Sipadan/Mabul trip report 12FEB2011-04-24
I had booked in 4days/nights at Mabul with Borneo Divers after reviewing
a lot of threads on this forum.
I also planned the trip such that I had an overnight at either end of
the trip in Tawau, where I stayed at the Heritage Hotel. The hotel was
good for the money but nothing special, rooms were clean and fair sized
with aircon, the bathrooms were huge and in great shape. There was not
much to do in Tawau and it seemed a little run down. I think next time
I would overnight in Kota Kinabalu rather than Kuala Lumpur, larger city
with more to see and do, that way I could arrive in the morning at Tawau
and make the morning connection direct to Semporna/Mabul without staying
overnight in Tawau. After saying that, I did notice a very new and
large hotel next to the harbour in Semporna.
The Borneo Divers office in Semporna was little more than a shack on
stilts over the water and did not look much different from the other
dive operations. The only purpose of meeting at the BD shack was to take
the boat over to Mabul Is. The boat ride over to Mabul was quite
interesting and takes about 45-60 minutes, you get to see a lot of other
islands on the way. It was a little rough heading out that day as a
rain storm had blown in and visibility was down to about 1km, the boat
driver was having some trouble as the batteries had died on his handheld
GPS and he had to slow down due to the waves. One thing to note none of
the ferry boats and or dive boats I rode on or saw had any radio
installed.
I arrived uneventfully at Borneo Divers Mabul Is Resort and was shown
around the excellent dive facility that included a large locked
storage/drying area for personal dive equipment, a bar and great
lounge area for sunning and watching the sea and Sea Adventures Dive rig/oil
platform. The dive facility also included a large camera room with full
hook ups for charging batteries/cameras and an excellent work bench to
prepare your camera systems on. The dive facility was also the entry
point for diving the house reef and picking up the boats for the other
dive sites. The resort had low occupation for the complete extent of my
stay, the most divers we had out were 11 and there was at least 3-4 days
when only 3 of us were diving. Food at the resort was pretty good
though it did not vary much from chicken, fish, shrimp and stir fry.
After a short orientation meeting in the BDMR main lodge we were shown
our cottages and baggage was delivered to the door. Cottages were set
out with a view of the beach/sea along a well landscaped and groomed
grass area. 2 separate rooms made up each cottage, the rooms were quite
large and clean and even though I was in as a single I had a king size
bed and room to myself, at no extra charge. The bathrooms were rather
run down but still fully functional with lots of hot water. That
afternoon myself and the other 2 arriving guests had our 2 checkout
dives, one at Ray pt, Mabul and the other at the house reef. Both Ray
pt and the house reef had reduced visibility (~10m), most likely since
there had been rain, but there was still lots of life to see, Blue
spotted rays, turtles, Alligator fish, large Cuttle fish and lots of
nudibranchs. On later dives on the house reef we found the location of 4 Mandarin fish, I spent most of a tank watching them.
We were up early the next day to dive Sipadan, leaving the dock at 6am
to ensure we were in place for the Bumphead Parrot fish migration along
the reef. The trip was set early to find the bumpheads, though I dove
an additional 5 days and saw bumpheads every day. What can I say about
diving at Sipadan other than, "WOW, FANTASTIC, AMAZING, BEST EVER OF MY
37 years diving". After one day, 3 dives on Sipadan and 1 evening house
reef dive, I had decided that 4 nights was not enough and booked an
additional 2 nights. I had no problem extending my stay with BDMR and
they even gave me a discount rate. There were some issues with changing
my flights with Air Asia, as it all had to be done on line and they
would not assist over the phone. The charge for extending the flight out
was a bit high as well, $200US for both connecting flights back to
Bangkok. In my 6 days I put in 21 dives.
Of the 6 days I stayed at BDMR, I dove 5 days at Sipadan with no
problems getting a permit.
Though I loved diving Sipadan I wanted to see some of the muck diving
around Mabul, so another diver and myself paid an additional $30US each
to have a boat take us over to the Sea Adventures Dive Rig for a 4th
dive of the day. We could not dive Kapalai as a storm
front was coming in and the current was picking up. As it was the
current was quite strong under the rig and the vis dropped to near 3m and less,
though we found lots of nudibranchs.
Anyhow the diving at Sipadan was incredible, everything it's promoted to
be and more. Initially the DM stated he would rattle his tank when he
saw something interesting, he basically gave up 10min into the first
dive as the group were pointing out sharks, turtles, bumpheads and
barracudas all over the place. The schooling Big Eyed jacks were a
blast along with the 1.5m giant clam. Though I would have to say that I
enjoyed the schooling barracudas and Bumphead parrotfish the most, there wer multiple sharks and turtles sitings on every dive.
There was lots of macro to see as well at Sipadan, but usually your
attention was blown away by all the large life. I have never experienced the fantastic
amount of underwater life and massive coral growth, it was stunning. I would definitely put Sipadan in the top 10, if not one of the top 5 dive sites in the world.
A couple of items to note if you are going to Sipadan. My fancy hiking
sandals (Keens) disappeared one night from the main lodge, never to be
seen by me again. The staff suggested it could have been dogs, the
island dogs must have discriminating tastes to take both
sandals while leaving at least 3 sets of flip flops, anyhow that's life.
Lastly after one dive at the house reef I irritated one eye and between
flushing it with fresh water and using the resort towels I managed to
pick up both the viral and bacterial forms of conjunctivitis, pink eye.
I had to get a last minute, and I mean last minute, (the flight was
leaving in less than an hour) doctor approval on my eyes in order to fly
out. Luckily the doctor identified my conjunctivitis as a allergic
reaction, otherwise I would not have been able to fly out. I only
discovered this back in Thailand, pink eye would preclude me from flying until it cleared. As it is I still have some issue with the virus now after a couple of months. The ophthalmologist in Thailand stated pink eye is very prevalent in SE Asia
and Caucasians tend to get it often and rather heavy. Mine was an extreme case, probably because i did not get treatment for it till almost a week later. So be careful and prepared when you head out diving in Asia.
I had booked in 4days/nights at Mabul with Borneo Divers after reviewing
a lot of threads on this forum.
I also planned the trip such that I had an overnight at either end of
the trip in Tawau, where I stayed at the Heritage Hotel. The hotel was
good for the money but nothing special, rooms were clean and fair sized
with aircon, the bathrooms were huge and in great shape. There was not
much to do in Tawau and it seemed a little run down. I think next time
I would overnight in Kota Kinabalu rather than Kuala Lumpur, larger city
with more to see and do, that way I could arrive in the morning at Tawau
and make the morning connection direct to Semporna/Mabul without staying
overnight in Tawau. After saying that, I did notice a very new and
large hotel next to the harbour in Semporna.
The Borneo Divers office in Semporna was little more than a shack on
stilts over the water and did not look much different from the other
dive operations. The only purpose of meeting at the BD shack was to take
the boat over to Mabul Is. The boat ride over to Mabul was quite
interesting and takes about 45-60 minutes, you get to see a lot of other
islands on the way. It was a little rough heading out that day as a
rain storm had blown in and visibility was down to about 1km, the boat
driver was having some trouble as the batteries had died on his handheld
GPS and he had to slow down due to the waves. One thing to note none of
the ferry boats and or dive boats I rode on or saw had any radio
installed.
I arrived uneventfully at Borneo Divers Mabul Is Resort and was shown
around the excellent dive facility that included a large locked
storage/drying area for personal dive equipment, a bar and great
lounge area for sunning and watching the sea and Sea Adventures Dive rig/oil
platform. The dive facility also included a large camera room with full
hook ups for charging batteries/cameras and an excellent work bench to
prepare your camera systems on. The dive facility was also the entry
point for diving the house reef and picking up the boats for the other
dive sites. The resort had low occupation for the complete extent of my
stay, the most divers we had out were 11 and there was at least 3-4 days
when only 3 of us were diving. Food at the resort was pretty good
though it did not vary much from chicken, fish, shrimp and stir fry.
After a short orientation meeting in the BDMR main lodge we were shown
our cottages and baggage was delivered to the door. Cottages were set
out with a view of the beach/sea along a well landscaped and groomed
grass area. 2 separate rooms made up each cottage, the rooms were quite
large and clean and even though I was in as a single I had a king size
bed and room to myself, at no extra charge. The bathrooms were rather
run down but still fully functional with lots of hot water. That
afternoon myself and the other 2 arriving guests had our 2 checkout
dives, one at Ray pt, Mabul and the other at the house reef. Both Ray
pt and the house reef had reduced visibility (~10m), most likely since
there had been rain, but there was still lots of life to see, Blue
spotted rays, turtles, Alligator fish, large Cuttle fish and lots of
nudibranchs. On later dives on the house reef we found the location of 4 Mandarin fish, I spent most of a tank watching them.
We were up early the next day to dive Sipadan, leaving the dock at 6am
to ensure we were in place for the Bumphead Parrot fish migration along
the reef. The trip was set early to find the bumpheads, though I dove
an additional 5 days and saw bumpheads every day. What can I say about
diving at Sipadan other than, "WOW, FANTASTIC, AMAZING, BEST EVER OF MY
37 years diving". After one day, 3 dives on Sipadan and 1 evening house
reef dive, I had decided that 4 nights was not enough and booked an
additional 2 nights. I had no problem extending my stay with BDMR and
they even gave me a discount rate. There were some issues with changing
my flights with Air Asia, as it all had to be done on line and they
would not assist over the phone. The charge for extending the flight out
was a bit high as well, $200US for both connecting flights back to
Bangkok. In my 6 days I put in 21 dives.
Of the 6 days I stayed at BDMR, I dove 5 days at Sipadan with no
problems getting a permit.
Though I loved diving Sipadan I wanted to see some of the muck diving
around Mabul, so another diver and myself paid an additional $30US each
to have a boat take us over to the Sea Adventures Dive Rig for a 4th
dive of the day. We could not dive Kapalai as a storm
front was coming in and the current was picking up. As it was the
current was quite strong under the rig and the vis dropped to near 3m and less,
though we found lots of nudibranchs.
Anyhow the diving at Sipadan was incredible, everything it's promoted to
be and more. Initially the DM stated he would rattle his tank when he
saw something interesting, he basically gave up 10min into the first
dive as the group were pointing out sharks, turtles, bumpheads and
barracudas all over the place. The schooling Big Eyed jacks were a
blast along with the 1.5m giant clam. Though I would have to say that I
enjoyed the schooling barracudas and Bumphead parrotfish the most, there wer multiple sharks and turtles sitings on every dive.
There was lots of macro to see as well at Sipadan, but usually your
attention was blown away by all the large life. I have never experienced the fantastic
amount of underwater life and massive coral growth, it was stunning. I would definitely put Sipadan in the top 10, if not one of the top 5 dive sites in the world.
A couple of items to note if you are going to Sipadan. My fancy hiking
sandals (Keens) disappeared one night from the main lodge, never to be
seen by me again. The staff suggested it could have been dogs, the
island dogs must have discriminating tastes to take both
sandals while leaving at least 3 sets of flip flops, anyhow that's life.
Lastly after one dive at the house reef I irritated one eye and between
flushing it with fresh water and using the resort towels I managed to
pick up both the viral and bacterial forms of conjunctivitis, pink eye.
I had to get a last minute, and I mean last minute, (the flight was
leaving in less than an hour) doctor approval on my eyes in order to fly
out. Luckily the doctor identified my conjunctivitis as a allergic
reaction, otherwise I would not have been able to fly out. I only
discovered this back in Thailand, pink eye would preclude me from flying until it cleared. As it is I still have some issue with the virus now after a couple of months. The ophthalmologist in Thailand stated pink eye is very prevalent in SE Asia
and Caucasians tend to get it often and rather heavy. Mine was an extreme case, probably because i did not get treatment for it till almost a week later. So be careful and prepared when you head out diving in Asia.
