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Our very first Green Turtle
"Duuuuuude!"
(for those who haven't seen the movie Nemo, do so. It's awesome duuuude!)June 5th
After breakfast we said goodbye to Jorn & Claudia because they're flying back to KL today. We then set out on our first dive trip in Borneo. We were very excited! We've heard good things about the area and we were about to test dive our new camera.
Our DM (Dive Master) said that a few people he knew (himself included) had lost their "waterproof" Olympus cameras from just a little water in the dive case or plain old snorkeling, so he advised us not to trust the waterproof claim and treat the camera as if it wasn't "waterproof". He asked if we'd tested our case without the camera inside and Ferdi said yes, even though we'd done no such thing. On all the other dive boats we've been there was always a bucket of fresh water and we had planned to just test it in the bucket. On this boat, however, there was no bucket, so Ferdi just dunked the case in the ocean, hoping for the best. It looked like it sealed properly and all we could do was trust that it would do what it was designed for under pressure.
One of the DMs
Talita with the rare Black Coral
Didn't know what it was till after the dive when they asked if we'd seen the it. is called Spanky (don't ask, we don't know either) and he is quite a character. When he's around we just sit back and enjoy the show. He called us "SAffers", short for South Africans.
Our dive sites for the day were the reefs surrounding Mantabuan Island. It was our first time not entering the water using the "Giant Stride" technique. We used the classical "Backwards Roll" which Ferdi prefers. There's less impact on his... Oh, never mind. The first two dives were okay. We spent most our time and concentration taking tons of pictures, most of which were rubbish, but we're still learning and the only way to get better is to just keep taking pictures.
We also noticed that Ferdi becomes completely consumed when taking pictures. This is not a good thing because he would lag behind the group and forget about everything around him, focusing only on his subject. It's dangerous cause if you bump into the wrong thing down there you could get seriously hurt and breaking even 10cm of coral destroys 25 years of growth. Luckily he didn't break anything even tough he bumped into a few things. He felt a little silly, but
Nudibranch
There are hundreds of different species of these little buggers and are an obsession with some divers. like they say, practice makes perfect.
After the second dive we had lunch on the beach on Mantabuan Island and then went for our third dive. It was an awesome dive because we saw our first Green Turtle!
Duuuuuude...
Spanky said that we'd see a lot more turtles in our coming dives and Jorn had mentioned that they had seen so many turtles on their dives and snorkeling that they were almost tired of them. Another first for us was a big sea snake. When at rest its body is round like its bro’s on land, but when it swims it flattens the tail half of its body to be more “fin-like”. There was a bit of a current so we drifted along, watching the scenery go by.
Back in our room we couldn't wait to check out our pictures. We did get a few nice pics and we're very happy with the camera so far. Compared to our ex-Sony, the Olympus is pretty useless above water, but once submerged does a superb job, and the quality of the color reproduction is fantastic. So far, so good.
Of course we didn't apply a drop of
sunscreen the whole day so we were both a little red. Luckily it's just red and not purple so we'll be fine. We were already losing our tans so this should kick-start the process again.
Today's highlights:
1. Taking our first dive pictures with our camera.
2. Seeing our first Green Turtle.
Thought for the day:
A lot of the time we are too quick to judge others. Judge not, lest ye be judged yourself. June 6th
This morning we headed out to Mataking, an island about 50mins ride from Semporna. This island is a private resort and on the small island to the north they filmed the very first Survivor series.
Our first dive was at Postbox, so called because the wreck here has a postbox on the front. The visibility was amazing, probably 35m, the best we've ever had, and we had a good dive. We saw more turtles, Scorpion-fish (almost invisible when it’s still), Harlequin Sweetlips, Clown-fish, Nudibranchs and the very rare Marbled Dragonet. Unfortunately we used a lot of air and were only under for 36mins.
Our second dive site was called Jetty and we vowed to use our air more
Nemo!
At this point the Clown-fish remains our favourite! sparingly. We managed to stay under a full 61mins, a record for us. We saw Yellowmasked Angel-fish, Unicorn-fish, Lobster, Crocodile-fish, turtles, a Giant Moray Eel and tiny Lion-fish. We visited "The Drop-off", a massive chasm going down more than a 100m. It was a little eerie staring into the deep blue nothing...
We had lunch on Mataking Island and to help digest our food we repeatedly jumped off the jetty, plunging the three meters to the clear blue ocean.
Our third dive was at Nudibranch Heaven. We saw only a handful of Nudibranch so the "heaven" part of the name didn't ring true. We did see Lion-fish, Mantis shrimp, Puffer-fish and more turtles.
Diving three times a day takes it out of us and by the end of the day we were knackered. On the boat ride back we had a laugh at a few guys falling asleep while sitting upright. Their heads would droop as they nod off, then they would start to fall over, snap awake and sit up again, only to repeat the whole process again. A few times the one guy was very close to falling over completely.
Back home we had
a shower followed by huge fruit shakes and some french fries. We shared a pizza and a beer shandy as we filled in our log books then returned to our room. After a bit of reading we hit the hay early, in need of some serious rest.
Today's highlights:
1. The best viz we've had so far.
2. Our longest dive yet.
3. Saw the Crocodile-fish.
4. Logged our 29th dive.
5. Saw the rare Marble Dragonet.
June 7th
Today was our day off. No diving for us today. We slept till we woke, which was still way too early. After breakfast we retired to our room and read a bit. Later we enjoyed massive mango juices, followed by lunch and a nap.
When we woke we went to confirm our dives for tomorrow. When we asked for confirmation they said we're not diving Mabul tomorrow, we're diving
Sipadan! There were four cancellations and we got two of the spots! Yippeeeeee! We can't wait! The guys and gals at Scuba Junkie rock!
Back in our room we packed our day-packs for our trip to stay on Mabul Island. Tomorrow after the dive they'll drop us on
the island and we'll spend three nights there, diving and snorkeling around the area. It feels like we're about to take a vacation!
Today's highlights:
1. Getting permits to dive Sipadan!
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Melinda
non-member comment
Nudibranch
Nudi, Nudi, Nudi, Nudi...Need I say more!!! Looks like an awesome place to dive and you are welcome to send the plane tickets for us to youn you at any time - economy class will do! Love you and keep ons swimming swimming swimming swimming!