die die must dive sipadan year 4

Day 1: Arrival

Truthfully.. I had my qualms before going on the trip.. So many disheartening events that led to this trip.. such as the dive center double booked us (even requested us to change our flight dates... helll no! lucky he made some arrangements so we could dive but with a different dive operator), getting payment (why of course! it's a yearly issue), overcrowded group.. (i initially told them 12.. and they brought in like 16..!) .. and the cost constrains.. with the original dive operator I could get it all under the initial estimates. But with the other operator it's like 300 per pax extra. so I had to bear some of the cost.. and the worst part was there were voices saying i'm taking too much from the trip. Just so you know.. I didn't gain anything. in fact I had to use a lot of my money to cover some of the cost...  So excuse me for bitching so much before the trip. To top it off I don't have my camera with me.. I did.. but ermm.. I left my battery charger at mum's and couldn't get it in time before the trip.. so I had to borrow Rina's camera and underwater casing.. Thank God it's all auto.. so I didn't have to spend too much time to learn to work the camera.

This year I was joined by half of my usual crowd.. did I say half? sorry.. it's just Bad and Lenn.. Yon finally accepted my invite this year.. She said I've invited her five times before.. I guess.. I lost count lol! She's not a diver.. so.. afraid that she might have to snorkel alone at Sipadan, she invited her two colleagues.. Nor and Yani (these ladies are somewhat health freaks.. everytime they have their meals they insisted on having 3 types of vegetable. They even asked Yon if they could jog while in Semporna or Mabul.. little did they know.... muahahahhaa) and a group of divers who call themselves Ipoh Divers. Due to the limitations of the Sipadan permits daily (7 divers + non divers daily) I limited the no of divers to Sipadan to 14 divers + non-divers only. We had to divide the divers to 2 groups..  Ipoh Divers went to Sipadan on Day 1 and my divers went to Sipadan on day 2. since the third dive day was Malaysia day the Ipoh Divers planned on celebrating Malaysia day by posing with the Malaysian flag.. we did that in Mataking... I know complicated right? lol.. At Tawau airport I had some issues with the taxi arrangements. Let's just put it this way, if you asked me to pay 900 for 3 vans roundtrip, I expect to see 3 vans with my people in it, not otherwise. I don't care if there aren't any taxis/vans willing to pick me up at the airport. I'll just take a bus.. or ask anyone to pick me up. I don't care. But I paid for it and you promised me 3 vans. not 2, but 3. kapicsh? Then there are 2 who canceled and didn't inform me before hand. and another 2 who missed the flight.. lain kali buat la lagi ...*ahem* :P Anyway, all the complications just disappeared once we arrived at Semporna, alhamdulillah...

We stayed at Semporna throughout the trip this time around. Because of the price increase I couldn't get them breakfast and dinner.. But then staying at Semporna, to get a decent meal is not that expensive or hard. From the hotel there were like 3 mamak shops, 2 seafood restaurant, 1 nasi ayam restaurant, Mabul cafe, and a few a la carte malay restaurants, and of course there's pasar putu, and a makcik selling nasi kuning and pulut panggang to die for (ok la I exaggerated.. biasa je sebenarnya ;p) at the public jetty of semporna. Sipadan Scuba only provide lunch. Sub sandwich all three days.. hahhaa terkejut perut semua orang! Hotel room is small.. The hotel occupies several shop lots, much like Sipadan Inn. I noticed the hotel when I stayed at Sipadan Inn last year.. the hotel is named Holiday Dive Inn, I think. there's a restaurant next to it and it's the same row as the Diver's Health Reflexology Center. Behind the hotel there's a new row of shop lots where there are more food joints. Semporna new town is growing.. and growing fast. I'm thinking now we don't have to stay at Mabul to dive... and it's cheaper to stay at Semporna too..Only we'll miss the serene feeling we get when staying at Mabul.. and that togetherness.. When at Mabul, you're somewhat forced to bond.. hehehe.. The hotel has a balcony.. which is so nice.. only mine was overlooking the back alley.. not so nice lah.. haha ;p They have books at the lobby.. and tv that shows football everytime I sat there. Each room is provided with TV that shows only 4 channels (AXN, HBO, ESPN and RTM2- don't ask why RTM2 je dapat .. aku pun tak paham), water heater, an electric kettle only Yon used (she's always hungry.. ada cacing kot muahahaha), and aircond without a remote.. which is perplexing because they have this instructions on how to use the remote put up near the door.

hotel nya... 

the room.. :) no room service le.. kena menapak cari makan sendiri. got lounge kat tengah2 hotel

view from my room.. senang nak kena pecah ni.. hmm.. but good that senang nak jemur segala tok nenek  barang diving...

