Sipadan Scuba Adventures
Sipadan Island, Malaysia

This is the second attempt at writing this blog. The first attempt was after our first dive at Sipadan Island, where I waxed on poetically about all the things we saw underwater. If I continued at the same rate for the next nine dives, this blog would take up 50 pages. So, I’m going to try to point out just the highlights. Take Two:

We visited Sipadan Island, on the east coast of Borneo, which has an international reputation for being one of the best dive sites in the world. As we found out after our first dive, my fears of Sipadan also being one of the most over-hyped dive sites in the world were completely unfounded. We stayed at the Pulau Sipadan Dive Resort, one of six resorts on the small island. The island itself is a mushroom-shaped island than rises from a 700 meter abyss in the Celebes Sea. The accommodation was fairly basic, but much more comfortable than many of the places we’ve been in the past, the food was to die for (like everywhere else we’ve been in Malaysia), and the service here was fantastic.

There were a few concerns expressed by relatives and friends alike about the safety situation of Sipadan. A few years ago, several tourists were kidnapped by pirates and were held for ransom for quite some time; when they visited again a year or two later in the off-season, they even kidnapped local Malaysian staff in lieu of tourists. Well, the steps the Malaysian government have taken to increase security are clearly visible; on the way in, we were passed by a Malaysian patrol boat, during our first dive we were joined by two policemen who were taking a break from their patrol, and at night, we weren’t allowed to walk around the island because there were armed police walking around in plain clothes. Once, when we returned to our bungalow after dinner and were fumbling around with the key outside, a kindly patrol guard used his flashlight to help us out… we didn’t even know he was there. So we were feeling pretty safe from the get go.

We had three full days to dive there, before we took our required 24-hour pre-flight break from diving prior to flying back to KK. Most of the resorts followed the standard procedure of providing three boat dives a day, as well as unlimited shore diving (with a one-hour minimum surface interval). In fact, the shore dive known as the “Drop-Off” was located about 15 steps from the beach in front of the jetty, which itself was about 30 steps away from our front door. The boat dives were 2-6 minute hops from the jetty to the dive site, and by the time you fiddle with your gear after getting on board, it’s time to roll off and start your dive. It doesn’t get much better than that.

We did three dives on Day 1, four dives on Day 2, and three dives on Day 3, followed by a bit of snorkeling. The water temperature was comfortable, but not overly warm, about 18 degrees C or so.

Our first dive is an orientation dive at the Drop-Off. Our divemaster gave us a briefing, geared us up, and before we knew it, we were looking over the edge of the drop at a wall that descends into a 2000 foot abyss. Jen took a bit of time equalizing so we descend pretty slowly, but after a few moments, she was fine and we started looking around. We don’t have to look long, because the first thing I saw was a massive turtle perched on a rock outcrop taking a rest. They say you can tell a turtle’s age by the size of his shell; this guy must have been a great-grandfather. His stern but gentle expression was almost comic; we got close enough to touch it but refrained from doing so, as the island resorts have a good policy of non-interference with the wildlife. Little did I know it, but we would eventually see so many turtles at Sipadan that we would almost become blasé about seeing them.

There are hundreds of different fish along the multi-coloured reef wall that surrounds Sipadan. I was poking around the coral losing track of how many different fish we were seeing when I heard a metallic tapping nearby. I looked up to see our divemaster signaling me to turn around. When I did, I nearly jumped because there was a giant Great Barracuda hovering in the water not more than two meters away from me, positioned vertically. It was almost as long as I am, had beautiful striations along its body, and neat rows of very visible teeth. Apparently Great Barracudas are often seen alone, and don’t mind if you come very close at all.

We continued our way along the wall, taking pause to watch a few white-tipped reef shark cruise by us, with its symbiotic remora accompanying it underneath. Gunga, Marcus and I paid to find and squint at a few black-tipped reef sharks in Koh Phi Phi in Thailand; here they came around checking US out! Like the turtles, we would eventually see so many sharks that we amazingly became somewhat nonchalant about them. Imagine that, eh?

As we reached the turnaround point of the first dive, we came to the entrance of the Turtle Cavern, which is a 40 meter tunnel that leads to an underwater cavern. Turtles would swim into here and then unable to find their way out, would die, leaving their skeletons to settle at the bottom of the cavern. There are several warning signs outside the cavern; the dive operators only let those who are cave-certified inside. The pictures we’ve seen of the turtle skeletons are quite eerie though; I’d like to visit the inside one day.

Jen and I decide to do a sunset shore dive at the Drop-Off, since we aren’t allowed to do a night dive (without having to pay extra for a divemaster, as we are only Open Water qualified), As we prepare our gear, we notice a ruckus at the beach, and walk over to see what’s going on. One of the island’s conservationists is releasing baby turtles into the ocean, and we are rendered speechless as we watch dozens of tiny turtles wiggle their little limbs as they flop down the sand into the water. There, they take a sip of air, and then duck down under the water paddling furiously out into the ocean, following some instinctual command to swim. We know that most of them will perish, but hopefully a good number will survive the ocean’s predators and will continue to make Sipadan Island their home.

