Season's Greetings

TAKING THIS OPPORTUNITY TO WISH YOU

A HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND MERRY NEW YEAR ....

Lembeh Hills Resort, Manado

It has been a while since we post any new pictures for you to see. Well here it is the much awaited Lembeh Hills Resort located in Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Lembeh Hills is and will be the most luxurious resort in the whole of Manado and Lembeh area. Lembeh Hills emphasizes on personal and environmental friendly services to all its guests.

The main activity offer for will be scuba diving. national park trekking to see the endanger tarsius and spa.

They are running a special promotion for soft opening until March 2010, get in touch with us if you want to plan for a retreat ... with a magnificent view !

for more informations please contact us Myth Asia

Random pics from Roach Reefs

Roach Reefs Tawau have one of the best sunset I have ever seen in the area ... next to Sipadan and Mabul.

Roach Reefs Resort is a private and cozy man made island that caters to maximum group size of 18 per day. All chalets are A-frame and with basic amenities, perfect for those who seeks to go back to nature ... both front and back opens up to the sea ..

There is 1 water bungalow that can takes in 3 person comfortably !

this is the full view of the island just off Tawau (55 mins boat ride from Tawau, or 30 mins from Balung River jetty

)

The island is private and ideal for a small group gathering ...

Faces of Mataking divers

This Mataking trip with our Thai divers are FUN n FOOD ! ! Thai love food and everywhere they go they try to share their little food culture with the locals. Mataking Island is the ideal place for the family to get away with nice beach, bird watching, good diving sites, and very good food ! and all friendly staff ...

The group pictures from the recent trip of Thai divers !

Autograph session with Hardy, our DM.

Dave of Treasure Images did a good job in capturing all the faces of Thai ! Here is San San-san our other DM.

This is for above 18 viewing ... Hardy is enjoying time with Dave O_o

Dave taking a big bite at Thai snacks during surface interval at Sipadan

Dave and Hardy helping themselves with Thai snacks ! !

Hardy the flag bearer of Sipadan ??

Adventure Show Asia 2009

Adventure Show Asia had just ended recently at the Mid Valley mega mall Kuala Lumpur. This is the first year Adventure Show Asia to held, and this show had gather some of the finest display of adventure sports. Scuba Diving, bouldering, para gliding, sky diving, rafting, kayaking, rock climbing even drift driving !

It is a good place to gather all adventure seekers and extreme sports enthusiast in one place ! !

We have join hand with our close associate from Indonesia Yos Dive Indonesia to promote their services in Bali, Komodo and Lembeh.

Share with you below some of the highlights ...

See you in 2010 ...

SDAA / Borneo Divers Shootout, 18 - 23 NOV 2009

Come and join us for the Scuba Diver Australia Asia (SDAA)’s final photo shootout for 2009 at Borneo Divers Mabul Resort.

For more information kindly email to info@mythasia.com.

Date : 18th November – 23rd November 2009

RM565 per pax per night based on twin share.
Registration and other fees are now FREE OF CHARGE.

6 days 5 night is at RM 3,257 only, plus RM 40 per day Sipadan entry permit fee.

潜水新手入门知识

想学潜水，首先多方咨询找一个好的俱乐部，这个俱乐部要有好的教练员，这是非常关键的，其次才是学费和取证费。然后根据对潜水员的要求进行体检，身体不能有不适合潜水的疾病，象中耳炎、鼻窦炎、癫痫、心脏病、肺病等等，这是很重要的。

请向你的潜水训练班或教练咨询以下事项以助你选择：潜水的分类，潜水的国际组织和各自的侧重点是什么;休闲潜水的乐趣是什么，限制有哪些;该中心的潜水活动简介以及收费标准;初级潜水员的培训内容、时间安排、课程规范及要求标准;休闲潜水需要的装备及器材的功能、种类、特点、保养及品牌介绍;休闲潜水的基本常识等。

