Please help - Wife wants to cancel Sipadan for security reasons

[Conce]

Our baby has one dive logged! :babycrawl

Good for your baby! I can´t wait that my nephew (3 years old) grow old so he can dive with me ...

 

[slee416]

Bali? Not to panic you or anything but the disco bombing there a few years ago was more tragic than the kidnappings at Sipadan. It's a beautiful island no doubt, but Kuta beach is a zoo with all the hawkers.... who can get quite rude if you blow them off. I haven't been to Fiji but I would go there rather than Bali. Been there three times.

Oh don't get her started on the Bali bombing now Just kidding. I never brought it up but I guess that while the bombing was indeed more tragic, maybe the kidnappings hit closer to home. For example I may not think twice about walking into a federal building in oklahoma city but I'm gonna think twice before filling my car for gas in the Washington DC area with a known sniper on the loose.

Anyway we both wanted to go to Fiji but the flight schedule to Bali worked out better for us and it looks like the trip will be cheaper too, given the amount of diving we'll do. Not sure if I mentioned this already but we originally planned our honeymoon to Fiji but had to cancel. That's when we did Maldives a year late. Now Fiji is becoming that place we will always be trying to get to ala Jim Carrey in Truman.

As for Bali we will not be staying Kuta.

 

[slee416]

Good for your baby! I can´t wait that my nephew (3 years old) grow old so he can dive with me ...

I think it's had a positive effect on her. As soon as we put her in the baby tub she's kicking around and all smiles....but I guess that's true of a lot of babies. If my wife doesn't fall in love with diving I'm gonna have to wait along time for our little one to certified. No more unlicensed diving for her

 

[tboxcar]

Just returned from Sipadan/Mabul on July 30th, 2004. Stayed at Sipadan Water Village, excellent time, great service and superb food. Malaysian security forces showed their presence alot, decked out with speed boats and sub-machine guns, never felt a problem. Oh yes, almost forgot, the diving was 'out of this world'!!!!

 

[jagphoto]

While I agree that you should cancell the trip as your wife would be worried the entire trip, making for a bad time, I disagree with the travel warnings. I was in teh Navy Reserves up until May of 2003. This administration has done nothing but cause fear in this country. ANY country, including ours, is only as safe as you are vigilant of your surroundings. Keep your head on a swivel, don't look obvious, and don't have expensive items showing, and you'll be fine. Blending into the population is always a good thing, too.

 

[dialeemo]

I recently went to Sipadan at the end of May and I also read about the troubles that were being experienced there. I have been travelling a lot around Asia recently and if I heeded all the warnings, I don't think I would have ever left home. Personally I didn't experience any problems whatsoever and had an excellent time doing the best dives I had done to date. Obviously there have been problems in the past but when I was there, there were many military boats patrolling the area and for a couple of days there were a couple that were permanantly moored to the resort. Also there are many Filipinos working in the area as well. I was staying at Sipadan Water Village and they have 3 Filipino instructors among others. THe biggest problem I had while staying there was not eating too much of the excellent food and avoiding the sea snakes that decided the crawl up on to the jetties. Diving wise- you won't regret it.

 

[parpy]

We've been there just June 2004 and everything was fine. Security was our top priority then as my wife is a Japanese and we were wondering if it was safe to dive there.
Everything turns out fine and as a matter of fact, we enjoyed diving there and can't wait to go back.
We do noticed every diving spots that we go, there are armed military personnel stationed there with communication equipments. Also, the occasional patrolling navy boats really make us feel much safer.
Well, I guess all depends on individuals. If your gut feeling tells you not to go there, I guess better not. You will not enjoy the trip if you have other worries in your mind, otherwise, go there and my advise is, stay at Mabul Island, that will be a better choice.

 

[sharkdiver00]

While I agree with all the comments about 'gut feeling' and 'intuition', I must say that the travel advisories are there to warn you of possible problems. The situation there is not nearly as bad as it seems and you do not have to stay in Sipadan.

If you can convince your wife and she would be willing to go with a different attitude, you should not miss such a great trip. On the other hand, what is the point of going to the best place in the world if your significant other is miserable all the time...

I have four friends from Holland going there in 15 days for an entire month....

I envy you, it is a great place and, unless the Malaysian government relents, this is your last opportunity to dive Sipadan!!!!

Maria

 

[slee416]

This thread has turned out to be quite popular. Many of you probably missed my earlier post, but I gave in to the wife and we decided to go to Fiji instead, then we changed that to Bali because of a better itinerary and I wasn't complaining that it was much cheaper. In the end we have bagged a dive trip altogether because it looks like our 3 month old baby is not gonna get on well without her mother and taking her along is not an option. I'm gonna be taking paragliding lessons here in Korea instead. Thanks for everyone's input on this issue. For me Sipadan is not a question of if, but when.

 

[frogfish]

This thread has turned out to be quite popular. Many of you probably missed my earlier post, but I gave in to the wife and we decided to go to Fiji instead, then we changed that to Bali because of a better itinerary and I wasn't complaining that it was much cheaper. In the end we have bagged a dive trip altogether because it looks like our 3 month old baby is not gonna get on well without her mother and taking her along is not an option. I'm gonna be taking paragliding lessons here in Korea instead. Thanks for everyone's input on this issue. For me Sipadan is not a question of if, but when.

We visited Bali with our son who was 3 months old - It was quite easy to find a baby sitter when we wanted to do some diving (staying in Tulamben you can dive from the shore and hence juste get away for an hour).

So we got the best of both worlds: baby and diving !

Just an idea...