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Published: October 18th 2007
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Day 201 (12.10.07)
After a really uncomfortable (and in the most sleepless night) we arrived at the Semporna bus station at the unsavoury hour of 4:30 am (3 hours earlier than scheduled). We were bundled off the bus into the ghost town with only our fellow passengers and some hopeful taxi drivers for company. With a good sized group at the bus stop Mark left Chrissie with the bags and went in search of somewhere to sleep for the rest of the night.
Taking a walk around town and even asking some local coppers on patrol where we could find a guesthouse that was open at this time, Mark's search was in vane, so he opted to collect Chrissie and go for a coffee at a late night street cafe as the sun started to come up. As we were sat there we asked where Dragon Inn was which was recommended in our guide book and after our quick caffeine hit we set off on the short walk to the promise of a bed. On arriving we found that reception didn't open until 6am but there was a comfy looking couch which Chrissie curled up on for a sleep
while Mark looked after our things.
We booked in and went through to our room. Chrissie with a cold developing was not feeling great and still exhausted from the journey went to bed while Mark went for a shower and then a walk in town to book a dive to Sipidan (one of the top 10 dive spots in the world). This was made all the more difficult by the fact it was still mid way through Hari Raya - with only Christian workers covering all of the shifts and loads of Malaysians on holiday.
Diving at Sipidan is highly regarded but also highly regulated with the authorities only allowing a certain number of divers there per day (permits are in short supply and sought after). So after getting the last two permits available and booking in with Singamata we were set up for the following days dives.
We would have loved to stay on Sipidan for the night, however a number of years ago a group of rebel melitia stormed the island, overpowered the lone policeman and kidnapped a number of locals and tourists - now you are no longer allowed to stay on the island
and there is a permenant army presence there. People are however allowed to stay at the neigbouring island of Mabul - which we hear was nice, but was going to be a little expensive for our budget this time!
After booking the dives and excited about the following days adventure, Mark also went for a quick snooze as the lack of sleep had caught up with him.
Waking around 11 am Chrissie went for a shower whilst Mark went for a walk around our guesthouse complex. The Dragon Inn is built on stilts out into the sea so you get everywhere via a series of gangplanks and walkways. At the end of one of these walkways, furthest out to sea, Mark stumbled upon an aquarium filled with the most amazing fish, sharks and rays. Going back to collect (a clean) Chrissie we both spent a little while admiring the fish with the Leopard Shark being the most impressive inmate of the bunch.
Wandering into town we had a bite to eat for lunch before having a wander of the markets and getting to know the wonderful people of Semporna who love to chat and insist on having
a picture taken with you.
After a relaxing afternoon we got togged up in our finery (recently bought in KL and Singapore) for a posh meal at the local restaurant on stilts, to celebrate 200 days on the road. Delicious! We then got an earlyish night to prepare for our diving the following day.
Day 202 (13.10.07)
Waking early Mark got up and walked into town to see if he could sort out bus tickets for the following morning to find the streets surrounding the Mosque filled with people all in brightly coloured robes all praying for the festival of Hari Raya. It was an amazing sight. Due to the festivities the bus station was closed but a notice said it would be possible to get a ticket early the next morning.
Back to the guesthouse picking up some noodle soup in a bag for lunch (that's going to be interesting on a boat) we had breakfast and went to the dive centre to pick up our boat.
Out on the water and on our way to the dive site and Sipidan island, we had a bit of trouble with one of our engines breaking
down ... luckily we limped to the island on the one remaining engine and they sent for another boat to ferry us around.
Sipidan is a famous dive site as it is a volcanoic island off the Malaysian Borneo coast that rises very steeply from the sea floor. Swimming away from the island there is about 20m of gradually sloping coral bed until you hit the breathtaking wall that drops away 600m (or more) to the sea floor. It is an awesome sight and attracts any number of sharks, rays and hundreds of turtles.
Getting kitted up, we got in the water for our first dive of the day to 22m. As soon as we were in the water the number of fish was incredible and submerging to 10m we had already seen 3 turtles. Words really can't describe it. After 45 mins we had traversed the wall seeing White Tip Sharks, 20+ huge turtles, Moray Eal, Nepoleon Fish (massive) and a school of Bump head fish. An experienced german couple described it as 'fish soup' which we thought apt, and said in the 20 years they have been diving it is the best site they had been
to - which made us feel good.
The second dive, Chrissie unfortunatly had a little difaculty equalising the air pressure in her ears due to her cold but from our depth we saw a load more turtles, sharks and a HUGE shoal of Jack fish spiraling from about 18m deep to the surface - there were hundreds of them! Again it was amazing and we were so glad we had made the journey to Sipidan!
During the break between dives, we borrowed some snorkelling equipment and went out for a half hour snorkell. From the surface the number of fish, and turtles we saw was amazing. It seemed thet every few seconds either one of us was trying to get the others attention to see another weird, wonderful, colourful or huge fish swimming towards us!
Chrissie decided to sit the last dive out as her ears were now playing up and went for a snorkel instead. Although the visibility on the third dive was a little more limited we still saw Sharks and turtles galore and this time were able to catch a very camouflaged Scorpion Fish as well. What a day.
In the boat on
the way home the sun was starting to go down giving us stunning views.
We were then dropped off at Singamata - a ex fish farm converted into accomodation, restaurant, aquarium and dive centre. Here we had the last dive of the day, a sunset dive. Chrissie decided it was better to sit this dive out as well so went snorkelling in the enclosed aquarium. This was an enclosure filled with leopard sharks, eagle rays and some massive fish - It looked a little intimidating but Chrissie loved it!
Mark on the other hand went out with the local dive master and was able to see some really superb fish the most impressive of which was a 2 foot crocodile fish, Manta shrimp, Frog fish and Mandarin Fish.
Exhausted after a superb day we had dinner out at Singamata before we got the boat back to our room and fell into bed.
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