Upon arrival, we were greeted by Awang.. he's our DM for the entire trip except when we go sipadan. Because of the delay in arrival to the hotel.. we arrived feeling hungry.. hehe so we had supper at bismillah.. well four of us anyways.. me, yon, nor and yani. gives me the chance to get to know them too..

Azman was our driver from the airport. funny story.. aku dah abis gaduh cam nak rak ngan boss dia.. leh pulak aku nye wallet terjatuh dalam van. so I called Jerry and he gave me Azman's phone no. Azman came and gave me my wallet..

yani had bihun bismillah... korang ingat boleh abis ke tak ni? hehehe ;p...

Soon after, Bad and Lenn arrived, and I went for my second supper.. not at bismillah tho.. they close early. we asked the mamak to close later for Bad and Lenn.. he said this:" we can close later but there won't be anyone in lah" lol! loyar buruk gak mamak ni.. hahaha.. :) I guess that's the beginning of a good relationship between mamak bismillah and us.

Day 2: Mabul for us.. Sipadan for them...

As mentioned before I had to divide the group into 2 mini groups. Group 1 went to Sipadan on Day 1. I put Wan Zack, Mus, CT and husband, Adey, Jay and husband Big in group one. Group 2 (Bad, Lenn, Yon, Yani, Nor, Salihin and I) went to Mabul on Day 1. Chose to go Mabul on Day 1 because Lenn hasn't dived for more than a year.. Yon and gang also never really snorkeled.. Need to have some practice first. Alas, it was a good decision. Water was sooo choppy in Mabul.. I was seasick. Current was also very strong at Seaventures.. we vow never to dive there again huhu :( We also dived at Paradise and Lobster Wall. At lobster wall we found the pygmy seahorse.. Alas.. another dive group (not sure which dive center) beat us to it.. we waited for a good 10 minutes watching them harassing the poor fellow.. geram gila! we left without seeing it. We had our surface intervals at SMART jetty. During our dive at Seaventures we left the snorkelers so they could explore the island on their own.. and they did.. They even had nasi kuning lunch at the kampung.. Awang took us there at the wrong time. the current was bad enough at the surface.. it was horrible even at 16 meters deep. *sigh* my blocked nose was not helping. We had our last dive at Paradise 1. Seeing that the first two dives were a disappointment, I thought maybe mandarin fish would help ease my pain. I thought wrong. We were there too early... the mandarins won't surface.. and the group of lady divers that joined us totally pissed me off during the dive. I was in a bad mood going back to Semporna.. and tired.

salihin at lobster wall... deep diving nampak

a lot of these croc fish at lobster wall... no pikachus.. no nothing..

USM's own synchronized swimming team ;p 

saw many of these on our trip.. yum yum

one of my better shots

we arrived at Semporna.. and washed our equipment and our bags.. (yes.. with our bags) and left it to dry at the storage+washing place. Sipadan Scuba has one unit of shop lot for that.. which is nice.. we don't have to carry it back to the hotel room. We had our dinner at Mabul Cafe.. It's been a while since I last came..

tempat jatuh lagi kan dikenang, ini kan pulak tempat mengangkang Mabul cafe. Tomyum is nice.. i also like it's payar ginger. 

Day 3: Sipadan.. oh sipadan... please be nice to us..

camera rina sabo me! 

Diving day 2, we met with our DM for Sipadan.. Jurgen. He told us to call him Uncle Botak. I guess cause he's old and botak. A smart ass chap from mana entah.. aku pun tak tau. He reminded me of someone.. and later I found out why. Jay was one of the instructors he worked with when he did his DM in Tioman with B&J. He even said that Jay's actually his inspiration on being a smart ass.. or something like that haha.. but we really enjoyed diving with him. in fact he's one of the few mat sallehs that we like .. so you should be proud ;p

We arrived Sipadan quite late.. around 10 am.. I was a bit sad because I wanted to go there early in the morning to catch the bumpheads... and I did.. We first did Barracuda Point.. and I think I could safely say, I saw everything I wanted to see and even those I didn't wish to see on our first dive, minus the vortex. There were 3 schools of the barracudas..but no vortex. The current was quite strong, I swore I felt like letting go and just drift. But I was afraid that I'd be lost in the blue.. which was filled with plankton, I secretly was praying that a big whale shark or three would just appear and swim with me. We saw a few bumpheads.. I think they were late for breakfast.. it's the weekend. I understand ;p .. There were a few white tips, and also grey reef shark (that was scary).. and there were hundreds of jacks.. they formed a nice vortex. We ended our dive at a coral garden.. which was so beautiful and colorful. I almost wish the dive won't end.

