Now, despite the idiots that made up some of the guests at Mataking, the less than effective DM and the wide spread coral destruction there, diving in Mataking is good... provided you are not into looking for huge creatures like the hammerhead I saw in Sipadan or the giant tuna or shoals of hundreds of jacks. I liked diving here. Why? Well, in a desert of dead coral, out blooms a small patch of live ones, teaming with life. As the surrounding coral is dead, I wasn't afraid of getting up close. Also, despite the destruction, there was heaps and heaps to see!! One would think that there isn't any life in dead coral but you'd (well, I was wrong). I've come to appreciate macro marine life. Even if there is dead coral strewn everywhere, there are things to see in between, like that rock fish the BF caught digitally, sitting on top of dead coral. If you look close enough, you'd see stuff. Now I understand why some divers dive with a magnifying glass. The macro life in the sea is truly AMAZING. As the coral is already dead, unless you are like the aforementioned ignoramus-type divers, harming marine life there is somewhat limiting.

Here are some of the interesting things we saw and captured on PufferGal Cam are:

Lots and LOTS and LOTS of nudibranchs. For those of you who don't know, nudibranchs are sea snails or "slugs" with no external or internal shell and a pair of tentacles on top of the head. Depending on the species, they can get up to a whopping 3cm and are rather colourful. There are apparently 3,000 species world wide and are relatively easy to spot amongst dead coral as they are very colourful!
A Peacock Mantis Shrimp	I am pretty sure this is a mantis shrimp but I don't know what kind.It isn't in any of the books I have.
A little blue ribbon eel trying to scare us away I think. Apparently it grows up to 120cm but this one was a tiny one...it's diameter is about the size of a grown adult's thumb, long and somewhat skinny.
A creepy crawlie of some variety. No clue what it is but this thing actually has legs and was creeping about.
This one blew me away. A GIANT lobster. It was hiding inside this cave and I saw its feelers popping out. Didn't realise the size of the monster till I shone my torch on it. My regulator (mouth piece) almost fell out as I went "holy sh@t". My jaw literally dropped. Our DM estimated it to be about 10kgs!! Unfortunately, due to the angle, the BF couldn't get a decent shot. He just put the camera into the hole and snapped.
There were lion fish everywhere... its a wonder how no one got hurt as these fish are poisonous
Some of the nice coral oasis we saw whilst there.
A fish with "wings" used for legs. Looks like a Flying Gurnard but I can't be sure as the colours are different. Uses its wings to walk, like legs. Quite pretty... like a walking fishy moth.	An example of what I call a "coral oasis" in the midst of a coral desert.
A little Porcelain Crab	A Painted Frog Fish.

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