Worawan Simaroj writes a fascinating piece on exploring Borneo's Layang Layang islands and going to explore remote reefs beyond Layang Layang that have remained virtually untouched

This article appeared in the Bangkok Post today, along with some interesting photos. I've reproduced the article here as the Bangkok Post's archive system is currently broken so it will disappear offline in a couple of days.

"'Layang-Layang, known as Swallows Reef, is an atoll situated in the South China Sea, 300 kilometres northwest of Kota Kinabalu. The island is man-made and was constructed for the Malaysian navy and later developed into the only dive resort, Layang-Layang Island Resort.

"The island's location offers absolute isolation; luckily there is an airstrip with regular flights from Kota Kinabalu, which is the only mode of transport for guests visiting Layang-Layang."

I was reading from the brochure of Sabah Tourism Board as our liveaboard vessel, MV Dive Master I, approached the resort's pier. The last sentence is about to be rewritten.

This was the vessel's first excursion to the island and I could tell from the amazed stares of guests at the resort that our arrival was a unique and ground-breaking event.

We had already been on board two nights prior to our arrival, not because it was a long journey but because our voyage took us diving elsewhere as we travelled from Labuan to this island reclaimed from the sea.

We had stopped off at Vernon Bank and, although the coral reefs were somewhat devoid of life due to the intense damage caused by trawlers and dynamite, the discovery of tiny marine animals like strange-looking nudibranchs, fire gobies, and numerous species of juvenile fishes was an experience quite different from that encountered in the Andaman.

The other reason for stopping here was to ready ourselves for the intense wall dives at the oceanic atoll of Layang-Layang, some of which cut steeply down to the seabed 2,000 metres below.

The renowned reefs of Layang-Layang are famous for their shoals of pelagic fish, especially hammerhead sharks. We were not disappointed. On three of our five dives here, we encountered both single and schooling scalloped hammerhead sharks, passing close by as we headed out from the reef into the deep blue world.

To add to the excitement, we also witnessed a school of devil rays swooping nearby; on another occasion, a large school of jackfish circled above the deep chasm of the ocean floor. As we swam back to the reef, blacktip reef sharks, enormous tunas, turtles, and many other large creatures welcomed our return. Before surfacing, we always regrouped at a huge giant clam and nearby pinkish leaf scorpionfish that proclaimed ownership of the exuberantly diverse reef.

All our diving took place on the more sheltered eastern side of the atoll, at sites such as The Point, Dogtooth Lair, and Wreck Point. The tail end of a typhoon, that was moving through the South China Seas towards the Philippines, prevented us from exploring any further. However, the swell and surge of the sea could not stop us from enjoying a relaxing last dive to see exquisite tiny creatures such as pygmy seahorses, numerous colourful nudibranchs and other benthic fauna hiding among the beautiful sea fans and soft corals of this fantastic and dramatic "wall".

After two nights at Layang-Layang we re-boarded the MV Dive Master I. I must admit it was a pleasure to be back to the familiar and delicious taste of Thai food, expertly prepared by the onboard chef. It was now time for a new adventure as the boat took us to some new dive sites on the outer reefs. A number of oceanic atolls are located to the north of Layang-Layang in the Spratlys but due to political and military reasons have remained virtually unexplored by tourists.

However, some are now closely controlled by the Malaysian navy, making them safe for diving so long as permission is granted beforehand. All our paper work had already been processed with assistance from the Labuan Tourism Action Council so we had nothing to worry about.

Our brief visit to some of atolls, such as Dallas Reef and Permatang Ubi (Ardarsia Reef), indicated the prosperity of the natural environment - whale shark, manta rays, devil rays, and many other species of sharks were seen. Not to be overlooked were the countless other fish and animals on the reefs themselves.

By studying aerial photographs, it was strikingly apparent that some of these atolls and their reefs were four to five times bigger than Layang-Layang itself: one short trip was most certainly not long enough to uncover the wealth of marine life to be found. The underwater world of this delicate marine ecosystem awaits to be discovered.

Our vessel began its journey back towards Labuan. As we traversed the open sea, brown boobies and various terns followed our boat - and what a show they put on for us! As flying fish leaped from the sea and sailed across the surface, the birds would swoop down to catch their supper. Usually they missed, but it didn't stop them from trying. With the sun setting and bellies slowly filling, these aerial masters of the sea started to drift away. What a scene!

The island of Labuan is located off the coast of Borneo at the mouth of Brunei Bay. This historic island has long been an important port of call for sailors of the South China Sea.

