Alas, heading home

This was definitely the best vacation yet. I did a bit of everything: trekking with a little hiking, seeing animals and birds that I have never seen before, staying in some of the oldest and best preserved rainforest in the world, getting great shots with the Canon 100-400mm lens, riding along the Kinabatangan River and seeing animals day and night, scuba diving in the South Pacific, and getting pampered in the Pacific Club at the Pacific Sutera Hotel.

I've learned what it's like to trek in 100% humidity. Fortunately there aren't so many mosquitos in the primary forest because they have many predators - insects and bats. I've learned to start spotting animals in the wild on our walks around Abai Jungle Lodge and MY nature resort where we took self let tours on the boardwalk there. I've learned how amazing it is to swim under a cool waterfall at the end of a hike. I've learned to spot nudibranches amongst the Borneo colorful corals.

Where to next?

Dive day 3

Our third done day started out pretty clear but then the storm clouds rolled in and stirred up the air and the water. We were still able to do all 3 dives but the visibility was poor during the second 2. In fact it was so dark that I had my flashlight on and it started to feel like a night dive. That may be why we saw so many cuttlefish since they were probably thinking the same thing. I also saw a sleeping burrfish, a founder and a baby Moray eel.  Dive 1 at Coral gardens, dive 2 at landslide and dive 3 at Padang point.

Mangosteen is in season!

2.2 kilos for $15!

Diving day 2

We woke up to a storm this morning with the island covered in clouds and heavy rain. We thought our dive day would be cancelled. However, the rain slowed over the morning hours and we were able to do all 3 dives.

I rented an underwater camera for the day - canon G15 - and took some great shots.

Dive 1 - Gaya Gardens - I was getting used to the camera and took a lot of background/coral shots as well as random fish pictures. Not sure if I missed any cool fish sightings.

Dive 2 - Pyramids - we started off by seeing a black tipped shark! and then a huge lobster, cuttlefish, stingray, and a burrfish, and a school of barracudas

Dive 3 - Ron's Reef - best dive yet! We saw cuttlefish, a stingray, lots of lionfish (in their proper habitat!), burrfish, batfish, black spotted pufferfish, porcupine fish, and a seahorse!! I'm so happy.