i went to dive at mabul/kapalai/sipadan/semporna for 6 days 5 nights with 7 looneys (i swear they must have come from hospital bahagia) with BIG JOHN SCUBA... and it was AMAZING! this trip was named the Kasih Sayang trip for a reason. we had so much love for the place.. and each other.. plus.. i made duyong95 pick me up at putrajaya the day before and i only had kasih sayang to pay her back..
but first thing's first..
the loud trippers
from left (anti-clockwise) nana (nanaria), comot, eadie (non-MUW), lenn(bad's significant other), ryn (non-MUW), bad (mbadrul), and duyong..
Day 1: 5th March 2009
we arrived at tawau on 5th march 2009, boarded the 7:20 am flight from LCCT. all of us were sleepy (comot), cranky(me) and hungry(everyone). big john arranged a van to pick us up at tawau airport. and the driver doesn't speak malay much. errkkk... he took us to big john's place and ran off.. well after he's unloaded our bags of course. we didn't have a chance to pay him.. kekekeke.. gone were my crankiness.. and now to fix the hungry. big john suggested that we should have lunch at pasar putu. but we had no idea where it was. so we decided to walk to seafest inn.. i think that's the name of the restaurant next to the famous seafest hotel.. and had lunch there instead. luckily lunch at seafest was yummylicious.. otherwise, nana would have bombed the place hehehehe.. and it's cheap too.. we had grouper masak asam manis, kailan masak ikan masin and sotong goreng tepung .. and different drinks.. ranging from chinese tea to some fancy fruit drinks.. and it cost us 90 ringgit. cheap heh?
after lunch.. "tulip... kamu tak mau dive ka?" hahaa.. it was big john. so we paid for our brunch, and headed back to big john's office.
big john scuba's office (situated next to the wwf office)
big john had some business to do so, he handed us to osman(his trusted DM) to handle at mabul. i thought that we were supposed to dive at semporna.
there were only 5 divers in the group: comot, duyong, eadie, bad and myself. ryn was an open water student, nana is the master snorkeler, while lenn was there to swim from one island to another although there was a whole bunch of other divers at big john's place during our stay, he never mixed us up with other divers, and the DM appointed for the group never changed except for 3 dives where he personally guided us for the dives.
the plan was to have 2 dives in semporna on the first day. however, plans had to change because big john couldn't guide us. plus, i haven't dived for 8 months. so we had to do check out dive first.
Dive #1: SMART House Reef
Time in: 3:26 pm
Max depth: 19.2 m
Ave. depth: 11.6 m
Bottom time: 59 minutes
T = 28degC
my last dive was in august 2008. i had difficulty descending and also ascending. probably because i just got better from flu, lack of sleep and lack of water too. i had to slowly follow the rest of the divers. but i managed to see a lot of things on the first dive.
managed to photograph some creatures we saw. but only these turned out nicely. hehe apparently i need to go to the underwater photography workshop at fisherman's
osman asked where we'd like to dive on our first day and i told him we'd like to see the mandarin fish mate (at this point i thought we were never going to see semporna's dive sites. so i thought we should be able to see the mandarin fish the very least)! but since we also had open water divers in our group, he suggested that we start our second dive at 5:30 pm and dive towards the mandarin fish and ascend there. if we're lucky, and still got air, we'll be able to see them mate.. woo hoo!!! comot's favorite subject! mating!
she's so happy she did the mandarin fish mating dance.. while nana played the guitar
and on with our second dive.
Dive #2: Paradise II
Time in: 5:26 pm
Max depth: 14.6 m
Ave. depth: 9.1 m
Bottom time: 56 minutes
T = 28degC
there were a lot of different types of shrimps here. saw the cleaner shrimp, hingebeaks, and some unknown shrimp that looks like a bandit. different nudis.. frogfish.. a huge napoleon wrasse. and finally we were led to where the mandarin fish are. it's almost dark but we could see so clearly because there's a diver with what i could call 2 huge lights and a focus light pointing towards the mandarin fish. *sigh* i snapped a few photos of the mandarin fish. but they didn't mate. i guess comot has to add some kind of mantra when dancing
we had to ascend as it was getting dark.
and then we went back to our homestay where big john's DC was...
and washed our equipment. all of us were pretty tired of the long journey.. and we settled in pretty early.
Day 2: 6th March 2009
the next day i got up pretty early. a group of divers came in that morning. our first dive was not until 9 am. so we did what divers do best when not diving. we ate.
Dive #3: Kapalai House Reef
Time in: 9:20 am
Max depth: 20.1 m
Ave. depth: 14.3 m
Bottom time: 60 minutes
T = 28degC
we saw a lot of scorpionfish, crocodile fish, one or two batfish, catfish, mantis peacock shrimp. a lot of big moray eels. our highlight for the dive was a giant grouper swam towards one diver and opened its mouth as if it's trying to swallow him. eerie. i was too far from it to take a photo. took a photo of its tail instead :P
nana and lenn wanted to snorkel here but the water was quite choppy. so they decided to abort their plans.
for our next dive.. i told osman and big john that we wanted to see the famous pygmy seahorse. and they took us to our next dive site. (tulip's note: being a trip organizer is hard cause you always need to be above things.. like lunch (as we arrived), the things you wanna show.. even when we do have a guide, the guide would need to know what you're expecting to see during the trip. so extreme reading is a must before one trip.. erkk)
Dive #4: Seaventures
Time in: 11:35 am
Max depth: 18.3 m
Ave. depth: 14.9 m
Bottom time: 42 minutes
T = 28degC
luck was on my side. the current was not strong that day. i had a swollen ankle before i went for this dive trip so i didn't intend to swim against current. comot listed down a few things to see on this trip and one of those were the halgerda batangas. i wanted to see the pygmy and the ribbon eel (male)... alas the photo i took of the pygmy was terrible. so i'm soooo making another trip there to photograph one :'(
our third and final dive for the day was scheduled at 2.
Dive #5: Eel's Garden
Time in: 2:20 pm
Max depth: 18.6 m
Ave. depth: 10.3 m
Bottom time: 58 minutes
T = 28degC
for a dive site that's called eel's garden, i don't think i found a lot of eels there. i think i saw more eels underneath big john's place..:P we found some stonefish, baby lobster, porcupine fish, some shrimps.. the coral formation is quite nice. some eco-divers to be were in the group.. ahem.. eadie & bad.. and they immediately put what little knowledge they had from the pool session & classroom to good use. they noticed there wasn't any COTs.. come to think of it.. they were right.
after the dive, we were told by big john. due to some mix up, we had to move to arung hayat, another homestay about 5 minutes walk from big john's. we were sad but since big john offered 5kg of shrimps for dinner, we obliged :P :P (tulip's note #2: another problem arose. we had to move from one homestay to another. here miss organizer had to work extra hard to convince that the move was necessary.. and had to make the trippers happy.. so.. i had to be creative in creating some activities such that everyone would enjoy the trip regardless where they stayed)
that afternoon we went out for a walk at mabul island. found some mabul kids who were excited to be our models for the day.. (tulip's note #3: activity 1. photoshoots around mabul.. take them sightseeing.. though we missed 3 people for this activity.. heheh)
we stayed till the sun set.. and took some more photos of beautiful mabul
and then the phone rang.. "where are you guys???" opss.. i totally forgotten that i had the key to the room and ryn couldn't go in. sorry :-/
at arung hayat, they serve dinner about an hour later than big john. everyone was starving.. and already hanging out at the dining area doing nothing. we were quite bored. :( there was a tv with astro and a very tiny pool table but we were not in the mood for indoor games. :p
we tried some light painting.. goofing off with different characters including playboy bunny, a butterfly, 70's dude, an astronaut, a cowboy, a mermaid ;) and of course princess leia.. it was hilarious... hehehe
we slept early.. hmm.. coz we were going to dive sipadan the next day.. woo hoo!!!
Day 3: 7th March 2009
big john had to slot us in the celebes divers permit because he doesn't have the permit to take us to sipadan. with 3 other divers from kapalai and also celebes and their DM, plus 8 of us (5 divers and 2 snorkelers + osman (DM)) went to sipadan. i was hoping to see 15 mantas but the barracudas will do just fine :D :D
our journey to sipadan was a good one. the weather was fine.. as we arrived, we were asked to register our names at what seemed to be the sabah park's post there. there were officials from sabah park. monitoring each and everyone who came to sign up at the post.
we then suited up and went to our first dive site. the barracuda point.
Dive #6: Barracuda Point
Time in: 9:19 am
Max depth: 23.4 m
Ave. depth: 14.6 m
Bottom time: 50 minutes
T = 28degC
as i entered the water, i was quite disappointed. the vis was not as i expected. there goes my 15 mantas :( and i noticed there wasn't a lot of sharks.. there were a few.. only not as many as i've seen before.. perhaps they were off having breakfast :p i was hoping to see the famous vortex. but seriously there was no sign of them anywhere :p osman led us to shallow waters.. to do our safety stop when suddenly i heard a lot of ting ting ting.. kaching kaching kaching... and there it was, at 8 meter depth, there was the vortex. comot immediately went after the school.. enjoying every moment of it. she was making signs to show how happy she was.. duyong was at awe. hahahaha i swear, if she opened her mouth any bigger, she'd drop her regs :p it was breathtaking. i'll never grow tired of it! we stayed as long as we could. and then we surfaced.
we did our safety stop at the island. had mamee and chocolate.. tried to give a crash course to eadie and bad on their rented camera. btw, big john scuba offers camera rental at RM100/dive. :D :D but feel free to goda simon to get it at cheaper rate :D
and then we're off to do our second dive at sipadan.
Dive #7: Coral Garden
Time in: 11:07 am
Max depth: 21.6 m
Ave. depth: 12.5 m
Bottom time: 49 minutes
T = 28degC
it's duyong's favorite dive site. the corals are nice.. saw a lot more turtles here swimming among us. our snorkeling buddies (ryn & nana) also snorkeled there.. nana even tried to call us from above when she saw diving underneath. too bad she didn't have a tank banger hahaha... i wanted to take a lot more photos.. but they turned out blue hehe and i forgotten how to set the white balance.. hehehe haven't used my camera for almost a year maaa... :P :P this time, eadie and bad asked comot to take photos for them. alas the batteries went dead after 10 minutes in the water
and we surfaced to have lunch prepared by arung hayat... it wasn't really nice but we were starving so couldn't care less about the taste hahahaha :p
as i don't have any photos on the island itself so we'd have to wait for the others to post them here :p :p
Dive #8: Drop off point
Time in: 1:20 pam
Max depth: 23.7 m
Ave. depth: 13.7 m
Bottom time: 50 minutes
T = 28degC
our last dive at Sipadan, was at the drop off point. this time, the camera rented by eadie & bad got fresh batteries. hehehe.. comot was appointed as the photographer. osman led us to the turtle tomb.. we took our group photo there.. and left to see the jacks.. but there were no jacks! but we ran into a few chevron barracudas. i'm scared of big fish.. especially after what happened to me at labas in 2007. so i just looked at them and dived on.. no photos. then a shark was interested in comot and followed her from behind. :p :p
it was a cold dive and i was sooo ready to surface
went back to big john's scuba and walked back to arung hayat. after we have showered, we went back big john's to watch the sunset.
hehe comot was all geared up waiting for the sunset.. :p
the two love birds were looking at the wrong direction.. deyy sunset is the other way laa
but there weren't any, so we just took photos of each other hehehe :p
we went back to arung hayat for dinner.. alas dinner was served at about 8 pm ... arghhh... so we kept asking the makcik .. "dah siap ke belum" (is dinner ready yet?) hehehe..
luckily dinner was good. we had fried chicken.. finger licking good hehee..;)
after dinner, we went shopping for some essentials - junk food and batteries. and went back to arung hayat to another round of fun and games. (tulip's note #4: some of the things you have to remember.. if you're organizing a trip, make sure you add some extras for extra meals that the DC doesn't provide, and things like this.. junk food.. so everyone can enjoy the junkfood together-gether harmoniously hehehe)
we played charade.. it was silly and humiliating.. and we had fun.. until.. "excuse me, could you please keep it down a little, some people are trying to get some sleep and you guys are just too loud" errr... tak suka nyeee
anyway, day 3 didn't end so well.. but we managed to make some friends with a group of snorkeling aunties and uncles from kepong and ampang :D :D :D despite the ermmm "peristiwa udang"
Day 4: 8th March 2008
simon (ryn's guru) and osman came to pick us up. breakfast was served late. so by the time they got to arung hayat we're still not ready. hehehe.. it's ok.. it's our vacation. who cares if we're late or early, right? ;) ;) osman asked where we wanted to go.. and since i've never seen pikachu before, i asked if we could dive at lobster wall. someone who dived with billabong scuba told us that the current was really strong when their friends dived there. osman said that the current that time of the day should be good.. so yeay!!! we're going to see pikachu!!!!