Lenn with a school of fish

The snorkelers were having fun also. Our boatman was so cool. haha he made them hold on tightly to the rope and he took them for a ride near the reefs. That made them really happy...

At our surface interval, I met otto from billabong. Dah naik pangkat dah beb.. kekeke :) good for him... :) he asked why we didn't go to billabong.. long story dear.. long story. rupa nya group yang curi slot aku tu aku kenal.. ceh.. It's okay darling.. next time ok? I bought Mihun goreng bismillah before leaving for sipadan. after day 1.. everyone brought their own lunch set. kakakakaka tak biasa nok... makan sandwich je time diving.. perut gue besor.

Our 2nd dive, we did turtle tomb. We explore the opening quite a bit.. the entrance is quite big.. and dark. I didn't bring my torch with me. Unfortunately ... :( and it's really dark.. It's so hard to take photos. That was interesting. On our way out, saw more sharks and jacks. excellent...

this guy greeted us at the entrance of the turtle cave

I just took my chance with this one.. couldn't even see where it was

outside the turtle cave

We had our lunch break.. and the snorkelers walked around Sipadan... Si yani sempat collect some stones from Sipadan Island.. a geologist will always be a geologist.. batu dia bawak balik ;p

Our third dive, we did white tip avenue. It's was a pleasant dive. I guess we were also quite tired.. so it's just what we needed. A slow, pleasant dive. by this time, Jurgen was comfortable enough to leave us and snap a few photos of his own. The current was mild, so we didn't have to move much.. a good end to the day.

tak banyak nudi exotic.. ni je yang jumpa

Lenn jumpa ni... excited lak dia.. semua org dia panggil suruh tengok ;p 

I finally got the colors right.. next time no flash

turtle - hawksbill .. tengok mulut dia macam ye..

On our way back... there were dolphins.. a sign of a good dive day in my book.. yippeee!!! all the disappointments from before sipadan just went away!

We washed and stored our equipment as soon as we reached Semporna. At around 6:30 pm, everyone were starved. So we had early dinner at the Nasi Ayam joint behind the hotel. Big, Adey and Mus recommended it. They had it the night before. We also had the chicken wings.. The wings were sweet and tender.. and the sauce is spicy. :D

Day 4: Happy Malaysia Day

It's a special day.. It's the last day of diving, both groups were combined. We all finally get to dive together.. and we're going to take a video with Jalur Gemilang underwater as part of Malaysia Day celebration. We also are going to dive Mataking for the first time.. To top it off, the ladies had too much fun snorkeling at Sipadan that they decided to try DSD.. hahaha.. :D 

Mataking at a glance. :D 

Hear this.. the island is sooooo far! It's like.. 1hr and 20 minutes away from Semporna! gile babs jauh :( twice the distance from sibuan kot? Penat naik bot je huhu.. But the island is amazing! it's so beautiful and peaceful. Rasa nak lepak2 baring bawah payung on the sandy beach reading or sleeping.. ahh.. heavenly. Underwater it's much like siamil, sibuan.. I saw some pretty cool stuff there.. but you have to have Rebecca as your buddy lah kekekek :D 

I had problems equalizing during this trip. At Mabul it was already quite difficult for me to descend. So before I went to Sipadan, I took a dose of Clarinase.. and it's easier to descend.. though still painful. At Mataking, the pain just got really bad. So I maintained at DSD level :( Rebecca was nice to have stayed with me at shallow waters. I thought of ascending early but then decided to keep diving cause.. I was like already there.. and at 10 meters after a while it got better.. the decision proved to be a good one cause when rebecca and I were separated from the group we saw some pretty amazing stuff. 

I'm the king of the world!!!!

Peek-a-boo

ahem

guess what this is? 

juvenile ribbon eel..  

