Diving at Layang Layang

From my first dive here a week ago from the moment the
surface of the sea moved up my mask and was left
behind above my head, and my ears adjusted to the
sounds of bubbles and breathing, I knew I was in for a
treat! I was about a meter under water when I gazed
around to see the other divers spaced out below me,
some already at 30m, floating effortlessly emmitting a
stream of bubbles. Then my gaze past them to land on
the reef which went on and on. I could see about 40m
horizontally but it felt like a could see to infinity!
I was whooping and shouting "YES" as I descended,
having to clear my mask because I was smiling so much.
I summersaulted and span with excitement as I made my
way down to 40m. It was great!
The reef really was in pristine condition - absolutely
beautiful. The rolling hills of staghorn coral were
coved in blankets of small fish rising up and down in
their schools, occasionally chased by bigger jacks or
tuna. The white tip sharks and the grey reef sharks
swam effortlessly by with that relaxed movement of
their tails, totally unconcerned at our presence. The
hammer heads were a little more shy but would put in
the occasional apperance. The leopard sharks slept
lazily on sandy patches. Schools of baracuda and jacks
spiraled forming walls of silver while the large
napolean wrasse cruised by slow and steady. The morays
hid in their holes in the coral only occasionally
smimming free past the giant clams and miriad of soft
and hard corals. The titan and yellow margin trigger
fish were nesting and so were to be avoided if you
wanted a peaceful dive, never mind the sharks these
things go for you! The humphead parrot fish were big
and would come and take the odd look at you while the
turtles just wanted to eat more coral. Somethings I've
never experienced before which were pretty nice to see
were the HUGE tuna we saw when we had some current.
These guys were as big a me! I also saw my first shark
on a night dive - that was great! Almost immeidiately
afterwards a couple of cuttlefish came to check us out
and that's always a wonderful thing to see! There were
nudibranchs, spanish dancers, lobsters, shrimp, clown
fish, emperor angel fish, file fish, fire gobis, big
eye fish, lion fish, more fish and lots more fish!
The sea dropped down to 2000m off the atoll and the
water was so blue it was almost unreal. All in all a
top spot to go diving!

Oh yes, I got 5 meals a day, didn't have to set up my
diving gear, had a air-con room with TV, fridge, hot
water and all that and there was a pool too.

Now don't say I don't tell you good places to go
diving!!! ;-)

Well, I can't hang around here - think I'll go to
Sipidan.

Have FUN

MARK
THE DIVEMASTER