Sipadan - Don't Waste Your Time

[huisen]

Two things really. (1) I have dived Sipadan recently and (2) I am Malaysian. I was at Sipadan Water Village end August for 5 days. I dived Sipadan for the last two days but I believe mainly from pure dumb luck that the other divers staying there at the time had already dived there and the bulk of divers left the day after my group arrived.

I'm just stating my opinion on what I saw and experienced. I thought there was something fishy going on when only eight out of eleven divers on the boat were registered. We all paid the RM40.00 fee per day to dive there. So, I think more people dive there than the maximum per day. Someone somewhere made the extra cash.

I do think that having the limit enforced is good. Touching, poor bouyancy and other diver irresponsibilities happen whether we like it or not. There're always a bunch of idiots anywhere, everywhere. Of course, it also means that going all the way to dive at Sipadan (without being guaranteed a dive there) is quite risky especially for those who travel a long way like from the US.

Oh, and I didn't see many nudis either that trip.

I do not have a lot of faith in the government to protect Sipadan. We all remember the barge that crashed into the reef a few years back. Seems to me the powers that be are mainly interested in profit and resource exploitation. Sipadan in their eyes, I'm sure, is viewed mainly as tourist dollars. No one was interested in the place until it became known as a diver's haven. Only then did Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philipines decided to duke it out over the island. Perhaps it was good that all resort operations were taken off the island but I do think Borneo Divers got shafted big time over that one. Also, if that's the case, then why does there seem to be an explosion of resorts elsewhere in Malaysia? They appear to be unregulated and excessive. Damage from run-off, erosion, sewerage, plastics, boats, holiday makers is visible on islands like Perhentian and Tioman and still more resorts are coming up. And I'm ashamed to say it, but I do think most of the littering is to be blamed on Malaysians. Littering appears to be part of our culture now.

Anyway, it all boils down to money. Whether it's the resorts, travel agents or the government.... it's all about the money and to make as much as possible. That's how businesses and the economy is run. Although I really really hope I'm wrong. I do accept that not all elements are unsavoury and that there are still honest people. May we find them in our time!

 

[Isistius]

I was at SMART for 7 days at the end of August-beginning of September. Overall it was a good stay (first time to Sipadan-Mabul), but I encountered the problems described here. We made it to Sipadan only two days, leaving at 5.30am with 5 dives each day (3 in morning, 2 in afternoon). I had to talk to the resort manager to facilitate the second trip. One day we used our real names and the other day we used someone else's. So out of the 20 included boat dives I did half at Sipadan, which was close to what would have been typical under the old rules so I wasn't completely disappointed. Besides, I thought the Mabul diving was very good and I really like macro stuff. However it wasn't at all ideal squeezing all the dives into one day--it obviously affects your dive profiles, and I'd rather hit Sipadan several different days because you never know what might show up over several days. (e.g. hammerheads).

The most annoying thing about all this is that I booked our trip 8 months in advance to ensure that our permits would be good to go. After arriving and encountering the above, we were told that the government changed the permit numbers and I was astounded there wasn't a grace period to cover the guests that booked before the changes took place. Instead, it sounds like it was more a case of more scrupulous enforcing of permit numbers coming into play with a new ranger, in which case it's not the government's fault so much as the resorts riding a free wave for a long time and then scrambling to adapt to the way it actually should be run.

Perhaps most unfortunate is that the entire situation dampens people's enthusiasm and creates a sense of distrust and suspicion throughout the resort -- e.g. "hmmm are those guys trying to squeeze on to the Sipadan boat tomorrow" , "they've already been twice, I haven't gone once!" etc. etc. And the idea that you have to go and talk up the manager and stress out about whether you're going to go to Sipadan more than once is not fun on a vacation.

There's no way all the resorts are going to survive. I also encountered several divers who have no business diving on coral reefs, as they can barely control their buoyancy and touch everything. In my opinion they are just taking up room that should be filled by more experienced, more careful divers who deserve to dive the best places in the world! DMs don't enforce the rules enough.

Finally, the dive times were too short. One DM said 45 min, we pushed him to 50 min and always were the last ones out. Another said 40 min! Ridiculous! Only one DM was generous in saying 60 min and that was flexible for him ("I love to dive" he said).

Incidentally, I encountered several frogfish on one of the big "box frame" structures at the SMART house reef.

Despite all this, SMART itself was very nice and the diving was fantastic!

 

[victor]

Well thats made my mind up, Sipadan is off the radar until this problem sorts itself out.
I am happy with the restriction on the number of divers to protect the environment, I will just wait until the some of the resorts go out of buisness and the whole buisness settles down.

It's a pity but there are many other places to dive.

