Pulau Sibuan, Mabul, Mantabuan and Sipadan, Sabah, Malaysia

9th February

Stonefish

Spanish dancer

After tutoring session at Sg. Penchala, I rushed to PWTC & parked my car at Hentian Putra to get the KTM Komuter to KL Sentral. From KL Sentral, took a bus to LCCT. Quite panic because I was afraid I couldn't check in on time. Met Bryan, Angie (Bryan's sweet & funny girlfriend) and Steve. Happy to meet Bryan. Checked-in and the plane left at 3.25 pm. Just so you guys out there to know, Bryan was my instructor (check this website out www.mrdivemalaysia.com) when I was undergoing my PADI Open Water course at Pulau Tenggol last year. By knowing Bryan, diving becomes my interest among all recreational activities.

Hypselodoris bullockii

Arrived Tawau Airport around 6.10 pm. It was dark already in Sabah. There was a guy waiting for us to pick us up to Dragon Inn which is in Semporna. It took around 40 minutes to get to Semporna from Tawau. A night at Dragon Inn with Chinese halal food at the resort itself.

10th February

Long-nosed hawkfish

Shrimp

Woke up early to make sure everything is ok before transfer to Singamata Adventures. Accomodation operated in the middle of the Semporna water. From Dragon Inn (which is actually a floating resort), we were transferred to Singamata Adventures by boat, which was only 5 minutes from the Semporna jetty. We unpacked our equipment, signed the release form, relaxed for a few minutes & then 1st dive begins. Oppss....we were not the only group in Singamata. There were a couple from Netherlands who are actually working at K.K. Dick & In...nice knowing them. Dick is funny & In is caring.

Glossodoris atromarginata

White-eyed moray eel

Chromodoris willani

Our 1st dive begins at Pulau Sibuan. A boatride from Singamata to Pulau Sibuan was really like a roller-coaster. The sea was rough but I can still remain OK. I have no idea the name of the 1st dive spot. We didn't bother to ask our Divemaster (John), but as far as we concerned, dive...and dive...and dive. For the 1st time, after couple of dives, I managed to see starfishes, here and there. Saw a very big turtle was sleeping under the coral bed. That was the biggest I've ever seen. Took the chance to snap some good pictures (Bryan did that actually). But there were some ugly pictures due to improper settings of the camera. Quite disappointed but I reminded myself, there would still be a lot more dives to do. There was a Mantis Shrip, damn beautiful and many nudibranches especially the Chromodoris sp. type. For the 1st time, I saw couples of black Frogfishes and crocodilefishes. I almost couldn't see the Frogfishes because they were well camouflaged. Either that fish moved, or somebody really showed you exactly where the fish is, then only one can really see it. And guess what, while I was trying to snap the pictures of a yellow black nudibranch, there was a seasnake coming out from a hole. Bryan pulled me away from the seasnake and we followed the seasnake to take some pictures of it. It was scary in the beginning but lovely later.
After the 1st dive, we stop over at the Sibuan Island itself. I was almost freezing and shivering. I started to get headache and I refused to have the lunch provided. No appetite to eat with this not so good condition. I drank a lot of water, hoping that the ache would subside. There was no sunshine. It was cloudy and windy. That was why I felt cold. Extreme I guess. Anyway, there were couple of natives, especially the kids, playing along the beach while trying to communicate with the divers who stopped over there. There was a little girl, sitting right in front of me, and made a gesture of "Can I have something to eat?". I felt like crying just to see how unfortunate they are...need to beg for food. I forgot that I still had my lunch untouched and I didn't give to that girl. But we got some buns, so we gave the buns to the kids. I took some pictures with them. Yeayyyy....