My second day didn’t start off too well, thanks to the problems I had putting my contact lenses in. I’ve only used contacts three times before, diving in Malta and Thailand. Yesterday, I didn’t have too many problems, but this morning, I struggled for 50 minutes, and could only get one contact in. Don’t laugh, it was quite frustrating!

Mike the Kiwi videographer was joining us today; another couple somewhat cajoled us into splitting the cost of an underwater video. I was still running around with one eye in focus, and was too irritated to give it more consideration at the time. The rest of the dive group was waiting for me, so I quickly geared up and we set off for dive four.

This time, we were dropped off at famous Barracuda Point, and I kicked myself for not being able to get both contacts in. However, as soon as we drop in, I found that I could see reasonably well underwater, and oh look, here’s another turtle coming to check us out; all troubles were instantly forgotten. We descended pretty quickly down the reef slope until we reach about 35 meters. The current was reasonably strong here, and we drifted along without having to kick much. Mike was swimming circles around us filming, and we waved at the camera whenever he went by.

After gazing at a few turtles and white-tip reef sharks, we heard our Divemaster, Jinxy, signaling hurriedly. We joined her and looked over a coral ridge to see a large school of Cheveron Barracuda swimming lazily in a circle. Nearby ware two smaller schools of jacks, and between them all were three turtles. We were in heaven, and spent a fair bit of time there turning our heads this way and that, taking it all in.

As we continued, we bumped into several schools of Moorish Idols, and then Bumphead Wrasses. There are many large schools of fish that we haven’t seen before. As we return from this dive, all chattering excitedly about the fish we’ve spotted, I am relieved that we decided to hire a videographer today, it’s sure to be a great home movie.

I was finally able to get that left contact lens in my eye during our surface interval. The next dive was supposed to be at Turtle Patch, but we were dropped off at Mid Reef instead, right on top of another large school of jacks. I don’t think we could ever tire of watching these huge schools of fish swarm around, so thick that they formed a solid wall. This dive was a bit more mellow, with less current and slightly fewer schools of fish. However, there were two giant barracudas, several gigantic groupers, and lots of macro activity to observe. So far, we haven’t seen much in the way of crabs, lobsters or shrimp; there didn’t seem to be any urchins around either, which is what we’re very much used to in the waters at home. There was a giant clam that Jinky pointed out that was so big, it looked like it belonged in a bad sci-fi movie.

There is a ton of macro stuff to see around Sipadan, and we have discovered many nudibranches, gobies, and tiny little shrimp around the hard and soft coral. However, it’s somewhat difficult to concentrate on the small stuff, because there are so many awesome big things around Sipadan. Among the many reef sharks we saw, we had a large Grey Reef Shark cruise by, and Jinky once took me down to get a one-meter look at a large but harmless leopard shark. Oh yeah, and did I mention that there are turtles and jacks everywhere?

Some of the highlights are in the pictures on the web page, but you can only capture so much with an underwater camera. If your subject in the viewfinder isn’t within flash distance (3-4 feet), odds are the picture won’t turn out. Plus, I only rented the underwater digital camera for four of the ten dives. But, I’m happy we did, because we did capture a few pretty neat things.

Once I forgot the camera at the beach, so the boat dropped the other divers off first, then took Jen and I back to pick up the camera. Once we got to the site again, we followed the bubbles down. However, the trail of bubbles disappeared after we reached about 35 meters down, and once we hit 42 meters (about 126 feet?), we said ok, we’re too deep, let’s head out on our own. We went up a bit, and fortunately found the others a few minutes later. Neither Jen or I had been that deep before, but hmm, can we get deep dive certified now?

Another time our group got caught in a really strong current that seemed to come out of nowhere. Jen was less prepared to handle it than the others, and while most of us grabbed rocks to anchor ourselves, I was worried when I saw Jen whizzing by in the really strong current, limbs askew, bubbles going sideways. I let go to give her chase, and caught up to her a ways down the reef. We both hung on to some hard coral with our bodies flying sideways in the water stream, like the two characters in the movie “Twister” when they are caught in the middle of the tornado. To be honest, it was pretty fun. We all got to calmer waters eventually, and oh look, there are a few more turtles…

Well, here is a non-comprehensive list of the various fish and underwater sea creatures we saw:
White-tip reef shark, Grey shark, Leopard shark, Green Turtle, Hawksbill turtle, Sting Ray, Moray Eel, Trumpetfish, Pipefish, Scorpionfish, Rockcod, Groupers, Basslets, Big Eyes, Remoras, Spinecheeks, Batfish, Butterflyfish, Damselfish, Angelfish, Anemonefish, Herring, Wrasses, Parrotfishes, Blennies, Gobies, Moorish Idols, Surgeonfish, Unicornfish, Barracudas, Tuna, Flounder, Leaf-fish, Triggerfish, Boxfish, Pufferfish, Porcupinefish, Lionfish, Trevally, Crocodilefish, Bannerfish, Nudibranch, Clams, Sea Cucumber, Basslets.

It was a truly incredible experience to dive at Sipadan, and we are very grateful to have had the opportunity to dive there. One day, we'd like to return and add-on Langkawi and Mabul as well. We’ve got pictures and a DVD to share with friends and family, but if you’re a diver and have heard about the wonders of Sipadan, I’d suggest making an effort to visit one day… all the stories are true!

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