 

[vladimir]

I dived Sipadan in 1995. I stayed in one of the Borneo Divers huts right on the beach. The impact was limited to the 20-or-so divers staying with Borneo Divers and maybe another 20 staying with the newer resort down the beach--the Sipadan Dive Lodge, I think. Efforts were made to limit the impact; garbage was boated off the island to the mainland, biodegradable soap was used, etc. I don't know how effective the efforts were--these steps are often taken to soothe the consciences of eco-minded guests rather than for their effectiveness.

The best way to allocate a scarce resource is to charge a high price for it. Since the island is the property of Malaysia, licenses to dive there should entail a large per-diver payment to the Malaysian government. If it can sustain 30 divers a day, find the thirty divers who are willing to pay an extra $100 a day to dive there. Or whatever the market will bear. "I'll just go to Komodo to dive," somebody will say--yes, and if Indonesia is smart, they'll levy the same sort of fees. Because just like any other resource, whether it be timberland, fisheries, oilfields, or national parks, businesses will exploit it to oblivion if access is free, because they have no incentive to preserve it.

 

[Arturo]

Scuba Sussie:

I'm planning to dive at Sipadan around February/March 2009. According these recent dive reports, it seems to me the island is simply overcrowded with divers. Is this because August/September are "high" months as for # of divers at local resorts? How would February/March period be in this respect? Also, if any of you can provide me with some info about the weather around that time I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[Isistius]

The best way to allocate a scarce resource is to charge a high price for it. Since the island is the property of Malaysia, licenses to dive there should entail a large per-diver payment to the Malaysian government. If it can sustain 30 divers a day, find the thirty divers who are willing to pay an extra $100 a day to dive there. Or whatever the market will bear. "I'll just go to Komodo to dive," somebody will say--yes, and if Indonesia is smart, they'll levy the same sort of fees. Because just like any other resource, whether it be timberland, fisheries, oilfields, or national parks, businesses will exploit it to oblivion if access is free, because they have no incentive to preserve it.

I agree that less people should be diving Sipadan and I think that levying a marine park fee is important. However, charging a lot more money to bring the numbers of divers down is no way to do it. All that will do will ensure that access to this special place is further limited to those who can afford a substantial extra cost, which isn't fair at all. And it will do nothing to control poor diving practices, because anyone who dives knows there is no relationship between annual salary and diving skill!

A much more sensible solution is to simply cap the permit numbers, actually enforce them, and operate on a "first come, first serve" basis with bookings. So, if you book far enough in advance, you get permits for Sipadan. If you show up the day before--well you might not get access. If this leads to the demise of certain resorts on the island, then so be it. I was under the naive impression that Sipadan operated under such a first come, first serve basis. That's why I booked 8 months early!

As for bad diving practices on the reef, rules need to be enforced, and check out dives more rigorously performed. If there is any indication that a diver is going to be a menace to the reef, a DM should be posted to their side! Oh and another thing, those metal "reef sticks" or whatever you want to call them...they appear to be widely misused, with some divers using them more as walking sticks without regard for where they are placing them on the reef.

 

[M_Faizal]

Hi,

The situation still remain the same....please make sure you name at the permit before you go on board..whether this week is strong wind at night and morning wave 2 to 3 meter. Happy diving.

 

[vladimir]

All that will do will ensure that access to this special place is further limited to those who can afford a substantial extra cost, which isn't fair at all.

Fair? Is it fair to Malaysians that a precious national resource is being trashed by (mostly) American and Japanese divers to put pocket change into the hands of a few dive operators? Is it fair to Malaysians that many can't afford a dive trip to Sipadan and when their children can, it won't be worth going to? Malaysia has no obligation to be fair to foreign divers--their obligations are to preserve their national heritage and to exploit their resources to their maximum benefit.

 

[Zippsy]

That's a funny one vlad. While you have a point in a way, it's a lot more than pocket change. Also, it isn't "mostly American and Japanese" divers who trash the place, it is "some bad divers" and they have every color of passport in the world. I don't think Americans and Japanese make up the majority of divers in Sipadan and it would certainly be unfair to lable them with the generalization of being the worst divers. But, as you say, I don't think the Malaysia Government's job is really to make access easy and cheap for everyone in the world.

 

[vladimir]

I was assuming that the trashing was distributed proportionally among the various nationalities that visit Sipadan, and when I went, that was mostly Americans and Japanese. Probably a lot of Singaporeans visit too--sorry to leave you guys out. It is beside my point, which was to highlight how I think the stewards of national resources should exploit them. I don't know how much money the Malaysian people get from Sipadan. When you factor in airfares and hotels enroute, etc., I'm sure it's more than a few bucks, but it is pocket change nevertheless, in the big picture of exploiting a dwindling national resource.