Since the 14th century, it has been governed successively by the Majapahit Empire, the sultanate of Brunei, the British, the Japanese, the British again, and finally Malaysia. The island's troubled past and treacherous waters have left, amongst others, four famous ship wrecks not far from the island: Blue Water Wreck and Cement Wreck dating back to the 1980's and American Wreck and Australian Wreck that go further back to World War II.

Numerous marine animals have occupied the wrecks as the years have passed, making them a haven for unfamiliar underwater life. The mysterious appeal of exploring these historic memorials to war and disaster added an extra dimension to this adventure of discovery.

On the day we were to dive at Labuan, visibility was rather poor so we only managed to survey two of the four wrecks. Mabini Padre, better known as Blue Water Wreck, was an 80-metre-long Filipino trawler lying on her port side at a depth of 35 metres. At her shallowest, she was about 22 metres from the surface. I knew that I couldn't stay very long at that depth but fortunately our boat had some Nitrox tanks that allowed us to stay underwater longer.

We were not disappointed as the wreck welcomed us to its garden of soft corals, with batfish and barracudas waiting to escort us on board. The wreck itself was still in very good condition making it an especially beautiful attraction for wreck-diving enthusiasts. After spending some time admiring the eerie scene in front of me, I ventured a little deeper. Just above the propeller, I discovered the scattered white bones of a turtle, which reminded me to do my safety stop and return to the surface!

Cement Wreck seemed to be a much friendlier place with its lively marine life posing for photographs among the towering eight-metre masts that stretched towards the sparkling blue waters above. Once known as the freighter MV Tung Hwuang, Cement Wreck now sat upright in 30 metres of water after hitting the Samarang Bank in 1980.

Its masts, deck and wheelhouse were now home to numerous marine creatures. An octopus changed colour and hid itself in a hole. Yellow hawkfish played hide-and-seek with divers. A large lionfish stretched its elegant fins and declared the patch of water as his own.

We penetrated the cargo holds, engine rooms and decks. I took a picture of the ladder and a treasure box. The wreck was adorned in an array of natural and human history, and admired by divers exploring its 92-metre length.

Our last dive was drawing to a close but I took a couple more minutes to reflect on the fantastic sights and experiences of the last few days - had this been a once-in-a-lifetime trip? In one respect, yes, but I knew I'd be back again for more.

MV Dive Master I took us back to Labuan port. We still had some time to explore the town or do a little sight-seeing around the island before our flight the next morning but my choice was simple. I got off the boat, walked just five minutes to a shop, bought a pack of very cheap beer (Labuan is a duty free island), returned to the boat, and celebrated the culmination of my wonderful adventure in the comfort of the air-conditioned living room.

MORE INFO

Labuan Island can be reached by air from Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, Miri, and Kuching. Alternately, the ferry from Kota Kinabalu to Labuan takes about two and a half hours; from Brunei it takes about one and a half hours. Diving season lasts from May to October.

For travel information within Labuan, check its web site:

http://www.labuantourism.com.my"

Youtube is becoming a gold mine for finding quick video clips of amazing underwater creatures. This footage of the flamboyant cuttlefish at Kapalai shot at night is quite spectacular

Found by Willy at Divester, this video of a flamboyant cuttlefish at Kapalai in Borneo is 17 seconds of bliss. I think I might have seen this exact same flamboyant cuttlefish myself when I dived at Kapalai a couple of years ago - the one I saw was on Kapalai's house reef (although, having written that, I have no idea as to the life expectancy of one of these gorgeous little creatures).

The flamboyant cuttlefish is pretty small - about the length of a hand - but its intense colours and spearing proboscis make it utterly mesmerising. This vid does a great job of showing off its colours, even more so because it's shot at night. Peetmeng, who shot the vid, also has some others, including a huge school of jacks surrounding him and his buddy at Sipadan.

I showcased one of Jez Tryner's awesome photo of the flamboyant cuttlefish in Indonesia a while ago.

The Sipadan reef destruction fiasco rumbles on, with Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi publicly attacking his Minister Of Tourism for letting the building works go ahead against his express wishes

Sipadan and the recent reef destruction there is back in the news with a blistering public attack from Malaysia's Prime Minister on his Tourism Minister. From the Malaysia Star, 27th July 2006:

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi lashed out at Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman for going ahead with the RM4.5mil clubhouse project at Pulau Sipadan despite his objection.

