The kingdom of Brunei is located at the top of the island of
Borneo, sandwiched between the Malaysian states of Sabah and
Sarawak and is probably the smallest country we have ever been to.
We would have never heard of the place let alone visited it, if it
had not been for the fact that Matt and Kirsty, friends of ours
from Portsmouth, moved out there to live. Matt, having got a job
working for a company responsible for the maintenance of the
Sultan of Brunei’s navy and returning with his family to
the country where he himself was brought up as a child .
So we left Perth, armed with 24 bottles of Cider for Matt’s dad
Phil (as Cider is the one drink that is hard to get hold of in
this semi-dry state) which caused us all sorts of problems at
Perth and Singapore airports. However, we reached our destination
of Bandar Seri Begawan, the Kingdom’s capital with out too much
fuss around midnight, where we were met by Kirsty at arrivals and
driven to their home in Maura.
Brunei is a beautiful place. Wild monkeys in the trees, swimming
pool at the bottom of the garden, and dinner at the Serasa yacht
club to watch the sun go down with a nice Gin and Tonic, just to
mention but a few things. Phil’s girlfriend Jenny put us in
contact with Brunei Diving Club, because at the time, there were
not any dive operators working out of Brunei. We managed to get
ourselves on the club’s Sunday dive, aboard their catamaran Down
Under III (Down Under I had sunk!!! and Down Under II had been
sold). Our first taste of
Brunei diving was the American wreck which was not a bad dive but not
a patch on the second dive which was on the Cement wreck. It was a
mind blowing kaleidoscope of colour and swirling schools of bait
fish, even Tracy liked it and she is generally unimpressed with
wreck diving .
We
spent a month in Brunei, in which time we took time out from
diving to visit Sepilok, in Sabah, to see the Orang Utans (a big
rip off in Terry’s opinion) where Tracy managed to get some good
wildlife photographs. We also managed to teach Matt to dive in his
pool and out on Pelong rocks. His first post course dive was on
the Cement wreck, and we got out for a few more dives.
A month was not enough time in Brunei. So, Terry returned 10 weeks
later on his own (much to Tracy’s sorrow ) after going back to
England to earn a bit of cash . The plan being to help a guy
called Andrew set up a dive shop, then be joined by Tracy in a
couple of months . But all was not as it should have been on
arrival. The promised accommodation and transport did not
transpire, so Terry ended up imposing on Matt and Kirsty again and
having a holiday whilst waiting for Andrew to sort things out.
Luckily, Matt now owned his own boat and dive gear, so there was no
shortage of dives with him and also going out with the dive club
in return for a bit of maintenance work on Down Under III. But it
was not what was expected and so the saga continued !!!!!
Finally
Andrew sorted out accommodation and Terry ended up with somewhere
to live and the use of a motorbike. Things slowly sorted
themselves over a couple of weeks, he even managed to get out
diving. However, on the return of Andrew's partner, Klaus, and the
mention of work visa's, Terry soon realised that there would be irreconcilable
differences between him and Klaus and a parting of the ways was
made! Terry remained in the the accommodation anyway until Tracy's
arrival at the beginning of August through to the end of
September. During this time, Terry did some environmental work for
TRACC whilst they were commissioned by Shell to study the effects
on marine life whilst conducting their seismic surveys. He also
applied for a few permanent positions but nothing came to fruition
so on October 3rd 2002, we headed off to Kota Kinabalu in Sabah,
where Terry did his PADI IDC/IE and finally became and
Instructor!!!
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Diving in Brunei falls into three main categories: reefs, rigs and
wrecks.
Reefs
around Brunei are generally quite shallow, have excellent fish and
coral life, but are affected by fairly strong currents and only
low to average visibility caused by a lot of run off by the
surrounding rivers, which can make them seem a touch bland. But
good for training and open water dives.
Rigs,
as oil is the main source of income for Brunei, there are quite a
few offshore oil rigs and quite a few of them are accessible to
divers. They are rich in marine life, acting as man-made reefs and
giving homes to many hard and soft corals.
Wrecks, these seem to be Brunei’s major attraction. There are
three wrecks dived regularly, including the Australian, American
and Cement wrecks. The Blue water wreck is quite away out and not
dived often. Also there is the wreck of The Bolkiah which is in
close to shore but fairly difficult to find. Plus many other
uncharted second war wrecks. The good thing about diving the
wrecks is that they are not affected by river run-off and
generally have excellent visibility.
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THE CEMENT WRECK
Located at 05 , 13.295' N , 115,04.875'
E and resting in an upright position the 92m long, 2654 Ton
Japanese cargo ship the M.V. Tung Hwang, sank on the 15-9 -80
after having hit the Samarang Bank en route to Brunei, with a
cargo of cement for use in construction of the Sultans palace.
