Crab Cracking Log

Exercising self-restraint when I have so much to share will not do. I have to submit pictures to the magazines to get them approved for publication before I can show the rest on this site but I would most probably post it on Target Practice unless there’s something to write about. I met a lot of people on the trip & every night after dinner, we would fill our log books with activities of the day.

My day begins at 6am, when the sun rises, where I would spend at least half an hour to set up my camera in the bathtub, the place with the least lint & flyaway dust. Contrary to what some of you might think, I don’t put makeup on before a dive. Hahaha. Very funny. I slap on some Japanese sunblock with Sun Protection Factor of 130 or sometimes, just 50 or 75, depending upon the brands which I use. It’s an effort not to allow my freckles to join together as a result of too much sun.

I set out to find the remarkable coconut crab (Birgus latro) at night. The guide named Laan, Ah Hua, Nigel & I were armed with torches, wandered into the jungle of Mataking to find the elusive giant ‘hermit.’ It was a good one hour search, we found every imaginable size of hermits which I found out, were the young of coconut crabs. They are bigger than the palm of my hand. After examining every crackle & snap, we decided that Mr. Coconut Crackerjack is not greeting this four over-enthusiastic badgers & have a scientific explanation to stay home. It’s probably moulting!

We walked the circumference of the island which roughly took about 2 hours. Encounters with Gecko, Rodents plus Hermits equal fascination & fatigue. Needless to say, I stumbled back to the room, had a shower & slumped into bed.

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