Recycling wood to make sheds...

For the past few weeks, had been spending time to construct 'sheds' to store firewood for our wood stove...
I use recycled wood sourced from wholesalers who import huge stones from abroad...

Am not too much of a 'skilled' person when it comes to these things...
Anyway, the above picture shows one of my newest 'masterpieces'...
Notice the 'shelves'?...

The 'shelves' facilitate more air flow, thus allowing the wood to dry better...
They also allow easier access to the wood especially those that are piled at the lower levels...

Prior to this, I had just piled up the wood, without the 'shelves', as shown above...
'Not very good', said my missus...
I certainly need to re-do this one later on...

Nudibranches, Lankayan Island Resort, Happy 2013...

Returned to Japan from Malaysia on the last day of 2012...

Back to freezing temperatures, compared to those of Malaysia's... 

Spent some time diving the seas of Sulu... 

Nudibranches are one of my favorite photo subjects...

From the guide books, the above specie is classified under 'Chromodoris sp.'... 

But frankly, these scientific names are quite difficult to comprehend for a layman like me... 

Why? For there are apparently many, many different types of nudibranches that look so different and are yet classified under the same names... .
My dive buddy (aka my missus) found this one for me to photograph...

This one appears to fall under the 'Chromodoris bullocki' classification...
Again, my dive buddy found this one for me to shoot...

We thought they were mating... 

Apparently, 'each nudibranch has both male and female producing sperm and eggs. To mate, two nudibranchs come together side by side and pass sperm sacs through a tube in their 'neck' to each other. Both then go their own way and lay egg masses that may contain millions of eggs.' (Source)

Could not believe this was a nudibranch at first... 

Its scientific name? Yes, try 'Phyllodesmium briareus'...

All nudibranches are carnivorous, meaning that they prey on other marine animals like corals and sponges.  

This guy seemed to be feeding on the mat-forming soft corals...

Have seen this nudibranch somewhere before... 

'Chromodoris willani' is the name... weee...

Would have loved to have an external flash on my camera for this shot....

Lankayan Island is a good 90-minute speed boat ride from Sandakan... 

Despite the fair weather, the ride there was bumpy...

It is quite a nice island on the seas of Sulu... 

It takes about 10 to 15 minutes to walk around the island...

All the bungalows were single standing... 

Very well built with good materials and nicely furnished...

The main building of the resort... 

Imagine this, right in the middle of nowhere, in the Sulu Sea...

This building houses the restaurant, and offers plenty of spaces to relax in between dives...

Of course, today is the second day of the year 2013...

We took our first walk in the nearby hills...

And stopped by the neighborhood shrine to offer our thanks to the heavens for the past year... plus, our wishes and hopes for the new year...

Happy new year to all who comes by this post...