This beautiful
wreck ranges in depth from 8m at the top of the bridge gantry
where the buoy line is tied off down to a 32m sandy bottom. The
wreck is encrusted in soft corals and feather stars and is home to
massive shoals of swirling bait fish and many kinds of predators
in search of lunch. The ship is still fairly intact apart from the
damage to the bow where it struck the bank; also, the funnel has
collapsed, lying on its port side tearing away part of the deck
which now gives good access to the engine room and various
corridors running off it. The marine life on this site is
abundant with many different species including Lion Fish , Cube
box Fish , Moray Eels and schools of Bat Fish just to name a few.
Unfortunately, the local fishermen know where the wreck is
resulting in quite a few nets and lines hanging on the steel work
after they have been snagged and then abandoned.
These
in turn spell death for creatures such as Turtles which get
trapped in them. Sometimes fishermen still fish on the wreck even
when they know there are divers down on it. This resulted one day
with Matt getting hit on the head with a fishing weight much to
Terry’s amusement. You could dive this wreck everyday and not get
bored with it as there is so much life on it and so many parts to
explore. Probably one of the best dive sites we have dived, and
quoted by some sources as the most photogenic wreck in Asia.
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THE AMERICAN WRECK
Located at 05 degrees 08.614' N ,
115 04.906' E the USS Salute AM 294, Admirable Class Minesweeper
lies broken in half on a sand bottom at 30m after hitting a
Japanese mine on the 8th June 1945, during
pre-invasion sweeps of the Brunei Bay, with the loss of nine
lives.
Built in November 1942 by Winslow Marine Railway and Shipbuilding
Co., Seattle, Washington, and launched in February1943, this 60m
long, 625 Ton minesweeper served firstly as an escort ship before
joining Mine Division 34 in the South China Sea . She received 5
Battle Stars for her part in WW II. Before hitting a mine
amidships causing the bow and stern to start sinking, two landing
craft came to her aid and attempted salvage but were unable to
control the flooding and she eventually sank.
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The Salute, now lies in 30m of water and is very broken up and
collapsing in on herself. Various war goods can still be seen on
the wreck including rounds of ammunition. Depth charges were
removed by the Malaysian Navy recently causing more damage. The
wreck is now home to many soft corals and schools of Yellow Tailed
Barracuda. Because of its depth topping out around 20m, one ends
up with a relatively short dive which is a shame as there is a
great deal to see on this wreck.
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THE
AUSTRALIAN WRECK
Situated at 05 , o8.283' N, 115 ,05.403' E the "Australian
Wreck" lies on her port side at a 50 degree angle slowly
collapsing into the sand at 33m. Some uncertainty surrounded the
origins of this wreck. It gets its name from the fact that it was
thought to be an Australian ship or that it was Japanese and had
been sunk by an Australian torpedo bomber. Both theories have been
now proven to be incorrect.
The ship was
originally a Dutch passenger/cargo steamer called the S.S. De
Clerk, built in 1909 by Nederlandsche Scheepsbow, Maasschappij.
This 300ft long, 40ft wide, 2071 Ton ship, was scuttled by the
Dutch Navy in 1942 at Tanjong Priok, West Malaysia, to prevent her
use by invading Japanese forces. The Japanese subsequently
re-floated the ship and renamed it the Imbari Maru (some say the
Imaji Maru). Unfortunately, during a sailing between Singapore and
Manila, whilst transporting 1210 personnel to the Philippines, she
struck a Japanese mine at 09.45hrs on 16th September
1944, with the loss of 339 lives, mainly all prisoners being
transported as slave labour and were chained up in the cargo
holds! The wreck is complete, but collapsing in on itself. The
teak decking and wooden wheel house have rotten away giving easy
access into the cargo holds which contain various war goods and
china crockery and bottles, plus some human remains of those who
perished on her, and therefore should be treated with the respect
of a war grave (but generally isn’t!!). Care should be taken
inside the wreck as the bulkheads and shell plating are very
flimsy in parts. Most of the ship’s portholes have already rotted
out and disappeared into the silt that has collected in the holds
(apart from those which have been plundered!!). Visibility on the
wreck is generally poor, adding to the wreck’s eerie feel. There
is not a great deal of coral growth on the wreck, but it still
attracts an abundance of bait fish and various pelagics, such as
the 2m Stingray that took Matt by surprise as it glided out of the
gloom on one of our dives. The poor visibility does not really mar
this dive, it just adds to the overall feel of it, making it
another excellent wreck dive off Brunei. Top
BLUE WATER WRECK
Located
35km offshore the wreck of the 80m long, 12m wide Philippine stern
trawler the "Mabini Padre" lies on her portside in 35m of water.
She sank on 13 November 1981 whilst under tow fighting a fire on
board. Rumour has it that the amount of water used to dowse the
flames was the reason why she eventually sank.
This wreck is commonly known as the "Blue Water Wreck” due to its
position so far offshore out in the “blue water" and therefore
generally has excellent visibility. The best of all the wrecks
around Brunei. The only trouble with it being so far offshore is
that chances to dive it are few and far between , but on a plus
note at least the marine life is not constantly being hassled by
divers and therefore is abundant , I do not think we have seen so
many Lion Fish on one wreck, they are literally everywhere . The
coral growth on this wreck is not as prolific as other wrecks but
it is getting a good coating of hydroids and sponges, it is also
home to big schools of Barracuda, White Tip Sharks and many other
pelagics cruising around such as Trevallies, Jacks, Spanish
Mackerel and Tuna.
Once again with this wreck, dive time is limited as it bottoms
out at 35m, with the highest point at 24m. But being so easy to
navigate with it lying on its side and visibility so good , it is
easy to see the whole wreck in one dive and gaze down upon it
whilst hanging off the buoy line whilst doing a safety stop , you
never know what might come cruising past out of the blue water.
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PELONG ROCKS
These tiny outcrop of rocks just offshore of Brunei, are home
to a light beacon and nesting Sea Eagles on the surface, and
plentiful corals and fish below. This was the first place we took
Matt for his open water dives, and were surprised by the amount of
life on them especially Anemones, and a various kinds of Clown
Anemone fish, resident in them. Unfortunately, being so close to
shore it is subject to bad visibility, fairly strong currents and
a fair bit of surge in the shallows. But, if you time your tides
correctly, it is not a bad site for a first dive experience. Top
ABANA REEF
Further out to sea towards the Malaysian island of Kuruman,
Abana Reef is often used as a second dive site for a shallow dive
after a deeper wreck dive. Once again this site is very much alive
with whip corals and Anemones, but the visibility is once again
generally only average so you don’t really get an overall view of
the beauty of the reef, which is a shame.
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PETE’S REEF
Even closer to Kuruman, this reef tops out at 9m and drops off on
all sides to a sand bottom at around 20m, making it easy to
navigate in it’s usually low visibility state. With the site full
of life, you get the feeling that if the visibility was better,
there would be the chance of seeing larger fish, rays, or sharks
instead of all the relatively small stuff even as pretty as it is.
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YUHO MARU
This wreck, found 32 km off Kuala Belait at
04º53.020’N, 114°08.864’E, has been dived by Panaga Divers (see
www.panagadivers.com) for many years but under the name of the
Toho Maru which it was always believed to be. That is until
recently when new evidence to its true identity came to light. A
plate found by John Elder bears the logo of Iino Kavin Shipping
Company who, after hours of research have been found to have owned
a ship called the Yuho Maru which according to various reports was
torpedoed and sunk by U.S Submarine Pargo SS-264 at a location of
04º55’N, 114º06’E on 26 November 1944 which is the exact same
location and date the “Toho” was supposedly sunk. A strange
coincidence – who knows? Or, just a mix up in communication. See
the Panaga Club website for further details of this riddle.
However, today, what remains of the ship is just the stern section
(who knows what happened to the bow – maybe one day that will also
be found) which lies upright in a silty bottom at around 55 metres
deep in usually crystal clear water, making this a dive for
experienced divers only. It is a beautiful dive, probably due to
the fact so few divers get the chance to dive it. The stern gun is
still in place. Even though damage to the rest of the wreck is
tremendous, plates and bottles can be found strewn all over and
the marine life on and around the wreck is stunning. The stern gun
is generally obscured by schools of bait fish, with schools of
giant barracuda and trevally circling in the blue above the wreck
waiting to swoop down for a feed. There are many lion fish,
scorpion fish and huge groupers to name but a few fish on the
wreck. The only trouble is one never gets long enough down on the
wreck even though now it is being dived on Trimix and deco tanks.
Its still only a 23 minute bottom time with 40 minutes of
decompression to get back to the surface. But you might be lucky
and see a Manta Ray cruise past whilst hanging on the line or
trapeze as Terry and John did on one dive.
So call it what you want and it maybe only half
a wreck but it still is a world class dive which very few people
get to do.
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OIL
RIGS
AMPA
RIGS: DP8 PP8 DP27
DP5 DP21 DP12
Oil
exploration began in Brunei in the early 1900's, with the
investigation of natural seepages and oil pools in the Labi and
Seria districts. It was not until 1929 that the first land
drilling became productive in Seria marking the beginning of what
is now a multi-billion dollar operation, and the source of
Brunei's wealth.
The
advent of the second world war and the subsequent invasion of the
Japanese severely halted oil production and it wasn't until the
late 1950's that oil exploration began in earnest again. This
time, offshore, with Shell's first platform becoming operational
at South West Ampa oil field in 1963. This was followed by the
first offshore processing plant at Ampa 6, in 1976. Since then
drilling has been successful all along the Brunei coastline at
Fairley, Champion, Iron Duke and Magpie oilfields. The structures
are now becoming artificial reefs encrusted with coral and
sponges, and teaming with marine life.
