Adventure Training for 7 Flight

This June we were very pleased to welcome back our old friends from 7 flight on a 1 Day Adventure Training Program.

Joining us for Scuba Diving, Discover Scuba and Snorkelling within the TAR park, it was a very busy day and great fun was had by all.

We hope to see them again as there's never a dull moment !!!

It was our pleasure to organize and conduct the day for the group and look forward to the next time !

The Tunku Abdul Rahman Park provides an ideal location for Teambuilding and Corporate Exercises such as this with year round diving in tropical coral reef waters just minutes from the city and overlooked by Mt Kinabalu.

For more information on tailored group A.T and corporate events please contact us directly or view our dedicated website section Corporate Events, Team Building and Adventure Training.

Adventure Training for 7 Flight

This June we were very pleased to welcome back our old friends from 7 flight on a 1 Day Adventure Training Program.

Joining us for Scuba Diving, Discover Scuba and Snorkelling within the TAR park, it was a very busy day and great fun was had by all.

We hope to see them again as there's never a dull moment !!!

It was our pleasure to organize and conduct the day for the group and look forward to the next time !

The Tunku Abdul Rahman Park provides an ideal location for Teambuilding and Corporate Exercises such as this with year round diving in tropical coral reef waters just minutes from the city and overlooked by Mt Kinabalu.

For more information on tailored group A.T and corporate events please contact us directly or view our dedicated website section Corporate Events, Team Building and Adventure Training.

Blue Ring Octopus in Tunku Abdul Rahman Park

Well ... we've had a very busy time of it of late and as a result our news and events page has been a little neglected !

Throughout the next few weeks we'll update this section with all our exciting news including pictures of our new Dive Station and Offices plus our recent Adventure Training Activities !!

Meanwhile, we must share the news of a rare sighting within the surrounding waters of the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park.

Whilst conducting a Deep Dive as part of a PADI Advanced Course, having completed the required skills at 30m we began our assent along the sandy bottom towards the sloping reef.

The current was actually pretty strong but manageable, with all four divers finning fairly hard, when all of sudden a small movement on the rubble seabed caught my eye. Edging towards it for a closer look i recognised the unmistakable blue rings that decorate the body and legs of the Blue Ring Octopus Hapalochlaena sp. I beckoned over my students, they could see by my excitement that this little creature was of special interest. I pointed and screamed through my regulator, by now the current had picked up as we neared the reef slope and our bubbles were trailing horizontally in the water column. We all finned furiously to maintain our position to see the little critter, who just perched on a small piece of coral rubble, no doubt wondering what all the commotion was about !

Although Blue Ring Octopuses are seen with some what regularity in the region of Kapalai in the Celebes Sea, this is the first time any of us have encountered one within the TAR Park in the South China Sea. Some of our instructors have been working here for 10 + years with no sightings so i feel very privaliged and excitied to have come across such a highly prized and beautiful creature in my back yard !!

For more information on this interesting an venomous creature please visit our dedicated Octopus and Squid Marine Biology Section.

For Diving within the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park please visit our Daily Dive Package section.

Blue Ring Octopus in Tunku Abdul Rahman Park

Well ... we've had a very busy time of it of late and as a result our news and events page has been a little neglected !

Throughout the next few weeks we'll update this section with all our exciting news including pictures of our new Dive Station and Offices plus our recent Adventure Training Activities !!

Meanwhile, we must share the news of a rare sighting within the surrounding waters of the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park.

Whilst conducting a Deep Dive as part of a PADI Advanced Course, having completed the required skills at 30m we began our assent along the sandy bottom towards the sloping reef.

The current was actually pretty strong but manageable, with all four divers finning fairly hard, when all of sudden a small movement on the rubble seabed caught my eye. Edging towards it for a closer look i recognised the unmistakable blue rings that decorate the body and legs of the Blue Ring Octopus Hapalochlaena sp. I beckoned over my students, they could see by my excitement that this little creature was of special interest. I pointed and screamed through my regulator, by now the current had picked up as we neared the reef slope and our bubbles were trailing horizontally in the water column. We all finned furiously to maintain our position to see the little critter, who just perched on a small piece of coral rubble, no doubt wondering what all the commotion was about !

Although Blue Ring Octopuses are seen with some what regularity in the region of Kapalai in the Celebes Sea, this is the first time any of us have encountered one within the TAR Park in the South China Sea. Some of our instructors have been working here for 10 + years with no sightings so i feel very privaliged and excitied to have come across such a highly prized and beautiful creature in my back yard !!

For more information on this interesting an venomous creature please visit our dedicated Octopus and Squid Marine Biology Section.

For Diving within the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park please visit our Daily Dive Package section.

Leopard Sharks, Black Tips a Whaleshark and a Giant Manta on Lankayan.

