose connectors didn't fit the ones on the BCDs), it was still a good experience. A friend of ours was there for his Open Water Training and D buddied him; whilst I was his girlfriend's buddy, who incidentally caused me to put my DM training into practice.

We are going there again this weekend with another group of divers who are doing their Open Water and Rescue Diver trainings. D will be going as DMIT, i.e. Dive Master In Training, while I will be there as a DMIT(a), fewer responsibilities compared to D but would need to put my DM training into some use.

Here's the video of the young turtle (pardon the jerkiness towards the end):