we went to big john's to pick up our equipment. ryn and simon are doing ryn's open water exercise that day at paradise 1. and we were joined by a canadian hunk named matt. ;) alas he was interested in eadie :D :D :D as soon as we arrived at the dive site, "someone" realized that he left his fins. so we had to go back and pick 'em up! turns out he also left his weights.. he is so gonna pay for it this weekend! :D
Dive #9: Lobster Wall
Time in: 9:06 am
Max depth: 21.0 m
Ave. depth: 13.4 m
Bottom time: 45 minutes
T = 28degC
lobster wall is well.... a wall. it looks like a wall was submerged. as usual i took my time descending. as soon as i reached the top of the wall, osman already ting ting tang tang me and told me to come near.. lo and behold it was a pikachu!!!! so today is really gonna be a good day! i quickly made mental list of other creatures i wanted to see.. hehehe.. and took pictures of the pikachu. it's so tiny! and it was hanging on what seemed to be a sea grass. there was a bit of current but not to the point that we can't stop and look at anything. i guess the pikachu got everyone going, and everyone looked for their own spots to find other small creatures too.. we found some orang-utan crabs, another pikachu but smaller, green turtle, a nembrotha, a white leaf scorpionfish, blue-spotted stingray, peacock mantis shrimp (we seem to find one on every dive!).. towards the end of the dive, the current grew stronger and we're pushed away by current when doing our 3 minute safety stop.
went back to big john during surface interval.
for our next dive, simon told us to go to kapalai cleaning station to look for the juvenile clown frogfish that he saw the day before. he and ryn joined us for ryn's ow dive. comot wanted to do seaventures again because the last time we were there we couldn't stay long becoz of the short surface interval. so osman advised us to do seaventures after lunch instead. nana and lenn joined us at the surface..:p
Dive #10: Kapalai Cleaning Station
Time in: 11:31 am
Max depth: 17.7 m
Ave. depth: 12.2 m
Bottom time: 59 minutes
T = 28degC
the hunt began, osman was searching high and low.. we didn't even know what he was searching for.. hahaha... but he did find a really tiny pikachu. next to it was a co's chromodoris. then we dived towards a small wreck. beneath the wreck, there were the indonesian sweetlips, some tiny anchovy-like fish.. some medium sized fish.. and a lot of other fish (i know i need to learn their names :p we also found a really tiny red frogfish. but no clown frogfish :( ah well.. all the more reason to come back
then we went back to arung hayat for lunch. and as usual... arung hayat took their time serving lunch... grrr...
arung hayat was lucky they can cook really delicious fried chicken.. otherwise i'd probably have nana and duyong take over the kitchen.. hahaha... after lunch (2 kali tambah.. mind u :P :P :D .. err was that just me?
osman came to pick us up after lunch to take us to seaventures after 2.5 hours surface interval. we were all getting sleepy.. and finally he came.
Dive #11: Seaventures
Time in: 2:55 pm
Max depth: 18.3 m
Ave. depth: 14.6 m
Bottom time: 51 minutes
T = 28degC
everyone was surprised to see 4 dive boats there. there goes our hopes to see the pygmy one more time.. but it's ok.. we saw a whole lot of nudibranch and flatworms ..
ermm we saw more but the photos are really bad. i think i changed the color of a nudi even. it was purple when i saw it. and the one i captured on camera was red.. :D :D
after the dive, big john came to me and told me that we have to move...AGAIN!!!!??!!! then he said, there was some mix up at arung hayat, they have double-booked the rooms... What??? i said.. oh my.. who's gonna tell my friends? (deep inside i was screaming with joy!!! hahaha yeay.. we can be noisy tonite!!!) so big john broke the news to the others.. apologized for having us moved here and there... and lenn immediately asked for crabs that she's been craving for since day 2. heheheh :D nana had not heard the news as she was left behind at arung hayat when we went diving. she's been naughty hehe... when we arrived at arung hayat she was about to get her tan.. and i screamed "nana!! pack up! we're going back to kl!!!" hehehe... i think no one has ever packed so quickly before. everyone was really relieved that we had to move back to big john's.. :D :D we said good bye to the staff... and rushed to the boat..:D :D (tulip's note #5: i was lucky coz the guys had a jolly time at lai's homestay. despite the full house.. and it was really packed with people.. annoying ones i have to add.. we had fun. big john's crews seemed to have some kind of attachment to the friends i brought for this trip.. i mean who wouldn't..? hahaha the girls especially are lunatics from tanjung rambutan!)
went back to big john.. and prepared ourselves for the night dive.. :D at my most favorite dive site in mabul
as we (duyong, comot and i) were waiting for our night dive, a man in a small sampan came by to sell a marlin he caught.. it was huge! as big as comot!!! the other group at big john's bought the fish i guess coz i saw the fish on the bbq the last nite we were there... but damn the marlin was huge!
eadie and bad were upset because they couldn't join us for the night dive. they haven't done their AOWD yet. so big john said no! so we left them behind with nana and lenn and ryn. ryn had to study. she's got exams coming up :D (tulip's note #6: if they don't have AOWD they can't go on night dive.. should something happened.. they were not insured. and i was and am not certified to say that they can do the night dive! so miss organizer had to be very firm on this matter. it is for their own safety.. regardless how muncung their muncung may be after that)
Dive #12: Big John's Basura
Time in: 6:54 pm
Max depth: 2.1 m
Ave. depth: 1.5 m
Bottom time: 50 minutes
T = 28degC
Big John led the dive.. and Osman joined us. Everyone freaked out when we first jumped in. there were sea urchins everywhere!!!! it was the full moon. and we saw a lot of crabs and squids.. different kinds too.. the water was shallow.. very shallow! maximum depth was about 2.1-2.2 m. the water was cold.. and i didn't put my wetsuit on. hehehe macho la sangat :p i wanted so much to photograph the bumble bee shrimp and the harlequin shrimp. big john found both of them for us!!! everyone was happy happy when we came back.
when we reached the homestay, everyone has just finished dinner. i decided to have dinner first, while the rest showered. heheh... it was cold laa... when it's cold, i get hungry laa... :p after eating.. i took a shower.. actually it was after someone said he smelled air masin basi .. nyampah! :P
after shower i joined the rest of the group...
duyong was logging her dive...study siottt
nana read something.. i think it was the book of all extremes or something...
the rest posed for the camera...
then comot suggested that we play charades again.. so i helped her out in the titles.. :D
then haniff, one of big john's crews, took the guitar, sat next to us.. and played some familiar songs.. and we of course.. started singing lah hehehehe ;) most songs were rock 80s and 90s .. and we had a fabulous singer for that.. hahahaa
and everyone sang and laughed until mabuk.. i mean till midnite..