Mantis shrimp

After 1 hour and 30 minutes surface interval, we prepared for the next dive. At the same island but different spot. Again, I have no idea what was the name of the 2nd dive spot. For 2nd dive, I got several problems which really tortured myself. First, I got headache, 2nd, I was cold...almost hypothermic, 3rd, I felt sleepy, and 4th, I started to feel to throw up. I wouldn't want to disappoint Bryan, so I just face it and proceed with the dive. After 56 minutes, we ascend and right at the surface, I vomit...3-4 times. Everything came out from my stomach but Alhamdulillah I didn't eat any solid food, or else, it would be worse. Got into the boat and I lie down. Though the dive was quite a torture, but there are more things to see. More Nudibranches, Mooray eels and others. There were couple of animals I couldn't see, such as the lobster, the lionfishes and some types of shrimps. Maybe because I was having headache which caused me to feel unease to observe and enjoy the dive. I didn't do the 3rd dive because I was so cold and I felt not so good to do the next diving. They all went down & I stayed on the boat, wrapped in towel (thanks Angie!!), and the boatman looked after me. It was worth I didn't do the 3rd diving because Bryan said there was not much to see. We went back to Singamata and it took a shorter time to arrive. It was raining and I just couldn't describe how terrible I felt that time.

Ornate ghost pipefish

I thought there is hot shower in Singamata but there isn't one. I couldn't get myself warmer without hot shower, so after cold bath, I wrapped myself with 3 blankets and 2 towels. Hehehe....like a sick people eh? I slept until dinner was ready. And after dinner, I straight away went back to my room n zzzzzzzzzz....

11th February 2008

Sibuan Island

Good morning everybody. I woke up, hoping that the sun shines brightly. But it did not when I open the room door. Rather windy. But it's ok. I accepted whatever conditions of the day, as long as I can dive. I had breakfast and prepared for the diving.
On the 2nd day, we went diving at Pulau Mabul. I'm happy that I managed to do all 3 dives. 1st dive spot was near the Mabul-Sipadan Resort, 2nd dive was at Seaventures housereef, and the 3rd was almost near to the 1st spot (theartificial reef i guess). I could say that the 1st and 3 dives were muck dives. Well,
1st dive was awesome. I was told that there would be current down under, so we need to drift dive. I kind of scared when they mention about drift diving. It looked scary for novice diver like me. Well, it's worth trying rather than not trying at all. Around 9.30, we descent. What a world full of beauties. I saw a group of razorfish swimming nearby. They move horizontally but in vertical position. I could barely identify which was the head, which was the tail. But then, further observation did tell me which is which. We swam slowly crossing the empty seabed. I saw this small anemony with 4-5 clownfishes...I wasn't sure in which family or species those fishes are. The 2 of them were big, unlike the common size of anemony clownfish. Next, Bryan saw a sand flounder and I almost puzzled with what he was pointing at. Really good camouflaged. It was awesome creature with its eyes functioned like a submarine periscope. I think that was the only flounder I saw. We swam again, exploring, and there was a time where I really drift dive...not that extreme drift dive but it was great. Just imagine u r moving on an escalator...hehehe...Really slow but still I have to swim in the right technique. If not, I would probably be spinning around.
Besides razorfish, clownfish & flounder, there was also Mooray eel. I just like this fella. It looks fierce when I saw this creature in the pictures. But after couple of dives, I really admire it. With the help of Bryan's torchlight, I snapped some pictures of that Mooray eel. Accidentally, there were images of cleaner shrimps when I view the pictures in may notebook. How I wished to see the cleaner shrimps which were red in color during the dive. Later, at other part, we saw a black/dark frogfish. It looked as if it was hanging on that rope. Very amazing creature. I was hoping to see some other frogfishes with different color, eg. white, yellow or brown but there wasn't any. Hoped to see stonefish as well but none. But 1 thing for sure, I was very excited to see porcupine pufferfish. It's just so cute. I wonder where was its buddy? Huhu...poor little puffy.
2nd dive, was at Seaventures. Time in was in the noon. Angie was told that someone found a pygmy seahorse at this spot. We were excited to go down and look for pygmy seahorse. Right after we reach the bottom, at a depth of maybe 12 or 13 m, there was a seafan which looks like exactly where the pygmy seahorse lives. But when I got there, there was only an infamous longnose hawkfish. At least, this creature didn't disappoint us even with the absence of that seahorse. There were couples of nudibranches...my favorite...especially the family Chromodoris. Really cool!! Crocodilefish (again..black in color) was sitting at its place quietly, and didn't bother with our presence.Crocodilefish is a cute creature as well. I could see a medium sized turtle swimming at a distance, and a lionfish remained static at one point. After almost an hour, we ascent. Had our lunch and relaxed before the final dive of the day.
3rd dive was a reef dive. And it was annoying for me because my digicam battery was flat. There were a family of turtle..around 3-4 of them. It should be nice for my picture collections. And dream came true when I finally saw purple nudibranch...the Chromodoris bullocki..I saw 4 purple slugs and my bloody digicam didn't work at that moment of joy. I felt it was quite a short dive...actually it was 57 minutes bottom time..but spending more time on the purple slugs made the dive time seemed shorter. I was just too excited. Around 3.30, we left for Singamata. What a great day today..

