Diving Sipidan!!!!

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sipadan is the only oceanic island in Malaysia, rising 2,000 feet or 600m from the seabed. It is located in the Celebes Sea east of the major town of Tawau and off the coast of East Malaysia on the Island of Borneo. It was formed by living corals growing on top of an extinct volcanic cone that took thousands of years to develop. Sipadan is located at the heart of the Indo-Pacific basin, the centre of one of the richest marine habitats in the world. More than 3,000 species of fish and hundreds of coral species have been classified in this ecosystem.

Sounds divine huh? For this trip, I FINALLY bought an underwater housing for my camera to take photos while diving.

A friend of mine had sent me a photo of where she stayed and I was expecting to be staying on a gorgeous beach and living on one of those huts on stilts in the ocean.

Well, when I arrived at the airport, some local guy who could not speak English picked me up in an old pick-up truck. On the open road, he drove so fast trying to get to our final destination. I almost forgot how that felt- I am convinced that the highway lanes in Singapore are narrower so that they can squeeze in a "3-lane" highway HAHA!

Anyways, I got to the port of Semporna and what a dump! I was not surrounded by beaches- I was surrounded by pavement, smell of gasoline and stray dogs fighting on the streets. Very politely, I told the owner of the dive shop that my accomodations were not what I had expected and was wondering if I could stay on an island where there were beaches. "It is the busy-season, everything is booked".

Thank goodness I was diving the next day for 2 days straight. =P

I dove for 2 days. The first dive was around the Sipidan Island. Wall-diving, lots of turtles and sea-life. You could not tell that there dynamite-fishing still occured because it was very beautiful but as you are diving looking for Nemo, I heard bombs go off! Pretty freaky...

The second day, I dove Mabul Island and did "muck-diving" for the first time. Here, you dive close to the sandy ocean floor looking for the weirdest creepy-crawlies.

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Comments

[Giao]

Your posing turtle looks pissed! HAHAHA!