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Until
a few years ago, Shell had a policy of "cleaning" growth
from the platforms due to a concern that the added weight of the
growth and it's "rooting" into the metal structures
would cause damage. Fortunately, this has now stopped as studies
have shown the platforms can easily cope with twice their own
weight and that the growth actually protects the metal it clings
to. This has allowed the platforms to become rich in marine life
and home to an abundance of fish. One of the strangest phenomena
observed by local divers is the fact that different platforms play
host to different species; that is, it seems to be whichever life
form gets to a platform first becomes the most dominant. So, it is
seen, some sites are mainly covered in sponges, whereas others can
be encrusted in soft or hard corals. Also, the fact that on one
site, Octopus are prevalent, on another Moray Eels will dominate.
Further investigation into this is hopefully going to be carried
out by Marine Biologists in the near future.
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Shell
adopts very strict health and safety guidelines concerning
Recreational Scuba diving on it's platforms, and only allows
limited access to the Panaga Sub Aqua Club and the Garrison diving
club - both based in Kuala Belait. Luckily for us, we met John
Elder, a leading member of the Panaga Club whilst out diving the
wrecks and he invited us to do some diving with his club. We took
him up on this offer a couple of weeks later and were very glad
that we did, as the dives were beautiful with heaps of life and
crystal clear water. We strongly recommend diving in this part of
the world if you get the chance. John can be contact on annajohn47@hotmail.com
for further information on the clubs' schedule. Please note, it is
a private club not a dive shop and large groups of tourists cannot
be catered for, but individuals and pairs should cause no problem.
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PLATFORMS
The
platforms which we dived were the furthest out of the Ampa field,
roughly 10-11 nautical miles from the shore off Kuala Belait. All
have a maximum depth of 40 metres which is generally not reached
as the sea bed is very silty and the bottom 5m's or so is quite
stirred up and not worth wasting your dive time on.
The
general construction of a DP (Drilling Platform) is a square with
4 legs held together with criss cross horizontal bracings at
around 26m, 16m and 5m, with 10 to 12 "conductors"
(pipes that originally held the drilling and now serve in bringing
the oil to surface) which reach from the drilling platform to the
sea bed. This arrangement makes navigation and multi level diving
very easy and interesting, with many places for corals and sponges
to grow and for fish to live and hide. PP's (Production Platforms)
are of similar design but lack the presence of the conductors,
making the construction very open. This allows shafts of sunlight
through causing excellent silhouettes and giving the feeling of
cathedral-like atmosphere.
PP's
and DP's are connected by overhead gantry's of pipe work and
navigation between them (underwater) is pretty straightforward,
allowing both to be dived on one dive. This gives the opportunity
to experience two different environments.
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AMDP
8, PP 8 AND DP 27
These 3 platforms are
joined in an "L" shape configuration. They can be dived
all on the same dive but the best way is in pairs on two dives,
diving DP8 twice. The resident life form on DP 27 seems to be
octopus living in the conductor funnels at 12m. Whereas, on DP 8
it seems to be barrel sponges and huge Starry Puffers (possibly 1m
long - never seen any so big before!), and PP8 seems to be home to
a rather large friendly turtle. Also seen on the dives are a
school of Giant Barracuda cruising mid water between DP8 and PP8.
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AM DP
5
This rig is covered in
bright green soft coral "trees" so thick in some parts
that it is impossible to get through the conductors, as well as
the usual reef fish in abundance. Tracy and Matt were lucky enough
to see two Manta Rays cruising past overhead in the blue water on
this dive.
AM
DP 21
This was our first rig
dive and the visibility was amazing. You could see all the way to
the sea bed at 40m with the sun filtering through the platform
making for an awe inspiring dive. It is covered in corals and
sponges and some very curious batfish circling around on the
safety stop. None of the fish on these platforms seem overly
perturbed by the presence of divers which seems to indicate the
lack of hassle they receive from their visitors which is a good
thing as the Club operates a no-touch policy. All in all well
worth the 5 a.m. start and the 120km drive from our
"home" in Muara to Kuala Belait.
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AM
DP 12
Closer to shore than the
previous platforms and subsequently a touch shallower, it's bottom
bracing is around 20m and this is where the life is. This platform
has more of a "reef" feel to it, as it is teaming with
reef fishes such as a dozen or so very inquisitive Blue Ringed
Angelfish, schooling Bannerfish and a multitude of Moorish Idols,
Anthias and Dascilus, plus White Eyed Morays and Octopus. The
structure is encrusted with sponges of all shapes and size.
Unfortunately, there is not a great deal of life above this 20m
point so it is worth using your bottom time wisely to get the
maximum from this otherwise lovely dive
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