Borneo 5th – 17th March
On arriving at Tawau airport, we got a taxi to Semporna, which is the base for diving in Sipidan. The town itself is an old fishing village, but is pretty soulless and smells. The others had already prebooked a package for diving, so found somewhere to stay. Mark and I wanted to find a cheaper diving option and also wanted to stay on Mabul, a little tropical island about an hour from Semporna and near the dive sites. Most places were too expensive or fully booked and all the boats to the island had left that morning. However, Scuba Junkies said they could give us one night in a bungalow and there was a local longboat going out that afternoon. Perfect. One Longboat, 3 Malay fishermen, 1 tree, 10 boxes of eggs, 5 crates of bananas, a mattress, some dubious looking bottles and Mark & I squeezed in the middle. The boat trip took about an hour and was beautiful, going past luscious coconut mangroves, green hills and out into the open sea past some deserted islands, some with just a sandbank and a few palms – the type of cartoon style tropical island where someone would ask you what you would take if you could have one thing with you..! The water was crystal clear and full of shoals of flying fish coming up to feed. On the horizon we could see a torrential downpour over Mabul, with very threatening skies and stormy sea. We were not particularly worried as we had been told that the long boat is fine in the sea as long as there are not any storms. Then it came in. Horizontal rain, bigger waves which covered us in foam every time and screaming wind. Once we had made peace with the fact we were going to get wet, i.e. after one wave, it was so much fun, and I have a whole new respect for Longboats.
We pulled into a little jetty and were met by Paul, a really friendly Scottish guy, who explained the ropes. Six huts had been built, and another 6 in the process of going up. A huge covered wooden veranda was where we would eat our 3 meals a day. Our room was gorgeous – double doors that opened onto a big veranda overlooking the sea, huge bathroom and everything smelling of fresh wood. The first thing we had to do was go and jump in the gorgeous sea, so we took our masks and snorkels all of the 50m down to the jetty and jumped in. Wow. Right on our doorstep at 5pm in the evening, we saw huge schools of fish, so big that you could not see where it ended, every kind of colourful reef fish imaginable, and lovely coral. The visibility was amazing and we were starting to feel very smug that we had chosen Mabul over Semporna.
The island is tiny, probably about 1-2 sq miles. You can walk around the edge in about ½ hour, and pass two fishing villages, where all the houses are on stilts. There are a couple of gorgeous tiny beaches, with reefs and dive sites just off the edge – people travel for an hour from Semporna to get here each day for diving. It really feels like a much undiscovered island with little tourism and the people who are here wanting to keep it that way.
The Scuba Junkies huts, which were only opened on 1st March, so 5 days before we arrived, have an amazing group of people running the place. There are about 10 dive masters/instructors who live on site and are so friendly. Nights are spent playing chess, Jenga, cards, chatting, drinking beer, someone playing the guitar, etc. The guests are all very interesting and everyone just seems very happy to be here. The laid back atmosphere reminds me slightly of the commune in the film ‘The Beach’ – cheesy I know but it really is like that.
On the first day, we booked 3 dives, which were all in very different sites. The speedboat that took us there seriously impressed Mark with its engine size – brum brum! The first site was over a sunken wreck, small fishing boats which had all sorts of goodies to see – giant moray eels, giant puffer fish, garden eels, which were so cute they would stick their little heads out of the seabed, have a good look around and then go back down. The second dive was on a great reef, which went down a cliff to the sea bed. Although hard to say as there was just so much to see, the highlight was probably the turtles we saw both swimming and just being lazy sleeping in the coral. Dive 3 was actually just off our beach, and was a sand dive. Immediately we saw a banded sea snake, spotted sting rays, a school of squid, ghost pipe drain fish, and lots of shrimp cleaning a turtle that was at least 1.5m across and over 100 years old.
