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Diving on the Platforms

For over 25 years, Brunei Shell Petroleum's management (BSP) has allowed recreational diving by Panaga Divers on their offshore oil installations, and it’s a jealously guarded privilege. These platforms attract the most diverse fish life (see below) and are festooned with sponges and corals. In the early days, all oil companies used to remove the growth, fearing that the weight would damage the platforms, however, it was soon realised that the whole ecosystem was self-sustaining and self-limiting. The company has left these growths alone ever since with the result that beneath the utilitarian topsides of the platforms, there’s a magical garden of colour and life just waiting to be visited.

This privilege is not taken lightly and a ‘look but don’t touch’ policy is rigorously enforced. In order to protect this permission, Steve Holyoak (Diving Officer 1999 – 2002) formulated a plan to do something positive for both Shell and the local community as a way of saying thanks for this unique diving experience. At the end of last year, the plan came to fruition as a two year environmental project designed to show the inter-relationship of the platforms and the neighbouring reefs along the lines of ‘industry and nature sustaining development together’. The project was sanctioned by BSP’s top management and will run during 2003 – 2004. It is hoped that these structures that attract fish in abundance will one day yield a commercial fish harvest to the local community.

The platforms are the target for 50% of the club's dives, however, we do visit other sites out of Bandar and Miri as well as making trips to Brunei own reefs.

The Garrison dive boat 'The Narcs' tied up to one of our favourite sites, AMDP-17. 12th July 2003.

GADP-01 EGDP-01

Click on the rig!

The Annual Cycle at AMDP-17

We rarely dive the platforms during the winds and waves of the north-east monsoon. The season, however, is apparent to all Panaga residents as the crash of the surf on the shore is easily audible, and the high midnight tides occasionally flood the low-lying roads. The winds wash up an amazing amount of timber and general debris from the South China Sea. Equally unwelcome are the jellyfish borne in upon the steady drift from the northeast. Rarely, do the dangerous Cubazoea jellyfish make it to Panaga (see below), but the Portuguese Man o'war often does in January and February littering the beach with hundreds of small blue bubbles.

However, come late February, we are normally back in the water. The first striking impression is the 'chilly water' at about 25 - 26^o C and the amount of other forms of 'jelly' floating about.

Comb jellies (Ctenophora ph.,) beautiful but harmless.

Little jellyfish (Cnidaria ph.,) beautiful and painful when they catch you across the upper lip.

Salps (Uruchordata ph., Salpa ge.,) jelly lumps, related (distantly) to ourselves.

AMRJ02 - 2nd February 2004

By March, the majority of the 'jellies' (ctenopores, salps and small jellyfish) have vanished in the markedly warmer water (28 - 29^o C), however, a huge Rhyzostomea ge., drifted past with an attendant cloud of small fish. Were they eating the jellyfish or under its protection?

As the north-east monsoon dies away, so do the 'jellies' and the sea temperature increases to about 30^o C which it maintains until the end of November.

On the left, at the bottom of AMDP17 (14th March 2004), and looking oddly like something discovered by the Hubble Space telescope, a salp string slowly disintegrates and returns to its watery components. On the right, the tides and winds often produce a clear demarcation between river and sea water. This has a profound effect on the underwater visibility.

During this period, we dive the platforms as often as possible. One of the most striking features is the appearance of small (10 cm) juvenile barracuda around May. These fish school in their thousands, however, are very particular about where they congregate. As far as we can tell, areas where 'black corals' grow are the favoured locations, and none is as prolific as AMDP17.

18th July 2004

The juvenile barracuda schools last from May until August reaching their peak in June and July. The photographs on the right (AMDP17 28th/29th June 2003) shows the swarms at their most dense. Other fish, notably fusiliers join in this incredible abundance of life (below).

21st June 2003 12th July 2003

At the beginning of July, another breeding phenomenon takes place as the Sergeant-major fish (Abudefduf sp.,) lay their eggs which are then promptly eaten by the moon wrasse (Thalassoma lunare), much to the dismay and anger of the Sgt-majors!

Come June, the Southwest monsoon has begun. A far milder air stream than the Northeast monsoon, the winds blow mainly offshore. A consequence of this is that the waters from the Baram and Belait rivers move right across the Ampa field, reaching as far as Fairley field and the reefs at Chearnley. This brackish water does not mix readily with the clear, and much more saline, oceanic water. Often, at this time of year, one descends through 10 metres of turbid green water before falling out of the 'clouds' into the crystal clear waters below. The two water columns possess different temperatures, salinities, and even current direction.

August is a special month. It is typhoon season in the west Pacific, and although typhoons do not touch Borneo, the huge air stream required to feed these monsters, pulls a strong southwest wind across the South China Sea spinning off unpredictable squalls where the winds can touch 50 kts, and the seas rise from calm to four metres in as few hours. The Baram water is now very pronounced, and literally colours the dives with an atmospheric green hue.

