Mabul

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Mabul

July 2007

64

Since the closure of Sipadan Island for overnight visitors, Mabul is the primary accomodation option for divers in the area. There are several resorts in various price ranges on the island, from a backpacker place in the native village to luxury resorts like the Sipadan Water Village. The Seaventures Dive Rig is also moored near Mabul. The other option, Kapalai, is only a sand bar with no local population and only one water village style resort.

Mabul has some fabulous dive sites by itself. While Sipadan is famous for sharks and turtles, Mabul is known as a muck diving place. Here you find nudibranches, frog fish, all sorts of scorpion fishes, squids, crabs and so on and so on. Don't forget the macro lens.

Mabul Paradise 1 and 2

Paradise 1 and 2 were the most frequently visited dive sites during my trip. They usually have good diving conditions and lots of interesting marine life.

A mandarin fish. This is a rare sight. Mandarin fish like to hide in sea urchins and it is hard to get a clear shot without a sea urchin needle in the way.

In addition, due to their distinct colouring, mandarin fish are good victims for fooling around in photoshop. Can you guess which is the original colour?

One fact that surprised me was that the two main colours of the mandarin fish are almost at exact 180° opposites on the colour circle. Since, as far as I know, the colour circle is an artifact of the primate eye and not a general phenomenon (i.e., other mammals, as well as reptiles, birds, fishes etc., should have their own "colour circle"), I found this a bit surprising.