12th February
On the 3rd day, we dove at Pulau Mantabuan. This island is protected by the armies and I could see the natives which are Bajau Laut. They live in a long boat..quite long I guess and carry out their routine on that boat...cook, eat, sleep, laundry etc. Yeah...really impressed me. I was supposed to make 3 dives but I missed the 2nd dive because I was cold and not feeling OK. I have no idea what was the name of 1st & 3rd dive spots. I only knew the 2nd spot, Lobster Point, which I didn't dive in.

School of Batfish

Pulau Mantabuan is far from Singamata Resort. It took around 45 minutes or more to get there. The unpleasant thing is, it was rainy at that time and really cloudy. I was prepared for the 1st dive. Unfortunately, I got terrible headache and was almost not in mood to explore that site. I had no idea why this happen and I gave a sign of 'Head..not OK' to Bryan. He checked my dive mask and he thought it was too tight. He signaled that I have to loosen it a bit. Well, I tried but the ache didn't subside, but in fact, amplified. All I could do at that point of time was, to remain calm and ignore the pain. The water was quite turbid and visibility maybe around 5-10 meters. But surprisingly, coral growth was amazing. Unlike Angie, Bryan, Steve Dick & In, they really explored it and manage to see macro lives such as the shrimps and crabs
They had a bottom time of 97 minutes for the 2nd dive....wowww.....that was awesome. Regret for not diving but no point to force myself to dive. I know my body limit. They found lots of shrimps and maybe some lobsters. And they told me, water visibility was very good, compared to the 1st dive.

Sand Goby

3rd dive...well I thought I would be all right. But the headache came as I got into the water. This time was far much worse than before. I didn't think it was decompression sickness. This must be something else...cold or fatigue. It wasn't a good idea to go up, so I just dive, trying so hard to ignore the ache. I did close my eyes for a few seconds...just to ease the pain, held to rock or hard corals, and not moving much. Panic is not an option...hehehe...Short bottom time, 44 minutes only.
When we arrived Singamata, Bryan suggested that I had jaw fatigue, that caused me to get the headache. Yeahhh...why I didn't realize about that earlier? I felt my jaw is somewhat uncomfortable..tight or something. When I moved my jaw, I could actually feel it affected the crown region of my head. Phewww....I was glad it was not because of something serious. Angie got the Panadol tablets, and I took 4 tablets in one shot...hehe. Very wrong indeed.
There was another 4th dive (for Angie & Steve) and 3rd dive for me, at Singamata housereef. We were told that we could see Mandarinefish here. Yeaayyyy....I was very excited to look this little cute fella. Actually, it was a twilight dive....ooo la la...I forgot that sun sets 1 hour earlier in Sabah. So basically, 6 pm is just like 7 pm in Peninsular...A few minutes after we got in, it started to become darker. Almost similar to night dive but there were still very limited light. Torchlights are musts. Right at the descend point, John showed me an anemony, where there were a colony of shrimps. Really cute...brown with white spots shrimps. I tried so hard to take a good picture of it, & I guess I did it. Not so perfect though. Then we proceed to the point where the Mandarinefish lives. There were two of them. According to John the DM, there would be 7 Mandarinefishes appear on certain season. But I forgot to ask when exactly is the season. I was happy to see them but a bit disappointed because I couldn't get a very nice and clear picture of them. They hided within the corals..moved here & there...that made us difficult to take their pictures. I should have tried video mode at that time. It was getting darker & darker. I couldn't see a thing, so it's better to stay close and alert. I never ever got away...even a meter from my buddies. Of course, visibility did make the surrounding looked more scary. Well, my first dive in dim light or no light at all...was ok. I hope I can do this again. There were a lot to see down there, besides mandarinefish. Small crabs & shrimps espceially. With Angie's strobe flash, I almost got my eyes burnt. Hehe....but one thing, pictures are much2 better. I forgot about the headache...and heyy....I didn't feel it even a second....thanks everybody!!
Went up, hot water was prepared for us, bathes, relaxed and dinner. Everything looked tasty and I ate as many as I could. Really starving...