“I was very angry with Musa. I told him not to build it. I said so many corals are dying and he promised that he would look into the project,” said Abdullah, who openly expressed his disappointment and frustration with Musa.

Abdullah said he was upset with the general quality of environment in the country, and that Malaysians should learn to appreciate the environment as it was a gift from God.

“God gave us such a beautiful gift. Why are we destroying it?” Abdullah said in his speech when attending the Malaysian Professional Centre annual dinner.

It's quite dramatic that Abdullah has expressed public disapproval about the damage at Sipadan and here's hoping that as the most powerful politician in the country, he'll inaugurate some radical reforms to help protect Malaysia's reefs and marine life in the future.

As for Sipadan itself, the diving goes on unabated: it's peak season at Sipadan at the moment, and the management authority Sabah Parks reports that they are having to turn divers away from diving at Sipadan because they are constantly filling their maximum quota of 120 divers a day. (Which means you should also get it in writing from your dive operator that you can definitely dive at Sipadan i.e. that they will have secured the necessary permit for you ahead of time).

Clearly the news of the damage to Sipadan's reef has done little to dampen the enthusiasm of divers visiting the island, and the patch of reef impacted - about the size of two tennis courts - is in about 3 metres of water, which means most divers won't even see it. The long term impact of the damage remains to be seen and the prospect of more damage on the island if building continues is a very real concern.

Read more about Sipadan and Borneo Diving here on Divehappy

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.

Lankayan is one of Borneo's best dive destinations thanks to its conservation area status. But the island paradise is fighting a continual war with poachers who could destroy the fragile balance of Lankayan's reefs. Chris Mitchell reports.

· TripAdvisor: Book the best priced Sabah, Borneo hotels and flights

[This article first appeared in edited form in Scuba Diver AustralAsia magazine]

Lankayan is the television definition of paradise - a tiny palm-topped island with pristine white sand beaches, offering seclusion, peace and quiet and spectacular diving. A two hour boat ride from the town of Sandakan in Malaysian Borneo, Lankayan is set within the Segud Islands Marine Conservation Area (SIMCA), which was set up back in 2001. The SIMCA project has led to Lankayan's numerous reefs becoming abundantly populated with thousands of different species thanks to its "no fishing" policy- it's widely regarded as one of the best macro diving locations in all of Asia. But Lankayan is under continual attack - fisherman continually attempt illegal fishing, indiscriminately dragging the reefs with their nets to haul up whatever they can find or using dynamite fishing to kill everything in the explosive's vicinity which can then be collected when it floats to the surface. Lankayan's Wildlife Officers are locked in a never-ending battle to try and keep the fragile balance of their newly thriving conservation area intact.

The source of all this conflict is what lies beneath the waves - shallow reefs that are now home to a multitude of amazing creatures. Jawfish, gobies, nudibranches, frogfish and ghost pipefish are amongst the list frequently reeled off by divemasters at briefings. But Lankayan is famous not only for being a haven for the smallest marine life, but also the largest. From March to May each year, whale sharks are attracted to the coral spawning that occurs around the island. An encounter with one is still quite rare, but there is no shortage of other marine life to keep your interest. My personal favourite was the jawfish, grown outsize at Lankayan to fist size, turning to give each watching diver an unblinking stare and slowly sinking back into its hole if unsure about its visitors.

Elsewhere, squadrons of blue-spotted stingrays endlessly skitter and settle on the sand, whilst leopard sharks, stonefish, lionfish and huge groupers all compete for attention. Providing an interesting counterpoint to the shallow reefs that comprise most of Lankayan's dive sites, the Lankayan wreck is actually two boats, both fishermen's poaching boats that were confiscated and subsequently sunk. Once dedicated to plundering Lankayan's marine life, these boats now provide a home for it, and some measure of protection from the poaching that relentlessly continues. Over the course of a week's diving, I spotted several large dead patches of coral, the direct result of dynamite fishing. During one dive we even heard the muffled thud of a dynamite charge going off, a disconcerting experience that highlights that Lankayan's conservation still hangs in the balance.