Because the island was full, and we were desperate to stay on for longer (we found out that Mt. Kinabalu accommodation is fully booked so cannot climb the mountain) we jokingly suggested that maybe we could put a mattress on the veranda/to be bar area which was half built upstairs. To our delight, they agreed meaning we could stay on for a while. Aside from the roof, the bed is totally in the open and was very comfy last night – we doused ourselves in insect repellant and burned some coils, so no bites. It looks so funny, as it’s a huge area, probably enough room to hold about 100 people and we just have a little mattress in the corner. The view is outstanding too – ultimate in basic living but it means we get to stay on in this chilled out paradise for a bit longer. This morning we jumped in the sea straight away and saw an octopus and a Titan Trigger fish patrolling its territory. I have written far too much already, hopefully have succeeded in summarizing how amazing it is here, and am off to enjoy it. JG
On arriving at Tawau airport, we got a taxi to Semporna, which is the base for diving in Sipidan. The town itself is an old fishing village, but is pretty soulless and smells. The others had already prebooked a package for diving, so found somewhere to stay. Mark and I wanted to find a cheaper diving option and also wanted to stay on Mabul, a little tropical island about an hour from Semporna and near the dive sites. Most places were too expensive or fully booked and all the boats to the island had left that morning. However, Scuba Junkies said they could give us one night in a bungalow and there was a local longboat going out that afternoon. Perfect. One Longboat, 3 Malay fishermen, 1 tree, 10 boxes of eggs, 5 crates of bananas, a mattress, some dubious looking bottles and Mark & I squeezed in the middle. The boat trip took about an hour and was beautiful, going past luscious coconut mangroves, green hills and out into the open sea past some deserted islands, some with just a sandbank and a few palms – the type of cartoon style tropical island where someone would ask you what you would take if you could have one thing with you..! The water was crystal clear and full of shoals of flying fish coming up to feed. On the horizon we could see a torrential downpour over Mabul, with very threatening skies and stormy sea. We were not particularly worried as we had been told that the long boat is fine in the sea as long as there are not any storms. Then it came in. Horizontal rain, bigger waves which covered us in foam every time and screaming wind. Once we had made peace with the fact we were going to get wet, i.e. after one wave, it was so much fun, and I have a whole new respect for Longboats.
We pulled into a little jetty and were met by Paul, a really friendly Scottish guy, who explained the ropes. Six huts had been built, and another 6 in the process of going up. A huge covered wooden veranda was where we would eat our 3 meals a day. Our room was gorgeous – double doors that opened onto a big veranda overlooking the sea, huge bathroom and everything smelling of fresh wood. The first thing we had to do was go and jump in the gorgeous sea, so we took our masks and snorkels all of the 50m down to the jetty and jumped in. Wow. Right on our doorstep at 5pm in the evening, we saw huge schools of fish, so big that you could not see where it ended, every kind of colourful reef fish imaginable, and lovely coral. The visibility was amazing and we were starting to feel very smug that we had chosen Mabul over Semporna.
The island is tiny, probably about 1-2 sq miles. You can walk around the edge in about ½ hour, and pass two fishing villages, where all the houses are on stilts. There are a couple of gorgeous tiny beaches, with reefs and dive sites just off the edge – people travel for an hour from Semporna to get here each day for diving. It really feels like a much undiscovered island with little tourism and the people who are here wanting to keep it that way.
The Scuba Junkies huts, which were only opened on 1st March, so 5 days before we arrived, have an amazing group of people running the place. There are about 10 dive masters/instructors who live on site and are so friendly. Nights are spent playing chess, Jenga, cards, chatting, drinking beer, someone playing the guitar, etc. The guests are all very interesting and everyone just seems very happy to be here. The laid back atmosphere reminds me slightly of the commune in the film ‘The Beach’ – cheesy I know but it really is like that.
On the first day, we booked 3 dives, which were all in very different sites. The speedboat that took us there seriously impressed Mark with its engine size – brum brum! The first site was over a sunken wreck, small fishing boats which had all sorts of goodies to see – giant moray eels, giant puffer fish, garden eels, which were so cute they would stick their little heads out of the seabed, have a good look around and then go back down. The second dive was on a great reef, which went down a cliff to the sea bed. Although hard to say as there was just so much to see, the highlight was probably the turtles we saw both swimming and just being lazy sleeping in the coral. Dive 3 was actually just off our beach, and was a sand dive. Immediately we saw a banded sea snake, spotted sting rays, a school of squid, ghost pipe drain fish, and lots of shrimp cleaning a turtle that was at least 1.5m across and over 100 years old.
Because the island was full, and we were desperate to stay on for longer (we found out that Mt. Kinabalu accommodation is fully booked so cannot climb the mountain) we jokingly suggested that maybe we could put a mattress on the veranda/to be bar area which was half built upstairs. To our delight, they agreed meaning we could stay on for a while. Aside from the roof, the bed is totally in the open and was very comfy last night – we doused ourselves in insect repellant and burned some coils, so no bites. It looks so funny, as it’s a huge area, probably enough room to hold about 100 people and we just have a little mattress in the corner. The view is outstanding too – ultimate in basic living but it means we get to stay on in this chilled out paradise for a bit longer. This morning we jumped in the sea straight away and saw an octopus and a Titan Trigger fish patrolling its territory. I have written far too much already, hopefully have succeeded in summarizing how amazing it is here, and am off to enjoy it. JG
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