and then we went to bed :D . On the 5th day we're doing Semporna, as promised.. yeay... Big John did remember! Big John's taking us to his favorite dive site :D :D and we had to leave as early as 7 am :D
Day 5: 9th march 2009
sigh.. how time flies. it's the last day of diving. big john still owed us ketam (crabs). he told us that it's the last night and he already planned a bbq dinner for us. our last day of diving, big john told us to list all the things we wanted to see that we haven't seen yet. we haven't seen the seahorses and the flamboyant cuttlefish. so he said, he'll try to look for them at semporna. we left for semporna at 7:30-ish.. ryn, lenn and nana joined us.
the dive site we were going to doesn't have any names yet. so big john said i can name it anything i want ;) lenn, nana and ryn stayed on the boat while we went diving
Dive #13: Marina's Basura
Time in: 8:40 am
Max depth: 16.7 m
Ave. depth: 7.9 m
Bottom time: 76 minutes
T = 28degC
it was actually near some dumpsite near Semporna.. but Big John said that's his favorite dive site. we'd see a LOT of things here.. and he was right. i went crazy with the camera.. hehehe.. saw a lot of lionfish, nudibranch (elysia sp.), frogfish.. and big john searched high and low for the flamboyant cuttlefish but didn't find any. but we're not totally disappointed. he showed us the picturesque dragonet. it' soooo cute and tiny. and shy like the mandarinfish :) and of course. the sea horse!!! there were a lot of those clear shrimps.. dunno what people call it. but i think one of them was pregnant 8)8)
the dive was fantastic.. but the water was dirty. i didn't dare clear my mask.. afraid the water would go inside my system :D :D
then we went to pasar putu for surface interval. we also had lunch here.. i know. it was early. 10:30 am. hehehe we were complaining about how it's too early to have lunch at that hour but we ate anyway .. nasi tambah lagi :D hehehe
we then went inside the market... and shopped for the things we'd like to eat during bbq dinner.. big john bought some mangosteen for us.. we also bought mangoes.. the very sour one, and also the sweet ones..
i also spotted a cute guy when duyong and big john got themselves some top-ups for their phones hehehehe...
we went around semporna in our rash guards and shorts.. we must look like lunatics to the locals hehe :D i was a hot chica that day. gile sexy. :o wore my black shorts with my rash guard. and the shorts were really short shorts.. :D :D
and then we went to big john's office and we left the things we bought there.. with nana, lenn and ryn. they've decided to hang out at the office instead.:D
the divers then went off to do our second dive at Marina's Basura :D
Dive #14: Marina's Basura
Time in: 11:50 am
Max depth: 10.0 m
Ave. depth: 7.3 m
Bottom time: 73 minutes
T = 28degC
we went to the same site. but this time big john told us to dive shallow.. we spread out and each of us looked really hard for the flamboyant cuttlefish. but we didn't find it. :( :( but big john managed to find us the dragon seamoth and the devilfish, which are really cool too.
when we surfaced everyone was still happy despite the fact we didn't get to see the flamboyant cuttlefish. perhaps becoz that means we have another reason to go back. :D :D :D we then went to pick up some ketam for dinner... they were really huge!!! one was as big as a dinner plate! seriously!
went to pick up the tourists we left at big john's office. and hung out at the boat. when we left semporna, it started raining.. and it was heavy. the sky was really dark and it was cold. brrr... but we managed to reach mabul safe and sound. :D
comot and duyong decided not to go for our last dive. i was going to join them when big john said maybe we could find the flamboyant cuttlefish there instead. so i changed my mind and joined the boys for one last dive at mabul.
Dive #15: Paradise 3
Time in: 3:46 pm
Max depth: 16.7 m
Ave. depth: 11.3 m
Bottom time: 53 minutes
T = 28degC
it was still raining when we got into the water. in fact there was thunder.. :D :D :D but as soon as i descended i totally forgotten about the weather. hehehe.. the water was cool.. the vis wasn't perfect but it was serene. we found a few creatures there.. but we didn't see the flamboyant cuttlefish. at the end of the dive, we found three different species of nudibranch on three different rocks.. and there were many of them.. alas my memory card was almost full so i took a couple of shots of the nudis.. and an anemonefish sent us off..
that nite we had chicken wings and bbq-ed fish for dinner. big john told the cooks to prepare our ketam and they simply fried the ketam. we then had dragonfruits, mangosteen and the sweet mangoes that we bought at pasar putu. and asked the cook to prepare some sambal kicap for our sour mangoes.. omigod.. she used the small chillies to make the sambal kicap.. and it was hot!!!! felt like jumping into the water when i ate it. later that nite all of us had to queue for the toilet :D :D
we all slept early. the rain had taken a toll on all of us. nahh.. i think it's the food.. we had too much food.. hehehe....
Day 6: 10th march 2009
now it's time to say goodbye.... sob sob
(tulip's note #7: saying goodbye.. is never an easy thing..)
we dreaded that it's our last day at mabul... at least i did. i had so much fun there. despite the hiccups (moving from one homestay to another) i enjoyed every minute of my time there. ok, so we were bribed... as someone pointed it out to me the other day.. but good company, excellent service by the staff (although no one opened that can of coke for me, amazing dive sites, and wonderful creatures in mabul, kapalai, sipadan and of course semporna would certainly make me go back to mabul for more diving.
we woke up early coz big john said that we'd have to leave for semporna at 7:30 am . we packed our bags, and while waiting, what else to do? take pictures laa... apa lagi?
the staff..
big john, sifu simon, osman, haniff, taufik.. and the others.. i didn't get their names
everyone's filled out the guestbook... comot being comot.. nana being nana, bad n lenn taking photos..
as our flights were not till late, we decided to hang out at big john's office first, bought souvenirs and have lunch at pasar putu again.. heheehe..
souvenirs.. hehehe... of course it wouldn't be complete without them.
the yummy ikan bakar, sotong bakar, and all things bakar.. bajau laut delicacies.. so cheap lorr.. RM5 per person only...
and we bid farewell to everyone at semporna..
the end.
fuhh.. finally habis dah...
anyway.. should you need more information about big john's scuba services... do contact the man himself.
Big John's Scuba @ Mabul - +6014-284-3723
he provides scuba courses as well. and his office is at semporna, next to WWF office. not far from the dragon inn.
or if you'd like me to organize the trip for you, it's ok too.. just shoot me an email at marina.yusoff@gmail.com. leave me your contact no., your email address, your name, and the dates (preferrably at least 1 month in advance). for sipadan diving, need to book very early. at least 2 months earlier.
for other photos.. feel free to browse my flickr. more photos there..
but first thing's first..
the loud trippers
from left (anti-clockwise) nana (nanaria), comot, eadie (non-MUW), lenn(bad's significant other), ryn (non-MUW), bad (mbadrul), and duyong..
