Letters from the Equator

Bare velocity 3mm wetsuit
Originally uploaded by jaremfan.

It’s been awhile since I last went scuba diving. I obtained my PADI advanced open water certification last year, and it’s been really fun to go down in the reef.

I remember the first time I went to Pulau Redang in ’89 on a family trip. At the time I was just using a snorkel and mask, but the world under the sea was still really amazing.

It’s really true that you can see a lot more when you do scuba, cos there are generally a lot of sealife that don’t come out for particular reasons. And a lot of sealife that are too small to notice from ten feet away.

Sometimes you have to really have a keen eye to spot a nudibranch or a seahorse. But that’s the fun of it.

In two days time, I will return to the reef… to Pulau Tenggol actually, again. And this time, my cousins from Melawati and their parents will be joining us, so that’ll be cool.

The trip is actually organized by my father-in-law, who has been diving for more than 10 years. He’s the one who actually got me interested in this whole thing.

Our diving trips are always with a bunch of my father-in-law’s diving buddies, so they’re in on this one too. They’re always full of really wacky stories about fishing and old times. Something reassuring to me that you never really grow old.

Anyway, LL and I bought our new wetsuits, since we decided to invest in this hobby. That’s the one in the picture that I got, from Bare.

It’s had some good reviews from dive forums and such, so I’m looking forward to see how it’ll perform in the water.

Scuba diving is really picking up here in Malaysia. It’s since grown as a exotic hobby mostly done by foreigners… but now locals have started picking it up.

It’s quite affordable to dive in South East Asia, which are home to some of the best diving spots in the world.

So, yay.

Anyway, I’ll post an update when I get back.