| The scuba diving trip to Pulau Jarak was cancelled because we couldn’t
get a good boat to the destination. We decided to scuba dive at Pulau Sembilan
instead. The change in the itinerary wasn’t a bad decision. Eleven scuba
divers joined the most educational trip to the underwater world. We departed
from the International Yacht Club in Lumut at 9.30 am that Saturday. The
ride to the Sembilan Islands was most exhilarating with Johnny’s Mercury
225 hp speed boat.
By 10.00 am we reached Pulau Nipis (one of the islands of Pulau Sembilan).
We made our first dive of the day there. Our next 2 dive sites were at
Pulau Rumbia and Pulau Buluh. Visibility between the islands ranges from
6.6m (22ft) to 8.5m (28ft) while the depth ranges from 12m (40ft) to 21m
(70ft). The bottom water temperature was a constant 30oC while the bottom
sediment was generally muddy and sandy.
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(Photo by Ramli Mohd Osman) |
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The sea of Pulau Sembilan has a fair share of marine life. These include the table corals, brain corals, soft corals, tentacle corals (whip corals), fern corals, orange daisy corals, and lots of coral scallops. Among the fishes are the parrot fishes, angel fishes, puffer fishes, box fishes, porcupine fishes, lion fishes and schools of damsel fishes. At the stony areas one could see some nudibranches. What interest me most are the groupers and snappers that hide among the crevices and overhangs, whereas the barracudas were spotted in the open water. |