Chancing upon the Hairy Frogfish (Antennarius striatus) on one of my dives in Lembeh, I was privileged to have witnessed and documented it ‘casting its lure’ akin to an angler casting his fishing rod! The lure located at the top of a frogfish, known as an esca, is a highly specialised and unique adaptation that helps the frogfish attract prey. The fleshy appendage that resembles a small fish or worm is typically brightly coloured or patterned. It is connected to the frogfish’s illicium, a modified dorsal spine that extends above the fish’s head.

The primary function of this esca is to act as a bait to attract unsuspecting prey. Frogfish are ambush predators that rely on camouflage and patience to catch their food while I just happened to be there at the time it was fishing when my lights attracted all kinds of plankton. By waving the esca back and forth or moving it in a manner that resembles the movement of a small fish or worm, the frogfish creates the illusion of an easy meal for other fish or invertebrates.

The esca’s appearance and movement, combined with the frogfish’s ability to change its skin colour and texture to blend in with its surroundings, make it extremely effective at luring prey within striking range. Once a potential prey item gets close enough, the frogfish can rapidly open its large mouth, creating a vacuum that sucks in the unsuspecting victim.

It’s worth noting that the esca is not present in all species of frogfish, and its size, shape, and colouration can vary among different species. Some frogfish even have the ability to regenerate their esca if it becomes damaged or lost. What a remarkable adaptation that showcases the incredible diversity of strategies employed by organisms in the animal kingdom to capture their food!

If you live near the sea or have easy access, you can document marine life too! Just use your smartphone and house it in a universal Divevolk housing! Works for both Android and iPhone!

Get a discount when you purchase it directly from the manufacturer here:- https://bit.ly/Seatouch4Max

More info on the world’s first true touchscreen underwater housing:- https://bit.ly/mydivevolk

Couple it with a powerful LED dive light with red light to spot critters:- https://amzn.to/3TP5Nc6

Subscribe to my Youtube channel to learn more about marine life behaviour!

Don’t fall for the sheer size or large number of mAH because in today’s world, that won’t do the job for the higher tech batteries that require higher power delivery (PD). Today’s standard is using USB-C PD 3.0, which allows for 100W transfers from a single, rated cable.

My recent acquisition of the GaN charger as I’ve detailed all about it here, got me to inspect my old powerbanks that have lasted me for years. I’ve to say, they will now serve me when I go camping, to power up fairy lights and lanterns for the atmosphere at night! None of them are able to efficiently recharge my Note 10+ 4,300mAh battery that’s rated to 45W PD 3.0!

These specs are what’s needed today. I’ve done the research so you don’t have to sweat to find which one to go for. As long as your powerbank operate in these conditions, your phone will be recharged faster. Look also for the Quick Charge 3.0 (QC). Your devices could be either or these standards to quickly recharge a depleted battery.

The Romoss SW20PF 20000mAh has the requirements to support bigger capacity batteries in the later generation smartphones. Imagine charging your tablet and phone with 5A of delivery while on the move!

Output :
5V 3A or 9V 2A or 12V 1.5A (For Type-C)

What the above means is, the recharge rate for batteries that charge on 5V is 3Amp, 9V at 2Amp, 12V at 1.5A, if all 3 used together, would be 5V 3A.
If a single device is being charged, 4.5V 5A or 5V 4.5A or 9V 2A or 12V 1.5A (USB-A/22.5W MAX)

Input or recharging of powerbank:
5V 3A or 9V 2A (for Type-C)
5V 2A or 9V 2A (for Lightning)
5V 2A or 9V 2A (for Micro USB)

This is where the GaN charger comes in. When you need to recharge your powerbank for the next day where you will be away from charging outlets, this 140W charger will do the job in record time.

Remember to always buy from official stores on these platforms!

The Dessini Cooking Robot at RM549 is great starter if you want one but don’t want to spend thousands on it. Only setback is there is no built-in recipes but if you are a cook, you would have tons of recipe books to refer to already! It has pretty much everything I want from a cooking robot without breaking my bank/wallet/arm/leg…..

What’s more, today only, you can use the 10% discount voucher to get this unit at less than RM500! Only from Lazada!

