Out of the way Turtle!
I just got back from scuba diving at Sipadan Island, which is an island of the coast of Borneo. The famed Jacques Cousteau put Sipadan on the map back in the seventies when he said “This place is a living piece of art.” After spending 15 hours on a bus to get here….. he better be right! Sipadan is ranked 2nd on the list of worlds best dive spots. But you would never guess that when you come to Seporna which is the port town and jumping off point for Sipadan. Seporna is a real hell hole, its hard to believe that the worlds 2nd best place to dive is only a 20 minute boat ride away. The Malaysian government needs to give this place a face lift. With in the 1st hour of being in Seporna i walked past 2 dead dogs on the sidewalk which probably died from the lack of food or disease. But that said once you jump on a boat and leave this crap hole behind you enter another world. Our boat ride out to Sipadan was really rough as the weather turned to shit. The sea was kicking up 6 to 10foot waves, our speed boat smashed through everyone. At one point i thought our boat was going to snap in half. When we finally reached the dive site i was in a bad mood… the weather sucked! the 15 hour bus ride to get here sucked! Seporna sucked! and now the weather sucked!! But when i jumped in the water everything changed and i left all that crap above. Click read more!
We actually jump right on top of a school of bumphead parrot fish (see photo for reference) Wow these buggers are ugly with their big foreheads and huge buck teeth! The place we dove at was called Barracuda point, and it couldn’t have been named a better name. At one point my dive master and I were surrounded by a school of about 500 Barracuda’s, we let all the air out of our BCD’s and sat on the bottom and watched all the Barracuda hover above. While we were sitting there for 15 minutes or so a few White Tip Reef Sharks came by to investigate and swam with in only inches of me. I felt as if i was in a giant aquarium at seaworld. Now a lot of the time when you go diving people ask if you saw any sea turtles, and most of the time if your lucky you might see one. But not here, there are soo many freaking turtles they actually get in your way. Everywhere you turn you bump into one, there was this one little bugger that keep following me… i think he liked my air bubbles. He keep getting in my way, i was about to head but the little bastard. Between the different species of Sharks, Barracudas, turtles and everything else down there this place was for sure the best diving i have ever done! If you ever come here make sure you stay on an island called Mabul which is only 5 minutes away from Sipadan and it sure beats staying in Seporna! That said it was definitely worth the effort to get here. Tomorrow I’m heading back to Kota Kinabalu.
Posted by Jimmy under Borneo, Malaysia, Travel Tips |
