gong hei fat choy

Hong Kong Island CNY 2012

it’s the year of the dragon here in hong kong! happy chinese new year. there was a 23 minute fireworks display over victoria harbour planned – i had my camera all set up to capture it on video just like the countdown to jan. 1, 2012 but lo and behold, they moved the venue further to the east – more towards the front of wan chai and tsim sha tsui east so i was only able to see 1/2 of the fireworks on display. it wasn’t worth filming! the photo above, however, is how the evening looked just prior to the fireworks show – a cold and relatively clear winter night here in asia’s world city. click on the image above for the full-res photo. feel free to download it if you like it. have a great dragon year everyone. gong hei gong hei fat choy!

Happy 2012 from Hong Kong

Filmed from my bedroom window in Hong Kong last night for the countdown to 2012!

Happy New Year 2012 Planet Earth!

Filmed with the Canon EOS 5D Mark II

adrian, vic, johnston, zoe & ken – new PADI divers!

the last week of september found me once again in puerto galera, philippines for another terrific dive certification trip. this time i went with colleagues from my airline, Cathay Pacific Airways and partner airline, Dragonair. pictured above left to right, congratulations go out to Adrian (Cathay 747-400 pilot), Victoria (Cathay 777 pilot), myself as their certifying instructor, Johnston (Cathay 777 pilot) and  Zoe (Dragonair A320 pilot) for earning their PADI Open Water Diver licenses. Ken, also a Cathay 777 pilot (the one taking the above photo and pictured below) also completed his PADI Advanced Open Water license along with Zoe as his buddy. this photo was taken just after a refreshing afternoon rainshower passed through as we were enjoying a bbq picnic on a small beach called Friday’s. the divers had just completed their compass navigation snorkel swim when the rainshower passed through. so typical of weather in the philippines, even the sun shines through the rain! we saw some fantastic sealife – the highlight being a giant hawksbill turtle on their very first open water dive! (it was the largest hawksbill i’ve ever seen!) a good sign and a terrific start to their diving adventures. congratulations all. let’s go diving again….soon! dive (and fly) safe!

congratulations new PADI Advanced Open Water Diver, Susan!

a few weeks ago a huge typhoon (typhoon nesat) tore its way through northern philippines. despite the challenging weather and conditions, we managed to escape the major force of it as we were down south in puerto galera, philippines. fortunately, susan hall (joined by already certified diver, xavier law  (pictured above) was able to complete her open water and advanced open water diving license! we had to cancel one day of diving when the typhoon was directly overhead us, but the conditions cleared up quite nicely a couple days after. despite the visibility being lower – as expected after the typhoon – we were still able to enjoy our short trip to PG. congratulations susan! if you could handle those conditions, you can dive anywhere!

new PADI open water diver – kendrick cheng

another PADI scuba diver, kendrick cheng, finished his course in Puerto Galera, Philippines on 29th August 2011! congratulations ken! a group of us braved the super typhoon weather that struck northern philippines last week and spent a few days diving at the PADI dive resort Song of Joy in puerto galera (mindoro/batangas, philippines). despite the typhoon that just passed north of the philippine islands, we managed to have three decent days of diving. the highlights of the trip were a giant green sea turtle on ken’s first open water dive! we saw a second hawksbill turtle on a subsequent dive. the other highlight of the trip was a gathering of half a dozen sea horses – all congregating with each other (with the help of some coaxing from other divers and our DM!) at a popular sea horse muck diving spot called The Hill. unfortunately, (thanks to murphy’s law) i left my camera on the boat and so you’ll just have to take my word for it. it was fun introducing the sea horses to each other. again, well done to ken for finishing his open water course despite the challenging weather conditions getting to PG. it was a good, short trip. will be back end of september to finish another class. watch this space. some pics from our dives are below. as always, click the thumbnails to view a larger image. aloha.

fish, poi & aloha

last week i was able to head back to the rock in the pacific and catch a casual evening performance at the kani ka pila grille by one of my favourite hawaiian artists, sean na’auao. he spent the evening with his small band singing local island songs and sharing his warm style of music and aloha with the crowd. after his jam session was finished i was able to have a chat with him – he’s a great musician and one cool cat! found out one of his band member’s wife used to work at aloha airlines the same time when i was a pilot there. having just met, you could still sense the feeling of ohana (family) that exists around the islands and its locals. it was good to be back. sean ended the night with his hit song, “fish & poi” from his title cd-album that topped the hawaiian charts some 13 years ago. check it out on youtube or go buy the album and support sean and his friends. aloha braddah! hang loose, stay hungry and keep the tunes comin’!

tubbataha reef, philippines – cornered hawksbill

tested out my new sony high definition (HD) underwater video camera with light & motion housing at tubbataha reef national park in the philippines last month. tubbataha reef is listed as a world heritage site and it is perhaps the premiere dive spot in all of the philippines. the reef is located southeast of palawan right smack in the middle of the sulu sea. the visibility was incredible. clear blue water topping almost 200 feet. the water was warm (30 degrees) and currents light. below is a short video clip of our group chasing one of the resident hawksbill sea turtles. it was definitely the star of the show with everyone taking photos of him. unfortunately it ran out of swimming space and we cornered it, but still allowed him room to escape! here is just a simple video clip testing my new HD video camera. more tubbataha videos to come. enjoy.

new divers! congratulations pearlyn & nicholas

more new divers joined the padi family on 21 june 2011. pearlyn and nicholas, both from singapore, were certified in Kuala Terengganu at the Merang Sutra Beach resort on the east coast of the malaysian peninsula. despite some rough water, challenging conditions, and strong currents, pearlyn and nicholas both completed their open water diver course without any difficulty. the certification trip was arranged by my good friends at seamonkey dive centre in kuala lumpur (http://www.seamonkeydiver.com/) which provide first class dive facilities in the greater malaysian area. congratulations again to pearlyn and nicholas.

new diver! congratulations soe

on 25 april 2011, soe, an optometrist from hong kong, earned her open water scuba diver certificate! after 4 dives in puerto galera philippines with her husband, andy (also an optometrist) and a few of my family and friends, we welcomed her into the scuba diver ranks. we saw some spectacular sealife in PG – the most ‘exciting’ was a huge sea snake (sea krait) that was very curious and swam right towards soe and i to say hello! sea kraits are highly venemous and poisonous but they are very friendly and inquisitive and don’t pose any threat if you respect their presence. we saw some sea turtles as well in some great, clear, blue water diving across the channel at Verde Island and it was a good first experience for soe and the gang. congratulations once again soe! keep diving, and good job!

end of an era

july 7, 2011

the final day for the ‘classic’ uniform to be worn by our flight attendants at cathay pacific airways. will miss the ‘old look’ as a new era begins. my final flight on the final day with the crew in their now ‘vintage’ uniforms.