Bamboo Reef Scuba Diving Centers - Bamboo Reef Scuba Diving Centers

Day 1 Diving – The morning started with a wonderful buffet with a good choice of local and internationally styled foods and even eggs cooked to order.  A great way to prepare for our first full day of Diving.

07.45am most people are already down on the dock and checking out their gear which was already aboard our boats and setup – all we needed to do was do our buddy checks and we were set to go – well that is unless you were one of the divers with cameras.  On this trip virtually everyone had a very nice camera with both macro and regular lenses, great for shots of the amazing  creatures, small and large we were about to see.

Soon enough after a few last minute checks we were on our way.

There are over 40 dive sites to choose from here at Santika with more than half of those within a 15-30 minute boat ride away.  Our first dive was at Lekuan III, one of 3 sites by that name.

Being our first dive, we dropped in on the edge of the reef with our dive guides.  You know when you’re in for a good time when you have one guide for every 4 people, and you immediately see massive schools of blue pallet tangs and rainbows of other species of fish.

Very quickly each group settled down and went off in their own directions with photographers snapping away more pictures than an HD movie by George Lucas.

The highlight of Dive 1 – a Huge Turtle the size of a 4 person deck table sun bathing on a Coral perch @ 40 feet overlooking the wall which dropped off 150 feet without seeing the bottom.

Dive Site: Lekuan III
Dive Depth: 80 ft
Dive Time: 65 mins

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Dive 2 – Just a short 5 minute ride to another part of the reef and a 60 minute surface interval and we were ready to go.  This site is Mandolin Point.

The current was much stronger on this dive.  My notes are a little fuzzy on this dive, but these are a few fish we saw Foxface rabbitfish, Paramid butterflyfish, Clown triggerfish, false Clown Fish, Redtooth triggerfish, Feather Stars, Anthias, Scorpian Fish, eels and so much more – watch the video below – it was not shot by anyone on our trip, but they did a great job capturing an awesome dive and posting it on YouTube

Dive Site: Mandolin Point
Dive Depth: 65 ft
Dive Time: 60 mins

Our boat ride back to the dock lasted just 30 mins during which time everyone chatting about all the fish we had seen and how it was true about what everyone says about  Santika – the colors of our the fish are just amazing.

Once back at the dock, it’s almost a 5 minute walk back to the dive shop, but it’s worth it when we find lunch – freshly cooked and a fully stocked fridge full of sodas.

90 minutes later back to the boat for our last dive of the day

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Dive 3 – Abang Point – this site is located East of the dive shop of the main island.  It’s a lot more sandy and you initially don’t expect to see much, and then the dive guides start to do their thing. They truly are hawk-eyed.  Before you know, we have found no less than 10 different species of Nudibranch. By now I’m really regretting not owning the most expensive camera I can afford.
Then there is octopus, scorpion fish, Razor Rigid Shrimpfish, and the list goes on.

Laurie:  So tired but great first day diving. Dedicating each dive to family. First dive went to mom and we saw a huge turtle. Second dive was for Kevin and was my 40th dive and first drift dive...the current was crazy. 3rd dive was for Joshua and was amazing and saw new cool critters. Looking forward to tomorrow! August 20 at 4:36am via mobile

Dive Site: Abang Point
Dive Depth: 55 ft
Dive Time: 60 mins

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