[Mabul, Malaysian Borneo] Three more dives at Sipadan today, and they were unbelievable! Perfect weather again as we skimmed out over the glassy sea to the island. This time we were joined by a pleasant Dutch guy and his Canadian girlfriend and a bunch of Chinese divers. Jeroen (the Dutch guy) had a very snazzy camera setup. A Canon SLR with a macro lens and a monster strobe – V almost had to wipe the drool off my lip 🙂 Since today was going to be our last day at Sipadan I tried to rent a camera. Real pity that none were available (or people were too disorganized) – it was an epic day.

We signed in and immediately descended to around 20m at ‘South Point’. It was a stunning dive. Tonnes of immaculate coral stretching up the reef wall. 30m+ visibility meant you could gaze up the wall and see white tip sharks and turtles circling above. We spotted countless creatures as our small group cruised along with the gentle current. The tea break had everyone itching to get back in the water – who needs tea when the conditions are that perfect?

Next we headed to ‘Mid Reef’ and our deepest dive to date, leveling off at 26.2m. Another perfect dive with more sharks, and a small school of Barracuda. Notable where a huge school of Batfish and a monster Giant Grouper at the end of the dive. The coral at Mid Reef is our favorite at the moment. Absolutely beyond stunning and loaded with critters. One of the Chinese divers in our group wasn’t watching the dive leader or his computer and ended up needing a 26 minute safety stop to avoid decompression sickness. Apparently Chinese and Korean divers are notorious for doing silly things and buying expensive gear they can’t use – he was reading his computer incorrectly! That stunt put an end to his diving for the day. Very silly and dangerous.

For lunch back on the island we had a cool visitor. A 2m long monitor lizard patrolling around the platform and devouring the chicken bones people were tossing his way. He eventually strolled up onto the platform giving everyone something to take photos of. A little entertainment to help pass the time between dives more quickly was welcome. We all just wanted to get back in.

The best, as it should do, came last. Another dive at ‘Barracuda Point’ with lots of turtles (one almost swam into V), and our good friends the white tip sharks. We also spotted a big (very big for us) Grey reef shark passing below us. They just look like a shark. Bullet sharped and ominous. Built to kill. The site isn’t called ‘Barracuda Point’ for nothing. Near the end of the dive we were swarmed by a enormous wall of huge (1m+) barracuda. They snaked their way around our group a few times. A solid mass of fish just meters away. You could feel the water moving with them. It was awesome! I’ll be happy if diving doesn’t get better than today, but apparently it can.

Back at Uncle Chang’s we had a chance to chat to Jeroen and look at his photos from the day. The guy has got serious skills with a camera and vast dive experience – sounds like he has been diving everywhere. We learnt tonnes about the beautiful small stuff that is his passion. While we were all looking for sharks and turtles Jeroen was up close and photographing amazing little creatures. Tomorrow we know what to look for so we have decided that V will try spot the small stuff and I’ll keep an eye on the big ones. Hehe. Seems she drew the short straw.

[Pictures: Military Aircraft and boats patrolling around Sipadan and another shot of paradise]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi