Kuala Rompin Sailfishing

I have just returned from the second annual fishing trip to Kuala Rompin. A world class fishery for sailfish, Kuala Rompin off the east coast of Malaysia has unbelievable numbers of sailfish in the peak seasons of around August to October.

Despite the sometimes sketchy looking weather and due to the efforts of the fearless crew, no minnow would be lost. Day one saw 6 landed fish (and released) and another 4 that got away. Those 4 were huge - you wouldn't believe how big!

Nathan and I returned bringing Jason and John along for 2 days of relentless fishing. With around 10-20 minutes of serious fight in each sailfish, sun and a beer or two, the wild boys weekend away ending with lights out before 9:30pm. Meanwhile, the wives poured themselves home at around 3am after a night at a strip club.

The fish typically ranged between 6-8 feet in length, still pretty far from their maximum 12 ft length.

See you next year.

Penang snapshots

Cocotte Sausage Eating Contest

It was Cocotte's second annual sausage eating contest and this year I was part of a team entry. I was shocked by the change in sausage from last year's delicious, moist, grilled sausages to this year's insipid & boiled chipolatas.

Tim, Paul, John and I ate well and took out third place and like year, the top amateur position in the country. If the professional eaters didn't go to the bathroom for a reversal of fortune, who knows how we would have fared?

Is this getting older?

Even as recently as two years ago it would never have occurred to me that she was doing anything other than her job. At a recent Yamazaki whisky event, I was approached by one of the promotional girls and from her demeanour, I couldn't stop from thinking "I've still got it!"

5 minutes later, the penny dropped and it dawned on me that she was paid to schmooze (the mostly male) crowd. Is this middle-age rapidly approaching? Is this why you so often see older mean taking up with much younger woman with an embarrassing misunderstanding of the relationship? In the years ahead, will there be more and more traps to make me feel like a fool?

Sipadan

Even from Singapore, Sipadan was a significant 12 hour trip. Taxi, plane, taxi to the other terminal, taxi back from the wrong terminal to the original terminal, plane, car, boat, buggy, hotel.  Scotch.

Blessed and relying too heavily on having such an iconic and premier dive site nearby, our resort was disappointing in itself but has the days passed, that faded into the background.

A recent typhoon had reduced visibility so our first actual dive at Sipadan was "shit," as we were told. Over 30 turtles, a dozen sharks, an immense school of jacks, a titanic school of barracuda, forests of hard coral, bumphead parrot fish ..... on one dive alone.  Mabul and Kapalai had equally as impressive muck-diving with leaf fish, scorpion fish, stone fish, giant moray, frog fish, giant cuttlefish, giant mantis, giant grouper, crocodile fish and my favourite, the Oriental Sweetlip.

And as the days passed, the weather and conditions improved to reach an acceptable grade as can be seen below.

Unfortunately my impression was that Sipadan solely represented a money-making opportunity to those in the tourism industry. There was no discernible connection between tourism and the local fishing villages and as they are therefore not stakeholders, being guardians of and maintaining conditions is of little importance. There was no culture of sustainability at the resort, no picking up of rubbish by dive masters during dives, no educating of us guests. I am worried about the future Mr Cousteau.