Blogs from Mabul, Sabah, Malaysia, Asia - page 4

Vaaknet i loepet av natta. Fikk en SMS hvor det sto at det var sendt ut Tsunami-varsel pga jordskjelv i Indonesia. Fant ut at det hadde vaert et skjelv paa 7,6 rett oest for den indonesiske delstaten paa Borneo, Sulawesi. Sulawesi ligger rett soer for der vi bor paa oljeriggen. Varselet ble avlyst noe senere, og det var jo forsaavidt greit. Vi hadde jo tross alt ikke dykket paa Sipadan enna ;-) Fikk i loepet av dagen 3 dykk rundt Mabul, og ett nattdykk under plattformen. Drit i tsunamien lissom...HAVSKILPADDER!!! Det kryr av dem... er det mulig aa bare henge seg paa en ut til "the big blue"? Kris er i himmelrik! Totalt forelsket... ... read more

I very nearly didn't make it here owing to those oh so nagging doubts which put me in a bind over whether to return to Ton Sai or keep on going. To think I could have sacrificed the privilege of diving with the grandfathers of the sea i.e. the beautifully graceful giant turtles of Malaysia, which glide through the South China Sea for the comforts of Ton Sai is too much to bear. Not to mention the reef sharks, the shoal of barracudas, eels and perhaps even a sea snake and many, many more crazy, colourful creatures. To get here I had to fly from Kota Kinabulu to Tawau from where I was picked up by a representative from Billabong Scuba and driven to Semporna, a small town on the southeastern shores of Borneo from where ... read more

Through their eyes…took me a little while to decide whether to write this blog or not…While in Sabah, I have been quite surprised by the number of children wherever you go, might they be Malaysian or stateless kids, often offspring of Philippino migrants. Sabah has been attracting a major migrant population (estimated between 600,000 and 1.7 million) from Philippine and Indonesia and is today somehow a mix of different cultures. One of the villages we spent some time in had been clearly influenced by this immigration and although most people living there, have been doing so for a very long time and hold the proper piece of paper, most of them lived in poverty. Compared with other places we got to see, it was somehow like if we had cross a border, the feel and look ... read more

The past week has been an awesome experience, I cant' believe we are leaving tomorrow for KL and then flying back home. I have done 11 dives over the past 4 days, 9 in sipadan and 3 at Mabul Island (famous for world class muck diving). Some of the things I have seen include: Spanish Dancers Schooling Barracuda Bumphead Parrotfish Pigmy Seahorse!!! Massive Cuttlefish Enough Turtles for a lifetime Black & White tip reef sharks Nudibranchs Crocodile Fish Frog Fish Lizard Fish ...the list goes on. I havent seen whale sharks or hammerheads but never to worry. I have met some amazing people and had great experiences. The kids here on Mabul Island outnumber the adults by some astronomical figure, but they all seem pretty happy which is what matters the most hey? I think I ... read more

Well of Course Martin passed the CD course and is now Course Director. I will post a blog about that once I am back home. Today we just came back from Semporna, where we had a great time. We went to Mabul and stayed at a long house and did 4 days of diving at Sipadan. Excellent! We also did a trip to Sepilok. Here they help the Orang Utans rehabilitate. They take care of the lost, hurt, or chased monkey, and get them ready to go back into the jungle and adapt to regular life again. In the mean time they help them out a bit by feeding fruit and milk twice a day. Sometimes you are lucky and some times not. We were lucky, we saw quit a few pass by. Another great experience. ... read more