So our first day of our Advanced Course we went to an island called Mabul, about 45mins from where we were staying. We did our Peak Performance Buoyancy and our Navigation. The buoyancy we did a few skills under the water, (wont bore you with all the dive talk!) then we swam around for about 40 minutes. Saw some Lion Fish, and some micro stuff I.e. tiny crabs and eels. The navigation was not as hard as we were expecting either. We both had to swim in opposite directions and find our way back using natural navigation, and then do the same using the compass. Then we had to swim in a square using the compass, and return to the starting point! Then after that we continued to explore the reef, this time we saw a green turtle. In the afternoon, after our lunch, we could do a fun dive for £10, I had a really bad headache, and knowing I had to do 3 more dives the next day I sat that one out, but Lee went out. He thoroughly enjoyed it and saw a few turtles, a squid, an orang utan crab, and other bits. That night we shared a pizza at the bar next door to the hostel, where all the Scuba Junkies hang out, as there is NOTHING else to do in Semporna, and you don’t want to venture out too far! The next morning, another early start, this time to Sibuan, a remote island where we would be doing our Deep Dive (30m) our Fish ID, and Photography. The deep dive was first, and not as daunting as we expected, the only noticeable difference was the temperature dropped quite a bit, and it was a lot darker. Our photography and fish id were pretty simple, we had to write down on the slate what fish we saw using the ID cards, and we were given pointers on how to focus and use the flash on the digital camera underwater. We got given the photos we took onto a CD. Got a couple of good ones! And that was us done!! Our Advanced Open Water completed! Again, pizza in the bar with a drink! When we arrived at Scuba Junkies we asked to put our names down on the list for Sipadan, an Island which you normally have to book a month in advance. We had one more day in Semporna so we wanted to do a few more dives! And that night we got told 2 places were available on the Sipadan dive the next day!! We were thrilled!! One of the dive sites, Barracuda point, was listed number 3 top dive site in the world - not bad for beginners!! So another early start that day, took about 1.15 to get to Sipadan. It was beautiful. The clearest water I have ever seen…crystal!! The first dive site was Hanging gardens (also in the top 100 dive sites) that was a drop wall coral, we swam along and back again. We were in the water less than a minute when a white tip reef shark swam slowly right passed us!! That was the first of many. We saw sharks as often as we saw any other fish!! Up to about 1.5 metres in size, white tips and grey reef sharks. The second dive site, Barracuda point, we saw about 6 sharks just laying on the bottom of the sand. The current was really strong as we got dropped in the channel, and had to get down quick to the coral. That was really hard, lots of kicking and not getting very far, but eventually we got out of the current and could enjoy the dive. Again saw turtles and sharks, lots of bat fish, they were cool, and would swim really close!! After lunch we dived Lobster Layer. That was a drift dive, which means you drop down, and the current takes you along the coral, then the boat picks you up at the end, so not a lot of energy is exerted when swimming as the current carries you! We saw LOTS of turtles, one was ginourmas, just chilling out on the coral, another 2 were swimming along gracefully next to each other, and another one we got really close to, and it was staring at us, and opening its mouth…I think it was trying to talk to us!! And of course….more sharks! All in all the best dives we have done. Such a beautiful place and would recommend it to anyone!! That night we actually had something different than pizza for dinner!
The next day we took a 45 minute flight to Sandakan. We booked one night in a hotel (next to a noisy mosque where a man would sing, if you can call it singing, all evening and then again about 5am in the morning, he was on a microphone and sounded more like moaning than singing!) We asked our hotel manager about visiting Turtle Island for one night. He phoned around and managed to get us booked the next night onto turtle island. So the next morning we were picked up from our hotel and dropped to the jetty to get our speedboat to Turtle Island. It was about an hours journey and quite rough!! We arrived about 10.30, and checked into our room. It was nicer than the hotel we were staying at, and pretty good for a small island. We had the day to do what we wanted. We slept! We were so tired from all the diving and early mornings. We slept until about midday, just in time for lunch!! Then we got our snorkels out and headed down to the beach. Snorkelling was a waste of time, all the coral was dead, and was really shallow. I guess after just diving Sipadan we would be disappointed with anything. We chilled on the beach for a couple of hours. I made a turtle in the sand!! Then we headed back to the room and got showered for dinner. We were told that as it was a full moon, and it was windy these were all bad signs for the mother turtle to come up and lay her eggs!! Great!! They have been known to come up at 4am !! Not a chance, we would be tucked up in bed by then, lol!! We finished dinner, and then about 40 minutes later someone shouted the magic word “Turtle, Turtle” which meant, “drop what your doing and follow everyone to the beach”! It was pitch black and we didn’t have a torch so had to follow someone else! When we got there, the mother had made her way up the beach, dug her hole, and had started laying her eggs!! She laid 140 in total!! The rangers measured the mother, and checked her tag (they are all tagged for their own protection). Then her eggs were moved to the hatchery where they were buried in a hole, and protected from predators, such as the monitor lizards! They take about 2 months to hatch. They had a set that had just hatched so we got to watch them being released into the sea. They were so cute and helpless. There was one little one that got stuck in a little hole in the sand, but managed to make it out and into the sea, I named him Lucky!! Only 1% of them survive when they are out in the ocean L and I think that will be Lucky!! So by 10pm we’d seen it all, a nice early night - perfect!! Was probably the best nights sleep we’d had in a while. Next morning, up at 6am for 6.30 breakfast, then 7am we were on the boat back to Sandakan. When we arrived back at the jetty, we got our driver to take us to Sepilok, the Orang-utan Rehabilitation Centre. We watched a video on the Orangutan UK Appeal that funds most of the work over in Borneo. Once upon a time the Orangutans could swing from tree to tree from one side of Borneo to another. Sadly that is all a thing of the past, due to deforestation and threat of their habitat! They could become extinct in our life time L We managed to watch 5 of them swing down from the trees, on their ropes and have some milk and fruit/bananas! Was cool to see them swinging about in their environment! Some of them were posers, and loved the cameras!! After that it was back to our hotel. That evening we went for dinner on the marina, and then we headed to a hotel that we had read about on trip advisor that had a rooftop bar/garden terrace. It was really nice! Right at the top, overlooking the town, and the water. Laterns, and orchid flowers, and cushions made it feel very bohemia! We sat and watched the sunset over cocktails and beer!! Was a lovely evening! The next day we flew (another short 45minutes) to Kota Kinabalu, a bigger town than the rest. We booked into a boutique hotel. Great location, and lovely room!! Nice to have a bit of luxury after slumming it for the last week! On the first night we went for dinner down on the waterfront and had a couple of drinks. Then headed back to watch Chelsea V. Man City!! Had a lie in the next day, then went for a late breakfast at The Coffee Bean!! Then headed to the shopping malls. Browsed some cameras, and we bought about 8 DVDs! That evening we skyped marc & bex then went to Little Italy for some pizza and wine! Then yesterday we had another lie in, and more shopping, bought another handful of DVDs, then went to the Cinema to see Book of ELI with Denzel Washington, it only cost us £1 so we thought ‘why not’? Was a good film! Then out for an early dinner at Bella Italia. Today we fly across to Penang, about 2.5 hours away. We are there for a couple of days, then head to Langkawi. Then that’s Malaysia done!! xxxx