Canon A720IS Photos from Sipadan Island (Part 3)
- Thread starter Rickg
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
Nice variety - love that!
Beautiful turtle
The little froggie looks like he's levitating!
Beautiful turtle
The little froggie looks like he's levitating!
Cool turtle. The snail is a nice one, too.
OP
Rickg
Contributor
I recently received several inquiries about the MV Celebes Explorer, Sipadan weather, travel agent, etc so here is some background for our last trip in case anyone else is thinking about heading over that way.
1. While on the CE we had 4 days of the 7 days dedicated to diving on Sipadan with 4 dives a day on WED, THU, FRI and 3 on SAT (the day the boat heads back to Semporna to prepare for its next trip that departs the following morning). To the best of my knowledge, the CE is the only way that you can do 4 dives a day at Sipadan Island. The norm for the day boats from the other resorts being 2 boats dives at Sipadan Island a day along with a 3rd boat dive at either Mabul or Kapalai. On WED, THU and FRI we also did a 5th night dive each night off Mabul.
2. Best Time of Year - We really lucked out with the weather. Even though it iwas monsoon season we had perfect weather for every day of the trip except for the last dive day when it rained most of the time we were at Sipadan Island. We have been there from as early as JUL to as late as DEC. This last trip we went in early DEC which is during "monsoon" season but we had great weather. I think it is mostly just "luck". Water temperature doesn't vary much - usually somewhere around 82F. Nothing is guaranteed but chances are APR - OCT will be better than the NOV - MAR timeframe because the wet season starts in November and ends towards April, with the most rain falling in January. But that said, Sipadan is a lot like beer. There is no such thing as a bad beer, just some is better than others and there is no bad Sipadan, just some times are better than others.
3. Visibility - I've seen it vary from 25' to 75' horizontal visibility. You will never get the visibility that you can find at Cozumel or some place in the Caribbean but that is also why you get to see so much fish life. All of the "stuff" in the water all goes to feed something. I've heard it can get better than that but have never seen it much better than that in our 4 trips.
4. Air Flight - I booked our travel directly through Malaysia Airlines. They were the cheapest I could find and the cost of the ticket was only about $25 more per person than when we last flew there in 2001. They have a USA branch located in IL. Here is their contact info.
info@emalaysiatravel.com
5. Diving - I used "Save-Money-Diving" to make our diving arrangements.
Save Money Diving -:- Scuba diving, diving holidays, liveaboards, dive packages worldwide
"Monica" was my travel agent. This is the second time I have used them and she was my agent both times. In addition, she assisted me with hotel reservations in Tawau before and after our time on the CE even though hotel reservations aren't what they are about. I can't say enough about her help.
6. CE - is a nice, comfortable LOB; not in the same class as an Aggressor or Peter Hughes boat but we were quite happy with her. The cabins were comfortable, the food good, the beer cold, the crew fantastic and the DMs superb. We'd go back in a heartbeat.
7. If you are interested in what we saw on our trip you can find that in my trip report.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/malaysia-singapore/213465-sipadan-dive-trip.html
1. While on the CE we had 4 days of the 7 days dedicated to diving on Sipadan with 4 dives a day on WED, THU, FRI and 3 on SAT (the day the boat heads back to Semporna to prepare for its next trip that departs the following morning). To the best of my knowledge, the CE is the only way that you can do 4 dives a day at Sipadan Island. The norm for the day boats from the other resorts being 2 boats dives at Sipadan Island a day along with a 3rd boat dive at either Mabul or Kapalai. On WED, THU and FRI we also did a 5th night dive each night off Mabul.
2. Best Time of Year - We really lucked out with the weather. Even though it iwas monsoon season we had perfect weather for every day of the trip except for the last dive day when it rained most of the time we were at Sipadan Island. We have been there from as early as JUL to as late as DEC. This last trip we went in early DEC which is during "monsoon" season but we had great weather. I think it is mostly just "luck". Water temperature doesn't vary much - usually somewhere around 82F. Nothing is guaranteed but chances are APR - OCT will be better than the NOV - MAR timeframe because the wet season starts in November and ends towards April, with the most rain falling in January. But that said, Sipadan is a lot like beer. There is no such thing as a bad beer, just some is better than others and there is no bad Sipadan, just some times are better than others.
3. Visibility - I've seen it vary from 25' to 75' horizontal visibility. You will never get the visibility that you can find at Cozumel or some place in the Caribbean but that is also why you get to see so much fish life. All of the "stuff" in the water all goes to feed something. I've heard it can get better than that but have never seen it much better than that in our 4 trips.
4. Air Flight - I booked our travel directly through Malaysia Airlines. They were the cheapest I could find and the cost of the ticket was only about $25 more per person than when we last flew there in 2001. They have a USA branch located in IL. Here is their contact info.
info@emalaysiatravel.com
5. Diving - I used "Save-Money-Diving" to make our diving arrangements.
Save Money Diving -:- Scuba diving, diving holidays, liveaboards, dive packages worldwide
"Monica" was my travel agent. This is the second time I have used them and she was my agent both times. In addition, she assisted me with hotel reservations in Tawau before and after our time on the CE even though hotel reservations aren't what they are about. I can't say enough about her help.
6. CE - is a nice, comfortable LOB; not in the same class as an Aggressor or Peter Hughes boat but we were quite happy with her. The cabins were comfortable, the food good, the beer cold, the crew fantastic and the DMs superb. We'd go back in a heartbeat.
7. If you are interested in what we saw on our trip you can find that in my trip report.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/malaysia-singapore/213465-sipadan-dive-trip.html
marcienko
Contributor
Very nice Shots !!!!
Regards
Marcin
Regards
Marcin
paradicio
Contributor
Nice shots, that turtle pic is my fav!
OP
Rickg
Contributor
Thanks guys, appreciate the comments.
Similar threads
