Diving Heaven

A beach on Sipidan Island
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When we came to Borneo, we didn't realize quite what an amazing place it is. Big mountains, hairy apes, monkeys with big noses, rich jungle and island paradises. However, while planning our trip we were not into the diving 'thing' and so had no plans to go diving there. After getting back into it, there was no stopping us. Our government currently advises extreme caution in this area due to threat of kidnapping by terrorists, however the Malaysian government are doing there damndest to make the risk minimal. Many of the islands in the area have army bases on them now who actively look for threats. There hasn't been a problem here in years....

Mabul Island
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So we headed to Semporna, stepping stone for the legendry dive sties around Sipidan. It is tricky to dive with some of the dive centres as numbers are limited in the national park and the likes of Scuba Junkie fill up fast. We still managed to dive Sipidan, with Uncle Changs, when we wanted to. Sipidan is famous for it's crystal clear water among other things, however when we dived visibility was between 3-5m. How annoying!!! We did manage to see many many turtles. It really is amazing how many you see. The coral too was breathtaking, although in mu opinion the soft coral was maybe not quite as impressive as some we saw in Utila.

A lovely desert island

Karaoke
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Sipidan island itself is stunning too. A lovely desert island. It is no longer possible to stay on the island, a smart move by the Malaysians as it will help preserve the reef. Time between dives was spent soaking up the rays while eating water melon on the beach.

We weren't happy about the conditions and so decided to do another trip to the island some days later. Visibility was better, in the 10-15 m range but still not what we were hoping for. Ton pit... Very very impressive all the same. So many turtles and sharks you start ignoring them after a while.

Drunk
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We also stayed on Mabul island while in the area. This was an interesting experience. The fishing village has to be seen to be believed. Loads of rundown wooden houses perched on stilts over the sea, some with satellite dishes.... There are many many children on the island. After 10 minutes of walking around the island you will get tired of saying hello to all them!

We dived Mabul, and in many ways found it as interesting as its more famous sister. Mabul has some great macro (or is it micro?) dive sites where you see loads of crazy looking fish. Particularly liked the nudi-branches here. Very colourful.

Going out local style
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We had a great time here, and we certainly haven't ruled out coming back here some time in the future for more diving. Many more things to see first though.