For this trip to Redang, I have so much to thank God for.

Where do I start?

For one, I don't think we could have asked for better weather conditions: sunshine on our shoulders and relatively calm seas…although the first day's sea conditions were choppy and made "yours truly" truly seasick. And on one of the dives, we had some strong drift underwater. But it made for a good drift dive across the reef :)

God knows I love turtles, pelagics and the big ones, and I had encounters with them during this trip. On three separate dives, we spotted three separate turtles. It's a magnificent feeling swimming with these creatures. They're so graceful in flight underwater.

Interestingly though, my buddy, Twink, is more of a macro person, and a huge nudi fan who was armed with a camera. So there she was spending 5-10 minutes at one time at one spot, taking macro shots of nudis, anemonefishes, etc…while "yours truly" can't wait to go roam freely around the reef. :) Having said that, she was a good buddy. I must mention, I had interesting times hanging around and waiting for her to take her macro shots. Thing is, when you perch yourself long enough in one position with minimal movements, the fishes actually come to you to "check you out". What an interesting experience to have all these fishes swimming slowly and closely around you! :)

Thanks Twink, for teaching me to stop and smell the flowers. *two thumbs up*

Bamboo sharks, Lionfishes, stonefishes, decorated crabs, assortment of groupers & parrotfishes, and pufferfishes…on one night dive, we also came up close & personal with a puffed up pufferfish! Cute lil' fella :)

I particularly enjoyed my dive at Terumbu Kili and the two night dives at Batu Isa and Mak Cantik. At Terumbu Kili, the school of huge bumphead parrotfish took my breath away…not 5 or 6 of them, I counted 13 of them! The night dive at Batu Isa really ended with a bang. Not only did I come face-to-face with a turtle (literally), we surfaced to a sky FULL of stars! The word "beautiful" really doesn't do enough justice. Our last dive for this trip was the night dive at Mak Cantik, signed off with a fantastic sighting of a 4-foot lone barracuda :) *ecstacy*

Photos? Let's wait for Twink to upload them :)

"From the ends of the earth,

From the depths of the sea,

From the heights of the heavens,

Your name be praised…"

Lord Most High by Don Harris & Gary Sadler (1991 Integrity's Hosanna! Music)