My Thoughts @ My Feeling @ My Day: Dayang Trip - 18/07/08

Seems that going for diving trip is our annual affair and would always be in Jul, the month which we got togther 3 yrs back. Its like a celebration for our annual anniversary. Last yr we went to Tioman and this yr, its to Dayang. The trip was from 18/07 - 20/07. Took the day off on fri so that i dont need to rush down to Blue Reef after work.

While at Blue Reef, we saw Aree!!! First met her abt a yr ago at my house, where i held a gathering for Blue Reef divers. Didnt expect to see her on the trip! She is with a colleague, Han Loong. Jon also joined us for the trip. It was a huge grp this time round. Altogether 41 of us. First time ever for me. Normally for the trips that me and Law went on, its always lesser 20 pax... The trip start off at 8pm, but we were trapped in the jam ad the causeway for abt an hr. Halfway, we stopped at project (petrol station) in JB for supper. As me and Law hasnt eaten our dinner, we were like hungry ghost, downing cup noodles and biscuits..lol. On this trip Ashar (the boss of Blue Reef and also a dive instructor) brought a video cam along and started to film the journey.

Reached Merlsing at almost 1am. This time round, we went on dive boat; Princess. The journey there was rather choppy. Quite a number of ppl on board were sea sick. For me, i still find that its bearable. Actually due to the rocking, its quite nice to sleep :P Reached Dayang at 6am. The diving was quite normal, but what makes the trip fun is the company and also something special that happened during the 3rd dive (on sat). Shall let the photos do the talking :)

Ah dear and Jon

Dayang
Our dive boat; Princess

I loved this pic..give me a very peaceful and calm feeling

The hut in the pic is where me and Law's first adventure happened. Its 3 yrs back in Jul 2005 where we joined my cousin Candice and group for a snorkeling trip with Blue Reef (at that pt in time, we dun have the licence to dive, thus we went snorkeling while the rest are diving below us..) We snorkelled to the shore and climb to the hut. It may seems to be quite low, but its actually quite hard to climb as there is no proper path and cos we were wet, the rocks became very slippery. We only managed to stay in the hut for a couple of mins when the sky turned dark and a storm was approaching. Being our naive self, our only thought was to quickly descend and swim back to the boat. The distant between the shore and the boat seems near, but in actual fact its quite far. The water became extremely choppy and current very strong. Luckily half way through the swim, another pair of divers saw us and "rescued" us. They gave us a float to hold on to while inflating the Sauage (a float that is used to attract the attention of the dive boat). The dive boat then saw us and came to rescue us. Thinking back, if not for the pair of divers,..me and Law might not make it back to the dive boat. It seems very dangerous..but it was really a great experience!! Haa..

Because of the story of the hut, Law chose this particular dive site to propose...underwater. :) All the dive masters, dive instructors and even Jon, Aree and Han Loong (except me) knew what Law is going to do!! I was totally shocked when Law lead me to to the middle of the enclosed group (surrounded by the open water students and leisure divers). I knew something was wrong the moment i saw Ashar there and asked us to kneel infront of the rest of the divers (as we need to be stationary, kneeling is the best way to do it). After that, Law held up some A4 size flash cards with wordings on it and i am to read it...after that our 2 dive master (err,,cant really see who was it, as i was still in the state of shocked) held out a banner some distant back and its read, "Jacey, Would you marry me, Lawery" (Jacey and Lawery is our nick in the dive forum)....haa...i was speechless at that pt of time (minus away the fact that i cant speak underwater with the regulator in my mouth..haha). Just then , Law took out a slate and wrote " YES??" which of cos i replied yes.. :). After that, Law signalled to the rest of the divers that i said yes and Ashar brought out a bouquet of roses!! Haha its flake white roses (12 of them) but they were gogerous!!! Law was so excited that he forgot to give me the ring! Haa.. Ashar has to "remind" him to take out the ring...duhz...it came in a a wooden treasure box. After the whole cermony, the dive instructors and master hit their tanks with their dive points (which gave out ting ting sound) as a form of clapping.

I didnt have a cue whats going to happen in the next few mins.

Some of my witnesses (open water students holding on to a line to help them remain stationary)

It was really a very present suprise! After the dive, i tot that it would be the end of excitment for the trip..but then after dinner, i was in for another suprise! We were asked to stand infront of everyone for a Q & A session...faint... (like how we met, when we started dating etc...) Facing everyone underwater (where its a bit blur with the bubbles and trying hard to remain stationary - note that when u r excited, u tends to breath in more when underwater, and when u breath in more, u tends to float..thus its a challeng to remain stationary on the sea bed!) is very different when facing everyone straight, eye to eye and very clearly!!! Haha..was so embarassed by that...After the Q & A, its the cake cutting session. Law knew abt this too...But i am very very curious..Law is the type of person who is scare of crowds...he would rather be killd then to ask him to cut his birthday cake infront of his frens...but cutting cake infront of 41 ppl!!! I just dun get it..how on earth did he agree to do that...lol

Now thats that...More photos of Dayang: