big on Brunei’s agenda. That’s
been changing, and even as
world-class hotels like the
Empire go up in Bandar Seri
Begawan, there’s been a parallel
movement to promote the
sultanate’s natural attractions.
And why not? Temburong’s
jungles offer the rare opportunity
to see such thick woods. Even the
Singaporean military know it, and
have made a special arrangement
with Brunei to have their troops train
in an encampment in Temburong (we
passed it going up to Ulu Ulu). Scuba
diving had been around for years,
too, with weekend recreationalists
launching themselves off Muara, a
suburb about half an hour north from
the center of the capital. And it had
been picking up, with more locals
taking up the sport, and both tourists
and expats adding it onto the list of
things to be done out of Bandar Seri
Begawan. As a sign of the times, just
a few days before, the tourism board
had just announced the launch of a
diving app for mobile phones.
“
Unpredictable. Brunei diving
is notoriously unpredictable,” said
Sweeps, my dive buddy for the
day. He’d been diving nearly every
weekend for the past two years, and
still enjoys the surprise. “You really
B R U N E I ’ S G R E A T O U T D O O R S
Above: Scuba
diving is gaining
more momentum
among the locals;
(
inset) we're
tempted to say
who we found
while diving in
Brunei...
73
{
}
don’t know what you’re going to get,”
he said. “I guess that’s a minus for
some divers, but you can look at it as
a challenge and a surprise. Diving in
Brunei is never boring.”
There certainly was a lot of
promise. With a good 4500 hectares
of coral reef, the Muara Coast forms
a bay that attracts all sorts of pelagic
creatures. Great for easy, peaceful
dives, but there were also a good
number of interesting shipwrecks
reachable just from shore, if one were
so inclined.
“
Visibility wasn’t so good the last
time we went out. Five, ten meters
max” said Nick, our divemaster for
the day. “But then on the next dive, it
just opened up,” he shrugged. “It’s a
mixed bag.”
Our group from Steven Ng’s
Oceanic Quest dive shop (not a bad
choice; Steven’s been one of the
foremost advocates of Brunei diving)
chose to check out a couple of reefs
for our dives, setting out on a bright
blue day with no clouds in sight. As we
backed up the trailer to put the boat
into the water, Nick blinked at the sight
of the glass-flat Brunei Bay. A good
sign, we agreed.
Thirty minutes later, after
the customary briefing on the
boat and a few warnings
about possible currents
and other dangers, our
dive group of five back-
rolled into the water.
As I was bobbing up
and down in the calm
waves, hardly moving, I
wondered,
What’s all the
fuss about?
And indeed,
when we descended, there was
no limit to the visibility: I could
see a good 20, even 30 meters in all
directions. The reef awash with color,
we happily went from rock to rock,
looking in on corals and fish, a couple
of rays. I almost got excited over a
nudibranch — which is saying a lot,
since I was never the nudibranch type.
It really was one of the most
beautiful dive days I’d ever had, and
when we surfaced, there were wide
grins all around. “I could see you! All
the way down to the reef!” our dive
assistant said excitedly as he hauled
our tanks from out of the water.
“
What are you talking about,
when you say that diving in Brunei is
difficult?” I joked, and Nick laughed as
we climbed back into the boat. “You
can come back any time, just as long
as you bring the good weather.”
Cebu Pacific flies to Brunei from
Manila.
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