Borneo - Semporna, Mabul, Sipadan

After we realised we both forgot to turn our clocks forward one hour from Indonesia, we rushed to pack and check out to make our flight to Borneo...one stressful taxi journey later we made it just in time to join the end of the huge check-in queue reminiscent of all the Jetstar flights we've ever taken.

Landed in Tawau, we where we were picked up and driven for an hour to the town of Semporna. For the whole hour we mostly saw back to back palm plantations which are unfortunately the environmental atrocity of Malaysia. They are owned by international corporations, who are responsible for buying hundreds of hectares of land and then destroying the native jungle which puts many animals on the endangered list like the orang-utan. So try not to buy palm oil products!

We arrived to a backpackers that boasted private room, cable TV and hot showers. Unfortunately what it really boasted was a shared half broken shower with the cable out. As we were there to do our PADI Scuba certification, my Open Water and Dave’s Advanced, we tried not to whinge and set about doing our theory in our work books without the distraction of HBO.

The next day I started my full day of PADI theory while Dave moved us to the Sipadan Inn - which was wonderful! After 8 hours of watching a rather 90’s inspired PADI video, it was lovely to retire to a clean shower, comfy bed, hot water and TV. Dave and I headed out the next day to Mabul Island for our first day of practical diving. I was lucky enough to be the only one doing my course so I had one on one Tuition and Dave shared his course with a nice French couple. Mabul was picturesque, with warm water and fish everywhere. From the jetty you can see heaps of reef fish just hanging around, so it was an exciting prospect being able to do our dive course in such a beautiful spot. We spent the next two days here doing 3 dives a day seeing things like Lion Fish, Giant Cuttle Fish, Huge Bat Fish, Barracuda, Rock Fish, Stone Fish, Crocodile Fish, Razor Fish, TURTLES, Blue spotted Stingrays, Yellow Spotted Box Fish, trumpet fish and Nemo’s. Dave also saw a huge Anaconda sized Moray eel on his night dive. Needless to say that each day we came in for the buffet lunch, Fish wasn’t served!

 Mabul resort

 On the way out to the Jetty

A dive boat coming in...

 One of the training platforms at the end of the jetty, with amazing visibility

On the way back to the Mabul Resort, Village on the left, resort on the right

Munchkin Kitty that I found at the resort

Somehow he ended up making himself at home!

Relaxing on the deck

Our room..

The beach resting relaxing snoozing area

We had one rest day before moving to the Mabul resort where we would be heading out to Sipadan from the next morning (me as a certified diver). Sipadan is considered to be one of the top dive sites in the world, considering that I have started my diving hobby here I am unsure where I can dive next without disappointment… and Sipadan delivered, we headed out early for our first dive at a site called Turtle Patch where we swam with 3 different species of Reef Sharks, Green Sea and Hawkesbill Turtles, Nudi Branches and countless reef fish…angel, parrot, trigger and pipefish. The second dive site called Barracuda Point was even more amazing as we swam with a schools of Jacks, saw the usual sharks and turtles sleeping lazily on flat pieces of reef plants and most spectacularly a huge school of Barracuda, who we floated with and swam through just at the end. The next two dives at South Point and Turtle Cove delivered more turtles, sharks but also Giant Trevally and a Napoleon Wrasse.

I snorkeled on the last dive as my ear‘s had stopped equalising, I dropped into the water with anticipation as it was full off life with 30 metres of visibility. Unfortunately I was promptly attacked by a triggerfish. This freaked me out so much that I had to continually do 360 degree reconnaissance manouvers to ensure one wouldn’t ambush me again. After 5 mins I had to signal the boat driver to pick me up as it was too taxing. Apparently it’s a common attack and the only fish you’re allowed to turn around and punch….I wish I had known that earlier. We returned to Semporna that night tied but truly amazed what we had seen… too exhausted to plan our trip to Kota Kinabalu, we lazily booked another night, slept and watched TV - it’s hard being unemployed sometimes!

 Rainbow Parrot fish

School of Jacks

Leaf Scorpion fish

Lionfish

  Napoleon Wrasse

Nudiebranch

Green sea Turtles, always sleepy!

Nasty Titan Triggerfish

School of Barracuda

Grey reek shark

Yellow Ribbon eel

Giant Trevally!!