DIVE HAPPY

As well as being a hotspot for seeing schools of hammerhead sharks along with whale sharks and manta rays, Borneo's Layang Layang island now also has its own ongoing blog to vicariously keep up with the action

One of my favourite dive blogs at the moment is Layang Layang Blues, an anonymous journal kept by one of the Divemasters who works on the island. The blog is updated weekly with repors on what's been spotted around the islands, complete with some glorious photos.

It's a completely unofficial blog and not associated with Layang Layang resort in anyway - mainly because the writer has some justifiably cutting comments about divers who get angry when the hammerheads et al don't turn up on cue, blaming the guides and the resorts for Mother Nature's refusal to play ball.

That said, Layang Layang Blues is a perfect example of what more dive businesses should be doing to give their customers a real feel for what diving in their area is like.

At Layang Layang, this particular blogger is extremely lucky, because there's no shortage of spectacular marine life to blog about. Here's an excerpt from the most recent post:

Wx- Strong winds and choppy sea then sunshine, windless and hot. Now it is cloudy and overcast but calm sea. Vis- varied from green to clear blue and now dark without the sun.

Sightings for pelagics were 2 schools of hammerheads, mobulars, mantas and a whale shark yesterday. A lot of pygmy sea horses, ghost pipes and leaf fishes.

Layang Layang has long been on my list of places I must dive, and this blog just makes me want to get there all the quicker. BSAC have a good overview dive report about Layang Layang and TripAdvisor has Borneo flight and hotel info.