111days: Day 53 / Tag 53, Thu. May 4, Sipadan

Thursday, May 4, 2017

Day 53 / Tag 53, Thu. May 4, Sipadan

(Preface: I am still in Indonesia with the worst possible WiFi , so I hope to get this post out with at least some fotos. Stopped thinking of video alltogether... I will update with better WiFi to come, hopefully, some day along the road.... Now already one week behind)
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Sipadan

Among the Top Ten on my diving bucketlist, if I had any, Sipadan is of fame with many divers around the world.
It is hard to get there, because access is restricted to 120 divers a day, regulated by daily permits you have to purchase, if you get one, you are lucky. That's why many resorts require you to stay a certain amount of nights to get a permit garuanteed.
Example: At Scuba Junkie you have to stay at least 5 nights to get 1 day diving Sipadan garuanteed. For 2 Sipadan days you will already have to stay at least 8 nights.
Of course you can always ask for a permit on a certain day at different dive operators in Semporna or on Mabul....

Map of Semporna, Mabul, Kapalai, and Sipadan

Divng here is very different to diving Mabul. The latter is still on the mainland shelf, while Sipadan is oceanic, though only 30 boat minutes away. Between Mabul and Sipadan the water is 600 meters deep, south of Sipadan the bottom drops to 2000 meters and more. Different conditions favor different marine life.

At Scuba Junkie, the Sipadan
days are 4-dive-days, no Nitrox due to the risk of down currents, you start very early, 06:00am on the jetty and get back around 10 hours later.

Get up early,

Jetty at 06:00am

Meeting on the Jetty at 06:15

06:16 on the Jetty

Jessica has a day off and joins us "as a customer", Maddy from London is on the boat, too.
We have two guides with us, Jabal and Richard.
After doublechecking our permit for today on the boat ride,

we arrive at Sipadan after half an hour. Almost no plastic pollution on the beach, crystal clear water, and white sand (it is all Parrotfish poo...;-)
Jabal gives us a Sipadan briefing on the beach.

Jabal briefing

Jessie, two chinese guys, Maddy, and Richard listening to Jabal

Sipadan is safe, the jetty is positioned between two Malaysia Navy posts. You may move between the two posts, but not beyond. The soldiers have their eyes on the sea, having their machine gun ready at all times against pirates and fanatics trying to steal western tourists...

Protected Diving

There are some risks left, though...

We start our dives without returning to Mabul for lunch, surface intervalls on the island Sipadan.
Divng here is completely different to diving Mabul. Sipadan is mostly wall diving, sometimes vertical dropoffs, and blue water. Currents can get tricky here

Different conditions favor different marine life. We have some swhitetip reef sharks, Jabal tickles his tank many times. I shot more video than foto, so here is only a small portion of what we saw.

Whitetip

Whitetip Reefshark

During surface intervalls Jabal and Richard try the "double presence panorama shot".
You take a panorama foto, starting left, with a personstanding still on the left. As you turn right taking the panorama, the person runs around behind you and takes position right of you, standing still again. When you finish the panorama you have the same person in it twice.
Jessica and I join the run, and the surface intervall flies by.

Jabal and Richard doin the "double presence panorama shot"

Surface view

Sipadan has a bit bit of everything, walls, reefs in the shallows, corals, even caves, stunning views during surface intervals, and lots of fish.

More Whitetip Reefsharks

Cave entrance, crowded

Blue on Blue

Wait, wait, I am the smallest in the group

Passing by...

Second or third briefing, with 3D divesite map built in the sand ;-)

Get back on the boat...

We return around 4 to 5 pm. Another great diving day at Scuba Junkie

Four dives on air can make an old man a bit sleepy. Great dinner with all the wild bunch, coupla Carlsbergs at the bar.