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CORALREPUBLIC Malaysia, 2012
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See our Sipadan video on Vimeo HERE |
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Trip
dates: |
4 - 22 August 2012 |
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Boat
/ resort: |
M/V
Celebes Explorer, Sipadan Kapalai Dive Resort,
Kinabatangan Riverside Lodge, Hotel Maya Kuala Lumpur.
All excellently organised, as always, by Diving World NL, our trusty tour operator based in The
Netherlands |
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Dive
centre: |
Liveaboard and Kapalai in-house centre. |
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Photo-friendly?: |
Yes, a bit less on the boat, but correct. In Kapalai,
excellent facilities, camera room, rentals, etc. |
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Number
of dives: |
35 over 12 days of diving, quite a lot. |
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Diving
conditions: |
Windy at the beginning of the trip, calmer later, but water
rather less clear than we expected, varying between 5 m in the Mabul dives to 20m+ around Sipadan.
Water temperature |
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Comments: |
Right, there is a lot to tell about this great trip, so this is
going to be a bit long. If you are not interested, scroll down to find the
link to the Gallery. The Celebes Explorer is a rusty ship, but the advantage is that
customers don't expect more and it makes for totally unpretentious, laid back
atmosphere. Cabins are small and damp, with tiny portholes that can't be
opened. The food on board is ok if you like your Chinese-like fare. We did.
It was plentiful and tasty, if not with a lot of choice. Drinks other than
water from the fountain are extra. Coffee, tea, toast
and pastries are available at all times. We were transferred efficiently from Tawau
on Sunday 5/08, it took about 90 minutes to drive to Semporna and once there
we boarded the ship, which moors there every Sunday. The other guests already
on board when we arrived had a check dive around Semporna that day but it was
not great. Very poor visibility and not much to see anyway. The boat moved on
to Mabul in the evening, and this is where it stays
every night of the cruise. We were able to dive Sipadan every day
of the week we were there. The diving was easy, with perfectly manageable
currents in an easy drift. Too bad for an average-only visibility, but we saw
the things Sipadan is famous with: barracudas,
sharks, schooling jacks and large pods of huge fat bumphead
parrots. We dove Barracuda point most every day, sometimes twice. We dove in a group of six with divemaster
Tom (the other, smaller DM is called Jerry). Tom's name is in fact Jeffrey
and is a very nice guy, very good divemaster. Night dives were done in Mabul after
the crossing back from Sipadan. We did two night
dives but there were many worms in the water and the visibility was very bad. The key point regarding the Celebes explorers is: if you want to
dive Nitrox, you must book in advance. The boat does not carry a mixer on
board and they must supply the tanks quayside. We did not know this, and when
we asked for nitrox tanks, they said maybe, we'll see what we can do. They
list nitrox as an extra service, at a whopping 50 Ringgit per tank. That
would add about 500€ to your bill if you did all your dives with nitrox, and
everything paid for on board has to be cash, they don't take credit cards. So
in the end we did up to four dives a day on air, which I don't think is very
safe. In compensation, the dive time is limited to 45 minutes, which the DMs
enforce gently but surely. So, all in all, we loved the diving and the atmosphere on board,
but there could be major improvements to this operation. Sipadan
diving is really outstanding and that is ultimately what counts, i.e. the
opportunity you have in this boat to dive there every day. Rumour has it that
the owner is going to replace the boat, hopefully this will be soon, but I
would expect a much more expensive package then. I did not take my camera down during the first day because I was
tired and a bit queasy. On the second day, during the second dive, the alarm
went off, leak. It was small, and the water did not reach the camera, but the
circuitry got a few drops in hidden places and by the afternoon it was dead.
I could still have put the camera in and risk it, but I had my GoPro with me
and decided to just shoot some video and the odd still with it for the rest
of the week. The gallery of underwater pictures is made of these stills and
since there is no way to use strobes with the GoPro, I have converted them to
B&W. I actually like that album a lot, it’s different. It still manages
to convey the beauty of the place, and in a rather dramatic way. We then went on to Sipadan-Kapalai
Dive Resort for a 6-night stay. What a place, we loved it! The island has
only a small sandbank above water, so the whole place is built on stilts. The
rooms are spacious and with their own sundeck with loungers, very private.
There is one restaurant and no separate bar, but there was a lot of choice
for food every day. They have free WiFi in the
lounge, which was great. As avid divers, we simply loved the dive centre. Excellent
organisation, planning, services, divemasters, and
a really pretty housereef. Marine life is all
around you in Kapalai 24/7, you see the fish, rays
and turtles every time you walk from one part of the resort to the other, or
while you enjoy your drink on the deck. Big turtles come grazing in the late
afternoon, and the restaurant has a pit in the middle that is illuminated at
night attracting little rays and juvi batfishes.
One evening we had a sea snake on the terrace deck. You might be scared to hear
this, but it was really cool. A girl with a broom was enough to convince the
critter to go back to sea. The Kapalai day boats go a lot to Mabul and we did not appreciate the bad visibility there
after a couple of dives, so we had to push a bit to dive Kapalai.
The DMs would say we had current around Kapalai,
but we insisted and the two last days stayed around the resort and did
excellent dives, with great visibility and lots to see, especially the last
one, where we came upon a group of about 8 large turtles dozing around at the
bottom of the mooring line. Also, we were able to go twice to dive Siamil Island, and we liked it a lot for macro
photography. Diving Sipadan from this resort (and
the others around the area) is a matter of luck, as they only guarantee you
going there once during a week’s stay. They leave at 5 am and you do 4 dives,
with short-ish surface intervals in the Island,
where the resort provides snacks and lunch. After a full week diving Sipadan from the boat, we did not insist on diving more
than the one day they signed us up for that programme. After Kapalai we went for a 2-night
jungle tour based at the Kinabatangan River Lodge, very basic, but allowing
for very interesting boat rides to seek out and watch wildlife. They do two
boat outings a day, one at dawn and one at sunset, each for about two, two
and a half hours. It can be miserable if it is pouring down (often is) but we
were lucky and were able to wait for the afternoon downpour to pass before
going out and saw loads of things, including wild elephants minding a cute
baby during a river crossing. We ended our trip flying from Sandakan to KL, where we had a
night stopover to shop and visit around. Great trip all in all, and we are
thinking seriously to go back again next spring, as they told us that
April/May are the best months for visibility. Can’t wait to go back. If you would like to see an album of top side pictures, click HERE. |
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