Day 1: 5th March 2009
we arrived at tawau on 5th march 2009, boarded the 7:20 am flight from LCCT. all of us were sleepy (comot), cranky(me) and hungry(everyone). big john arranged a van to pick us up at tawau airport. and the driver doesn't speak malay much. errkkk... he took us to big john's place and ran off.. well after he's unloaded our bags of course. we didn't have a chance to pay him.. kekekeke.. gone were my crankiness.. and now to fix the hungry. big john suggested that we should have lunch at pasar putu. but we had no idea where it was. so we decided to walk to seafest inn.. i think that's the name of the restaurant next to the famous seafest hotel.. and had lunch there instead. luckily lunch at seafest was yummylicious.. otherwise, nana would have bombed the place hehehehe.. and it's cheap too.. we had grouper masak asam manis, kailan masak ikan masin and sotong goreng tepung .. and different drinks.. ranging from chinese tea to some fancy fruit drinks.. and it cost us 90 ringgit. cheap heh?
after lunch.. "tulip... kamu tak mau dive ka?" hahaa.. it was big john. so we paid for our brunch, and headed back to big john's office.
big john scuba's office (situated next to the wwf office)
big john had some business to do so, he handed us to osman(his trusted DM) to handle at mabul. i thought that we were supposed to dive at semporna.
there were only 5 divers in the group: comot, duyong, eadie, bad and myself. ryn was an open water student, nana is the master snorkeler, while lenn was there to swim from one island to another although there was a whole bunch of other divers at big john's place during our stay, he never mixed us up with other divers, and the DM appointed for the group never changed except for 3 dives where he personally guided us for the dives.
the plan was to have 2 dives in semporna on the first day. however, plans had to change because big john couldn't guide us. plus, i haven't dived for 8 months. so we had to do check out dive first.
Dive #1: SMART House Reef
Time in: 3:26 pm
Max depth: 19.2 m
Ave. depth: 11.6 m
Bottom time: 59 minutes
T = 28degC
my last dive was in august 2008. i had difficulty descending and also ascending. probably because i just got better from flu, lack of sleep and lack of water too. i had to slowly follow the rest of the divers. but i managed to see a lot of things on the first dive.
managed to photograph some creatures we saw. but only these turned out nicely. hehe apparently i need to go to the underwater photography workshop at fisherman's
osman asked where we'd like to dive on our first day and i told him we'd like to see the mandarin fish mate (at this point i thought we were never going to see semporna's dive sites. so i thought we should be able to see the mandarin fish the very least)! but since we also had open water divers in our group, he suggested that we start our second dive at 5:30 pm and dive towards the mandarin fish and ascend there. if we're lucky, and still got air, we'll be able to see them mate.. woo hoo!!! comot's favorite subject! mating!
she's so happy she did the mandarin fish mating dance.. while nana played the guitar
and on with our second dive.
Dive #2: Paradise II
Time in: 5:26 pm
Max depth: 14.6 m
Ave. depth: 9.1 m
Bottom time: 56 minutes
T = 28degC
there were a lot of different types of shrimps here. saw the cleaner shrimp, hingebeaks, and some unknown shrimp that looks like a bandit. different nudis.. frogfish.. a huge napoleon wrasse. and finally we were led to where the mandarin fish are. it's almost dark but we could see so clearly because there's a diver with what i could call 2 huge lights and a focus light pointing towards the mandarin fish. *sigh* i snapped a few photos of the mandarin fish. but they didn't mate. i guess comot has to add some kind of mantra when dancing
we had to ascend as it was getting dark.
and then we went back to our homestay where big john's DC was...
and washed our equipment. all of us were pretty tired of the long journey.. and we settled in pretty early.
Day 2: 6th March 2009
the next day i got up pretty early. a group of divers came in that morning. our first dive was not until 9 am. so we did what divers do best when not diving. we ate.
Dive #3: Kapalai House Reef
Time in: 9:20 am
Max depth: 20.1 m
Ave. depth: 14.3 m
Bottom time: 60 minutes
T = 28degC
we saw a lot of scorpionfish, crocodile fish, one or two batfish, catfish, mantis peacock shrimp. a lot of big moray eels. our highlight for the dive was a giant grouper swam towards one diver and opened its mouth as if it's trying to swallow him. eerie. i was too far from it to take a photo. took a photo of its tail instead :P
nana and lenn wanted to snorkel here but the water was quite choppy. so they decided to abort their plans.
for our next dive.. i told osman and big john that we wanted to see the famous pygmy seahorse. and they took us to our next dive site. (tulip's note: being a trip organizer is hard cause you always need to be above things.. like lunch (as we arrived), the things you wanna show.. even when we do have a guide, the guide would need to know what you're expecting to see during the trip. so extreme reading is a must before one trip.. erkk)
Dive #4: Seaventures
Time in: 11:35 am
Max depth: 18.3 m
Ave. depth: 14.9 m
Bottom time: 42 minutes
T = 28degC
luck was on my side. the current was not strong that day. i had a swollen ankle before i went for this dive trip so i didn't intend to swim against current. comot listed down a few things to see on this trip and one of those were the halgerda batangas. i wanted to see the pygmy and the ribbon eel (male)... alas the photo i took of the pygmy was terrible. so i'm soooo making another trip there to photograph one :'(
our third and final dive for the day was scheduled at 2.
Dive #5: Eel's Garden
Time in: 2:20 pm
Max depth: 18.6 m
Ave. depth: 10.3 m
Bottom time: 58 minutes
T = 28degC
for a dive site that's called eel's garden, i don't think i found a lot of eels there. i think i saw more eels underneath big john's place..:P we found some stonefish, baby lobster, porcupine fish, some shrimps.. the coral formation is quite nice. some eco-divers to be were in the group.. ahem.. eadie & bad.. and they immediately put what little knowledge they had from the pool session & classroom to good use. they noticed there wasn't any COTs.. come to think of it.. they were right.
after the dive, we were told by big john. due to some mix up, we had to move to arung hayat, another homestay about 5 minutes walk from big john's. we were sad but since big john offered 5kg of shrimps for dinner, we obliged :P :P (tulip's note #2: another problem arose. we had to move from one homestay to another. here miss organizer had to work extra hard to convince that the move was necessary.. and had to make the trippers happy.. so.. i had to be creative in creating some activities such that everyone would enjoy the trip regardless where they stayed)
that afternoon we went out for a walk at mabul island. found some mabul kids who were excited to be our models for the day.. (tulip's note #3: activity 1. photoshoots around mabul.. take them sightseeing.. though we missed 3 people for this activity.. heheh)
we stayed till the sun set.. and took some more photos of beautiful mabul
and then the phone rang.. "where are you guys???" opss.. i totally forgotten that i had the key to the room and ryn couldn't go in. sorry :-/
at arung hayat, they serve dinner about an hour later than big john. everyone was starving.. and already hanging out at the dining area doing nothing. we were quite bored. :( there was a tv with astro and a very tiny pool table but we were not in the mood for indoor games. :p
we tried some light painting.. goofing off with different characters including playboy bunny, a butterfly, 70's dude, an astronaut, a cowboy, a mermaid ;) and of course princess leia.. it was hilarious... hehehe
we slept early.. hmm.. coz we were going to dive sipadan the next day.. woo hoo!!!
Day 3: 7th March 2009
big john had to slot us in the celebes divers permit because he doesn't have the permit to take us to sipadan. with 3 other divers from kapalai and also celebes and their DM, plus 8 of us (5 divers and 2 snorkelers + osman (DM)) went to sipadan. i was hoping to see 15 mantas but the barracudas will do just fine :D :D
our journey to sipadan was a good one. the weather was fine.. as we arrived, we were asked to register our names at what seemed to be the sabah park's post there. there were officials from sabah park. monitoring each and everyone who came to sign up at the post.
we then suited up and went to our first dive site. the barracuda point.
Dive #6: Barracuda Point
Time in: 9:19 am
Max depth: 23.4 m
Ave. depth: 14.6 m
Bottom time: 50 minutes
T = 28degC
as i entered the water, i was quite disappointed. the vis was not as i expected. there goes my 15 mantas :( and i noticed there wasn't a lot of sharks.. there were a few.. only not as many as i've seen before.. perhaps they were off having breakfast :p i was hoping to see the famous vortex. but seriously there was no sign of them anywhere :p osman led us to shallow waters.. to do our safety stop when suddenly i heard a lot of ting ting ting.. kaching kaching kaching... and there it was, at 8 meter depth, there was the vortex. comot immediately went after the school.. enjoying every moment of it. she was making signs to show how happy she was.. duyong was at awe. hahahaha i swear, if she opened her mouth any bigger, she'd drop her regs :p it was breathtaking. i'll never grow tired of it! we stayed as long as we could. and then we surfaced.
we did our safety stop at the island. had mamee and chocolate.. tried to give a crash course to eadie and bad on their rented camera. btw, big john scuba offers camera rental at RM100/dive. :D :D but feel free to goda simon to get it at cheaper rate :D
and then we're off to do our second dive at sipadan.
Dive #7: Coral Garden
Time in: 11:07 am
Max depth: 21.6 m
Ave. depth: 12.5 m
Bottom time: 49 minutes
T = 28degC
it's duyong's favorite dive site. the corals are nice.. saw a lot more turtles here swimming among us. our snorkeling buddies (ryn & nana) also snorkeled there.. nana even tried to call us from above when she saw diving underneath. too bad she didn't have a tank banger hahaha... i wanted to take a lot more photos.. but they turned out blue hehe and i forgotten how to set the white balance.. hehehe haven't used my camera for almost a year maaa... :P :P this time, eadie and bad asked comot to take photos for them. alas the batteries went dead after 10 minutes in the water
and we surfaced to have lunch prepared by arung hayat... it wasn't really nice but we were starving so couldn't care less about the taste hahahaha :p
as i don't have any photos on the island itself so we'd have to wait for the others to post them here :p :p
Dive #8: Drop off point
Time in: 1:20 pam
Max depth: 23.7 m
Ave. depth: 13.7 m
Bottom time: 50 minutes
T = 28degC
our last dive at Sipadan, was at the drop off point. this time, the camera rented by eadie & bad got fresh batteries. hehehe.. comot was appointed as the photographer. osman led us to the turtle tomb.. we took our group photo there.. and left to see the jacks.. but there were no jacks! but we ran into a few chevron barracudas. i'm scared of big fish.. especially after what happened to me at labas in 2007. so i just looked at them and dived on.. no photos. then a shark was interested in comot and followed her from behind. :p :p
it was a cold dive and i was sooo ready to surface
went back to big john's scuba and walked back to arung hayat. after we have showered, we went back big john's to watch the sunset.
hehe comot was all geared up waiting for the sunset.. :p
the two love birds were looking at the wrong direction.. deyy sunset is the other way laa
but there weren't any, so we just took photos of each other hehehe :p
we went back to arung hayat for dinner.. alas dinner was served at about 8 pm ... arghhh... so we kept asking the makcik .. "dah siap ke belum" (is dinner ready yet?) hehehe..
luckily dinner was good. we had fried chicken.. finger licking good hehee..;)
after dinner, we went shopping for some essentials - junk food and batteries. and went back to arung hayat to another round of fun and games. (tulip's note #4: some of the things you have to remember.. if you're organizing a trip, make sure you add some extras for extra meals that the DC doesn't provide, and things like this.. junk food.. so everyone can enjoy the junkfood together-gether harmoniously hehehe)
we played charade.. it was silly and humiliating.. and we had fun.. until.. "excuse me, could you please keep it down a little, some people are trying to get some sleep and you guys are just too loud" errr... tak suka nyeee
anyway, day 3 didn't end so well.. but we managed to make some friends with a group of snorkeling aunties and uncles from kepong and ampang :D :D :D despite the ermmm "peristiwa udang"
Day 4: 8th March 2008
simon (ryn's guru) and osman came to pick us up. breakfast was served late. so by the time they got to arung hayat we're still not ready. hehehe.. it's ok.. it's our vacation. who cares if we're late or early, right? ;) ;) osman asked where we wanted to go.. and since i've never seen pikachu before, i asked if we could dive at lobster wall. someone who dived with billabong scuba told us that the current was really strong when their friends dived there. osman said that the current that time of the day should be good.. so yeay!!! we're going to see pikachu!!!!
