To say that I've been looking forward to this is an understatement. The diving at Sipadan and nearby Mabul is often described as some of the best in the world. How does the reality stand-up?
The little town of Semporna is the main base for diving and it sucks. You have several choices: stay in town, stay on Mabul island or stay on a small converted oil rig. I opt for the rig but end up with the town - due to lack or organisation. Perhaps it's a lucky break though - the novelty would probably have soon worn off. Semporna is a dirty, smelly, crap hole with an ugly feel to it. I hate it and am amazed that with all the tourists and money that pours into the place, that it's not nicer, and geared up for them better. I've never seen a place with so much potential. The only places that seem to have any clue are the accommodation/restaurant of Dragon Inn and the accommodation/restaurant/dive shop of Scuba Junkies. Better accommodation choices, better organised diving, coffee shops, gift shops (that sell postcards would be useful for me), etc etc. This place needs a lesson from Koa Tao and Kuching.
I sign up to a local dive shop - I figure Scuba Junkies is hogging things and besides they are fully booked. The dive company is the worst I've ever been with. What is it with this town? The diving however is great and yet I'm actually disappointed. For some reason i thought it would be better than it actually was. The visibility was 20-25m, there were dozens of turtles (even sleeping ones), dozens of sharks of various kinds, and huge swirling vortexes of jacks. I put myself in the middle of the eye and just hovered there looking up into an eye of wonderland :-) Over the next four days i went to other dive sites and saw rare frog fish, crocodile fish, mandarin fish, snake eels, rays, groupers, lion fish, pygmy seahorses (they're tiny and i nearly went into deco trying to see them) and of course lots of sharks and turtles. The list is endless. My day was an early start, up to an hours boat ride to the site, three leisurely dives with surface intervals usually on the beach of an island, chats and laughs with the fellow divers and then the boat ride home in the early evening before food and drinks in the bar. I actually get tired of this - four days of three dives in a row is too much! I realise it's the best diving I've ever done but it didn't live up to my expectations from the pictures I've seen and travellers I've met. Combine it with the yukky town and I'm not sorry to be leaving.
There is one huge highlight i will remember though - going inside the turtle cavern. This is a cave with a couple of chambers in which turtles enter, get trapped and of course die. It's supposed to contain a graveyard of bones. Peter a German guy I'd met twice before in Malaysia (it's a small world) and I go in as far as we are allowed. Our eyes slowly adjust to the lack of light - it's very dark and a little eerie. Signs of danger and skulls line the entrance to the cave, our air bubbles rise and collect on the ceiling. Upon turning around we discover everyone else has turned back and what we see is this amazing intense blue of an opening, with the other divers looking like tiny black silhouettes. I want to go back to that cave, i want to go all the way in. I loved it, and I'll never forget the image of the cave opening and the amazing colour.
