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Hey all, I've had a dive filled couple of days so listen up (especially you Uncle Wade). A couple days ago we hopped on a boat and rode out an hour from Simporna to an island known as Mabul where we stayed at the Dive Junkie Resort, which was really quite nice. In fact, they were so nice that we had a 2, 2 person bedrooms with a bathroom for each, and the bathroom even had toilet paper. That may not sound like much, but the majority of the restrooms we have had access to in our lodgings usually opt for the butt hose (which I absolutely refuse to use). We were also fed three delicious buffet-style meals a day, with a snack at 4:00. Overall this place was really cool, but it was strange to see the opulence of the resort right next to the village of the local peoples who had ramshackle houses. I felt a little bad, but what are you going to do.
Anyway, the day we arrived we quickly offloaded our luggage and split into two groups. Jenny and Greg continued their dive training while me and Stephen hopped on a boat and went out to do our first of 3 fun dives for the day. The first place we dove was known as Lobster Wall (which was strange because we didn't see any lobsters). This was a drift dive which I was grossly unqualified for with my meager Open Water certification, but the dive master did not seem to concerned so I wasn't either. He was from Jersey and named Packy and made the experience very fun. So we dove down and allowed the current to move us across a fairly sheer rock wall where we observed many different kinds of coral and fish and turtles and even a colorful ray. At Mabul, there are sea turtles everywhere. Some are huge and can be up to 6 feet long. Truly gentle giants who had no problem with you getting up close for a good look. The name of the next dive site escapes me at the moment, but the 3rd one was called Artificial Reef (for obvious reasons). The owners of the island sunk many large boxes and other debris upon which coral grew and many creatures made their home. We saw many fish that Packy described as exotics on this dive such as frogfish, ribbon eels, and nudibranches (sea slugs). We also saw a big grouper, some sweet lips, and a large school of jack, so overall the dive was great. We spent the rest of the night relaxing on the porches in front of our rooms.
The next day was Jenny and Greg's final day of training, so me and Stephen opted not to dive, and instead just snorkelled for a while. We managed to swim about a fourth of the way around the island and saw such creatures as many types of needefish, a fast assortment of little tropical coral huggers, and even a large crocodile fish staring at us from the sea floor. This was fun except my wetsuit did not cover the back of my knees which were absolutely fried and only today have I really not been able to feel them. In the afternoon we made a lap of the island on foot and got to see the entirety of the natives' village. We even scored a coke at one of the restaurants for 50 cents which was pretty sweet.
The next day we grabbed the newly certfied rest of our group and participated in another 3 fun dives. Just prior to the first dive our divemaster (Packy again) told us that people had been seeing the flamboyant cuttlefish, which is apparently extremely rare (Packy told us he did not see one until around his 1100th dive), and to look out for it but not expect to actually see it. Remarkably we descended right on top of a flamboyant cuttlefish (on my 8th dive ever) and we were all stunned. They are pretty small, probably only 6 inches long, however it is their coloration that makes them so remarkable. Being cuttlefish, they have the ability to rapidly and very fluidly change their coloration, seemingly effortlessly. The flamboyant cuttlefish flashes purple and gold bars across its body when at rest, and when startled it becomes very bright and strobes the colors at you. Packy helped show us the startled version by flicking his fingers at it. I did not realize it then, but was later informed that they are extremely poisonous, which for some reason didn't seem to bother Packy at all. I'll reiterate: he was awesome. The rest of the dive was fairly nondescript so lets go to the next one. For the next dive we followed a sloped coral reef, and continuing the trend of seeing extremely venemous animals that day, we came across a banded seasnake about halfway through the dive. The banded seasnake is the most venemous snake in the world. It is a primarily light blue fairly skinny snake with evenly spaced, black bands spread across its body. I would say the snake was about 3 feet long. It was funny because we couldn't see it until it lifted up off the reef about 5 feet from Stephen, who as you can image was startled. We watched it sinuously make its way to the surface for a breath before coming back down to the reef. Though they are so poisonous, they are extremely docile and apparently can't even get their small mouths open wide enough to bite a human anyway, so we were never in any real danger. Still cool though. The other dive finished without incident.
