Dive No. 28

My 2nd dive of 2008 Merdeka day at Paku Kecil, Redang. I haven't logged dives online for a long time, but this one I just have to. Jellyfish!

It wasn't till 10 minutes into the dive when I came across the first jellyfish. I admired it a little and swam along. Soon after, a few more started showing up around the reef. Had to push my dive guide down a little because he was about to put his head right into the tentacles of a jellyfish floating right above him. *phew*

Before even realizing it, we were surrounded by jellyfish. Forget many... it was an entire armada. Apparently it's jellyfish season over there... mainly because of the lack of underwater currents. Can't say I wasn't warned, but I only had time for 2 dives and I really didn't want to waste the opportunity.

For the record, the field of jellyfish in Pixar's Finding Nemo wasn't accurately represented. After watching the cartoon, I thought that jelly fish all swam in one direction, with their heads upright... kind of like mushrooms. Well, the jellyfish armada I had the misfortune of swimming through seemed to be heading in multiple directions, with tentacles stringing all over the place.

Suffice to say, it was impossible to pay attention to anything other than avoiding jellyfish. I was beginning to think that it would take a miracle to complete the dive without either of us being stung.

I guess I was blessed with a miracle afterall. Although it wasn't much of a dive and I didn't get to truly enjoy the dive, this was certainly one dive to remember!