we went to big john's to pick up our equipment. ryn and simon are doing ryn's open water exercise that day at paradise 1. and we were joined by a canadian hunk named matt. ;) alas he was interested in eadie :D :D :D as soon as we arrived at the dive site, "someone" realized that he left his fins. so we had to go back and pick 'em up! turns out he also left his weights.. he is so gonna pay for it this weekend! :D
Dive #9: Lobster Wall
Time in: 9:06 am
Max depth: 21.0 m
Ave. depth: 13.4 m
Bottom time: 45 minutes
T = 28degC
lobster wall is well.... a wall. it looks like a wall was submerged. as usual i took my time descending. as soon as i reached the top of the wall, osman already ting ting tang tang me and told me to come near.. lo and behold it was a pikachu!!!! so today is really gonna be a good day! i quickly made mental list of other creatures i wanted to see.. hehehe.. and took pictures of the pikachu. it's so tiny! and it was hanging on what seemed to be a sea grass. there was a bit of current but not to the point that we can't stop and look at anything. i guess the pikachu got everyone going, and everyone looked for their own spots to find other small creatures too.. we found some orang-utan crabs, another pikachu but smaller, green turtle, a nembrotha, a white leaf scorpionfish, blue-spotted stingray, peacock mantis shrimp (we seem to find one on every dive!).. towards the end of the dive, the current grew stronger and we're pushed away by current when doing our 3 minute safety stop.
went back to big john during surface interval.
for our next dive, simon told us to go to kapalai cleaning station to look for the juvenile clown frogfish that he saw the day before. he and ryn joined us for ryn's ow dive. comot wanted to do seaventures again because the last time we were there we couldn't stay long becoz of the short surface interval. so osman advised us to do seaventures after lunch instead. nana and lenn joined us at the surface..:p
Dive #10: Kapalai Cleaning Station
Time in: 11:31 am
Max depth: 17.7 m
Ave. depth: 12.2 m
Bottom time: 59 minutes
T = 28degC
the hunt began, osman was searching high and low.. we didn't even know what he was searching for.. hahaha... but he did find a really tiny pikachu. next to it was a co's chromodoris. then we dived towards a small wreck. beneath the wreck, there were the indonesian sweetlips, some tiny anchovy-like fish.. some medium sized fish.. and a lot of other fish (i know i need to learn their names :p we also found a really tiny red frogfish. but no clown frogfish :( ah well.. all the more reason to come back
then we went back to arung hayat for lunch. and as usual... arung hayat took their time serving lunch... grrr...
arung hayat was lucky they can cook really delicious fried chicken.. otherwise i'd probably have nana and duyong take over the kitchen.. hahaha... after lunch (2 kali tambah.. mind u :P :P :D .. err was that just me?
osman came to pick us up after lunch to take us to seaventures after 2.5 hours surface interval. we were all getting sleepy.. and finally he came.
Dive #11: Seaventures
Time in: 2:55 pm
Max depth: 18.3 m
Ave. depth: 14.6 m
Bottom time: 51 minutes
T = 28degC
everyone was surprised to see 4 dive boats there. there goes our hopes to see the pygmy one more time.. but it's ok.. we saw a whole lot of nudibranch and flatworms ..
ermm we saw more but the photos are really bad. i think i changed the color of a nudi even. it was purple when i saw it. and the one i captured on camera was red.. :D :D
after the dive, big john came to me and told me that we have to move...AGAIN!!!!??!!! then he said, there was some mix up at arung hayat, they have double-booked the rooms... What??? i said.. oh my.. who's gonna tell my friends? (deep inside i was screaming with joy!!! hahaha yeay.. we can be noisy tonite!!!) so big john broke the news to the others.. apologized for having us moved here and there... and lenn immediately asked for crabs that she's been craving for since day 2. heheheh :D nana had not heard the news as she was left behind at arung hayat when we went diving. she's been naughty hehe... when we arrived at arung hayat she was about to get her tan.. and i screamed "nana!! pack up! we're going back to kl!!!" hehehe... i think no one has ever packed so quickly before. everyone was really relieved that we had to move back to big john's.. :D :D we said good bye to the staff... and rushed to the boat..:D :D (tulip's note #5: i was lucky coz the guys had a jolly time at lai's homestay. despite the full house.. and it was really packed with people.. annoying ones i have to add.. we had fun. big john's crews seemed to have some kind of attachment to the friends i brought for this trip.. i mean who wouldn't..? hahaha the girls especially are lunatics from tanjung rambutan!)
went back to big john.. and prepared ourselves for the night dive.. :D at my most favorite dive site in mabul
as we (duyong, comot and i) were waiting for our night dive, a man in a small sampan came by to sell a marlin he caught.. it was huge! as big as comot!!! the other group at big john's bought the fish i guess coz i saw the fish on the bbq the last nite we were there... but damn the marlin was huge!
eadie and bad were upset because they couldn't join us for the night dive. they haven't done their AOWD yet. so big john said no! so we left them behind with nana and lenn and ryn. ryn had to study. she's got exams coming up :D (tulip's note #6: if they don't have AOWD they can't go on night dive.. should something happened.. they were not insured. and i was and am not certified to say that they can do the night dive! so miss organizer had to be very firm on this matter. it is for their own safety.. regardless how muncung their muncung may be after that)
Dive #12: Big John's Basura
Time in: 6:54 pm
Max depth: 2.1 m
Ave. depth: 1.5 m
Bottom time: 50 minutes
T = 28degC
Big John led the dive.. and Osman joined us. Everyone freaked out when we first jumped in. there were sea urchins everywhere!!!! it was the full moon. and we saw a lot of crabs and squids.. different kinds too.. the water was shallow.. very shallow! maximum depth was about 2.1-2.2 m. the water was cold.. and i didn't put my wetsuit on. hehehe macho la sangat :p i wanted so much to photograph the bumble bee shrimp and the harlequin shrimp. big john found both of them for us!!! everyone was happy happy when we came back.
when we reached the homestay, everyone has just finished dinner. i decided to have dinner first, while the rest showered. heheh... it was cold laa... when it's cold, i get hungry laa... :p after eating.. i took a shower.. actually it was after someone said he smelled air masin basi .. nyampah! :P
after shower i joined the rest of the group...
duyong was logging her dive...study siottt
nana read something.. i think it was the book of all extremes or something...
the rest posed for the camera...
then comot suggested that we play charades again.. so i helped her out in the titles.. :D
then haniff, one of big john's crews, took the guitar, sat next to us.. and played some familiar songs.. and we of course.. started singing lah hehehehe ;) most songs were rock 80s and 90s .. and we had a fabulous singer for that.. hahahaa
and everyone sang and laughed until mabuk.. i mean till midnite..