During our surface interval.. the divers hung out on the beach.. while yon, yani and nor did their DSD. Rebecca and I helped out .. I didn't mind coz they were hilarious. 

stailo okay? 

Our 2nd dive, we took group photos underwater with the flag. It was funny and tiring waiting for the process of getting everyone together.. 

Photo by Adey yang perasan Dabomb. Selamat Hari Malaysia

Me with the DSDs... cool tak? lol!I think it's from Salihin's camera. 

My ear block got worse so I decided to stay at very shallow water.. 6 meter deep ;p.. I know.. pathetic right..? not much to see.. but the water so clear.. and the reefs so nice.. I like it. 

ok.. ada la jugak lionfish..

DSDs with Rebecca

Me with DSDs

tukun.. banyak nih.. 

Everyone was taking their time underwater.. I guess because it's one of our last dives for this trip.. Even I took my time.. taking videos and such..

Luckily, we ascended early. As it was already quite late, we had a really short surface interval time. 30 - 45 minutes.. so that gives us about 20-30 minutes for 20 meter dive? about that.. Adey had the shortest surface interval.. hehe.. 

We left the snorkelers on timba-timba island while we dived nearby. It's an island which is one when tide is low, and two when tide is high. When we left them it was a big island.. enough for 6 people. some divers joined them snorkelers.. bored coz there weren't much to see underneath.. they decided to enjoy the beach instead. 

Yon took this of timba-timba.. beautiful! 

I was separated again. So hard to descend and as we're going to fly the next day I didn't want to risk it.. so I stayed shallow. Really shallow. The lighting was nice.. so I decided to take photos lomo style! 

awesome! a turtle heading to surface to get air

giant turtle.. hehehe it's me. :D

I told Adey to keep watch on his no-deco limit .. he either has to dive shallow or it should be a short dive. He did neither. So he had to do and 11-minute safety stop. I think it's 11 minutes. Padan muka ;p 

We then went back to timba-timba and picked up the rest. Before heading back we took some group photos.. again.. 

nice. 

 We headed back to Semporna.. Big, Jay, Mus, CT and husband decided to do a quick trip to Tawau and spend the night there. The rest of us stayed. It's tiring.. not much to do in Tawau and we wanted to do Pasar Putu before we leave for KL.

After cleaning our equipment, I bid them goodbye.. and went to have dinner at the Crystal Jubilee.. We had lobster, sotong, rabbit fish, 3 sayur, sup perut ikan.. the soup was amazing! and the lobster was so cheap! But it's a bit pricey.. maybe coz we don't talk Sabahan. 

Crystal Jubilee.. at waterfront :p 

After dinner we hung out at Scuba Junkie.. Ada live band. and they're really good. Rebecca said they are actually SJ's staff.. nice.. :D I was reminded of long beach and 4S. but yang ni x happening langsung kekeke.. They sang some old songs.. and new.. and I could see the age gap between Salihin and the rest of us that night.. hahahah :D 

Day 5: Now it's time to say goodbye.....

The next morning, we had our last breakfast at bismillah... and got the signatures for our logbooks. We also got free tshirts from Sipadan Scuba. Cool! 

Tempat jatuh lagikan dikenang, apatah lagi tempat dikangkang.. memang seriously kena kangkang  la dengan mamak bismillah ni

Sipadan Scuba..  

We had to check out at 12. So we had brunch early lunch at Pasar Putu.. Adey was hooked! lol! Rebecca joined us for lunch. And ordered putu for us to try.. We couldn't find puffer fish and bobohan tho :( nda ada  :( 

We went back to the hotel to pack everything, shower and check out. Since our flight is not till 7pm, we arranged the pick up time so that we leave for the airport at 4 pm. Bad, Lenn, Yon, Yani, Nor and I decided to get a quick massage. damn it was painful! 

urut urut

perut bad.. 

snorkelers yang penat

some reference

we got our massage here.. atas tu ada office nando :D did i tell you i saw nando?  yes i did and he gave me a great big hug.. ahhh...

After our massage.. we and rebecca headed to Bismillah to kill some time.. and exchange stories.. and contacts.. It's always hard to say goodbye no matter how crappy things could get during the trip. Hahaha.. I guess it's the company that makes it harder. 

confirm kena kangkang dah..

Insya Allah.. God willing.. we'll be there again.. I hope everyone had a good time.. and wish to apologize for all the shortcomings. We could only plan.. and when the day comes it's in His hands.. 

-The End-