Sipidan and Mabul island

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Ok so after leaving the kinabatangan river i caught a bus that would take me to the seaside town of Semporna which is basically a stop off point for diving on Sipidan.

I had heard that Sipidan is renowned as being one of the top world dive sites and having now dived there i can see why this is the case.

I spent the first night in Semporna in a packpackers place which is elevated on stilts above the water. This unfortunately proved to be the worst accommodation i have slept in so far for several reasons. Sleeping in a dorm with about 15 other people was bound to be a challenge from the offset. Not only did the dorm not have any mosquito nets covering the vast open spaces above each wall, nobody turned the light off so i was forced to climb down from the top bunk in the middle of the night which is a challenge when you are trying to be quiet! The bed was horrendous....the mattress seemed to buckle in the middle and each time i turned over both the head end and the foot end would lift off the base! Lovely!!!
In addition to this the pillow was stuffed to the brim which meant that in the end i opted not to use it...this meant that my head had to rest on the sheet which felt sticky...needless to say i spent most of the night pulling my sleepsheet (which conveniently has a hood-style attachment) around my head each time i woke up in fear of touching the sheet. As you have probably guessed i did not have the best nights sleep!

That morning i packed up my belongings in preparation for being dropped off on Mabul Island after the days diving at Sipidan and headed towards the dive shop excited about the day ahead.
Getting in the water again with all the dive gear on was a strange experience. I was very nervous about seeing sharks for the first time and being so close to them but depite this i got in the water. As soon as we descended we were confronted by an array of marine life from large Napolean Maury Wrass to White tip and leopard sharks as well as loads of turtles. The experience of diving with so many large turtles was fantastic and swimming along next to them was a very unique experience.

Staying on Mabul Island was brilliant too. I was only there for 2 nights but enjoyed every minute. I was staying in a B&B which was located in a building on stilts which protruded out over the water. At night a group of us would get together, sit on the dock and some people would play the guitar and sing. The days were spent snorkelling and meeting the locals in the village. The children there were so keen to talk to you and to have their photos taken. It was certainly a nice feeling to be welcomed into their community.

On my last day in Mabul i got talking to the captain of a Malasian naval ship which was patrolling the coast and protecting the divers and people living on the islands around East Sabah from Philippino pirates. He invited me to come onto the ship for lunch the day i was due to catch my flight back to Kota Kinabalu and onto Jakarta. He collected me from the Tawau and he took me onto the ship. I had such a good time and it was a very random experience going onboard the ship and having a look around. I even had his personal assistant serving food to me. Afterwards he gave me a lift to the airport to enable me to catch my flight. What a good day that turned out to be...i would never have thought that i would be going onto a Malasian war ship during my travels!!

Next stop....Jakarta.

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