We are currently on Lankayan Island in the Sulu Sea, Malaysian Borneo and feel we just have to share some of our sightings as the diving is just incredible at the moment !!!

Octopus are mating, Black Tip Reef Sharks are circling, Leopard Sharks are in abundance, yesterday our boat saw a Whaleshark and today a Giant Manta !!

Downbelow's Local Manager Evelyn with a Leopard Shark
Photographed by Richard

All this along with the usual suspects Nudibranchs, Giant Jawfish, Leaf Scorpionfish, Seahorses all kinds of Crustaceans .... and the list goes on !!!

We must now dash as we're off for a night dive.

Images of the trip and results of the photo competition will be posted upon our return to Kota Kinabalu next week.

For more info on Lankayan Island with booking info please visit Lankayan Island section

Leopard Sharks, Black Tips a Whaleshark and a Giant Manta on Lankayan.

We are currently on Lankayan Island in the Sulu Sea, Malaysian Borneo and feel we just have to share some of our sightings as the diving is just incredible at the moment !!!

Octopus are mating, Black Tip Reef Sharks are circling, Leopard Sharks are in abundance, yesterday our boat saw a Whaleshark and today a Giant Manta !!

Downbelow's Local Manager Evelyn with a Leopard Shark
Photographed by Richard

All this along with the usual suspects Nudibranchs, Giant Jawfish, Leaf Scorpionfish, Seahorses all kinds of Crustaceans .... and the list goes on !!!

We must now dash as we're off for a night dive.

Images of the trip and results of the photo competition will be posted upon our return to Kota Kinabalu next week.

For more info on Lankayan Island with booking info please visit Lankayan Island section

Entangled Fishing Net in Tunku Abdul Rahman Park

The PADI Open Water Diver Course teaches us that a dive knife can be a useful tool to carry when diving but in many cases we forget to keep one with us, i recently found myself in this very position.

On a dive at Sulug Island in the TAR Park, Kota Kinabalu such a tool would have been very useful and i for one learned a valuable lesson in remembering to pack this rarely used tool.

We discovered an abandoned 10m long fishing net tangled among the corals, posing real danger for the surrounding marine life which includes the endangered Hawksbill and Green Turtles.

Various crustaceans had already perished after becoming entangled which attracted other animals to feed on the remains, putting them in danger also.

After 20 minutes we managed to free one Lobster - had we been carrying a knife the process would have been much quicker, suffice to say the creature survived.



Fortunately we were able to revisit the dive site the following day with a cutting tool and after an hour of hard work remove the net from the reef and dispose of it safely on land.

In many cases it is better to just cut up the net and leave it in place because more damage can be done to the delicate corals when trying to remove it. So long as marine life cannot become entangled in the net then it can remain in place causing little harm.

Questions as to why anyone was fishing within this National Park is for another discussion but the lesson learned here is as divers carrying a dive knife can be very useful because sadly from time to time we do encounter disregarded fishing nets that pose hazards for marine and human life.

Thanks to Spencer Steadman for the images and his patience and assistance during the dive.

For more information on the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park, please read our dedicated pages.

Entangled Fishing Net in Tunku Abdul Rahman Park

The PADI Open Water Diver Course teaches us that a dive knife can be a useful tool to carry when diving but in many cases we forget to keep one with us, i recently found myself in this very position.

On a dive at Sulug Island in the TAR Park, Kota Kinabalu such a tool would have been very useful and i for one learned a valuable lesson in remembering to pack this rarely used tool.

We discovered an abandoned 10m long fishing net tangled among the corals, posing real danger for the surrounding marine life which includes the endangered Hawksbill and Green Turtles.

Various crustaceans had already perished after becoming entangled which attracted other animals to feed on the remains, putting them in danger also.

After 20 minutes we managed to free one Lobster - had we been carrying a knife the process would have been much quicker, suffice to say the creature survived.



Fortunately we were able to revisit the dive site the following day with a cutting tool and after an hour of hard work remove the net from the reef and dispose of it safely on land.

In many cases it is better to just cut up the net and leave it in place because more damage can be done to the delicate corals when trying to remove it. So long as marine life cannot become entangled in the net then it can remain in place causing little harm.

Questions as to why anyone was fishing within this National Park is for another discussion but the lesson learned here is as divers carrying a dive knife can be very useful because sadly from time to time we do encounter disregarded fishing nets that pose hazards for marine and human life.

Thanks to Spencer Steadman for the images and his patience and assistance during the dive.

For more information on the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park, please read our dedicated pages.

Whales Revenge - an anti whaling petition.

A web-site has been created to host a petition against "Whaling for Scientific Research"

Every year thousands of precious mammals are slaughtered in the name of so-called 'scientific research'. Add your voice by signing this campaign then forwarding it everyone you know. They hope to obtain 1 Millions names on the list and they've almost achieved this ambitious target.

Please help to stop the killing.



www.whalesrevenge.com