　　想学潜水，首先多方咨询找一个好的俱乐部，这个俱乐部要有好的教练员，这是非常关键的，其次才是学费和取证费。然后根据对潜水员的要求进行体检，身体不能有不适合潜水的疾病，象中耳炎、鼻窦炎、癫痫、心脏病、肺病等等，这是很重要的。

　　因为高压下这些疾病可能会对身体造成伤害。再就是准备好自己的器材，一般初学者要自己准备面镜、呼吸管、脚蹼，因为这样会比较卫生。当然也可以租用，一般俱乐部都提供这些服务。如果不知道那些器材适合自己和不知道那里可以买到，可以向你的教练员咨询，你会得到很好的和专业的帮助，剩下的就是准备一些时间和好心情就可以了。

www.9939.com

Asia Pacific News - Maldivian ministers train for underwater Cabinet meeting

Maldivian ministers train for underwater Cabinet meetingPosted: 05 October 2009 2108 hrs

COLOMBO : Ministers in the Maldives have taken diving lessons ahead of an underwater Cabinet meeting that will highlight the threat global warming and rising sea levels pose to the low-lying atoll nation.

President Mohamed Nasheed will chair the meeting on October 17 ahead of the world climate change summit in Copenhagen in December, a spokesman told AFP from the islands' capital, Male. He said the 14-member Cabinet were taught scuba-diving basics over the weekend.

Nasheed was not present as he is already a certified diver. "The Cabinet will don wet suits and scuba equipment and dive to a depth of six metres, where a special meeting of the Cabinet will be convened," the spokesman, who declined to be named, said. "They will then ratify a pledge calling on other nations to slash greenhouse gas emissions ahead of the Copenhagen meeting." Cabinet members will communicate using whiteboards and hand signals.

The Maldivian archipelago, located south west of Sri Lanka, is on the front line of climate change and has become a vocal campaigner in the battle to halt rising sea levels. In 2007, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that a rise in sea levels of 18 to 59 centimetres by 2100 would be enough to make the Maldives virtually uninhabitable. More than 80 percent of the country's land, composed of coral islands scattered some 850 kilometres across the equator, is less than one metre above mean sea level.

The danger for the Maldives is so acute that Nasheed has raised the possibility of buying a new "homeland" in Australia, India or Sri Lanka for the nation's 330,000 citizens.

ADVENTURE SHOW ASIA 2009 9/10-11/10/2009

WE welcome you to the Asia Adventure Show 2009

venue : mid-vally exhibition centre

date : 9/10/2009-11/10/2009

MYTH ASIA booth : 1033

MYTH ASIA WILL PATICIPANT IN ASIA ADVENTURE SHOW 2009

Asia is truly the land of adventure. With such diversity in climate and natural terrain, there is something exciting to offer every adventurer.In Asia, you’ll find beautiful tropical islands that offer clear blue waters, lush green forests that are rich in flora and fauna, hills and mountains that vary from slightly undulating slopes to steep cliffs of sheer limestone rock faces to the tallest, snow-peaked mountains in the world.

Adventure Show Asia is an exposition that will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for 3 days in October 2009. The event is designed to promote Asia as a choice destination for extreme sports enthusiasts, thrill seeking tourists and adventure seekers alike. It will focus on promoting activities that are water or sea based, land based and sky based.

The activities and sports promoted will include the motorised as well as the non-motorised sports and activities.So be sure to visit Adventure Show Asia 2009, to find your adventure of a lifetime, right here in Asia!

BALI ALAM ASMARA

Global Warming .. what you can do !

Here are some tips that you can adopt to your daily life to do your bit ... link here

And I would like to share this award winning song

I need to wake up

No copyrights infringement are intended

World Leader and Environment ! !

I just read this article on the President of Maldives. And being a leader he shows great example on his daily life.