Dessini Cooking Robot

For the discerning and gadget-conscious cook, the Tokit Omni Cook looks good, has accessible recipes on the interface and a 2-year warranty if you get it from the official store on Lazada only. (Resellers on Shopee only offer 1 year warranty and doesn’t give the free steamer dish). There is an add-on voucher to get a RM700 discount now so at RM3,709 it’s a great deal and half the price of a Thermomix!

Tokit Omni Cook from Lazada

Tokit Omni Cook recipes access

As someone who loves to cook, I understand the effort and time that goes into preparing a delicious meal from scratch. However, I also know that sometimes life can get busy, and we don’t always have the luxury of spending hours in the kitchen. That’s where a cooking robot comes in.

With a cooking robot, I can save time by automating many of the tasks that usually require manual effort, such as chopping, dicing, mincing, blending, stewing, and kneading. This means I can spend less time in the kitchen and more time to do other things. I can grind any kind of nuts into powder too!

Not only that, but cooking robots offer a high level of consistency and accuracy, meaning I can replicate recipes more easily and predict the results with greater confidence. I can even multitask with a cooking robot by having it cook and blend simultaneously or knead dough or continuously stir while preparing a stew! Purists will often argue that having a machine like that is cheating, but you still have to have a certain degree of comprehension of cooking to use a machine that can help you save time and effort so what price do you place on quick precision cooking and processing??? Do you still want to sweat over a pestle and mortar???

Cooking robots are also incredibly versatile and offer a wide range of cooking functions, from steaming vegetables to baking bread. I don’t need multiple appliances for different tasks, so I can save space and money. I can prepare healthier meals more easily. By automating tasks such as chopping vegetables and steaming fish, there is nothing much that a cooking robot can’t do. I can even create nutritious meals or stews in advance before I storing in a thermal pot for camping.

If you find it cheaper elsewhere, do check on the warranty period it offers as well as other caveats. Let me know what you will cook with it!

It’s important for me that reporting the truth is vital to the conservation of ecosystem, people are educated on the reasons to conserve and preserve because any environment built with effort and time can be destroyed by those who promote bad practices and set bad examples. Not everyone who carries a banner of ecotourism are eco-friendly or have the welfare of wildlife as priority. It is apparent in how they conduct their business and how you as a patron of their services rendered, call out on them.

今天FB提醒我，我做攝影記者的目的。從小，為了與野生動物互動，我把我收養的四隻狗和十七隻貓的經歷注意到他們的行為，到牠們離開世界。一張照片需要映出真實事情並不靠描述。我還喜歡跟動物相處。

有時候事情很難看得出，所以應該告訴真相的事情，這將保留事實，即你首先捕獲獨特性。

報導真相對於保護生態系統至關重要，因為人們受到保護和保存的理由的教育，因為任何建立在努力和時間之上的環境都可能被那些鼓吹不良做法並設置壞榜樣的人破壞。不是每個攜帶生態旅游標語的人都是生態友好型的，或者以野生動物為福。他們如何開展業務以及如何作為他們提供的服務的讚助人顯而易見，呼籲他們。

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Added Number 8!

Dear divers, I’m putting this together for the benefit of the many who had asked me ‘how would I know if someone is a good instructor or not?’  As most newbies have no idea where to start, or may have been referred to one by his/her friend who has done the course, take this as a guide for you and your non-diver friends to select the right instructor for your dive pursuits.

1) Always ask to see the instructor’s qualification card/credentials. You are placing your life in his/her hands, you better know for sure if the instructor in question is REALLY CERTIFIED & QUALIFIED, RENEWED & CURRENT with their respective training agencies and is AUTHORISED to conduct courses. If police can stop you on the road to demand to see your driver’s license when you are not a threat, why shouldn’t you exercise the same courtesy on someone you hardly know who will give you instructions to dive?

2) Find out how long your instructor has been diving, when he/she became certified as instructor & how many dives they have logged. Some instructors still keep physical logbooks that run into hundreds of pages but some have chosen to keep digital memory in their computers. It’s great to have new instructors teach you because they would be placing a great amount of care to your wellbeing & mastery of skills. It’s also great to have seasoned instructors teach you because every skill taught is almost effortless and without anxiety because of what’s ingrained into the instructor’s memory.

