Blogs from Sipadan, Sabah, Malaysia, Asia - page 6

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Asia » Malaysia » Sabah » Sipadan August 27th 2007

Well finally left Semporna behind - my initial 3 days of diving extended to 6 days of diving and a week long stay. Ah the freedom of travelling! The reason was simply the diving was so good just couldn't bare to leave. My return to Semporna was the start of my solo travels but as I have discovered you may arrive alone but you don't remain that way for long and within a day I had made new friends and after a hard days diving it was into Scuba Junkies bar for a bevvie or two and a large pizza with them and on one night an attempt at at a Quiz. With regards to the quiz we didn't win any prizes for our answers but did win based on our team name: Horny Billies........ Had ... read more
Pigmy Seahorse
Frog Fish
Robust Ghost Pipefish

Asia » Malaysia » Sabah » Sipadan August 10th 2007

To be honest, I didn't even know what Sipadan was until this past May. My friend Jonathan went there during Golden Week and came back raving about the incredible diving. At the same time I was with Mr. Germany in Bali getting my PADI open-water, realizing that I wanted to do some more diving in southeast Asia before returning to America. While in Bali I was thinking of going to peninsular Malaysia to the Perentian Islands, but after talking to Jonathan, I was sold and bound for Borneo post-JET. Sipadan was my main purpose to go to Borneo, Uncle Tan's and the mountain wonderful stops along the way. When I first started to plan borneo, I wasn't even going to hike Mt. Kinabalu! What a waste that would have been. So, for my last entry from ... read more
Barracuda!
White Tip Reef Shark
Barracuda

Asia » Malaysia » Sabah » Sipadan August 10th 2007

Aamulla herättiin Sempornassa innokkaana lähtemään Mabul-saarelle. Tomi kiiruhti hakemaan kaupasta vielä keksejä, jos vaikka saaressa alkaisi hiukomaan jotain herkkua. Hotellille palatessa auto oli jo valmiina ja huristeltiin laiturille. Sieltä matkattiin veneellä 40 minuutin verran Mabulin saarelle, jossa sijaitsi sukellusfirmamme/majapaikkamme. Ennen sukellusyritykset sijaitsivat Sipadanilla, mutta vuonna 2004 Malesian valtio määräsi, että sukellusfirmojen pitää pakata kamansa ja poistua saarelta. Tähän syynä oli se, että lomapaikat saarella voisivat pilata Sipadanin luontoa ja heti vieressä olevan koralliparatiisin. Ihan hyvältähän tuo luonnonsuojelu kuulostaa, vaikkakin sukellusfirmojen omistajat purivat hampaitaan viimeistä päivää. Tosin Malesian valtion motiivit kokivat pienen kolauksen vuonna 2006, jolloin iso laiva rysäytti saaren koralliin oikein kunnolla, aiheuttaen suurta v... read more
Sukeltamaan lähdössä
Kakarat kalassa
Sipadan

Asia » Malaysia » Sabah » Sipadan August 7th 2007

Well after spending 4.5 hours in a car we arrived at the rather unpictureque Semporna, the base for our dive/snorkel trip the next day to Sipadan. Home for the night after the long journey was the Dragon Inn - a complex of chalet style rooms on stilts over the water. The wooden floors to the rooms where such that you could see through the gaps to the sea below something not appreciated by all members of the group but I thought was rather cool. The rooms themselves are rather basic but definately adequate and above some of the dive hovels I have previously stayed in. Not so good though was the double bed for Katy and I (the others in the group also had double beds too) - bit wierd but that was John's (Tour Guides) ... read more
The Dragon Inn
Turtle Awesome!
Shark Soup

Asia » Malaysia » Sabah » Sipadan June 13th 2007

June 13 - 18 After two nights at the river lodge on the Kinabatangan, we got a minibus to the town of Semporna in the south east corner of Sabah. The next day we headed to Mabul island to stay at Uncle Chang's. Funny how this keeps happening, we were only planning on staying on night, but somehow that morphed into 5. We went diving in Mabul and Sipadan as well. Sipadan was some of the most amazing diving I've ever experienced. I ended up going there twice - a new record for us, we went to 30 meters. It was also the first time that I saw sharks - lots and lots of sharks. I even saw a couple gigantic leopard sharks and a hammerhead, lots of sea turtles, lion fish, schools of barracudas ... read more
Nemo
Lionfish at Sipadan
View from Mabul Island

