Venue: Pulau Sipadan, Sabah, East Malaysia
Date: 11-16 May 2009
Participants/Divers: Meei Ting, Daixing and Me!!
The day started on 11 May 2009, 07:00 hours when I left my house to pick up Daixing on the way to the airport for our flight at 0910hours. & thus begun our day of traveling! 1st off, flight to KL, then a 4hr waiting time for a connecting flight to Tawau. By the time we reached Tawau, it was close to 6pm. Then a 1hr bus ride to Semporna where we stayed over for 1 night b4 our boat ride to Sipadan. We met this American father with his son on our way to Semporna, and happen to be staying in the same hotel! WE had dinner with them and talked a fair bit over dinner. They are really a fun bunch of pple! 2 more brothers were already in Sipadan diving and they were heading over to meet up with them!
12 May 2009 0900hr, we left the hotel to the registration office and spent almost 1hr just waiting for our ride to paradise! It is here that we discovered another group from Singapore which we have nicknamed – Stargazer, Grouper, Hanger, Normal boy and Normal girl. Haha, evil evil but they were great entertainment to us! More on them later on… When we finally arrived at the Sipadan Kapalai Resort, we were mesmerized by the scenery and surrounding!! Some background info, Kapalai Resort is built on stilts, in the middle of nowhere, with no land in sight. Means we’r all stranded in the sea!! It was a great experience! The surrounding was simply BEAUTIFUL!! WE so wanted to just jump into the water upon arrival! U could c all sorts of fish swimming right under ur eyes! Stingrays, big fish, turtles eels… Our room no16 was HUGE and fantastic!! There’s a balcony where u could just sit there n suntan while reading with the view of the sea, and fish swimming under u! Our day started with an orientation dive that wasn't anything much to talk about, followed by an afternoon dive, which wasn’t anything to talk about either! Hahah.. Early night off to prepare for the next day dive!
13 May 2009 Our dive started at 0800 to Siamil Island. Our 1hr surface time was spent strolling or lazing along the restricted area of the beach cos the island is guarded by soldiers and restricted. N of cos gossiping abt the group of Singaporeans, esp Stargazer hahah! After 2 dives at Siamil (which frankly we didn't quite like), we headed back to Kapalai for our afternoon dive. N lo and behold, let me set it straight. Our Divemaster (DM) was Oliver and we were a group of 6. That afternoon, it was raining, and bloody cold! The moment we hit the bottom of the water, currents were crazy! 45min of the dive, we were struggling agt current half the time, and the DM was just moving forward n forward, didn't seem to notice us dying out there! When we FINALLY stop for 3min safety stop, I realized that Daixing disappeared! N panicked! When we surfaced, we saw her on the boat. Turned out, she lost 1 of her fins n was forced to surface halfway. Our DM didn't even noticed her disappearing until we surfaced! N to think he was more concerned abt the fins than her safety! No questions were asked, no concerns were shown. He went back to find the fin (which he did) and let it drop! We were pissed, esp DX. Of cos, we called the resort mgmt to complain and asked for a change of DM for our group. It was terrible!! Now I say it, the DM Oliver is NOT very responsible! Beware if any of u got him when u go Sipadan. Of cos we hope he’ll change!
Talk about our group, we have 1 UK couple – Fernando (who’s Spanish actually) and Rachel, Richard (from UK, who we call Goofy), and us 3! They are fantastic pple! Fun, nice and good to talk to.
Oh and finally the Barracudas! Act they’r a group of Chinese nationals, led by the Barracuda head (a woman) who seemed like they came juz for the food and nth else. Tho apparently they did go for dives. The Barracuda head, can be heard long long n far b4 she’s seen! Their daily activity is just to show up at meal times, n demand for lots of food at their tables, talking and laughing LOUDLY regardless of the pple n surroundings! Of cos she absolutely loved prancing ard like she’s the queen but of cos she doesn't look even the tidiest bit like one. It was a major source of entertainment (besides stargazer) for us during our wk there!
14 May 2009 0530hours. The day we FINALLY get to go Sipadan for our 4 dives!! Yea! The main attraction of the dive trip! Like what Xiao Ku Ku (a Turkish guy) said, aft u’v been to Sipadan, there’s nth else! Nth can b compared to Sipadan. There’s only Sipadan & Not sipadan. Don’t even need to clarify between Kapalai or Mabul or Siamil Island. Haha Expectations run high!!! Our new DM – Benn is good! He reali took care of us, mingled with us, talked to us, made sure we were alright in the waters and stopped to check on us e’ry now n then. A vast improvement and difference from Oliver! We were all raving abt Benn n how he is so much bter than the previous one!
Our Sipadan dives consisted of 3 dives at Barracuda Point (no pun intended) and 1 at drop off. Reali fantastic! Turtles, sharks and all sorts of fish r everywhere! U don’t even hv to try to find them, they juz r all over!! We had videography for 2 of our dives and obviously we were in the video! Haha… The best part of the dives was swimming amongst the shitting Parrotfish! They were practically LS-ing the whole time we were waiting for our 3mins to be up b4 surfacing!! Btw, we bought the dvds to keep as memory! Our 4 dives ended at 2pm, all exhausted from the early start. Our afternoon was spent juz lazing ard, walking on the sandy bottom (during low tide) and taking an afternoon nap!
Moi @ Kapalai
Us with Benn our 2nd DM
15 May 2009 0800. Our last dive day of the trip. Back to Siamil Island but this time, we discovered so much more!! Leaf fish, frog fish, slugs, nudibranch, cuttlefish, big fish small fish….. So much bter than the 1st time at Siamil Island. Our last dive of the trip was at Mabul at Stingray Point. Tho we didn't c any stingrays, we saw loads of others like turtles (omigod, I must say I’ve nvr seen so many sea turtles in my life, here it’s like turn n there’s one, turn right there’s another one!!), devil scorpion fish, lion fish, shrimps, cuttlefish, crocodile fish (yes they look like crocodile). It was a great dive to end the trip!
But unfortch for me, I got sick on the last day! Reali sick aft the dives. Fever loomed and I juz had no strength to do much but to lay in bed n slp right aft dinner! What a bummer!
The next day, we had to wake up for our 0630 boat out. N time to say good bye to Sipadan. Still feeling sick (flu, cough etc), we left b4 most pple were up and spent the rest of the day traveling once again! Bus to Tawau airport, flight to KL, waiting time of 4hrs and flight to Singapore. By the time we reached SG, it was almost 7pm. Tiring day but happy aft the dive! Our rental charges were eventually waived cos of the terrible incident that happened to DX (her being lost at sea) which saved us a fair bit of $$.
It was a great trip! Us 3 charlie’s angels together once again after 3 yrs. Yes, DX’s fault. She alwz cldnt make it when Tingmei and I went diving… Sipadan was beautiful but if only we could go there one more time n visited other dive sites! Only drawback – No beach! I miss my beach. I’m a beach Bum. It would have been nice if there was a beach….
Next stop – Manado! Yes, DX and I have already planned our Manado trip in Aug over the national day holiday. This time without TIngmei who unfortch cldnt join us, cos she might be overseas.. Sad but looking fwd to Manado! Finally there’s a beach! N heard it’s reali beautiful out there!
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