After the jungle I headed straight for Semporna which I had heard was a bit of a dump and it certainly lived up to its reputation and was really crummy. However it is just about the only place to stay if you want to dive off the island of Sipidan, consistently in the top 10 of dive spots in the world. You used to be able to stay on Sipidan itself until a big group got kidnapped about 8 years ago as there is some debate about who owned the island so now the only people that live on the island are the Malaysian army. They also shut down the accommodation on the island so that it didn't become too busy destroying the diving. But the island itself is so good for diving because it was created by a volcanic eruption so its kind of mushroom shaped so all around the island there is the reef and then a sheer drop off down to about 600m deep so you can just dive around the wall and see nothing but darkness below! Hav

So as I have been having a bit of a detox from alcohol while I've been in Borneo (with the exception of a night with the Dutch crew) there was very little to do in Semporna if you weren't drinking. I had two days of diving at Sipidan which totalled 6 dives and I was a bit apprehensive as it felt so long ago that I last dived all the way back on Koh Tao. The diving here though was so many leagues above that of Koh Tao and although I took a dive to get used to it all again it was absolutely incredible and so so many fish to see of all varieties.

One of the best things about Sipidan is all the turtles that you see in the water and there are loads of them and they are huge. Some will swim along next to you and others will just be relaxing on a ledge and they are really big as well, some about a metre wide. It seems so cool seeing them underwater because they are so unfish like! Also swam with sharks which was great even though they weren't huge ones at only about 5ft long but a German couple that went deaper saw a big hammerhead which I was a bit gutted about missing. The reefs and the variety of fish were incredible though and certainly lived up to its reputation as a top dive spot. Expensive hobby but I'm addicted.

After Sipidan and Semporna it was off on a night bus back to Kota Kinabalu for my last day in Borneo before heading back to the peninsula and Kuala Lumpur which is where I am now. Off to Singapore tonight and by this time on Sunday I will be in a land down under!