The wildlife officers of Reef Guardian, the company tasked with protecting the marine conservation area, work with the Malaysian police and army to combat the poachers. Armed with radar and fast speedboats, Lankayan's resident marine biologist Chung Fung Chen and her team are often required to take their boats both day and night to intercept the fishing boats. "Any boat that enters SIMCA will trigger an alarm on the scanner and we will be able to identify the boat through our tracking system", Ms Chung explained to me. Many come from Indonesia and the Phillippines, some with entire families on board, driven by poverty to chance their luck at fishing illegally within the teeming conservation area. Ms Chung described how some fishermen would use a breathing tube running from the boat to let them walk along the reef collecting sea slugs. As she pointed out, "It's very dangerous work and they can expect to get paid maybe 50 Malaysian ringgit" (about US$ 13). Educating the fishermen is an ongoing effort, and several Lankayan staff are former fishermen who now help preserve the environment rather than take from it. Even so, unless the poachers can be given a realistic alternative to their current livelihood, it's difficult to see how the root rather than the symptoms of the problem can be treated.

For those poachers apprehended by the wildlife officers, there is either a booking or a trip to the mainland to visit the police headquarters and a fine of 500 ringgit required for the release of their boat. With 40,000 hectares of ocean to supervise and only a handful of staff and police to do so, Ms Chung has her work cut out to keep the fishermen out of the conservation area.

If the battle with the poachers remains precarious, it's still a major progression from the 1990s, when the island was uninhabited and the reefs were fair game for any fisherman. Businessmen Ricky Chin and Kenneth Chung set in motion a campaign that eventually resulted in the establishment of SIMCA and the resultant restitution of the reefs, along with the Lankayan resort, the only facility on the island which holds a maximum of 50 people. It's an incredibly tangible example of the power of conservation methods to restore seemingly destitute environments, and of the possibility of commerce and conservation working together. There are other areas where Lankayan's marine protection program has made solid advances too. The island has a no waste policy, with all water and human waste completely filtered by a hydroponic system to avoid any contamination of the sea. All of the island's solid trash is shipped back to the mainland, with organic waste dumped at sea outside SICAM's boundaries.

More evident to visitors to the island is the turtle hatchery, where baby turtles are kept and nurtured to protect them from poachers and also from natural predators so as to give them the best possible chance of survival. Currently under construction on the island is a small Information Centre to make Lankayan's conservation aims more prominent to its visitors. As Ms. Chung pointed out, at the moment there is not much information available to the island's visitors about Reef Guardian's work. "We aim to have audio-visual presentations and posters here to describe what we're doing," she explained as we looked around the newly built but still empty hut that will house the Centre.

Reading Lankayan's comments book, it's heartening to see that virtually all the tourists who come to Lankayan do so precisely because they feel a solidarity with the work that goes on here. Most recognise the direct correlation between the quality of the diving and the island's conservation efforts. Best of all, guest suggestions are directly acknowledged and acted upon by Lankayan's staff, so there is a very real culture of continually trying to improve things. To have such flexible and responsive management is vital given that, in the wrong hands, Lankayan could easily be irretrievably damaged.

Besides the difficult and dangerous work of enforcing the security of the marine area, Ms Chung's day to day work involves assessing and monitoring the state of the reefs and fish life through continual checks. Species identification, water quality, coral examination and sedimentation checks all form part of her routine, along with dealing with the recent alarming outbreak of Crown Of Thorns starfish. Surprisingly, there is no monitoring program for the whale sharks in place at the moment, but perhaps this will come in the future. There is only so much Ms Chung's small team can do effectively at once. "Our next major projects are coral farming and installing reef balls", says Ms Chung. "Both projects will help restore the reefs where they've been damaged by dynamite fishing".

Soon their responsibilities will be increasing. The success of Lankayan has prompted plans for another resort along the same lines on the island of Billean, which also lies within the marine conservation area. Construction is expected to finish in 2007, and hopefully the opening of the new resort will also see more money and resources given to the Reef Guardian team to protect this unique place.

--

Chris Mitchell flew to Sandakan courtesy of Thai Air Asia and Air Asia Malaysia. (www.airasia.com). The Lankayan Resort is online at www.lankayan-island.com. Reef Guardian is online at www.reef-guardian.org

Previously: Lankayan photos ; my original Lankayan, Borneo dive report

The Sipadan controversy continues to rage with the contractor responsible for causing huge damage to the reef getting off with an apology and the Malaysian Deputy Chief Minister accusing the foreign press of exaggerating the damage.

