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Parents

Written by Michael Zangerle on . Posted in Malaysia

Our parents left Germany in early May and ended up in Bali, Indonesia. There they enjoyed nine days and made their way to our little paradise.

Finally arrived after hours, they stranded on soft, white beach sun shining in theirs faces. Here they were, on a small wild island, where their kids living for months.

First they had to get used to the asian style non-luxurious version of a bungalow with shower above the toilet. Than they explored the island.

Since we had been three kids now one of us could manage to have off and make their stay special adventurous. Jungle treks or  showing them the underwater world – snorkeling – there was plenty to do. We never imagined, that our mothers Cilli and Rita put their heads under water to look at the colorful fish around theirs legs. They liked it so much that they considered doing a diving course next year. Hahaha, let's see. Who knows?

Father Francis, meanwhile, was not so sure about this snorkel – diving experience. He snorkeled good spirits and had to get used to it.

We did a lot. The first evening was dedicated to Kate's Instructor party. For this, we went to the other side of the island – by water taxi. A delicious buffet and extravagant party was just the start of family vacation.


One of the next days we went to Long Beach to enjoy the best food on the island – Bubus. Everybody was excited. Then we continued the party at Panorama till the early morning hours. Afterwards we went back to grab a water taxi to our island, because Long Beach is on the small island.

Another time we walked through the jungle at night to eat at Tuna Bay. Since the jungle trek was quite humid and exhausting for the elder generation we took the water taxi back in time. Micha stayed a little bit longer.

The last day we took one of our boats and went to a lonely beautiful beach, which we use for confined sessions for diving courses - Tiga Ruang. We splashed in the water and exercised with the snorkel. Hundreds of little fishes swan around our legs and our parents were excited. The beach was only for us.

Back to our usual beach, we made ourselves cozy with cold white wine, nuts and chill out music. In the evening with candles and a cooler full of beer and wine we produced a comfortable atmosphere on the beach under palm trees and a beautiful sky full with stars.

And then the 16 days were already gone. For our parents Zangerle and Schuster it was about time to head back home. The plane was delayed because of storm warnings over the sea. They had to do some detours, but they have landed safely back in Germany.

On the last day Nadine went over to the clinic because she had diarrhea for 6 days. She was given a drip and all is well again. A little rest and listening to audio books with Nici had been the medicine.

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Nici

Written by Michael Zangerle on . Posted in Malaysia

Snorkeltest

After Nici finished her divemaster, she still had to pass the final exam - the snorkeltest.

She got some tasks about diving where she had to use the compass and wheel. At the end of this little treasure hunt she would get a little present buried at the beach.



Between the riddles she had to drink a little mix of monkey juice and sprite – through the snorkel. It was a fair mixture just to have a little fun.

But see for yourself, the photos speak for themselves. It was very funny.


Birthday

Viv and Filip Viv had ordered a large chocolate cake from the mainland for Nici’s birthday. We were very excited and as Nici came back from her second dive, we gave a little surprise party – all of us, the staff from the kitchen, the restaurant, boat and compressor guys and all the divers. She was so surprised she started crying.


The cake tasted for us from as it came out of the oven from heaven. Chocolate cake, something on the island. All were given a piece and after work we carried on celebrating at Long Beach – at the small island.

Even Anke came with us to Long Beach. She has not been there for over 8 years. The food at the Bintang restaurant was delicious and that was the perfect start for a good party.

Then we went into the newly opened tapas bar. Yes, even in the Jungle, there is a great Spanish tapas bar. After we had enough food we went to a cozy beach bar where we ordered a shisha and listended to some chill out music. The evening was long and we had a lot of fun. Convince yourself and check the pictures.

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Trigger Attack

Written by Michael Zangerle on . Posted in Malaysia

After Peter’s first dive ended quite fast with his freeflow regulate, he decided to make a second dive. Since we had no guide registered, I was happy to do the dive with him.

Batu Layar was the dive site we choosed - one of our most beautiful dive sites.
Other colleagues told me already about a crazy triggerfish.

Some triggerfishes - e.g. the titan and the yellowmargin - are very aggressive during the nesting time. You have a funnel-shaped nest. Will you come too close to them, he pops up a trigger on his head as a sign for warning.

The diver should show the fish's fins and dive close to the ground away from the fish. If you are still in his territory he will attack you. As the fish is up to 75 cm large, it is pretty fast and has big teeth, one should be careful. Can be some nasty bites.

Some triggerfishes doesn’t have a nest and feel just annoyed from divers.

And so we went down looking forward to a relaxed dive. When I dived around a rock, I jumped back. Just one arm length away was a titan triggerfish. I first was surprised cause the fish was also puzzled.

Then I saw this change in his eyes and he popped up his trigger. I showed him the fins and tried go back fast, letting air out of my BCD to stay near the ground. But the trigger was totally crazy. He chased me almost one and a half minutes over the reef. My heart was racing and I was massively breathing through the regulator. It felt like breathing through a strew running a marathon.

Again and again he seemed to abandon, but then he changed his mind and chased again after me. After we circled almost the half of the reef he finally let go. But where was Peter? I just wasn’t eager to swim in the direction of the trigger, but there was the place where I lost him. Then I saw a movement in the corner of my eyes.

Just behind me was Peter: O) What a luck. Ha, that was an experience. It took me 10 minutes to regulate my breathing. Luckily I need almost no air, so the sprint still had not so much influence on my air consumption.

The dive was still phenomenal. An eating turtle, a blacktip, that circled us repeatedly, it was just fantastic..

Well that was a successful day - blowing off regulator and aggressive triggerfish.

Three days later at one of our fun dives at Seabell we had another crazy triggerfish – he bit one of our divers. But this is really rare. Last year we had only one case, hopefully this year it stays with this one.

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