Mabul Island (Sipadan)

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Trip Start May 24, 2008 Previous
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  Pulau Mabul, Sabah, Malaysia
Monday, September 8, 2008

DAY 1:
We're writing this on loungers on the balcony of our water bungalow looking out at Sipadan Island. An array of tropical fish swim below us in crystal clear turquoise water.
 
Our overnight bus from Kota Kinabalu dropped us in Semporna at 3am instead of the expected 5:30am! We couldn't get hold of our booking agent so had to wait at the bus stop. As our booking had been last minute we hadn't received confirmation of our requested pickup from the bus stop. The taxi drivers wanted our business but we didn't know where we had to go and didn't want to pay if we could get a free pick-up anyway. So, much to their annoyance we waited and read our books! At 6:15 I rang the agent's mobile from a pay phone and got through; before my money ran out he said we had to get ourselves to the Seafest Hotel. Although it wasn't far the last remaining taxi driver that had been sat with us for several hours was more than happy to take us for a very small fee. We called the agent again from the hotel and were told we'd be collected from there at about 9am to get the boat to our resort on Mabul Island. We left our bags at the hotel and went to a nearby cafe for a Laksa. We're getting more accustomed to spicy food for breakfast and Laksa is particularly good.
 
After an easy 45-minute speed boat journey in the rain we were greeted with a fruit juice and a buffet breakfast. We wished we hadn't had the Laksa! Another nice surprise (although it would have been a nicer surprise if we weren't so exhausted from our near- sleepless journey) we were told we could do our dive refresher course.that day rather than the next day as expected. We chose our dive outfits from the hire store and were driven for 2 minutes in a golf buggy to the water bungalows on the other side of the island. Our bags were taken into our wonderful luxury bungalow with fluffy pillows and crisp white duvet (plus air-con so we can sleep under the duvet for once!) that we had been dreaming about whilst staying in a hot dorm bunk bed with three other people. The only problem was that the double bed we'd been  promised - as a honeymoon couple - was two twin beds. They moved us straight away. The view from the new bungalow wasn't quite as good as the first one but it was paradise whichever way you looked at it! They said they would try and move us the next day to a nicer view if possible. Sure enough we moved the next day and now we are lying on our loungers looking at perfection. Paradise just got better! We've just realised that we are staying in one of the best rooms in one of the best resorts in one of the best dive locations in the world! How many unemployed people can say that! We are extremely lucky and have to keep pinching ourselves. We're certainly not taking any of this for granted.  
 
Buffet meals here are a true feast! Seafood, meat, soup, veg, salad galore, naughty deserts and every local fruit you can imagine. We've both lost some weight since we set out 3 months ago, although we don't know how much. I think we'll put most of that back on over the next few days here!
 
We did our refresher course in the pool - the first time we've dived in a pool as we did our PADI Open Water course 2 years ago in the Red Sea, Egypt (and haven't dived since). Also on the course was a Swiss guy called George. The pool session was followed with a 30-minute dive in the house reef from the jetty by our bungalow, just going back over the basics. Time for afternoon drinks and snacks - we had earned them, honest!
 
Surprise number 2 was that the next day we were going to dive at Sipadan Island for all 3 dives. We felt very lucky because to protect the island the government only allows 120 people per day from all resorts, 15 of which are from our resort. We also felt a little disappointed because it meant a 5.30am start (although that is a lay-in compared with yesterday!). So it was a delicious candle-lit dinner of squid, prawns, salad and fruit with the best restaurant-view we've had so far. We were sound asleep by 9pm!
 
DAY 2:
The speed boat took about half an hour to take us from Mabul Island to Sipadan Island. We arrived at about 6am, just as the sun was rising. During our amazing 3 dives at various sites around the island the main highlights for us were turtles, Reef Sharks, Baracuda and big Humphead fish. The afternoon called for some serious R&R on our balcony in the sun. There are clear differences between holidaying and travelling - this was holidaying at its best!
 
[Here's something not everyone will want to know. Diving makes you wee for ages! After 45 minutes in the water all of us were bursting (despite some possibly being let out mid-dive - and that's not a confession!). After the Refresher Course George and I had discussed the marvel of the shrinking bladder but neither of us had clocked it

Breakfast on Sipadan Island

. So when I went to the loo this time, as I knew it would be something spectacular, I was ready with my watch. I clocked 1 minute 20 seconds of continuous action followed by a further 30 seconds of long bursts! I hadn't even drank much that day. Well, I said not everyone would want to know, didn't I?!]
 
DAY 3:
We explored local waters around Mabul Island. The focus this time was on the smaller sea life. Our excellent Dive Master, Christina, was brilliant at finding the tiniest of creatures hidden behind rocks, in the sand or in the coral. We saw a plethora of tiny colourful fish including Chrissy's favourite, the little Nemo fish (Anemone Fish or Clown Fish) hiding in the mushroom coral with their little baby fish eggs. Other highlights included many different colourful Nudibranches, Pygmy Seahorses, big Frog Fish, Crocodile Fish, Blue Spotted Rays and colourful Squat Shrimps. We also saw more turtles but this time we got to see them up really close (almost nose-to-nose) as they were lying around on ledges. They are really cute, slow-moving fellas and they seem so relaxed and unperturbed by having us excited tourists shoving our faces at them. They are almost as curious as we are!
 