13th February
Today, Pulau Sebangkat was our next destination for diving. I think it is near to Pulau Mantabuan. I able to complete all 3 dives. Yeayyy...this time, no more headache, no more discomfort. Much much much better and I was happy. 1st dive, 69 minutes, 2nd dive, 70 minutes and last dive 84 minutes (the longest bottom time time for me...yeayyy). Dick & In were not going with us because they have gone to Sipadan early in the morning.
1st dive was nice but I couldn't remember what we saw here. 2nd dive, we were escorted...not really escorted but the army boat was there to protect us from the pirates...They could from Indonesia, could be from Phillipine or could be from Malaysia...These pirates kidnap foreigners espcecially and ask for ransome. There were several cases before. How dare you pirates!!! But I still like Jack Sparrow...hahaha..

On the 3rd dive, we saw a ghost pipefish on the last dive at 5 meters depth (our safety stop anyway). That was awesome and we were satisfied to see one. I consumed 99% air in my tank and when the pressure gauge turn 10 psi, Bryan signaled me to get the alternate air source from him. After a few minutes, I got the alternate air source from Steve. hehehe...I breathed fast and consumed more air...still not good.

14th February
The 5th & last day of our diving trip is at Sipadan. Thank god that the sun finally showed up..hehe...Sipadan is actually a small island. It takes 20 minutes walking to make a complete 1 round. The beach is just beautiful, amazing and very clean except where there was a bit improperly disposed rubbish at the abandoned chalet. But didn't really hurt us anyway. Something should be done so with that unpleasant sight. That was the only chalet operateing in Sipadan before. However, the state government of Sabah is seriously making effort to preserve the priceless beauty of Sipadan and with that, they asked the resort operator to close it, with some payment of course. There was also a dive operator, Borneo Divers, and they were asked to do the same thing. Currently the dive operator is operating at Semporna. To dive or enter Sipadan, RM40 is imposed to every individual as a conservation fee. And the island is protected by the army. There was a case of kidnapping tourists, a few years back, for ransome. Poor hostages..they really were in trauma. Bloody kidnappers!!
Early morning, we packed our stuff and checked out from that floating resort heading to Semporna jetty. From there, we went to Sipadan by the dive operator's boat. Our stuff were then sent to Dragon In, the floating chalet where we stay upon arrival to Semporna. It took around 45 minutes to reach Sipadan.
The divemaster, which I didn't know his name, was a friendly and funny type. He told us that he would bring us to a spot where we can see pygmy seahorse....huhuhu...again, we were excited. And again, to see thay lil pinky pygmy, we need to be at a depth of 22 meters. Well, when we arrived, we got in and it was really beautiful down there. Thank god there was no current and our dives in Sipadan were just awesome. Contrarily as what we were told by Dick & In. The sea condition was not that good on the day before. I was worried to hear about that.
Wall dives seem a bit scary to me because when looking down, I couldn't see the bottom and it looks really dark blue deep down there. As if looking at infinity. The wall is 600 m deep. Can you imagine that? But the tip is, don't ever look downward. Explore the walls, see the fishes, see the flare of the sunlight penetrating the water, those are much better. And it is important to check the depth gauge so that you won't end up with decompression dive.
We did 3 dives in Sipadan. 2 dives were at Richard Reef (wall dives) and Turtle Tomb to Barracuda Point.