3) Be aware of team-teachers, your dive theory sessions, confined water (pool or beach) & open water (sea) sessions may be taught by different instructors and it’s imperative that you know each of them are QUALIFIED TO DO SO, not have divemasters-in-training put in your care (a common practice that’s against the standards for new divers). State your questions & preference when signing up for the course in a dive centre/resort. (For foreign instructors, check if they have work permit to operate in Malaysia because if anything happens & you want to proceed with a legal battle, you may not find him/her again. Having said this, there are a good number of dive instructors of foreign nationalities who have made Malaysia home and have  Malaysian spouses. They offer a wealth of knowledge that locals can’t so there are pros to it. Do your checks first). – This is not meant to be discriminatory but due to the liability issues, I need to state this out so please don’t get offended, my dear foreign peers!

4) Be aware of instructors who are already suspended/expelled from any dive training agencies. They may continue to teach but have other instructors SIGN OFF your certification card. Reasons for expulsion could be due to serious violation of standards and procedures, negligence & error, some leading to death of students. This is a malpractice that you should not accept. Be sure that your instructor FOLLOWS THE STANDARDS. Ask to see the standards for each level of dive course that you are embarking on, then you would know what are the skills required for you to master at each one.

5) Instructor’s reputation. If you have been referred to your instructor, chances are, he/she had been teaching well. You would still need to do your due diligence check of point 1 – 4 above. For example, a fierce ex-military instructor may be uttering mouthfull of profanities during your training so be prepared for it. A octo-instructor may have hands everywhere, just like an octopus so if you don’t like to be groped, state beforehand that you don’t like to be touched although, you must be aware that during water training sessions, there is a lot of contact between instructor and student. A worldly instructor is someone who has probably travelled the world to dive leisurely but lack the experience to teach in different kinds of environment. Be sure to ask ‘where has he/she taught before (which seas, as each geographical location has different sea conditions). (Though I have been diving in cold waters, I still get a shock each time I enter the water & I certainly would not want to teach in those kinds of temperatures.)

6) Find out your instructor’s knowledge of marine life & marine conservation. If anyone makes a living off the seas, that person ought to know a great deal about the ocean & its inhabitants. The passion towards preservation of marine life must be paramount in an instructor’s life and walk. What you are getting from an instructor is years of experience with encounters of marine life that would influence how you would interact in the water. If you get an instructor who pokes & prods animals or catches a Nemo to put inside his/her mask then releases it only to be preyed upon by a lizard fish, or teaches your to ride a turtle or break open a sea urchin, or worse, pulling a poor octopus out of its lair till it has to squirt ink in defence to run away, you are getting a rogue, unprofessional cowboy instructor who has no regard for all life forms. Avoid him/her. Be sure to ask around, ask your diver friends for recommendations and don’t be afraid to change instructors or appoint someone new to teach you. You are not bound to one with a lifetime contract.

7) Watch out for instructors who get high on drugs/weed/alcohol. The last thing you need is a mentally impaired instructor in the water. Watch out for dilated pupils in their eyes or drunken breath. Don’t be afraid to say no to his/her instructions to enter the water. If he/she passes out, you are not trained to lift him/save him/her & can be a liability to you.

8) Don’t go for the cheapest dive course. You pay peanuts, expect monkey service. Dive instructors assigned to you when you sign up at the dive expo would be those in training or worse, those who have yet to qualify to teach. Not all dive centres would do that but most who want to cut cost, would. A dive operation has costs to upkeep, equipment to maintain and staff to pay. If you pay peanuts, the effects will be passed down the line, you’d get untrained/lackadaisical crew, lousy service and have no avenues to complain because of the price you paid that came with no perks. When I learnt how to dive, I chose to learn from the best and paid a premium to get as much as I could out of someone who was encouraged to teach me. When you learn from the best, you would spot all those mistakes from people who didn’t acquire the skills when they ought to have learnt them in their course. You won’t know what the instructor didn’t teach you if you don’t even know what they are suppose to teach. Refer to point #4 on laying out the set of standards that you must learn before you earn your certification.

9) If an instructor tells you that you don’t need to know how to swim to be able to dive, please mark his/her name and report to the dive agencies. You MUST BE ABLE TO SWIM 200m WITHOUT SCUBA gear nonstop and tread water for 10mins. This is in the ISO Standards that reputable dive agencies are accredited with. You will spend 95% of the time in water so what makes you think you can save yourself should you get into trouble or get separated from your group? Can you fly? No? Then learn to swim first. The ocean can wait for you and so can your instructor. Don’t be so eager to be run before you learn to walk. Safety is of utmost importance. In 1999/2000, Oriental Queen liveaboard hit a rock and sunk, but the instructor on board was quick to alert everyone who was sleeping to jump overboard and swim to shore. They did and was saved. What happens if you are in that same situation?

I hope the above serves as a guide for you to select your appropriate instructor. Do not be afraid to ask questions, even if you think they are stupid/silly questions because a good instructor will always make you understand what you are getting yourself into.

Crinoids are what divers know as Feather Stars, sporting feathery arms that sway back and forth towards the centre of the body. One of the easiest subjects to photograph, crinoids are prehistoric animals in the class of echinoderms with male and female species found clinging onto coral reef cliffs often asleep in the day or actively feeding at night. The challenge is to photograph the tenants that the Crinoid itself hosts. It’s important to note that no photograph is worth abusing the animal for so please handle your subjects with care as you would a live animal on land. Crinoids are somewhat sticky and brittle. You wouldn’t want to break any of their arms off in your quest to shoot the shrimp within so keep your buoyancy neutral and coax the star to do a grand opening for you. I will teach you how.

After witnessing so many dive guides using their swizzle sticks to roughly ‘part the arms’ of the Crinoid to show divers what it holds within, I felt compelled to write this article to educate the many of you who might follow the bad habit of disturbing nature for your pictures. I practice a minimal disturbance to no disturbances in all my shots. They are never manipulated, nor had my subjects tossed in mid water to get them flaring, fearful or angry and I implore all of you to nurture good habits. The ability to boast of your shots is in the way you photograph them, not how the shot was obtained with manipulation. When you understand marine animal behaviour, you will get your incredible shots. Having spent the last 17 years teaching and 12 years of photographing underwater, I am moving towards educating the diver of the habits that you should possess to encounter your subjects.

What you need in your gear:-
1) Dive equipment of course.
2) Carabiners/loops/holsters to streamline your dangling hoses (SPG/Octopus/reels/SMBs)
3) LED torch
4) Dive computer to record depth and time you see the animal to relocate it next time.
5) No gloves unless you are diving in 15? waters
6) Hood to keep your hair tucked away from curious octopuses
7) Any camera housed in respective cases
8) Marine life guide books

Pre-dive preparation:-
1) Clean your hands after you use sunblock
2) Secure all gadgets with lanyard in your pockets.
3) Identify the subject you want to shoot.
4) Decide with buddy how much time you want to spend on each subject and if you find your target, be considerate to allow your buddy to take shots as well.

It’s not what camera you have but your knowledge of marine life that would get you nearer to the animal. By knowing what your subject lives on and feeds on, you have already increased your chances of finding it. By knowing your reef, you would have access to the inhabitants if you know what feeds on what and when.

The Shrimp also took on the colours and pattern of this Crinoid, Oxycomanthus Bennetti.

Close-up crop of the shrimp.

The basis of not touching anything in your dive education has been the point of contention in dive circles as we see dive guides competing with one another to find elusive critters with their sticks/pointers and completely lifting the animal out of the sand even though it’s meant to be camouflaged. I found it deeply offensive and I usually stop following the guide to find my own interaction with critters when I am not the one guiding the trip. When marine scientists collect specimens for research, they can’t avoid touching. We are not scientists neither are we collecting any specimens but we want to document them and there would be some degree of touching (hence rule number 1 in pre-dive preparation is to have clean hands) but not to the point of harassing the animal.

Not all crinoids have critters within. There are several species that host them. One of my favourites is the Oxycomanthus bennetti. 9 out 10 animals that I find have ‘tenants’ within them! On this particular one, I found 3 different types of critters! They all form a symbiotic relationship with the host and even adapt to its colours and patterns. Two Clingfish, a shrimp and a crab (not displayed) were darting about as I got closer.

There are 2 Clingfish in the picture and a shrimp. Can you spot them?

How do you get a Feather Star to open up its multiple arms for you? You only need to tap the spine of the arms gently & softly. As you begin tapping, be mindful that your neoprene suit doesn’t touch any of the brittle feathers or you might end up ripping the poor little thing apart. By tapping with your finger pads softly, it will begin to spread out. Your camera settings would have to be ready for the shot as you might only get one or two shots of the critters within. Set your focusing to Spot and metering to Centre-weighted. Crinoid will stay ‘open’ for you if it feels tickled in all its arms as long as you avoid touching the cilia (feathers). I use a drink stirrer with a ball tip to coax the critter (shrimp/crab/clingfish) into view from the opposite side carefully without touching the Crinoid. Once I get about 4 or 5 shots or a video if the subject is actively moving, mission is accomplished & I move on to other subjects on the reef. Minimal touching and absolutely no disturbance to the Crinoid. It will soon curl up to get back to sleep when it senses no threat.

For more on marine life and nature documentation, follow Pummkinography on Facebook or follow Pummkin on her trips!

Our first stop was at ErHai Fishing Village, a lake that the Chinese term as the sea for the never-ending sight of the horizon. Not getting much sleep from the night before when we arrived at The Ancient City of Dali (Dali Gusheng), I woke up to a temperatures too low for my liking. A cotton-loving girl donned in Uniqlo HeatTech, fleece & technical jacket is hardly anything to marvel at. I saved my waterproof ski pants for the coldest sector of my journey…….Yading, in Sichuan near the Himalayas.

At dawn, these boats are parked by the lakeside.

Boats parked.

Fisherfolks row out to haul in the catch.

Wheat clusters left by the road.

Mode of transport for the village folks.

Taking out the vermicelli noodles at the factory.

Noodles hanging out to dry.

Garbed in balaclava, beanie & hooded jacket.

This was our first stop on our long & arduous journey to Yading Nature Reserve. On the bus, there were 12 other photographers & an MPV with 6 people plus the driver. Travelling 350km upon arrival in the evening was anything but nice. The fun only began on the 3rd day when I was accosted by Leong Taoping (Long Bean Army as I called him) and the demure but bean-bashing, Angela.

In the last two months of juggling courses & getting some underwater time with the blennies & slugs, I’ve been writing so much, communicating with magazine editors, LoyarBurok’s administrators & the European Underwater Federation secretary, that I forgot about my dad’s death anniversary on the 29 July. Not that he would mind, as he’s having a whale of a time playing golf in heaven as I was given a glimpse of the remarkable realm on one cloudy evening. It has been a hectic month attending meetings & getting the events sorted out for we won the bid to host the next meeting for ISO Standards next year! Woohoo! We’re bringing the movers & shakers of the dive industry to Malaysia!

On August 1st, the candlelight vigil that turned ugly, never made it to the mainstream media. Upon submitting the report to Loyarburok.com, it was picked up by Malaysia Today & gained a mention in Hufftington Post! The videos had thousands of views, gaining a few subscribers whom I wish, would follow my fish & slug postings instead! Call it accidental activist journalism, I certainly prefer chasing octopus & mating flatworms or be surrounded by real barracudas than men in arms & metal plates. The dive expo came & gone. It was an event where we dive professionals touched base with the players & reestablished ties with stakeholders. It was also my girl’s-nite-out with Suzette, the owner of Seaventures Dive, the converted oil-rig resort on Mabul island! We had a great time over wine & a delicious spread of buffet for dinner in Sheraton Imperial Hotel, cherishing every minute of our friendship across the seas. Thank God for girlfriends!

September is upon us & I endeavour to do away with caustic friends who bring detriment to me & my belongings when they run at the thought of accountability. Just when you think it’s safe to trust someone, they screw it up so badly that it takes away any respect I have left for them. It’s also a new beginning with STaRT, a society that focuses on training underprivileged kids in music, performing arts & life skills. I will get to teach kids from 10 different homes to swim in the pool! Thanks to supporters like you, who have seen me through the good times & the bad to enable me to pay it forward. Thank you for being my student, my associate, my client, my supplier, my advocator, my friend, my conscience & my hope!

More about the Time Tunnel later in the new travel blog. You can access the article here:- Time Tunnelling In The Cameron Highlands