Over the 5 days we met and dived with some really nice people at the resort. Michael, a retired American copper with a great sense of humour and his lovely partner, Scarlet, were from Colorado. Michael could usually be found either at the bar with a holiday cigar or coaxing turtles out of underwater crevices with Chrissy gawping over his shoulder. Paul, a 37-year old British Solicitor from Kent was also a good laugh - although you wouldn't have thought he was a solicitor from the Rowan Atkinson faces he pulled when he ate a sour piece of pineapple! Then there was Steen (none of us could ever pronounce his name right!) and Sanne from Denmark, who both spoke perfect English and were also good fun. Finally we met Tony, a financier, and his wife, Helen, who owns and runs some holiday homes in Norfolk.
 
That day our Dive Master, Christina, asked us if we wanted to do a night-dive and I jumped at the opportunity as it would be my first. Chrissy was a little apprehensive about diving in the dark so gave it some thought throughout the day. She eventually decided that 3 dives in one day was enough for her so she might try a night-dive another time. Michael and Paul also came along.
 
We kitted up and left the jetty at 6:30pm - just after sunset. 'Kitting up' basically meant putting on our wetsuits. Ordinarily it would mean preparing and checking all the dive equipment too, which would take another 5-10 minutes but the boat guys did all that for us so we just climbed aboard and went! We were really spoiled at the resort with the top notch service - in terms of diving, accommodation and food. It was a real honeymoon treat and couldn't have been any further from the hostels we've been in so far!
 
The night dive was really cool. The boat took us out a few hundred metres and we rolled over the side into the abyss. Everyone else had done night dives before but I wasn't the only one that found it a bit harder to control my buoyancy. You can only see what your torch light falls on so if you're pointing the light downwards and looking at something it's very easy to find yourself slowly falling or rising without realising it. I actually surfaced by accident at one point but fortunately we weren't deep enough for it to have been dangerous. There were different creatures to see at night time including many colourful crabs (one of which had a piece of coral on its back as camauflage - not quite clever enough to fool us though!). I would have seen a whole lot more if I wasn't spending half my time just trying to control my position! It felt amazing to turn off the torch and just hang in the middle of complete and utter blackness; or to see a huge turtle appear out of nowhere and glide gracefully through my torch beam and then slowly disappear back into nothing.
 
DAY 4:
We were chuffed to have been allocated Sipadan Island for our last 3 dives. We were less excited by the 4:45am wake-up call accompanied by the pitter-patter of quite heavy rain on our roof. We slipped into our swimmies and sleep-walked the onerous 30 seconds to the jetty. Our boat Captain said he'd wait for the first rays of light at about 5:45 to decide whether the sea was too rough or not. We gladly grabbed 30 minutes more sleep and then went back to the jetty to find we were going to Sipadan after all.  We bounced over slightly choppy waters for 30 minutes and then had our 3 best dives ever; it was well worth the early start and the rough ride.
 
We had our first experience of diving next to a wall - and boy was it a whopper! We descended to 25 metres and visibility was about 20 metres. The wall started at roughly 5 metres deep and disappeared into the depths below us. It was covered in the most colourful coral and other sea plants and teemed with equally vibrant fish and nudibranches of all sizes and shapes. We saw many more turtles and loads of reef sharks (Chrissy used extra air with her gasps!) as well as a long line of huge, ugly looking Humphead Fish. 
 
We also saw a tornedo of Baraccuda - the term used to describe a huge cone of fish all circling together. It was like a huge rain cloud and although Chrissy and I were quite impressed by this sight, it was somewhat wasted on us because we didn't know just how rare a phenomenon this was until we were out of the water and we twigged what all the excited chatter was about. Apparently the only time most people get to see this is with David Attenborough! We had just looked up at it in brief awe before focusing our attention on yet another cute turtle!
 
After 9 dives in 3 days both of us had had enough and our ears hurt a bit on the last dive. We enjoyed just chilling on our balcony all afternoon. As I had done a night-dive Chrissy got to have a massage in the posh resort spa. It was the best spa she'd ever been in and that's saying a lot considering her 10+ years in the leisure industry! The attention to detail was amazing with neat little touches such as a water fountain flowing straight down into the sea below. They had made the most of the stunning sea views and the overall atmosphere was just perfect for relaxation. Most of all, the man had magic hands!
 
To top it all off Chrissy got mashed potato on the last night! Our booking agent had arranged a complimentary bottle of nice red wine for us. We also had prawns the size of our hands and delicious crabs. As it was a buffet we stumbled away holding swollen tummies!
 
DAY 5:
We rose around 7am so we could enjoy our last few hours on the resort. As we weren't diving we enjoyed a big breakfast. We had washed and dried our swimmies but it was so sunny and the clear turquoise water so inviting that we couldn't resist a quick swim off the jetty.
 
At 11am we said our goodbyes and sadly boarded the boat one last time. My shorts dried nicely in the breeze all the way back to Semporna.

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Us taking an afternoon stroll between dives	Chrissy enjoying the views	You didn't even need to snorkel to see the fish	What a view
Thanks for Heat magazine, Paul	Taking a swim off the pier on our last morning

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