Malaysia- Pulau Aur
Never waste a long weekend
On Tuesday of last week my plans for Indonesia fell through, but how fortunately. I ended up on a scuba trip to Pulau Aur, an island off of the eastern coast of mainland Malaysia. The group consisted of avid divers from Germany, Bulgaria, Australia, Philippines, United Kingdom, Singapore, and of course, yours truly.
Our rustic resort was nestled on such an incline that even though my cabin was 3 meters behind the cabin on the water, my room had a perfect view of the sea, as well as their roof. The steps connecting the various cabins and paths were more like ladders.
The diving was very different from the Caribbean. The water was warmer, a bit cloudier but not much, and the corals were very different. Staghorn coral was by far the most prevalent kind of coral on the reef. It was also the most diverse within itself that I have ever seen. There was bright green staghorn coral, red, brown, and the list goes on. If I were more of a biologist this list would be more impressive, but I can simply speculate at how interesting the diversity truly was. There was a head of stony coral the size of a shed; it could easily have been a few centuries old. On the dive site adjacent to this remarkable grandfather species, you could see evidence on dynamite fishing practices where the coral was left in rubble. There were very few fish to be found in this sad and desolate part of the fringing reef. It is remarkable how obviously destructive these fishing routines can be.
Another hazard to the reef, which I have heard horror stories of but never actually seen with my own eyes, is the Crown of Thorns. Found most recently on parts of the Great Barrier Reef, this echinoderm can literally eat its body size in coral a day. The ones that we saw this weekend had around 15-20 arms, 4-inch spins, and a very malicious demeanor about them. The main part of their star shaped bodies were an eerie color of muted mauve, but reached their spine points with a milky but poisonous blue. The whole being, about 12-18 inches in diameter, was undeniably menacingly beautiful. Literally, Star-worthy.
Despite these unrelenting threats to the reef, if was wonderful to visit this weekend. I saw bump-head Parrotfish, blue spotted eagle rays, yellow boxfish, clown fish, and my personal favorite- Lionfish. All three of the lionfish were found perched under soft coral, remarkably well camouflaged.
The weekend was a complete success. I thought it would be harder to travel solo but it was actually liberating. Now I know to always make the best of those few and far between three-day weekends.