We rested that night and came back to Simporna the next day. We slept at the same place we had before and this morning awoke at 6:00 to head down to to the wharf to do 3 dives as the grand finale at Sipadan. Sipadan is one of the most pristine and best dive sites in the world which is now highly protected and it was truly a privelege to be allowed to dive there. So we got our gear, hopped in a boat, and went to the island. Sipadan is basically your stereotypical tropical with lush vegetation, very little development, a pristine white beach, and beautiful green, light blue, and turquoise waters. What makes Sipadan so special has to do with its geology. The island is on a raised plateau the barely extends 30 meters in all directions of the shore before plummeting 1500 meters nearly vertically to the sea floor below. Just before our dive I asked the dive master what we could expect to see. He told me at Mabul there are lots of small stuff while at Sipadan there are lots of big animals. I pressed him, and asked him to clarify and all he would say was, "sharks," and then laugh. With a bit of trepidation we got into place and descended. Immediately we looked down and saw a 3 foot white tip reef shark glide by below us. I was excited. For this dive we followed along the drop off and saw at least 20 white tips ranging from the small 3 footers, to the large 6 footers. Oftentimes we saw them resting on the bottom, while at other times they would be gliding by below or above us. They are apparently not very aggressive and if we got to close they just moved along instead of dealing with us. After the excitement of that dive I did not see how they could top that, but I was wrong. For the next dive we went to the place known as Barracuda Point. Again we dove down at a different part of the dropoff. For a while the dive was pretty standard compared to the others. We did see a few barracuda, maybe about 10 in a pack, and though they were big this was not particularly impressive. This all changed when at one point I saw several other groups of divers swimming out into the great blueness of the open ocean, so I figured I would see what all the fuss was about. It didn't take me long to notice the mass of maybe 1000 large barracuda in a school. This was an awesome sight. they pack in very close with each other and we couldn't see anything past this mass of barracuda. It was spectacular. We would see them off and on throughout the rest of the dive as they made their way around the point which was so eloquently named after them, before surfacing. The final dive was at a site called Turtle Cave. We were told we would not be allowed to go into the cave (that requires further PADI training), however when we actually got to the cave the divemaster waved us in. With a little trepidation I entered the gaping maw. To set the mood someone had even placed a skull on a spear and stuck it into the bottom of the cave which I though was hilarious. As we moved back a ways (it wasn't very deep) we say a shadow emerging from the depths. I was a little frightened until we realized it was just lone barracuda, which after the school of them earlier wasn't scary in the least. After a little while we made our way out and completed the dive without seeing anything too interesting other than a large puffer fish which unfortunately remained unpuffed.
Overall this place has been amazing for diving and giving me all the stereotypical tropical island paradise action I can handle. Tomorrow we are hopping on a bus and beginning the trip to Mt. Kinabalu whcih we intend to climb, after first stopping at a large oranguatan rehabilitation center. I kind of rushed through this because we are trying to catch the U.S. versus Australia friendly in a bit so if I remember any more entertaining details I'll be sure to post them. Until next time.
- comments
Phil Aunt Beck, I would post pictures but it takes a ridiculously long time to upload them on the internet connection that I have available to me. I may be able to get a picture up here and there, but it is really annoying. I'll see what I can do.
Aunt Becky Uncle Wade is going to be so envious! Your dives sound incredible. Don't worry about the pictures, just make sure you have a lot, and I'll see them after Cabo -- probably no time before!
Cher Walker WOW, Phillip. You realize your expectation of diving is going to be on a whole new level from Yogi Bear. Incredible dive report, thanks for sharing. Can I post your link on our website?
Phil Sure, go for it.
Aunt Neva Hey Phil. Don't forget your Aunt here in Minnesota just because I'm not going to Cabo! Be sure to put your pictures on Facebook or some place like that. Can't wait to see them.
Jeff and Carolyn Your trip is sounding spectacular Phil! We, just like everyone else, are so looking forward to the pics. Keep the writings coming.