ANAMBAS

"The Anambas Islands"? Where's that? My friend couldn't stop raving about her experience diving an oil-rig. "Hmmm....wonder what it's like to explore under a manmade structure?" I've only covered reefs and I'd like to try diving what is touted as diving an underwater cathedral.

And so I embarked on my maiden voyage on a liveonboard to the Anambas Islands in 1998 on board the Jonassis. Was a fresh start, but my first trip ended tragically with the death of 2 divers (will blog about this incident later).

A friend who was on the 270 and also on that fateful trip has hung up his fins ever since. I have been back several times thereafter and on the brighter side of things, I can safely say that some of the dive sites there are like nothing I've ever done before! Frickin awesome stuff!


First thing - Orientation! Above, a map of the possible divesites the liveonboard operators will hit on any given Anambas trip! With so many hours to kill getting to our destinations, what else can one do but produce a portfolio of sketches of dive sites - the ones included in my Anambas itinerary.

Above :
Seven Skies Wreck, apparently one of the worlds first real supertankers. This 90000 ton, 262 meter long Swedish-built supertanker in 1969 suffered an explosion and sank east of Tioman Island, not far from Anambas Islands (Indonesia).

- Rests in 64 meters of water with entire superstructure intact
- Top of the funnel @ 18-20 meters
- Bridge and superstructure @ 30 meters
- Various decks and structures @ main deck level @ 45 meters

For more info, go to Asia Divesite.


Above : Malang Biru, an island with the characteric lighthouse and surrounded by hard coral. What stood out to me then was the vast healthy colony of bracket corals. Click here for a photo of the lighthouse. Not sure about the condition of the corals now.


Above : Beta Oil Rig is one of two oil rigs which seem to be in pretty good shape after having been abandoned for sometime. Rumour has it that these rigs have been recomissioned but I have yet to verify the truth. The 2 rigs are actually named Udang A and Udang B. I can't quite recall why I named it the "Beta" oil rig since it's been years since I drew the pix, but I think this is synonymous with Udang B, the rig much larger than its counterpart. According to Vincent's Dive Website, the official names of the rigs are not named on any Hydrographic Navigational charts.

It was not recommended that we board the rigs as the landings are indeed rusty, but I don't recall this advice being heeded! :P

Above : Udang Bravo Oil Rig. Underneath this monstrosity are legs that stretch all the way down to 300 feet (100 m)! The visibility is unbelievable; if you strain your eyes a little, you could almost certainly touch the bottom in a glance. Looking up, it's true that one can feel like you're floating un an underwater cathedral with pillars adorned with all sorts of rainbow coloured flora! And it's almost a spiritual experience when out of the blue comes a whaleshark gliding into this picture-perfect scene....am I in heaven? No doubt about it!

Report by Rosy Low coming up soon...