The Sipadan saga continues and there's still no good news; not only has the contractor whose barge destroyed 370 square metres of Sipadan's reef been allowed to get away with it after apologising and promising to clean up the damage, but one of Malaysia's ministers has lashed out at foreign media for "exaggerating the damage"

Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat said "Actually the area affected was just 3,984 square feet (372.2 square metres)," Chong said. "We thank them (foreign media) for their concern. But stop the exaggeration. Be rational. Malaysians and Sabahans especially are as concerned as anybody (else) in the world when it comes to conservation and preservation of the environment." Quite how the Minister kept a straight face saying that after presiding after the worse coral reef disaster in Malaysia in years, and one that was wholly preventable, is unclear.

It smacks of a whitewash and an attempt to pretend the whole thing never happened. There's no mention of new safeguards to prevent something similar occuring, and no mention of stopping all building on Sipadan - only a "suspension". It appears that it will be business as usual and the Minister's main concern is to play down the damage reports and keep the tourists coming in to drive the local economy. The local dive shops have released a statement praising the "infrastructure" effort, which looks set to ensure a restaurant will open on Sipadan. As I've noted elsewhere, why divers can't simply go to Kapalai or Mabul between dives, two full blown resorts with complete facilities only 15 minutes boat ride away, is unclear.

What saddens me most about this is not necessarily the damage to the reef - it's the seemingly indifferent attitude of those who have the influence over the future of Sipadan. There seems to be a collective shrug of the shoulders rather than a concerted effort to ensure something like this can't happen again. Removing all the dive operators from Sipadan a couple of years ago was a bold and much-needed move - now all the good work the government set in motion by doing that has been allowed to slide until the neglect resulted in this mess.

UPDATE: I missed the much more sane response of the Malaysian opposition minister Christina Liew which was reported on 18th May by CDNN. Liew argued what I've said above - that the "no buildings" policy on Sipadan, barely 2 years old, has been unilaterally discarded and resulted in this disaster. It's great to see someone in a position of influence state the reality of the situation rather than hectoring the foreign press and blaiming others.

[Thanks to UnderwaterTimes.com for their up to the minute reporting on the Sipadan fallout. Divester has a take on the Minister's comments too].

PreviouslY; Sipadan Island Reef Disaster; Borneo Diving: Sipadan - A Dive Report (pre-coral reef destruction)

Hoping to entice more scuba divers to visit the amazing sights of Malaysian Borneo, budget air carrier AirAsia are offering discount fares for divers

AirAsia have recognised that scuba divers make up a significant minority amongst their travellers going to Borneo, and are currently offering special fares for divers flying to Kota Kinabalu (gateway to KK's own marine park and Mantanani), Sandakan (gateway to Lankayan) and Tawau (gateway to Sipadan, Kapalai, Mabul and Mataking) .

Given the recent disaster at Sipadan, I'm not sure how many people will take them up on it, but it's a nice thought. If they could give assurances divers won't get penalised for excess baggage, that would be good too - I've been hit up a couple of times by AirAsia for being a few kilos over the limit, on a completely arbitrary basis depending on how sadistic the check-in staff are feeling.

Technorati Tags: borneo scuba diving, divehappy

A huge contruction barge has recently decimated one of Sipadan Island's reefs, causing untold damage to the island's fragile eco-system. What happens next is anyone's guess.

Willy over at Divester has done a sterling job of reporting on the recent catastrophic destruction of one of the major dive sites at Sipadan Island in Borneo, widely regarded as one of the best - if not the best - dive destination in the world. I've dived at Sipadan twice before and it's heart breaking to read about the reef being destroyed like this. (See my original Sipadan Diving report).

Over the last few days, Willy's covered the initial reports of a huge construction barge crashing into the reef alongside Sipadan's jetty, shearing the reef to pieces and dumping tons of construction materials upon it. He's also followed up with the crazy reasons for the barge being there and the furious reaction from Malaysian Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman, which hopefully means the construction company responsible is going to be suitably punished and the minister who authorised its presence will get sacked.

Of course, even if those responsible get reprimanded, it's not going to bring the reef back. Besides the dubious logic of deciding to build a restaurant on Sipadan only 18 months after asking all the dive operations there to shut down so as to minimise the environmental impact, there's also a big question mark over the Malaysian government's own commitment to genuinely preserving its country's spectacular dive sites rather than just treating them as a cash cow.

Divers already pay a premium to visit Sipadan and other Borneo dive destinations, and rightly so - but if this money isn't being used to properly manage these dive sites, and the government authorises such grossly unevironmentally friendly schemes such as this restaurant, then it shows little respect for genuinely preserving Sipadan. Given that there are two other full-blown resorts only 15 minutes boat ride away from Sipadan, at Kapalai and Mabul, I simply cannot accept the necessity for a restaurant on Sipadan itself. 

