[Mabul, Malaysian Borneo] or ‘Merry Christmas’ if you prefer. No better gift than to go diving at Sipadan.

Lucky the weather was great for our first dives here. We were up early for breakfast and to sort out our gear. Uncle Chang’s is a ‘budget’ operator and you can see it in the equipment – well I guess as long as it works. V had a bit of fun finding a wet-suit amongst the manky selection. She was adamant that she should be in a small sized one and after trying (and failing) to persuade a few to fit she was left with raw knuckles. Who knew that wet-suits could be so dangerous 🙂 We loaded up and proceeded to test our gear before setting off. The first tank I tried didn’t have an o’ring and was half empty but there were plenty of spares.

The ride out to the island was reasonably fast thanks to the mostly calm seas and we were both nervous about getting back in the water after a month off. The group consisted of a couple Asian guys and fun bunch of poms who decided to dive with their Santa hats. We pulled in to dock at the pier to register for the day (only 120 divers per day are permitted). It is a stunning spot. A tiny idyllic island surrounded by clear waters housing only a small army base. Years ago a group of Philipino terrorists took a bunch of tourists hostage on the island and since then the resorts have been removed and replaced with a military outpost. The upside is that the marine environment is thriving.

Our first dive site was ‘Mid Reef’. V was particularly nervous – having never done a back-roll entry before wasn’t helping. From the reef around 10m we cruised out over the edge of the wall – a 600m drop to the ocean floor below and a lot of big creatures with sharp teeth – scary as! The dive went along the reef wall at around 20m. It was beautiful with a slow current moving us along the teeming coral. To be honest we were just getting the hang of everything again so not much stuck in our memories (besides a mid sized school of barracuda in the distance) and all to soon the dive was over and we were heading back to the island for a tea break.

After tea we headed for ‘Barracuda Point’. As we were kitting up there was a loud pop and the hiss of air from V’s regs. One of the hoses had popped off. Yikes. That would have been fun underwater. Barracuda Point was excellent with some big (for us) white tip sharks and loads of oblivious turtles amongst the countless other fish.

Back to the island for lunch and then back in the water but this time just a few meters from the jetty and another 500m+ drop off. Undersea pinnacles and huge overhangs made it feel like something out of ‘The Abyss’. Our guide led us into the mouth of ‘Turtle Tomb’. A dramatic cave system where some poor turtles get lost and end up dying. It was eerie looking out from the dark. The rest of the dive was along the reef wall popping up onto the reef amongst a huge school of Jackfish.

Quite a day. An amazing location with great visibility and hardly any current to speak of. Sensory overload trying to take as much in as possible including the odd undersea Christmas carol thanks to the poms. Good thing there is more to come!

[Pictures: Around Sipadan. WOW]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi