As I was staying 4 nights on Seaventures, I was guaranteed at least one Sipadan diving day, but luckily, I got out two days to enjoy Sipadan diving.
Lets go dive Sipadan!
Yay, Sipadan Diving! CNN rated as Sipadan’s Barracuda Point as the #1 Dive spot in the world in this article. Which is why I came here, to see what “the best in the world” is. Some people tell me I have it wrong, since I only learned to dive five months ago, I’m supposed to be diving crap locations so when I get to good, I appreciate it more.
I disagree. Every year, the ocean becomes more overfished, more coral gets bleaches, more reefs are destroyed by tropical storms and more sharks get killed for their fins. I want to see what the best looks like now, because in ten years, it’s going to be a lot different picture.
During Surface Interval
So here I was, straight from diving Tubbataha and Palawan in the Philippines and Sipadan diving location #1, Barracuda Point.
As soon as we jumped in, there was a pretty good current going, and the group of Chinese men and I were off into the blue for a good workout. I actually appreciate a good current because it always brings in the pelagics.
First, we saw tons of Bumphead parrotfish:
Bumphead Parrot fish
White tips, families of Jacks and sea turtles as well, but I’m spoiled just coming off diving Tubbataha so didn’t take any pictures of those on this dive…
Then of course, the Barracuda started pouring in:
Second dive we went to the Turtle Tomb, but they wouldn’t let us really go deep in it, but here are some pics anyway:
It was also white tip shark mating season, so that was quite exciting watching them chase each other around the reefs:
I also saw some other interesting things while diving in the Sipadan/Kipali/Mabul Reefs:
All in All, Sipadan had a great mixture of nice reef, great visibility and a good variety of sharks, sea turtles and other marine life that are hard to find all in one place.
If Sipadan diving could have thrown in a whale shark, it probably would have been my favorite dive location of the year.
On Sipadan Island
**I should mention that there is now a security issue with the Abu Saif boating in from South Philippines and abducting tourists from Sabah area. Sipadan island had armed military men on it with M16s, and one was “accidentally” discharged in the water while I was there. There are also coast guard patrol vessels and Seaventures had armed guards on the dive platform as well. So, if this type of situation makes you nervous, you may want to reconsider or check into the current safety situation in the area.
//I.A.
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Diving Destinations – Sipadan Diving, Borneo, Malaysia As I was staying 4 nights on Seaventures, I was guaranteed at least one Sipadan diving day, but luckily, I got out two days to enjoy Sipadan diving.
