Sipadan & Mabul report : august 2010

[Luko]

Wow, some amazing pictures. I stayed with Seaventures in February this year and had the most amazing time diving Sipadan. I wish my pics had come out as good as yours. What kit do you use
to get such great shots?

Thanks Martin, maybe we already met underwater

My setup is a Canon EOS5D tucked into a Subal housing, 15mm fisheye lens and dome + Canon 100mm macro lens and macro port, *1,3 nexus multiplying wetlens + 2 strobes (Inon Z240 + Nikonos SB105, sometimes a 3rd SB105).

 

[ChaiLatte]

Amazing post. Thanks for sharing as I hope to go to Sipadan area within a year from now. Any other advice you can give ? Also, what time of the year is best to visit the Sipadan area ?

 

[Luko]

Amazing post. Thanks for sharing as I hope to go to Sipadan area within a year from now. Any other advice you can give ? Also, what time of the year is best to visit the Sipadan area ?

Advices of all sorts :
1- don't overlook Mabul and Kapalai, it's a very interesting once you are into critter bio. Probably not as "panoramic" as Sipadan but very very rewarding, unless you are bored with nudibranchs, shrimps, crustacia, etc. (I have seen many divers who only liked blue water diving).
2- it's critical to go on low season, because theer's a big diffrence between being 8 divers or only 2 divers in a boat. Forget july august.
3- Vizibility is often a hit or miss, I expected low viz in feb and had outstanding viz, I expected optimum conditions in august and had som erain, low viz and poor critter life. The Dms in Sipadan say the best season to go for critters would be April-May : though you need to avoid golden week and local holidays.
4- Night dives are outstandingly good. Besides that, you'll be alone, as other divers prefer to hit the bar after 3 or 4 dives in the day.

 

[DevonDiver]

Advices of all sorts :
1- don't overlook Mabul and Kapalai, it's a very interesting once you are into critter bio. Probably not as "panoramic" as Sipadan but very very rewarding, unless you are bored with nudibranchs, shrimps, crustacia, etc. (I have seen many divers who only liked blue water diving).

+1 on this advice. I found Mabul to be a much more interesting dive venue if you have an educated eye and a camera

 

[under water]

+1 on this advice. I found Mabul to be a much more interesting dive venue if you have an educated eye and a camera

+2
If I look back on my 6 days on Seaventures, I would swap some of the Sipadan days for Mabul days (and nights).

 

[ChaiLatte]

Thanks for the loads of informations guys ! Thus far it is hard for me to appreciate small things like shrimps because I cannot locate them in the first place ! But if I do make it to the Sipadan area, I hope to definitely dive in Mabul as well. Since everyone is saying do the night dive, I shall when I get there.

Also, I hope to do my AOW before I head there, or do it there.

 

[jake11]

Luko!

I just checked out your photos from Maumere! Outstanding!!!!!!!!!!!!! Loved the hawkfish and the cowrie! Amazing top side shots as well! Well done!

 

[Terryb]

Hey again Luko,

You paint a great picture for staying at Borneo Divers, I'm in a toss up for booking with them or SMART. Have you ever experienced poor condition bathrooms and bad organization for planning the dives? There is almost a 50/50 mix for great and poor ratings with some pretty bad shots of bathrooms posted on Tripadvisor.

Cheers,

 

[Luko]

Have you ever experienced poor condition bathrooms and bad organization for planning the dives?

The bathrooms are not obviously their forte, but on my side I don't value much the bathroom comfort factor for a dive resort as long as there are western toilets and a shower with hot water. On the other side I agree that it's better to use mineral water for brushing your teeth, the tap water is especially not nice..

As for the dive planning, I can't see how any other operation would do better than them, for me it has always been : say what you want, we'll try to do it. This is were they do excell.

SMART is probably more into creature comfort but it seems their boats are more crowded than BD's. If money were not a problem I would hesitate between Borneo Divers for the dive guides and Sipadan Water Village for the luxury. (In fact I would just return with my Borneo Divers friends ...)

Edit : after you mentioned TripAdvisor I went reading the comments on Borneo Divers to get an opinion, I woudn't care much from the bad reports I read. for example there is one review which is written by a group of italian who I have been diving with for a couple of dives in august this year : If i remember well they're in the group chasing the turtles in one of my photos posted above.
It's a typical example of the wrong persons at the wrong place, Borneo Divers is a dive resort NOT a beach resort, no fancy dress, tea parties or disco nights. On the first days of our stay we were wondering with my wife how they had the idea of staying on Mabul.
I also read some persons complaining that elsewhere than around Sipadan, there was nothing to see underwater (Yeah.. sure there's nothing to spot on Mabul and Kapalai... good joke...) and that if the visibility wasn't good it was the diveguide's fault ?!... Jeeze...

 

[skipperharis]

Million thanks for the great report.