August 11, 2008
Day 2 of Sipadan
It's Day 2 of our
Sipadan trip but so far we haven't managed to dive at Sipadan.
To get to Sipadan, you have to fly to Kota Kinabalu and then take an internal flight to Tawau. There, you endure a fairly long and bumpy ride to Semporna where you then take a speedboat to Sipadan and its two sister islands Mabul and Kapalai. Our speedboat ride can best be described as belly-flopping our way there because of the choppy seas.
Sipadan is supposedly one of the best diving sites in the world and in order to preserve it, the Malaysian government has mandated that only 120 licenses be granted daily for entry to the island; no divers are allowed to stay overnight so all operators are now located at either Mabul or Kapalai. With an estimated 11 dive operators in the area, it's no wonder that getting to dive at Sipadan is getting tougher everyday. Hopefully we'll have some luck tomorrow...
Hence, we've been diving at Mabul and Kapalai, the 2 nearest islands to Sipadan. The diving has been pretty good - we've seen turtles, cuttlefish, huge pomfrets (bigger than a dinner plate, and they made me think of lunch, hehe), huge groupers, a lobster, some shrimp and loads of fish; no shark sitings though. And of course my favourite nudibranchs, which I can only describe as very colourful and varied snail-like creatures without shells.
However, visibility has been only so-so, which makes photo taking a challenge. Not to mention that I haven't invested in a strobe light so most of the photos look washed out.
But there are some that are pretty successful, and I will upload them when I get home, along with the ones from my Manado trip in June.
Last diving day tomorrow! :D I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Sipadan...
Oooh! Prata for dinner! I'm a happy puppy :D Laters.
Posted by scrabbyfoo at August 11, 2008 06:49 PM