(c) July 2007 Oliver Bonten
East Malaysia 2007
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East Malaysia 2007
July 2007 303 |
Sipadan is known to be one of the top diving spots of the world, and I had planned to go there several times already. The first time was early in 2000, shortly before several tourists were abducted from the island, and my friends and I decided to go somewhere else instead. Then in 2003, during my half-year trip to Southeast Asia, I wanted to go to Sipadan again, but I changed my plans to meet with some friends in Manado (another world-class diving area) who happened to be there at the time. Then I planned to go the year after that, but they closed down the resorts on the island (ecologically, the island is made of coral and cannot cope with the number of visitors - it was eroding fast). I was afraid that there may be chaos and disorganisation around the remaining resorts on the other islands, and decided to wait. Finally in 2007, I managed to go to Sipadan.
Sipadan is located in the Sulu Sea in the area where Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines meet. There are various good diving spots in this part of Malaysia but Sipadan is unique because it is actually the top of a pinnacle that rises from the deep sea floor, while all other diving spots are still on the continental shelf. Sipadan is Malaysia's only deep sea island. Now that the resorts on the island are closed, divers usually stay on Mabul or Kapalai, on the mainland in Semporna or on liveaboard boats.
Other spots in the area are Sibuan, a location that is easily reached from Semporna, or Mataking island, which has its own resort and dive spots.
When I went to Sipadan and Mabul in 2007, I actually planned to finish the trip climbing Mount Kinabalu, the highest mountain in South East Asia (and not difficult to climb). But in order to do so, you have to stay a night at the mountain top, and all accomodation there was booked out. As a backup plan I wanted to go to Lankayan island, but it turned out that this was booked out as well. As a third option, I tried to join a liveaboard cruise from Labuan, but that was cancelled due to lack of participants. So finally I decided to go to Layang Layang, where I had been in March 2000 already, after I just got my Advanced Open Water certification. Back then, I was still busy with buoyancy and equipment, and I was sure I had missed a lot of the attractions.
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