Semporna, Borneo, 19-21 July 2008
Air Asia is to Asia what Ryan Air is to Europe - "a no-frills airline". We arrived in Kota Kinabalu (KK) at 9pm on a balmy Thursday night. We had pre-booked a hostel close to the airport providing a free pick-up but as always seemed to be our luck in these circumstances they were nowhere to be seen. A phone call later and they magically appeared to take us to their super dingy accommodation. We couldn't believe that the place had gotten good reviews on Hostleworld because it truly was a dump. The following morning we caught a bus down town and checked into the Tropicana Lodge. The owner, Vincent, is a local who speaks about 6 languages, chain smokes marijuana joints throughout the day and, for sustenance, is never without a can of Tiger beer in his hand. He is a good guy and spent a lot of time with us devising a suitable itinerary around Sabah (one of the 2 Malaysian regions of Borneo, the other being Sarawak) This is just what we needed as he knew all the bus times and connections to get so as not to waste any time and ensure we never had to double back on ourselves. 
First stop Semporna for some scuba diving off the island of Sipidan. This is regarded as one of the worlds premier dive sites and so was a no-brainer for inclusion on our trip. In the Malay language "semporna" means "perfect"....and nothing could be further from the truth. The place is a dump, plain and simple. Thankfully we would not be spending too much time in the town. I, Dave, was booked in for two days of scuba diving while Claire signed up for a day of snorkeling. If it was as good as they say she would go for the second day also. With all this talk of Sipidan you might think it was a sizable island but in fact it is little more than a speck in the ocean. What makes it so special is the fact that it rises 600m from the ocean floor providing shallower waters for the growth of coral and associated marine life. There were 3 dives per day with a break on the island between each one. It didn't disappoint. 
It wasn't long before huge sea turtles were gliding effortlessly past us. They were everywhere. For our last dive of the day we entered an underwater cave known as the "Turtle tomb". Turtles enter this cave, get disoriented, can't find their way out and...well. let's just say the name says it all - Turtle tomb. We only entered the mouth of the cave and so, thankfully, didn't get to see the turtle graveyard down the back. Claire, the "surface skimmer" had to work a little harder to see the turtles but pure determination drove her on. She eventually had some one-on-one time with 2 rather large specimens and one baby right off the beach of Sipidan. Day 1 over we headed back to Semporna on our super high powered speed boat. It was at this point that Claire started to feel the heat on the back of her legs. Normally ultra-careful, she had forgotten to apply sunscreen there and so burned herself pretty badly. She had also recently started on Deoxycycline for malaria prophylaxis and have heard that gives you a hyper-sensitivity to sunlight. 
Consequently I was on my own for Day 2. I could have opted to dive off some of the other islands in the area (Mabul, Sabuan, etc) but with only two days at my disposal why would I bother. It was back to Sipidan for me. The other islands are for losers!! On Day 2 we encountered all the usual fishies, along with an octopus, lots of reef sharks and a huge school of jack fish. It felt amazing to be completely engulfed by a million of these little guys (they measure about 1 foot (30cm) long). Then, sadly, it was back to Semporna, purchase the obligatory "Sipidan Scuba" t-shirt and hop on a bus to Kinabitangan Nature Reserve. 
Sipdan (view form the boat)
The town of Semporna!
1 comment:
Niamh and I had our first experience swimming with sea turtles in hawaii, Its was amazing! We we both doins scuba but I wont ever forget the first time one swam below me, so peaceful looking so content, just amazing
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