If only everyone of us do that little bit to ensure that we sustain over to our great great grandchildren.

no shark fin.....

no shark fins.....dont kill shark.....if not...u see this lady......crazy for shark fins...kekekeke...omg

PULAU PAYAR 海洋公园

★ PAYAR 岛海洋公园

坐落在马六甲海峡南部，吉打港口离岸，距离兰卡威以南大约 19 海里，槟城以北 40 海里，这座海洋公园范围涵盖了 PAYAR 岛， PULAU SEGANTANG ， PULAU LEMBU 以及 PULAU KACA 四座岛屿。

PAYAR 岛海洋公园是马来半岛西岸第一座落成的海洋公园，对于许多濒临绝种的海洋生物来说，这里是他们的避难所。 2 月至 11 月是最好的探访季节。

PAYAR 岛是海洋公园里最大的岛屿，以其多种珊瑚品种而闻名。清澈而稳定的水流适合游人前来游泳，在浅滩潜泳或在深海里潜水。

坐落在岛屿西南端即是令人叹为观止的”珊瑚园”，因其大量柔软及五彩缤纷的珊瑚而得名。于此同时， PAYAR 岛也是许多 SEA FANS ，圆锥体贝壳，枪鱼，海鼻涕虫，赫米特螃蟹， FEATHER 海星，海葵，石头鱼，魔鬼鱼的等等海底生物的家园。

此外， PAYAR 岛海洋公园还拥有一个旅游中心，徒步小径，眺望台，野餐桌子，烧烤沙坑，以及休息小屋等设施。乘筏或快艇从兰卡威出发到此须时约 1 小时。

游客也可选择从吉打港口或槟城出发。

想到PULAU PAYAR的游客可以联络 info@mythasia.com。在 PAYAR 岛海洋公园以及其他海洋公园进行各种活动都有严格的规定。

亚洲神话旅游有限公司[Myth Asia Travel Network Sdn Bhd]

您好，亚洲神话旅游有限公司[Myth Asia Travel Network Sdn Bhd] （公司注册号码 803905-D，马来西亚旅游部注册号码 MOT5791）成立于2008年，是在马来西亚旅游部注册的一家公司，专门经营潜水课程及潜水旅游。

本公司作为潜水领域的批发商，核心业务对象包括潜水教练、潜水中心以及旅行社，为各界提供一站式服务。在课程及旅游这两方面，本公司主要在马来西亚多个著名并享誉“潜水天堂”的岛屿，包括中马的乐浪岛（Pulau Redang）、停泊岛（Pulau Perhentian）以及浪中岛（Pulau Lang Tengah）；还有西马的西巴丹岛（Pulau Sipadan）、 玛布岛（Pulau Mabul），以及玛达京岛（Pulau Mataking）提供相关服务。除了马来西亚之外，本公司在一些亚洲国家的岛屿比如印度尼西亚峇厘岛（Bali）、科摩多岛（Komodo）、万雅佬岛（Manado）以及连贝岛（Lembeh）；还有菲律宾(Phillippines)以及泰国普及岛(Phuket)皆投入服务。

本公司领导人员15年前就投身这个领域，专注于马来西亚及东南亚市场，向来为有需求者提供高效力服务。本公司领导人员拥有丰富的潜水旅游经验以及合格的美国PADI潜水文凭。除此之外，本公司也是马来西亚潜水公会会员。

对于游客在住宿及相关服务的查询与预订，本公司将在24小时内处理、答复并解决。

info@mythasia.com

圣诞岛 CHRISMAS ISLAND

圣诞岛是一个小型的，是一个属于澳大利亚的自治领土，位于印度洋，二三六○公里（一四六六英里）西北珀斯位于澳大利亚西部和500公里（ 310英里）南部，印度尼西亚雅加达。约1600的居民生活在这个岛屿。

它具有独特的自然地形，圣诞岛也拥有最好的潜水旅游好地方。

如果到澳大利亚潜水是您的一个愿望，或你想有机会看到更多的海洋生物，任何时候都可以联络info@mythaisa.com预订圣诞岛潜水之旅，实现你的梦想！

岛内大幅增加从边缘的爪哇海沟，印度洋最深的一点！

这有助于无休止公里的壮观的落客跳水多数墙壁只有20米的海岸线！

LEMBEH HILL RESORT INDONESIA

LEMBEH HILL RESORT坐落在一个僻静的海湾俯瞰伦贝海峡， LEMBEH HILL度假村是一个先进的豪华的酒店。

LEMBEH HILL的优美环境，以及有技能热情的服务人员将保证提供一个轻松，浪漫及回味无穷的潜水和非潜水旅程。

LEMBEH HILL 总共有23个宽敞的别墅，其中包括一间总统套房和2个豪华套房，所有套房都达到豪华的标准。

该度假村巧妙地利用了大自然资源拓扑，使全景海景到的每一个角落，每一个别墅，甚至户外厕所，同时保持最高程度的隐私。

在食物方面，湾水域的托米尼和农业财富的北苏拉威西提供了最好的材料给我们的厨师，能让厨师们炮制创新的亚洲融合菜肴以及健康饮食以满足各位嘉宾。

度假村也备有照相室和其他专用设施满足特定要求的潜水员，而豪华的游泳池，豪华水疗中心和设备齐全的健身中心 有一个会议室和办公设施与工作有关的聚会。

伦贝（LEMBEH） 海峡是世界上最重要的场地淤泥潜水，探索海底沉积物家异国情调，多姿多彩，而且常常出现奇怪的海洋生物。 浅深度和温和的海水，使伦贝海峡的成为一个理想浮潜绩潜水的好地点。

度假村还毗邻Tangkoko国家公园，这里是难以实现的眼镜猴，小夜行性灵长类类似神话精怪。

想到这个优美的度假村享受一个美好的假期，可以联络info@mythasia.com.

Ignorant Fisherman land whaleshark in net

Friday July 17, 2009

Dead rare shark caught in net

By M. SIVANANTHA SHARMA

BUTTERWORTH: Four fishermen on a deepsea fishing trip found a dead whale shark measuring 5.36m in their net 50 nautical miles off the coast.

The fishermen, from Kuala Muda near here, made the discovery at 1am yesterday.

Salleh Hussin, 48, said they tried to release the one-tonne creature back into the sea after realising that it was dead but failed to do so as it was too heavy.

The shark at the Kuala Muda jetty

For more reading the Star

MIDE Kuala Lumpur 3 - 5 July 2009

We just finish exhibiting in the Malaysia International Dive Exhibition recently held at PWTC. A lot of friends drop by at our booth and also we are happy with the feed backs gather. So here's some pictures to share with you

My FM Dj Picky and Lee Kiang visit us at our booth.

MIDE at PWTC Hall 3,

Dive Seminar Shanghai China 27th June 2009

We are being invited to Shanghai recently by Tourism Malaysia to attend a Dive Seminar to meet up with dive industry players from Shanghai and also divers from China.

Mr Edzuar the Director of Tourism Malaysia play host to this function by gathering us the diving industry players from Malaysia and China for a friendly meet up to promote diving in Malaysia.

Here are some photos from the event held in Cotton Bar Shanghai wiht some lucky draws and some chats among old and new friends.

Watch out for China Dive Expo(CDEX) next year in Shanghai June 2010.

Faking the soup

This is an interesting article about sharks fin, a Chinese function dinner cannot go without ! Its against the host's hospitality .... however there's way to curb the endanger species from extinct.

Faking the soup

Visit us at MIDE 3 - 5 July 2009

It has been a while since we last update here. Well we are busy preparing for the coming dive show in Kuala Lumpur. Yeap our very own hometown.

Malaysia International Dive Exhibition (MIDE) will be held in PWTC on the 3rd - 5th July 2009. Come and look for the best bargain for your next holiday and diving destinations. We are also offering Leisure Travel card for those frequent traveller. This card will entitle you to a lot of bargains, being the most value added are 2 China tours (ground arrangements to Shanghai and Guilin) worth RM599.00

We are also offering special soft opening offer to Lembeh Hills Resort in Lembeh Manado only at USD548.00 per divers for a special 4D/3N (1N free).

Come visit us at booth A104 here is our July newsletter.

Whale Shark family

Whale sharks are all one big family

The ancestry of the whale shark goes back to the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods 245-65 million years ago, when the present groups of sharks began to appear. Yet Prior to the mid-1980's, there had been less than 350 confirmed reports of whale sharks worldwide.

Credit: Fred Anderson

Whale Shark

Source: |

| 06-21-2009

A new study has discovered that whale sharks around the world are all related

hey are known to inhabit both deep and shallow coastal waters and the lagoons of coral atolls and reefs.hale sharks Rhincodon typus have a broad distribution in tropical and warm temperate seas, usually between latitudes 30°N and 35°S, which form a band around the equator. Very little is known about their biology or ecology and they have only been studied in any depth in the last 10-15 years.

ustralia is one of the most reliable locations to find whale sharks. Regular sightings have also been recorded from many other regions including India, the Maldives, South Africa, Belize, Mexico, the Galapagos Islands, Southeast Asia and Indonesia.

orth $20,000 each
Unfortunately, the meat of whale sharks is considered to be a delicacy by many people in China, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea and Japan. Here, whale shark meat is one of the most expensive fish that can be bought with each shark being worth an estimated $20,000.

hese active fisheries mean that whale sharks are severely over-exploited in this part of their range.

o assess wether local overfishing could affect worldwide populations, a team led by scientists at the University of Illinois in Chicago took DNA samples from 68 whale sharks from the Indian and Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. DNA microsatellites were compared between the sharks and found to be remarkably similar throughout the whale sharks’ range.

his means that these sharks migrate between populations and interbreed, and that any fisheries focused on these sharks can have a global impact.

ll related
Lead scientist Jennifer Schmidt said: “Our data show that whale sharks found in different oceans are genetically quite similar, which means that animals move and interbreed between populations.

rom a conservation standpoint, it means that whale sharks in protected waters cannot be assumed to stay in those waters, but may move into areas where they may be in danger."

source : X Ray magazine

Thailand Dive and Travel Expo 2009

We just got back from Bangkok after a weekend full of surprises and fun ! Our booth was right at the entrance, the best location in the hall !

Next to Canon and TAT, we were lucky to have our good friend Mr Sim from Lawrence Factor Asia to be our neighbor.

The show is full of activities combining adventure, golf and bouldering !

The floor where equipments take the most space in the diving section.

Myth Asia team; Poo, me, Ally of Mataking and Calvin.

Calvin posing in the booth while Poo is hard working !

Myth Asia just next to Canon Thailand.

More equipment booth !

TDEX 2009 is still a better show compare to ADEX Sin or DEM Asia in Taipei. TDEX and DEEP are 2 shows that an capture the ride of time, change according to the flow and still comes out winner !

Good show TDEX ! We are booked for next year .. 13 - 16 may 2010 ! Watch OUT for more .... Bangkok always fascinates me.

Come and meet us at Bangkok TDEX 14 - 17 May 2009

hey guys / gals,

If you happen to be in Bangkok attending the dive expo come and visit us we will be there, grab some good bargain for your next diving holiday or just come and say 'Hi' .. it will be nice to chat up with you and share some stories.

Me and Calvin will be around with our Thai colleague Khun Poo.

for more informations

TDEX

Declining Shark disrupted ecosystems

Researchers warn of decline in sharks, disrupted ecosystems

By Juliet Eilperin
THE WASHINGTON POST

July 3, 2008

The Mediterranean Sea, says Francesco Ferretti, is “a very dangerous place for a shark.”

Courtesy Enric Sala On this vessel, sharks are stripped of their fins, which are sold to Asian markets. The demand for shark-fin soup is one factor in the decline of the shark population in the Mediterranean Sea.

So dangerous that in the past two centuries, the shark population there has plummeted by more than 97 percent, according to a study by the graduate student, two colleagues at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia and an Italian researcher.

They based their conclusion on evidence scoured from an unusually wide variety of records, including documents drawn from universities and archives, from fish markets and recreational fishing clubs, and from local accounts of shark sightings.

