Tioman, Malaysia

this is a first time that i've visited tioman island, malaysia - i visited there for my padi open water course. i'm primarily a land-based photographer, that's why there are much more land shots than u/w shots. the full gallery is up at http://sehsuan.clubsnap.org/padi... and here are the photos...

A road shot of Mersing

THE resort at Salang Indah, too bad we weren't staying there

The local kids

Nice blue sea

Getting our equipment on Day 1 at Tioman

Babewatch anyone? Oops, Baywatch, anyone...

How tired some people can become after the first dive...

Construction ongoing! BAHAYA!

Shot of local scenery

Picture for postcard, anyone?

My maiden open water shot! :rbounce:

Instructor assisting a diver with equalizing problems

Feeding the fish

Submission to Singapore Geographic, anyone?

My best underwater shot. Too bad the mask reflected the light from the flash...

Yours Sincerely, a newbie PADI O.W.D. What's that sea urchin doing on my scalp?!?!

Learning basic navigation on-land before in water

Small boy

One of our Divemasters, Guz

Our Dive Instructor, Akil

Our best buddy in the water

The Hunk... with Two-Toned Tan, worth only 50 cents?

My best friend for this entire Tioman shoot

What can you find by accident in a Malaysian resort?

Two happy girls, all packed up and ready to head home

Anyhow "whacking", reading the dive tables

Yours Sincerely, on land

Look at the Sky! The Sand! The Sea!...

Fantastically clear waters

Guz, in a pose

What are we looking at?

Satisfied with the dive

Apologies for making this a massive download for the folks on dial-up, but i guess i would like to share some pics around...

Feeding fish & man-handling....Ooh dear.

oopsie!

apologies folks, but is there any place where i could read up on divers' ettiques?

Yeah, there's a book called 'personal conscience' I saw somewhere. Try giving that a good read, if you can find it.

Hey, hey be nice. They did say they just got certified and were probably following the example of others during their course.

I think they were being humble in asking for direction.

thank you yahsemtough, for standing up for me. i see no point in further replying to markh's apparent flare-up (at least from his words). i just logged in, only to see a point-blank reply that wasn't in the least helpful.

everyone has a personal conscience - me too. but i have no prior knowledge of the "laws of the diver". perhaps i didn't make it clear enough, my group (and i) were having the dive in tioman as the open water dives leading to our OWD certification. in other words, this is our first time diving with tanks in the sea. we have no idea what we can do, and what we can't do - hence the boo-boo.

frankly, the starfish was handed to the girl by our asst dive instructor while we were on our leisure dive - i wouldn't want to touch anything underwater myself too - gosh, i can remember how slimy the sea cucumber was when the asst dive instructor gestured for me to touch it... eeelch! he later explained that he wanted us to have an idea of what we can touch or what we can't touch underwater...

as for the bread bottle that was brought down, we received no objection from our instructors apart from safety. as for this, i didn't know it's a no-no.

seriously, can any one point me to some site that has diving ettiques? it would be helpful and i could disseminate the information with my other coursemates to prevent them from doing anything like that in the future.

Don't feel too bad!

Everyone has got their own opinions about diving etiquette, and we could debate it all day long about them on these forums. I would pick up a starfish without thinking twice about it, unless I was somewhere where touching was explicitly forbidden. I would also pick up sea cucumbers to look for the little crabs that live in their behinds. I like to swim with dolphins -- and touch them. Where do you draw the line? You'll have to decide yourself, and you should be ok with whatever you decide. Don't take harsh criticism on this subject too seriously, and as long as you follow specific rules wherever you are diving, you'll be fine.

Sehsuan, don't take it personally. I know the sitaution you were in. I have taught many OW divers in the past & you get caught up in the whole newbie thing. Blame the Instructor!

I was just seeing how far I could push you. Call it a fresher experience.

Welcome to the underwater world and we look forward to seeing plenty more pics. Don't let my British form of wit put you off.

Mark

That's more like it. I wouldn't want this forum to turn into another rec.scuba

Sehsuan, As you become more experienced you'll come to realize the best dives you can do are when you and your buddy are off doing your own thing. Group dives to me are a real drag. The reason it's nice to be on your own is you can find a nice place to hang out and really watch things happen. It's amazing what you can see when you really take the time to relax and blend in. Also, as you become more experienced you will be less inclined to touch anything because you'll realize that you'll actually see less. That is because when you pick things up, it tends to disrupt the "peace" (don't know any other way to describe it) in that area and everything will be scared and hiding for a while. Congrats on joining the team and starting your liftime full of spending money.

Here's all you need to know about U/W etiquette:

"Take only pictures, leave only bubbles, and don't touch anything"

As for U/W photographer etiquette, there's a lot more to it. Perhaps we should have a separate thread??

I am against having a thread about u/w etiquette -- it may cause tension between users.

I'm not convinced that there are universally accepted rules of conduct, anyway.

I've got to agree that there doesn't seem to be any common set of rules that everyone follows, only very strong opinions from everyone...

I think "Do no harm" is a just fine rule to live by.

Cheers

James

Damn, I'm going to agree with James on this one.

Do no harm is a great one to live by. The key being that you certainly need to know whether you are doing harm or not. It may require a little research. If unsure touch nothing.

I think really, why do you need to touch anything.

If it swims up to you and is rubbing you to be pet then I think you are fine. If it does not why not admire it with out disturbing the natural flow (as was also said before). When you go to a gallery they do not allow you to touch the paintings yet, I do not believe it takes away from the enjoyment it may enhance the experience.

Take pictures and leave bubbles as Rob has said. Then you do not have to worry about what the local laws are. I am quite sure you are always going to be on the lawful side by not touching.

I also have noted most places now stress bouyancy control and no touching to preserve the environment for others. I believe they have seen the benefits as a result.

Just my thoughts for you. Thanks Mark, the beatings will now cease.

...

 

I think really, why do you need to touch anything.

 

If it swims up to you and is rubbing you to be pet then I think you are fine.

 

...

I believe if a creature does this, it's likely that its behavior has already been effected.

The answer to the other question is that some creatures may never be seen without some kind of interaction. That's not necessarily the same as touching but what's the difference really? I don't touch with my hands but do carry a pointer. I'd also mention that some creatures, like mantis shrimp, have distinct personalities and can even be mischievious and demanding of attention. You definitely don't want to touch those.

On the other end of the argument, how is careful manipulation worse than beating a leaffish up with the framer on your Nikonos? For that matter, the camera lens itself can be stressful, particularly when a critter sees its own reflection. I fail to see how nudging a critter to point its head in the right direction is more harmful than shoving a gigantic port a few inches from it and firing off some blinding strobes.

The fact is, we photographers stress out creatures in the environment frequently. They live continuously in survival mode and will cope if we are thoughtful and careful about it.

I think James' simple rule works nicely.