Dive ~ me ~ nuts: November 2013

From Singapore to Kuala Lumpur 0n 14 November 2013

Took an evening Firefly flight to Kuala Lumpur to stay one night at Puchong Setiawalk before catching the morning flight to Banda Aceh though, with the long taxi queue at Subang airport and traffic jam, finally had my dinner just below the hotel at 8.30 pm.

I was surprised to be in such an interesting place at Setiawalk. A long stretch of bars and restaurants, Japanese, Korean, European and local food along a good stretch of pond in the middle. The environment seems pleasant and relaxed. The bars offer promotions at an incredible price for beer towers and mugs. There are one or two boutiques for ladies who like to shop. I settled at "Muzeum" to listen to live Mandarin songs, this kind of entertainment I have not come across in Singapore. So I had two pints of Kilkeny before bedtime.

Think I was confused with too many air tickets, made a stupid mistake by going to KLIA instead of LCCT. Fortunately, there was no morning traffic and not too late to check in on time.

Banda Aceh on 15 November 2013

Me riding a Becak

Finally reach Sultan Iskandar Muda Airport at Banda Aceh at 1050 am (local time) , took a becak for IDR120000 to Uleu Ule and as expected, the 1400 hrs ferry was cancelled and the next ferry was 1600 hrs for a Friday. I walked around and found a driver/guide who brought me for a short tour instead of wasting time sitting at the pier. He offered the price of IDR100,000 which I think was reasonable for a private tour. We went to a couple of Tsunami memorial sites and took some pictures.

Cemetery of Tsunami victims

Pulau Weh

Entrance to Iboih Beach

I arrived Balohan port at about 1715 hrs and took a becak (IDR60,000) to Iboih beach. The long, cool and bumpy journey lasted 50 minutes. From this experience, I would not advise ladies taking becak all the way to the beaches. When I arrived at Iboih village, I had to carry my 16 kg trolley bag + 7 kg photography equipment and regulator set all the way to Erick's bungalow just about 100 metres from the entrance of village. Fortunately, a staff from Rubiah Divers came by to help. Along the whole stretch are full of steps... your leg muscles really got hit after few days of climbing up and down.

Erick's Green House sea-front bungalow

I went up to the third floor at Erick's Green House, said hello to Erick, a friendly owner and stayed for two nights at a room without attached bathroom. There were too many movements of toilet goers just next to my room and noise that I could not have a good sleep, the terrace have frequent visitors and a meeting place for the friendly folks, I managed to move to a better room @ IDR200,000/night for the next two nights with hot water and balcony facing the sea. It was a beautiful site though I did not have much time during this trip to seriously enjoy the ambience and tranquility.

Rubiah Tirta Divers

I changed into my swim gear, got my equipment ready for night dive and ran to the dive centre. It was disappointing when Iskandar said they were short of dive torch for the guide and there were a group of eight divers already with booking. But so DID I!!! I did not want to take the risk of the guide without a torch even though I had one. So I missed one dive for the first day. I had left with three diving days with the hope of doing at least four dives a day. I ended up with only nine dives doing three dives a day because after the third dive Moon (my guide) and myself were cold and tired. Those wicked currents around full moon really got on us! So I decided to chill out with the guys at Erick's instead. I had a great time.

Had a good shower after a full day of travelling and started to search for a nice restaurant to chill out. I found Olala as it was recommended by some folks on the forum that the food is marvellous but I was not impressed at all instead the prices surprised me. It cost IDR 35,000 (SGD3.70) for a plate of white rice with fried fish and stir-fried vegetables and IDR25,000 (SGD2.70) for a can of Bintang beer. As the lady boss Eka was away, her brother Bob did the cooking ... that was why it fell below standard. For the next few nights, I bought fried rice and french fries from Home High, the restaurant next to Erick's and it tasted home cooked and much cheaper.

Diving

So I started my first diving day on my first morning. Arrived at the dive centre at 0800 hrs to set up my equipment and waited until about 0900 hrs before we set off to the dive site:

Dive Sites: Diving was spectacular and I was not at all disappointed. The visibility was better than I expected. The variety of marine life was rich and rare as it lies between the channel of the Andaman Sea and Indian Ocean, you will find rare critters to pelagics and feel the adrenaline rush diving in wicked currents. I could say it is quite dangerous for an inexperienced diver if he does not know how to handle unpredictable situations in such dive sites with strong currents. It could be upper current which will send you up all the way to the surface or bring you deeper and deeper into the blue and leave you in an out-of-air situation. You could be drifted away from your buddy and left all alone. So ... be very calm, do not panic and always check your depth and deco time.

I had to test my new underwater housing without the camera for fear of leaks as it have not done any pressure check before. On the first dive at Pantee Peunateung, I saw schooling barracudas, schooling Jacks, schooling blue-fin trevallies, black tip reef sharks, honeycomb morays etc... all the wonderful pictures of these creatures and good wide-angle pictures were missed! Sadly enough, I did not see the honeycomb moray or big school of barracudas again.

We start most dives with negative descent and were deep, almost 28 to 30 m in strong and unpredictable currents and you got to watch your dive computer all the time as you drift with the currents which may unconsciously bring you all the way to 65 m. I almost drifted far away during my fourth dive at Batu Tokong. My dive computer was reading 36.5 m. I remain calm as I was all alone in the sea of planktons and thermocline. I inflated and moved upwards to 27 m, banged my tank repeatedly and finally saw my buddy. I was relieved!

The worst currents were on full moon when I dived Batu Tokong for the third time. Moon and myself had to grab and crawl on the corals in order to move up the wall. It was only the beginning of the dive and holding the corals until our air was left 100 psi. While fighting against the currents, schools of fishes swam by. It was a good experience though.

I loved the muck diving at Gapang House Reef as I found my favourite twin leaf scorpionfish, ribbon eel, hermit crab, yellow boxfish, big mantis shrimp and some other common critters. The dive sites were full of orange red anthias, lionfish, angel fish and butterfly fish. Sadly, I could not spot any nudibranch or devil rays. I was regretfully too busy fiddling with my new camera and white balance settings. The underwater volcano experience is unforgettable though, feeling the hot bubbles from the sand with your hands and legs was fun and interesting, it was like having a hot jacuzzi underwater!.

Another interesting part is that you can find many giants diving Pulau Weh, giant porcupine fish, giant morays, giant pufferfish, giant octopus, giant black sweetlips, giant trevallies (Jacks) and many variety of schooling fusiliers. Since it was my first attempt with a new camera, I did missed out a lot sadly. However, I will have to plan to be back again with a strobe at least. The next trip here I will be more ready to take good pictures. Of course, please do not forget my gloves again ... definitely will have to grab the corals.

I did a total of 9 dives, honestly not enough to satisfy my hunger but they were all awesome dives ... no regret though. The least dives I have done in a single trip yet one of my best trip so far.

On the day of departure, I got up at 5 a.m. to pack everything and set off to the village at 6.15 a.m. After waiting for the rest of the guests, we left the village almost 7 a.m. and arrived the port at 7.40 a.m. just on time to board to ferry. The ferry left on time and arrived Uleu Ule at 8.45 a.m. As I got off, I saw Heri, the same driver who will bring me on his becak again for another tour around Banda Aceh Tsunami sites. Went to the Tsunami museum where I could see and understand the lifetime tragedy of the Acehnese. You could feel the enormous grief and emotional turmoil suffered for the loss of lives, homes and shelter. The short video at the auditorium will leave all walking out in tears.

Heri brought me to Lhonga beach with a beautiful panorama and relaxed near the beach resort. Went to another nearby resort and had a beer and a short nap before proceeding to another site. It was a small and quiet place good for small groups or solo travellers for a night's stay before catching the morning flight or ferry. I did not notice the name of this resort, but if you need help, please send an email to Heri Faudi heribulek@gmail.com.

He will be delighted to pick you to and from the airport with a short tour in between. He speaks good English and is an honest man. On my next trip, he will definitely be the one I will call on.

Well, it has been a long but fruitful journey, as it took me one and a half day to get to/fro Pulau Weh and touring the Tsunami hit areas on my birthday, I can conclude that this trip is really worth it and a good birthday present for myself. This is probably not a place many people will want to go to due to its frequent earthquakes and volcano eruption. But Pulau Weh is well protected due to its higher ground. If you are in for adventure, understanding the misfortune of the world and reality of life, this place should be in your bucket list. On my next trip I hope to stay at least 7 to 14 days to explore the island. If I am allowed a long break, taking the Divemaster course will be most ideal on this island.