At the end of August, a calm prevails as the typhoon season diminishes and a calm prevails before the Earth's orbit brings aout the northern winter and the return of the Northeast monsoon. During this period, stunning visibility exceeding 30 metres can be expected.

AMDP-12 23rd August 2003

Towards the end of the year, the juvenile barracuda vanish. Do they get eaten? Do they eat each other? When do they turn from juveniles into the the impressive schools of larger barracuda that frequent AMDP02. This is something that the Environmental Project should address. If the biomass of the barracuda population stays roughly the same, then perhaps the 10,000 juveniles turn into the 100's of 70 cm adult, and occasionally, the big metre plus monsters that lurk between the platforms.

Once December has arrived, it's time to take up alternative sports as the dive season comes to an end. What happens out there on the platforms during this period of heavy seas. Certainly the sea temperature drops rapidly from 30^o - 25^o C. Perhaps, one year a group of hardy divers will brave the swell and find out.

A pair of visiting instructors, who have worked all over the place, claimed that this platform has got to be one of the best dive sites in the world! Stunning views, juvenile barracuda (still here in September) and a garden of black coral. Perhaps it's all related; the Environmental Project aims to find out.

That was a very abridged journey through the annual cycle of diving on the platforms as told 'through the eyes' of AMDP17. Let's now look at the individual platforms themselves and how they all have their individual characteristics. Certainly, we have our favourite platforms, however, in order to gather representative data for the Environmental Project, as many platforms as possible were visited in the period 2003 - 2004. Some of the most visited are described below:-

AMDP-05

An algae encrusted Hawkbill turtle was observed grazing on the soft corals of AMDP-05. May I remind you (right) to be careful where you put your hands.

AMDP-27 & AMDP-08

These platforms, although neighbours used to be quite different in detail. In 1994, AMDP27 had colonies of octopus living in the conductor guides and AMDP08 had exclusively moray eels in the same place. The specialised abundance of those years no longer exists. These days, the platforms are more similar, the few octopus and moray eels living together, or perhaps they are the survivors of a species domination war that failed for both. What is obvious is that these platforms have none of the breeding swarms of AMDP17. There are virtually no black corals here. Instead, 'epoxy sponges' and barrel sponges abound.

AMDP27 - 23rd August 2003 AMDP08 - 28th March 2004

An interesting quirk (28th March 2004) is the mutant two-finned Banner fish resident on AMDP27

AMDP-02

For some reason, there's always barracuda on this platform. There are schools of 60 cm adults, and even the odd one metre plus monster, but never, the swarms of juveniles. That happens on AMDP17, only a few miles away. Sharks and eagle rays (right) have been spotted at this atmospheric site.

AMRJ-02

There was a school of over 100 adolescent barracudas and beautiful, friendly batfish (Platax teira).

I saw what appeared to be a coral fighting a losing battle against a swarm of minute brittle starfish. Knowing how wrecks in Britain and Scotland can be infested with these parasites in a short time, it will be worth plotting the progress of this plague on the platform. It's a question posed by the Environmental Project:- Does life establish itself in a stable ecosystem and flourish on these platforms, or is the dominant life-form transient, dictated by whatever larvae drift onto the surface of the structure?

AMRJ-01

4th September 2005: To my knowledge we've never dived this one before. I guess we felt that it would be similar to AMRJ-02, a pleasant but bland open structure. Wrong! This Riser Jacket is a converted drilling platform. The conductor guides are in place, but cut off at 25 metres. The bracings couldn't be better situated at 30, 18 and 6 metres. Trevallies and jacks roamed the structure, resident turtles gnawed at the abundant soft corals, and amongst the black corals AND epoxy sponges lurked lionfish, scorpion fish, long-nosed hawkfish and manic sgt-major fish. It was a stunning dive.

From 29 metres looking upwards we see the cut-off conductors, and the bracings at 18 and 6 metres. You couldn't design a better platform.

15th October 2005 - AMRJ-01

A 5 metre thick murky layer of Baram water made for exceptionally green photography. I tried to filter the picture below, but there simply wasn't any blue light getting through, despite what one's eyes might have interpreted.

Only flash could bring out some colour on the remarkably friendly red snapper.

AMWJ26

By chance we discovered the delights of AMWJ-26, a murky yet very atmospheric well jacket. Schools of pelagic predators circled in the green waters and one puffer fish was so enraptured by the attentions of a remora that he totally (and unusually) disregarded the divers.

On 1st May 2005, we enjoyed a far clearer and more atmospheric dive. As usual on this shallow (17 metre) platform, there were pelagics in abundance. Barracudas moved around the outside whilst a school of golden trevally stayed inside. The huge puffer fish was still in residence. A net has caught on the platform and now wraps around half of it. Rabbitfish munch happily through the soft corals and fish eggs. There's always something on the go on this platform.

GADP-01

The Gannet platform lies 28 n.miles offshore. That's a long way and not to be under-estimated. Stunning visibility and large pelagics make the trip worthwhile, however, glassy calm weather conditions are required for such a long journey. It seems that Gannet lends itself to a vertical photographic format.