Asia » Malaysia » Sabah » Sipadan June 13th 2007

13-19 June -- After our eventful jungle trek, we decided on Sipadan island, one of the world's most renowned spots for scuba diving due to its crystal clear waters, volcanic archipellago and abundant aqualife. We arrived early afternoon into Semporna to find a cheap room, do some email and rest up for some serious scuba. We checked into a cheap-o place built on stilts that sat literally on the ocean called the Dragon Inn. We found out later the locals call it the Drag 'em in, since it pulls in and spits out the backpackers, but 15 ringget is good enough for me. Dive shops abounded in Semporna as all development on the islands is strictly controlled. There are no resorts or hotels even allowed on Sipadan, due to a kidnapping incident with some Filipino ... read more
Volcanic islands
The Dragon Inn
The Dragon Inn

Asia » Malaysia » Sabah » Sipadan May 16th 2007

Sipadan Sipadan is a little island off the south coast of Sabah province in Borneo. It's actually just the very tip of a limestone tower that stands straight up 600 meters from the sea floor! Its an amazing feeling when you swim off the edge and know that it goes that far down! And its just as cool when you're 30 meters down checking out all the stuff on the cliff wall and forget that you're so far down!- you look up and can see thousands of schooling fish swimming round near the surface (like in those old bbc2 adverts!). It's renowned as one of the best dive sites in the world and we arrive here to do it as our first fun-dive on our own!! The first dive of the day was absolutely mind-blowing- ... read more
RECOVERED
RECOVERED
RECOVERED

Asia » Malaysia » Sabah » Sipadan May 1st 2007

Borneo - the third largest island in the world - was all about the wildlife and the diving....so we'll let the pics do most of the talking.... Orang Utans ("man of the forest" in Malay) are only found in Malaysian and Indonesian rainforests and are famous for their long arms and reddish-brown hair and for being dead brainy - they were recently 'proven' to be the most intelligent of all the primates, including chimps. Some of the more refined among you may also recognise them from the classic movies Every Which Way But Loose and the sequel, Any Which Way You Can, in which Clint Eastwood starred as a trucker and brawler roaming the American West while accompanied by his pet orangutan - Clyde - who packed a hefty punch; favourites from my childhood and ... read more
At last we've discovered the inspiration behind those 'celebrity' (i.e. Girls Aloud) milk ads....
Feet-in-mouth syndrome
Quads like Souness

Asia » Malaysia » Sabah » Sipadan April 20th 2007

2 words...TOTALLY AWESOME! Ive probably had my best days diving - 3 dives and all great and all different. We had Sarah a Bristol Girl guiding us in our group of 4. Dived South Point, Barracuda Point and Hanging Gardens. In between dives we got off the boat and went on the beach. Sipadan is a small Island with a 600 metre drop off a few metres from the beach..its totally awesome! We saw lots of sharks - White Tip Reef Sharks and Grey Reef Sharks, 100's of Turtles - no joke!, all sorts of different fish all shapes and sizes and lots of "nice" coral. We were truly blessed being able to dive here. Sipadan Island is now protected, you used to be able to stay on it 5 years ago, but now its ... read more
Such a beautiful place!
Drop off
View from Dive Site

Asia » Malaysia » Sabah » Sipadan April 17th 2007

There must have been some mistake, I've died and gone to Turtle heaven. Floating around 20m down I start to count the turtles, I count and count - 55 turtle sightings on this dive. Photoblog memories from Sipadan 2007... when I die, I want to go to turtle heaven. My Camera Details I've added the turtle photo as a wallpaper: 1440x900 widescreen 1152x768 normal... read more
Razorfish
Jacks - Big Eye Travally
Amazing Cuttlefish Laying Eggs




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