I was just happy because the water condition appeared nice and better. I saw lots of colorful fishes, various types and I simply have no idea what species they are. Totally multiracial community...hehehe. There were big fishes, small fishes, giant turtles, small turtles and...phewww...just say it. The 1st surprise for me was seeing a big white nudibranch. I am yet to identify what species it is. Its length was like the length of my palm and width of my 3 fingers. Sorry, I didn't have any length measuring instrument. Turtles are everywhere. They didn't seem to bother our presence and that was good. Easy for me to look at them closer. My digicam, just couldn't stop snapping pictures and shooting video. There were turtles resting on seafans. Strangely, the turtles were heavier than I, but their mass didn't seem to break or damage the seafans. I thought seafans are fragile but they just don't. Hard corals dominated the walls and soft corals were much lesser. I am still waiting for the divemaster to bang the tank and show us the pygmy seahorse. There were some signals but showing some other creatures which I didn't really care due to attraction to the fishes and turtles. It was weird when there was nit much nudibranch to see. Perhaps, it was not the right season for the nudis to show up.
After 46 minutes, we ascent to 5 meters for safety stop. Such a short bottom time because we dove at 28.6 meter depth...that is the maximum depth personally. At the safety stop, the corals are beautiful with no bleaching or damage seen. I saw a very big fish, but it swam away damn fast when I approach it but I guess it was a grouper. Strange, grouper doesn't normally swim away that fast when "intruders" approach them. And for the time, I saw a flamboyant cuttlefish but it immediately hid away within the corals. I tried to look for Angie or Bryan and tell them what I saw but they were out of my sight. When I looked back for the cuttlefish, it was gone....I couldn't get to snap pictures of that creature....so sad!! Besides cuttlefish, there were couples of very large batfishes, swimming slowly and arrogantly..hehehe...But at least, I had the chance to approach them slowly.
After surface interval of 1 hour, we prepared for 2nd dive which was at Richard Reef but at a shallower part. Nothing much to see here because the main objective is to look for the pygmy seahorse (was it?). Bottom time was 53 minutes. I saw at least 2 white tip reef shark but at a distant. Couldn't get any pictures of them. AFter 2nd dive, we got back to shore, had our lunch and got ourself warmer by walking along the beaches. Ahhh...there was a cat...with no tail at all. Island cat..just like the one in Tioman, but this one is a playful type. Gave it a sausage but it played with its expensive meal.
Prepared for the last dive, we were heading for Barracuda Point through the Turtle Tomb. I couldn't see the turtle cave..huhu...I forgot to ask the divemaster to take us there. There was schooling jacs..i think hundreds or thousand of them. Really fun. I couldn't take any picture because I handed my digicam to this one cute guy before I descend...not sure if he is European....we met down there and he passed me the digicam. What a day...I didn't get the chance to know him...not even his name...arrgghhh...I hope he is working with the dive operator that took us to Sipadan, and if he is, I will be able to meet him again in the future....hehehehe....I thought that we would see the swirling school of barracuda but they were not there. Only couples of them and if I'm not mistaken, it's the yellow tailed barracuda. Not the silver barracuda. The divemaster also managed to 'sing'. I heard some hummings and I wondered where they came from. Until the DM swam near, the hummings louder and confirmed, he made the sounds. Hehehe...trying to sing in the water i guess. I handed him my digicam and signaled me that he wanted to take pictures. I signaled ' What picture?"...and he replied "Just watch". Wooowww....he got me pictures of fire goby. That was sooo sweet. Thanks DM...Finally, we ascent and that's it...time to say bye2 to Sipadan. There was a turtle swimming approaching us...and I felt like it was trying to say 'Bye bye guys'..huhu....bye bye to u too turtle...Until next time...definitely I will return to Sipadan...
Got back to Dragon Inn and there was hot water shower....cool!!!Rinsed our equipments and digicams and relaxed. Dinner at Chinese restaurant..awesome food.

15th February
Woke up damn late, surfed the internet, view the pictures, lunch at the same Chinese restaurant and 3.30, land transfer to Tawau Airport...6.40 pm, Bye bye Sabah