Since my blog is specially named after the famous cuttlefish - baktao, I definitely must have a Calamari recipe right? Hence I'm featuring my special Baktao Fried Calamari recipe with home made tar tar sauce here! The portions are mostly trial and error so adjust the ingredients portion to your own preference! If you're looking for a simple Calamari recipe to cook your che bak/green eye squid or even baktao/cuttlefish after your Sibu Kelong trip, this is the recipe for you! Tasty fried calamari! Batter Recipe (mix batter in a bowl evenly) 2 Cups normal flour 1 tbsp Oregano 1 tbsp Paprika 1 tbsp crushed black pepper 1 tbsp salt or garlic salt to taste Tar tar Sauce Recipe (mix in a bowl and adjust ingredients according to your personal taste preference) 3 spoons mayo 1 tbsp pickle relish 1 slice lemon juice squeezed 1 tbsp onion powder 1 tbsp black pepper 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp water Other ingredients 400g squid rings 1 cup of milk (soak squid rings ...

Digging for clams (lala and tua tow) the previous round was addictive and after the first time, I was better prepared now as I brought water bottles to collect saltwater and sieve trays for easy sieving of excess sand! I brought my brother on this trip and I actually consider it a life lesson digging session. Why? Simply because, the value of hard work and not taking money for granted is really put through during the digging. The shellfish that we dug is only worth a few dollars but only through wading in mud, digging, sweating undet the sun did we get our clams. Nothing is free in this world. Anyway, I'd think my brother had a great time as he was naturally someone who was curious about sea creatures and the sea. The fact that we could see live horshoe crabs roaming around the tidal flats piqued him with great interest. I even saw a barramundi jump! We went barefoot as we waded across the flats although I wouldn't recommend this to kids or women. Barefoot is probably the...

Here's a very popular and easily accessible fishing spot that fishing newbies can try! It's high on my list of "relaxing yet somewhat can have reasonable catches sometimes" fishing spots! Other fishing spots on this list include East Coast 6 pipes, Sembawang Park, Changi Boardwalk, Labrador Park... I took a walk down memory lane when I finally visited Woodlands Waterfront park after its opening some time back. This was a place that was opened up for fishing (no live baits) after some renovation and rebuilding works. The former RMN (Royal Malaysian Navy) jetty was now a revamped jetty that was opened to public.  All developed now! There is alot of controversy surrounding fishing at the jetty as you cannot use live bait and can only fish around certain areas of the jetty. I know this to be frustrating for anglers as the best fishing areas were near the shore where the drop off and rocky formations are! I fished this place regularly with lures before the pa...

Fishing with Ah Ho (Henry) was always going to be fun as Ah Ho was a proper "Fishing Charter Captain" in the sense that he knew where the fish were and he really knew how to get them! There are many "Boatman" who just bring customers to fish blindly at blind spots these days! Fishing at Southern Islands middle of the year was always fun as the pelagic species like Sagai, Golden Trevally, GT come out to play... This trip was no exception but the wind played a joke on us and we could only fish the inner islands than go out to the deeper waters for the big fishes! Nevertheless, I had a special guest on this trip. My fears were gone when I boarded Ah Ho's new boat - Aircon Cabin, Speakers blasting music and a comfy rest area! What seasick?! As the day went by, did fine and even managed to get some fishes herself! The crew made up of first timers to Ah Ho's style were caught by surprise when they were told to use sabikis! But they got the hang of it ...

Fishing the waters of Changi was a very familiar ball game for me and when I had the chance to independently fish it together with Boatman Shawn, it was a different kind of feeling to fishing - it was also the proving of certain concepts/assumptions/theories. I considered it as a test of sorts to see how much I gleaned from my countless Changi Offshores with the experienced traditional local boatmen such as Ah Chong, Ah Fong, Ah Long and Ah Soon etc. If you consider the experiences with James, Uncle Soh, Ah Bee and so on, it adds up to even more experience points! In short, I started my first real offshore fishing experiences in Changi waters and I was determined to get fish even without the guide of a charter captain! The second point I would like to make would be the sharing of spots especially for kayak and self boating fishing kakis. Recently, I've got to hear a few incidences which really sparked a curiosity in me.... Stories about the usual "my spot your spot our sec...

Digging for lala at Kranji Dam has been an activity that I had always wanted to do although I always dismissed the activity with nothing but a little light hearted scorn. As I walked by Kranji Dam after my freshwater fishing exercises, I would see families with their spades, shovels and pails wading out during low tide to exposed mud flats to dig for the shellfish. I would then label them as crazy and nothing better to do... But on this day, I was the one being crazy as I did exactly that! The goal was to do something different from the usual boring things singaporeans do... Armed with pink mini shovels and a single pail, we ventured down to the mud flats from the Kranji battle site. Secret weapon - pink mini shovels from Daiso! The amount of sandworms that were crawling around at low tide around the swamp area was freaky! They were all over the place and only went away when the tide was completely low! Apparently we were the first ones there and we didn't really know ho...

After not diving for almost a year, the itch to get back into the water to view the world beneath the waves beckoned. I did the Advanced Open Water Dive with Blue Reef Diving this time round since Apache Divers were no longer doing dive courses. I was by myself on this trip as most of my diving friends had already completed their AOW Course but not to worry - I found that a main attraction of diving was to go alone and not to worry about your friends/family or life. Going alone for such trips may seem "emo" or "lone ranger" but I found it to be refreshing since you're in thoughts with most of yourself and at the same time, you make yourself approachable to other groups since you're alone. That was true as the strangers from the trips turned into friends (and Facebook friends)! I was a little disappointed that it was not a Live On Board (LOB) dive but when I reached Pulau Dayang, a little part of that disappointment faded away as I saw why divers frequente...