The paper, co-authored with the late Dalhousie marine biologist Ransom A. Myers and others, is only the latest evidence that some of the oceans' most feared predators are themselves in dire danger.

Another team of scientists has shown in recent months that the peril is global, concluding that all but two of 21 species of open-ocean sharks and their cousins, the rays, are facing the risk of extinction. Another found that the decline of sharks at the top of the food chain is disrupting marine ecosystems around the globe.

“Sharks are just one part of the ocean's web of life,” said Margaret Bowman, who directs the nonprofit Lenfest Ocean Program, which helped fund all three studies. “But these studies show if you pull out that one thread, the whole web suffers.”

The shark researchers – from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States and several European countries – are engaged in a huge detective project, much of it inspired by Myers, who pioneered the first global shark assessment before his death in late 2006.

Culling both unconventional and traditional sources such as fishing data, museum records and scientific studies, they are tracking not only how drastically sharks' numbers have dropped in recent decades but also how their disappearance is transforming the marine world.

Several factors help explain why the shark population has declined in the Mediterranean, Ferretti said in a telephone interview from his native Italy. Fishing vessels are targeting them to meet the Asian demand for shark-fin soup, while simultaneously trying to compensate for the fact that they have depleted other fisheries.

“Some fishers have decided to switch to sharks because they cannot make up their product with bony fish,” he said, noting that the presence of so many countries bordering the Mediterranean has contributed to the fishing pressure there.

“At these levels, these sharks can be considered functionally extinct, meaning that they cannot perform their role of top predators in the Mediterranean marine ecosystems anymore,” he said. Ferretti and his colleagues published their findings in the journal Conservation Biology.

Two other papers published this spring suggest that once these predators disappear, the species they prey on not only increase in numbers but also behave differently once they are in less danger of being eaten.

In Prince William Sound, Alaska, Pacific sleeper sharks keep harbor seals from eating too many walleye pollock, wrote Dalhousie marine biology professor Boris Worm, the lead author of a recent paper in Trends in Ecology and Evolution, in an e-mail. Depleting the sleeper sharks in turn hurts the pollock population.

“We now understand that both on land and in the sea, large predators play important roles in regulating both the total number and the behavior of their prey,” Worm wrote. “Unchecked by their predators, some of these prey species can wreak havoc on ecosystems – this is one important reason to keep predators around in sufficient numbers.”

Another team of researchers, headed by Nicholas Dulvy, a biology professor at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, found that in the open ocean, sharks that used to be an inadvertent bycatch for vessels seeking tuna and swordfish are increasingly being targeted for their meat and fins.

The group, which belongs to the World Conservation Union's Shark Specialist Group, surveyed 21 pelagic shark and ray species, and determined that only pelagic stingrays and salmon sharks do not face a risk of extinction. Others, such as thresher, ocean whitetip and shortfin mako sharks, are all vulnerable, they wrote.

Sonja Fordham, a co-author of their paper in the journal Aquatic Conservation Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, said pelagic sharks, which regularly cross vast oceans, face heightened pressures because there are no international catch limits.

“Even though these are wide-ranging and fast-moving sharks, they are at risk,” Fordham said in a phone interview from Brussels, Belgium, where she advocates for tighter European shark-fishing regulations as the shark conservation program director for the advocacy group Ocean Conservancy.

Bowman said she and other advocates hope fishery managers will “figure out how to control fishing to prevent further declines” of sharks, and policymakers are responding. On June 19, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced it would ban the removal of shark fins at sea in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico by late July and cut the permitted catch of sandbar and porbeagle sharks.

A week earlier, the House Natural Resources Committee advanced legislation that would institute the “fins attached” requirement nationwide. International fishery managers will debate this fall the idea of imposing worldwide shark catch limits.

Enric Cortes, a scientist at NOAA's Fisheries Service who conducts shark-population assessments along the East Coast, emphasized that scientists are still learning about the role sharks play in ecosystems. They may dominate more isolated regions, but they don't necessarily shape every marine environment they inhabit: “The jury is still out on that.”

Read the details from link

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080703/news_1c03sharks.html