19/3 - Up and feeling good, a quick splash and down for breakfast. I gave the noodles a miss for breakfast, but demolished an omlette, toast, coco crunch, juice and fruit. Hey, it's going to be busy day. The coco crunch are great, I fell in love with them when I worked here. It was raining when I came down, but is starting to brighten up, which is good for vis underwater. The rain here is warm, so nice.
A quick dive briefing and on the boat to Mandarin valley, Pulau (island) Kapalai, about 10 minutes away. The sun is out when we roll back into the water and it shows the colour of the corals up great. I'm already thinking it is a beautiful world down here. There are a few small wrecks and an old house frame, put here to make an artificial reef and attract the fish. One of the wrecks has the biggest snapper I have ever seen in it. You'd get a few fish and chips out of him. It is good maneuvering around the artificial reef, some of the objects are big enough to swim in. There's loads to see down here and it is a good relaxing start to the day. Back to the boat and onboard no problem. I even enjoy just bobbing by the boat waiting to get out. I suppose it is the sunshine and the excitement of what is to come on the next dives. You can dive the same spot several times, but the dives are never the same. Conditions and what you spot make each one different. Back to the boat for a brew and quick snack. One thing about diving, you can eat for fun and it gets burned off, within reason. Another dive brief and we are off to Pulau Mabul, just over the way, to Paradise Reef 1. Richard the trip organiser and the instructor who put me through the first dive course I did, tells us this is a nice easy, relaxing dive. Back on the boat, meanwhile the lads have changed the air bottles and sorted us all out. Roll back into the water, we all gather together, lots of OK signs and we are on our way down again, INTO THE BLOOMING CURRENT. I got over the initial surprise and produced my secret weapon from my BCD. A pair of gloves with webbed fingers. The old legs find it hard going into this current, but with the aid of these gloves, it's loads easier. My buddy, Chuan, was so enthralled he almost missed the horned cow fish we ran into, until I drew his attention to it, we milked it for a while and moved on (Mick joke). The current starts to ease and get behind us as we head for the reef and the hard work was worth it. This must be where Richard's easy, relaxed dive starts and it was a real treat, we just drifted along. There were a couple of crocodile fish, a shoal of jacks, cuttlefish, lobster, loads of nudi branches, which are little colourful, fancy, slugs that come in all colours. Some divers get well into them and spend most of the dive looking for them, they even have their own website, where new finds can be published, but I have not caught that bug yet, they are interesting enough, but I like the big in your face stuff. We passed a big old turtle, just hanging around on the reef and I mean big. There was a banded moray eel easing around the rocks below the turtle. This is a smashing dive, but air is getting low, so it is up for a safety stop and up to the surface, where there was a general winge about the current, which was a nice boost for me, everyone found it hard going. Apple was digging her hands into the sand and dragging herself along at one point. Not recommended, but funny. After the winge came loads of praise for how good the dive was and we haven't been to the main attraction, Sipadan, yet. That's to come after a spot of dinner.
Now we are on our way to the famous and infamous Sipadan and straight into the most famous of its dive sites "Barracuda Point". Diving is great, but diving places like this cannot be beaten in my book, even though we don't see the barracuda. There are reef sharks, turtles, thousands upon thousands of tropical fish, butterfly, damsel, angels, anthias, triggers. There are too many to try and remember them for checking out in the books back onshore, or onrig, it is too confusing. This is probably the best dive site I have been to, but perhaps I am just over excited. It is like swimming in a huge aquarium. When diving at Sipadan it is always a let down to have to surface, but air is getting low, so we have to go up. Everyone is raving about this dive, even the most cynical. To keep the mood going we land on the gleaming white sand of Sipadan for a brew, sandwich and (they knew I was coming), a piece of cake. Some go for a swim in the clear turquoise water off the beach, it is like a paradise island. There is a round of photos, a bit of a relax, then on board for our 2nd Sipadan dive, this time at Hanging Gardens. Again the lads have changed the bottles over.
It is hard to match Barracuda Point, but this site does its best. The wall that is underwater Sipadan is a huge magnificent, rugged, landscape, full of huge spaced out corals, fish roaming everywhere they please, beautiful fish and it drops to at least 600 metres. I have heard different depths up to 1500 metres, but suffice it to say, the bottom is out of sight and I'm not going looking for it. There are small cutouts, that seem to be a favoured resting place for turtles, every so often you come across one crashed in there, bored with the sight of these humans swimming by. Other times glancing out into the deep blue, a turtle glides past and the same below or above. Initially, it is difficult to take your eyes off the wall. The corals on the wall may be sparse, but they are big, some of the fans are huge. Diving here is a great sensation, but air is getting low again, so we start to ascend. The safety stop is a 3 minute hover or swim at 5 metres, it helps release some of the nitrogen built up in the blood. At Sipadan the safety stops are great. The coral gardens start above 10 metres. These are magnificent collections of colourful corals, teaming with fish. This really is aquarium time. Like Paul mentions, when the sun is out you could do with sunglasses, it is so bright and beautiful. Back to the top now and the wind has gotten up making getting onto the boat more exciting, but there is more than enough help and they are getting used to me now. The lads realise I am OK in the water once I have handed my gear up and they are stopping worrying so much.
Well that was the first Sipadan visit. I doubt you can get a bad dive at Sipadan, but I am probably wrong. This is hell of a place and we have 2 more visits yet.
Back to the rig, a quick brew and then it is showered for the evening meal, more delicious Malaysian food and the pineapple is as good as that in Thailand. Fill in the logs and everyone is getting sleepy, so goodnight all.
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