From the sounds of it, the damage done at Sipadan is not something the reef will assimilate - tons of gravel have been dumped direct onto a reef, effectively smothering it.  Happily, there are plenty of other dive sites around Sipadan besides the one that the barge destroyed - but there are dark warnings that the barge's impact might actually cause some of Sipadan's reef to collapse.. Part of me wants to go to Sipadan to see for myself how bad the damage is, compared to the two times I've been there before. Part of me wants to boycott going back to Sipadan at all, because I don't want to give my money to a government that pays a lot of lip service to protecting its dive sites but allows a catastrophe like this to occur which could have been so easily avoided.  Coral reefs around the world have enough problems already with global warming and pollution without being decimated by incidents like this.

As it stands, it may be that no one can go to Sipadan at all  - the Malaysian Government are considering closing the island to divers indefinitely while they try and clean up the mess.  How this pans out will be one to watch, but I can't see there being much good news either for divers or for Sipadan in the near future.

You can read my other articles about Borneo Diving in the Borneo section of Divehappy.

Technorati Tags: borneo scuba diving, sipadan, environmental disaster, divehappy

Dive In Style is a lavish coffetable book that's packed with photos of the best places to dive around the world - and chill out afterwards too

I would dearly love to know how author Tim Simond got the commission to do this book, because there's about a thousand other freelance dive journalists that would have killed to do the same - a lavishly illustrated, hefty hardback book that visits the best dive destinations around the world and showcases not only the underwater life but the most stylish places to stay on land too. I only spotted the book in Asia Books earlier this morning and couldn't take a peek inside as all the copies are shrink-wrapped, but given its published by UK artbook publishers Thames And Hudson I'd imagine the editorial and photographic quality will be excellent. I'd love to get a copy of this for myself. (Hint, hint).

The official blurb runs: "This brilliantly illustrated book combines the best of travel, lifestyle and nature photography in order to bring to life the exhilarating adventure that is diving around the world. Spanning the globe from Australia to Zanzibar, the Mediterranean to the Maldives, the book's twenty-five destinations - including four luxury dive boats - offer something for everyone, pairing each region's most spectacular dive sites with the ultimate places to stay. This is the ideal book for anyone who enjoys diving, snorkelling or chilling out in style - or for anyone who loves dreaming about it."

It's also interesting to see that a publisher thinks there's a market for this book - more and more people have taken up diving for sure, and it's a sign that diving has lost some of its macho, 10 blokes smelling on a boat image - which can only be a good thing. Dive In Style seems to recognise that a lot of people want to go diving as something that's part of a bigger holiday experience, and they want somewhere a bit special to be when they're back on dry land rather than stuck in a crappy resort hotel or the like. I'm sure some will scoff at Dive In Style's "designer" presentation, but it's the sort of book that idly flicking through could set someone's mind in motion about going diving again or even learning to dive. Here's hoping that it does well and plenty of people get to see it.

You can buy Dive In Style at Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

UPDATE: Willy over at Divester has actually read Dive In Style and written a comprehensive review of it - the short version: he loved it!

Here's a few photos, from both above and below water, that I took at Lankayan island in Malaysian Borneo last year.

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See all Lankayan photos at Photohappy

I've got a long way to go before I ever produce a professional-level photograph underwater, but I had a lot of fun all the same snapping shots during my scuba dives at Lankayan island in Borneo. I've been to the island twice in the last couple of years and have found it to be an excellent hideaway for that real desert island feel, with only one resort, great staff and beautiful reefs to dive each day. I wrote a full report about my first visit to Lankayan a while ago - and now I've added some photos.

The thumbnails above click through to full size versions on my travel photoblog Photohappy. From left to right, top to bottom, you can see a lionfish; a huge jawfish in its hole (my favourite) ; a cuttlefish amongst the coral; some more coral which is very nice to photograph because it doesn't move; a storm moving in over Lankayan's beach bar; and a puffafish on the Lankayan shipwreck.

All of these pictures were taken with my Canon IXUS 400 in the Canon WP-DC 800 underwater housing. The IXUS 400 is obsolete now but Canon have continued to upgrade the very portable and compact Canon IXUS range of cameras - I really enjoy using mine, although for underwater shots the momentary shutter lag is problematic. The cheap price of the underwater housing, however, makes the IXUS camera and housing combination very affordable - I see them continually in the rinse buckets on dive shops.