and then we went to bed :D . On the 5th day we're doing Semporna, as promised.. yeay... Big John did remember! Big John's taking us to his favorite dive site :D :D and we had to leave as early as 7 am :D
Day 5: 9th march 2009
sigh.. how time flies. it's the last day of diving. big john still owed us ketam (crabs). he told us that it's the last night and he already planned a bbq dinner for us. our last day of diving, big john told us to list all the things we wanted to see that we haven't seen yet. we haven't seen the seahorses and the flamboyant cuttlefish. so he said, he'll try to look for them at semporna. we left for semporna at 7:30-ish.. ryn, lenn and nana joined us.
the dive site we were going to doesn't have any names yet. so big john said i can name it anything i want ;) lenn, nana and ryn stayed on the boat while we went diving
Dive #13: Marina's Basura
Time in: 8:40 am
Max depth: 16.7 m
Ave. depth: 7.9 m
Bottom time: 76 minutes
T = 28degC
it was actually near some dumpsite near Semporna.. but Big John said that's his favorite dive site. we'd see a LOT of things here.. and he was right. i went crazy with the camera.. hehehe.. saw a lot of lionfish, nudibranch (elysia sp.), frogfish.. and big john searched high and low for the flamboyant cuttlefish but didn't find any. but we're not totally disappointed. he showed us the picturesque dragonet. it' soooo cute and tiny. and shy like the mandarinfish :) and of course. the sea horse!!! there were a lot of those clear shrimps.. dunno what people call it. but i think one of them was pregnant 8)8)
the dive was fantastic.. but the water was dirty. i didn't dare clear my mask.. afraid the water would go inside my system :D :D
then we went to pasar putu for surface interval. we also had lunch here.. i know. it was early. 10:30 am. hehehe we were complaining about how it's too early to have lunch at that hour but we ate anyway .. nasi tambah lagi :D hehehe
we then went inside the market... and shopped for the things we'd like to eat during bbq dinner.. big john bought some mangosteen for us.. we also bought mangoes.. the very sour one, and also the sweet ones..
i also spotted a cute guy when duyong and big john got themselves some top-ups for their phones hehehehe...
we went around semporna in our rash guards and shorts.. we must look like lunatics to the locals hehe :D i was a hot chica that day. gile sexy. :o wore my black shorts with my rash guard. and the shorts were really short shorts.. :D :D
and then we went to big john's office and we left the things we bought there.. with nana, lenn and ryn. they've decided to hang out at the office instead.:D
the divers then went off to do our second dive at Marina's Basura :D
Dive #14: Marina's Basura
Time in: 11:50 am
Max depth: 10.0 m
Ave. depth: 7.3 m
Bottom time: 73 minutes
T = 28degC
we went to the same site. but this time big john told us to dive shallow.. we spread out and each of us looked really hard for the flamboyant cuttlefish. but we didn't find it. :( :( but big john managed to find us the dragon seamoth and the devilfish, which are really cool too.
when we surfaced everyone was still happy despite the fact we didn't get to see the flamboyant cuttlefish. perhaps becoz that means we have another reason to go back. :D :D :D we then went to pick up some ketam for dinner... they were really huge!!! one was as big as a dinner plate! seriously!
went to pick up the tourists we left at big john's office. and hung out at the boat. when we left semporna, it started raining.. and it was heavy. the sky was really dark and it was cold. brrr... but we managed to reach mabul safe and sound. :D
comot and duyong decided not to go for our last dive. i was going to join them when big john said maybe we could find the flamboyant cuttlefish there instead. so i changed my mind and joined the boys for one last dive at mabul.
Dive #15: Paradise 3
Time in: 3:46 pm
Max depth: 16.7 m
Ave. depth: 11.3 m
Bottom time: 53 minutes
T = 28degC
it was still raining when we got into the water. in fact there was thunder.. :D :D :D but as soon as i descended i totally forgotten about the weather. hehehe.. the water was cool.. the vis wasn't perfect but it was serene. we found a few creatures there.. but we didn't see the flamboyant cuttlefish. at the end of the dive, we found three different species of nudibranch on three different rocks.. and there were many of them.. alas my memory card was almost full so i took a couple of shots of the nudis.. and an anemonefish sent us off..
that nite we had chicken wings and bbq-ed fish for dinner. big john told the cooks to prepare our ketam and they simply fried the ketam. we then had dragonfruits, mangosteen and the sweet mangoes that we bought at pasar putu. and asked the cook to prepare some sambal kicap for our sour mangoes.. omigod.. she used the small chillies to make the sambal kicap.. and it was hot!!!! felt like jumping into the water when i ate it. later that nite all of us had to queue for the toilet :D :D
we all slept early. the rain had taken a toll on all of us. nahh.. i think it's the food.. we had too much food.. hehehe....
Day 6: 10th march 2009
now it's time to say goodbye.... sob sob
(tulip's note #7: saying goodbye.. is never an easy thing..)
we dreaded that it's our last day at mabul... at least i did. i had so much fun there. despite the hiccups (moving from one homestay to another) i enjoyed every minute of my time there. ok, so we were bribed... as someone pointed it out to me the other day.. but good company, excellent service by the staff (although no one opened that can of coke for me, amazing dive sites, and wonderful creatures in mabul, kapalai, sipadan and of course semporna would certainly make me go back to mabul for more diving.
we woke up early coz big john said that we'd have to leave for semporna at 7:30 am . we packed our bags, and while waiting, what else to do? take pictures laa... apa lagi?
the staff..
big john, sifu simon, osman, haniff, taufik.. and the others.. i didn't get their nameseveryone's filled out the guestbook... comot being comot.. nana being nana, bad n lenn taking photos..
as our flights were not till late, we decided to hang out at big john's office first, bought souvenirs and have lunch at pasar putu again.. heheehe..
souvenirs.. hehehe... of course
it wouldn't be complete without them. the yummy ikan bakar, sotong bakar, and all things bakar.. bajau laut delicacies.. so cheap lorr.. RM5 per person only...
and we bid farewell to everyone at semporna..
the end.
fuhh.. finally habis dah...
anyway.. should you need more information about big john's scuba services... do contact the man himself.
Big John's Scuba @ Mabul - +6014-284-3723
he provides scuba courses as well. and his office is at semporna, next to WWF office. not far from the dragon inn.
or if you'd like me to organize the trip for you, it's ok too.. just shoot me an email at marina.yusoff@gmail.com. leave me your contact no., your email address, your name, and the dates (preferrably at least 1 month in advance). for sipadan diving, need to book very early. at least 2 months earlier.
for other photos.. feel free to browse my flickr. more photos there..
2 comments:
LIKE the theme of the trip, 'trip kasihSayang.' classic!!
hehe.. tri ini memang penuh kasih sayang :) hence the name :)
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