Ready for the diving

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Only just arrived here, so will be a very short blog entry.

After my wonderful adventures in Mulu I flew down to Tawau (Sabah, Malaysia) and was picked up at the airport - rather nice for a change. I then had the hours drive (along with a friend from Mulu that was on the same flight) past so very many palm oil plantations to Sempourna - all so very sad. Its such a profitable harvest I don't know how the huge destruction can be stopped as palm oil is in everything ranging from margarine to cosmetics and under huge demand. I certainly once I return will be trying my very best to only use things with no palm oil in (it also goes under other names on the ingredients so difficult to avoid but very possible)

I am now staying in Sempourna for about a week, it is not the type of place you would stay if you weren't diving or snorkeling but have already done a night dive and its amazing how much life there is. I did a muck dive which is basically amongst a lot of rubbish but was amazed by how much life there is - saw so many seahorses (very cool) and nudibranches, cuttlefish, octopus and very strange crabs and spiders. Can't wait to start the weeks diving (tomorrow) and on Saturday I have managed to book Sipidan (long waiting list involved) - supposedly rated in the top 10 dive sites in the world. Back in dorms again staying at a place called Scuba Junkies. Here for a week then concentrating back on the orangutans and rainforest wildlife.

Big hug to you all and chat again when I can
xxx

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