Since my previous posts were all based in the country Malaysia, Ive decided to stick with that theme and finish up on my trip reports to Malaysia.
Im sure that if you are a Scuba diver, Snorkeller or even just a lover of the seas, you would have heard of Pulau Sipadan or just simpy Sipadan. It is in Eastern Malaysia State Sabah off the coast of Sempoerna on the Island of Borneo. It is a sea mount the only one of its kind in Malaysia facing open water. The famed underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau Once said in his Film “I have seen other places like Sipadan, 45 years ago, but now no more. Now we have found an untouched piece of art.”
Getting there is a hassle though. The closest international airport to Sempoerna is Kota Kinabalu the airport there has a curfew of 11pm-12am. The other option is to fly from Kuala Lumpur. That’s not all of it, From KK, or KL you have to take a Domestic flight into the nearest Domestic airport which is a town called Tawau. Once in Tawau, its another 1.5 hours by car to Sempoerna, and then another 30-45 minutes speedboat out to one of the islands or to the old oil rig Sea Ventures where we stayed.
I took the KL route, and had to stay over night(8 hours) to take a morning flight to Tawau and onto Seaventures, so it took me 1 day to get there.
Let me first say, that I did not go during the best season, I went in October which i believe is the start of the monsoons in Malaysia. But because of this I was pretty much guaranteed of a dive on Sipadan. You see Sipadan has imposed daily diver limits for a fairly long time now, and if you go during peak season, you may only get 1 day of diving on Sipadan for a week of staying near there.
There are a few options for accommodations once getting out there. The islands of Mabul, and Kapalai both have resorts on them, Most of them are quite expensive, with Sea Ventures and Scuba Junkie having the best rates. Let me just say though, I guess you get what you pay for. The room we got in Seaventures was tiny, just enough for two single beds and a bit of space to move around, the bathroom was also tiny. The condition of the whole place was a bit of a sham. Doors were warped and didn’t close properly, the window also didn’t close and leaked rain water in at night, so chilling in the rooms was definitely out of the question. They do have a games room, tv lounge, Karaoke lounge, but I never visited them my time was mainly spent on the main deck and diving. Meals are included, and is what id come to expect from a mid range Malaysian Resort. Breakfast was your usual assortment of Spam, Weiners, Fried noodles, eggs, toast. Lunch was more of the same usually Nasi or Mi goreng, and dinner would have been mostly grilled seafood and Malaysian curry, nothing to write home about. Honestly comparing Malaysian and Filipino resorts, Filipino resorts tend to be of a much higher standard at a lower price too.
There is one thing thats special about Sea Ventures, and thats the Rig Lift. Its unlimited House reef dives(house reef is basically just under the rig itself) and to reach the house reef, you basically take the cargo lift, which takes you right into the water, and the same on the way out. This is also the same lift that takes you to the dive boats for dives that are not under the rig.
So now for the most important part…the Diving! How was it? Lets start with Mabul and Kapalai as for most divers you will be spending most of your dives here until you get your sipadan permits!
Apparently both Mabul and Kapalai have been victims of Heavy dynamite fishing and also Cyanide fishing. And the damage kinda shows. I did not see any natural reef structures on Mabul, just Sandy bottom with Artificial reef structures put there by the various resorts. Not just any structures….but whole long houses and such that you can swim through, so i must say it was pretty cool. Diving on Mabul was mainly muck and Macro stuff and what I like to call Underwater Jungle Gymming. Just playing around in the structures that have been put there and spotting things like frog fishes wedged up in crevices. The highlight of diving on Mabul was the 2-3 meter long Giant Grouper that was hanging around.
Kapalai was a little better, there was a little bit of coral cover, with some fish life, but the currents we experienced were a bit crazy and we were at the mercy of the currents the whole dive, so we pretty much flew over the dive site and had to surface.
You can expect to see LOTS and LOTS of turtles, and BIG ones too. On almost every dive we encountered giant Green Turtles. On one of the dives on Kapalai we saw at least 8-10 individuals all resting on this sandy patch, and they’re so used to divers they dun really care if you go right up to them..just remember don’t touch though!
Sipadan, I only got to do 2 dives on Sipadan during the 4 days I was on the rig. The dives I Managed to do were of course Barracuda Point and, North point. Its safe to say that the entry point for both these dives were pretty close together just one was a right shoulder dive and the 2nd was a left shoulder dive. Visibility was poor to say the least. But yes everything they advertise is there! Huge schools of bumphead Parrotfish, Huge schools of jacks, and a wall of barracuda out in the blue water swimming in the current. It really does show what proper conservation can do for a place, this place was teaming with fish life, unlike mabul and kapalai which are barren compared to this place. On the 2nd dive we managed to see a couple of oceanic threshers swim under us at about 32+ meters, and an eagle ray on surfacing but nothing as spectacular as Barracuda point, and I guess i would have to agree that Barracuda point is a Bucket listable Dive site.
I personally have mixed feelings about Sipadan, After having dived extensively in the Philippines before I visited this Malaysian Mecca of diving, I guess I can’t say I was disappointed, but i was expecting more I wasn’t blown Away by it, after travelling for a day and having to fight for a diving permit and only allowed 2 dives on the island. And paying so much for airfares and accomodations was it really worth while? Lets put things into perspective then shall we leaving Money and Time out of it.
There were more sharks at Apo Reef, All dives , every dive ( Visibility was infinitely better)
Schools of barracuda and Jacks can be seen at Balicasag(Admittedly not as big a school)
Thresher Sharks – Bigger Closer At Malapascua
Big Turtles – Moalboal
Macro – Anilao, Moalboal, Anywhere in the Philippines!
you get to see everything in the one place during one trip at once on Sipadan….but I don’t know about you, but IMHO id much rather go on Several Trips for the price of the 1…
Heres a little Footage of what to expect,
All footage from this clip was taken with a GoPro Hero1, EyeofMine Flat Lens housing, Ikelite red Colour correction filter.
And here’s a link to the rest of my pictures from that trip… Sipadan 2011
Zombie Divers 