Sipadan diving - we go to Uncle Chan's, where our dive boat will leave once we finish our delicious cold beans and bread. After testing our gear we get on a boat with a Korean guy who's on his 3rd Sipadan licence, a Singaporean couple and a German couple. Its a shame we are going diving at 9:30am. Some operators take you at 6:30am which would be better to see the sharks.
It's a short boat ride to Sipadan, and there are police vessels and a machine gun turret mounted on the beach. After the terror attacks, all resorts had to leave and now its just the military and divers with a licence. We register at the island office and suit up for our first dive.
It truly is a beautiful island and with no resorts, maybe it will remain this way a little longer. The first dive is murky but I can see a grey shark in the distance and a few white tips. Its a deeper dive so no coral along the wall to look at. Surfacing, we stop for bread and jam and wander to see the machine gun turret and the soldiers let us use the large binoculars. The 2nd dive is truly amazing. A combination of strong currents and large shoals of Jacks and Baracudda. Craig swims into a wall of Jacks, disappearing other than a trail of bubbles. I am transfixed by a whitetip only a few metres away and I settle down to watch it. Our guide taps his tank and signals us on. We fly to the corner of the island, the guide telling us to cling on to a rock. This is unlike any diving I have done before and my limpet grip holds firm. I've seen countless reef sharks, some resting and a few hunting. On his signal, we catapult round the corner. I sit in the lotus position watching grey sharks and turtles whizz by. The light penetrating to show a garden of coral. A drift dive I won't forget(LT).
Lunch of fried chicken and veg, a real treat getting some proper meat. Full we sit on the beach, a scene from any perfect postcard in the world. White sands and turquoise blue water change colour in the light. We bump into Nick who is with a different dive company and enjoying the dives as much as us. The 3rd dive is a good dive as well. Shaped like a valley with white tips resting, getting to within 1 metre of them. The currents here at Sipadan are like nothing I have experianced before. In this valley it's feels lilke a strong wind gusting along the valley floor. Adjusting to force, holding rocks where required admiring the many sharks.
Back at base we see Nick and Trystsn, the later doing his open water. grab a cup of tea and wait for our boat.
We say our farewells and get our boat back to Semporna. It's been an odd experiance on Mabul, but one to remember. Our useless reps at Borneo backpackers tell us we are stuck here till tomorrow. Another example of Sabah inefficiency. We go to the bus station and the clerk tells us we can't get to Sepilok tonight but there is a bus that will take us to Beluran which is 16k away. We spend 30 ringets and take our chances, otherwise tomorrow will be another travelling day. Ben had told us that Scuba Junkie does some great western food. After the prison slop, this sounds like a good plan. We bump into Penny and have dinner with her. I opt for the chicken burger with bacon. Once finished I nip to a cafe to email Ben a photo. I'm sure several swear words will be posted back. I am baking. With all the dives and sun, I had expected to get a shower, but that will have to wait. We say cheerio to Penny and stinky 1 & 2, sweat our way to the bus station. We step onto the freezing bus, take our seats and open our cold cokes. This is close to heaven (LT). The onboard TV blasts out Malaysian pop, the half naked ladies and trannies a weird contrast for the Muslim country. The guy in front reclines his chair, my knee caps at breaking point, he thankfully notices before I have to politely throttle him. Tired we arrive in the middle of nowhere at 12am. A one shop pitstop called Deluran. The guy at the depot surprisingly was wrong. There are no taxis. We negotiate with the guy who knows he has us by the short and curlies. Haggling gets us down to 80 ringet but he knows we have no choice. The distance to Sepelok turns out to be 50km and we squeeze into the front of his truck. He doesn't speak any English and mumbles away in Malaysian every time he changes gear. Partly because my leg is over the top of it and probably because he has to drive at 12:30am. We arrive at Uncle Changs at 1am and there is no life or movement. A little concerning we drive to Sepelok B&B. Craig wakes up a guy there that is very hospitable for the time it is. He puts us in a small dorm and we are the only ones there. Dirty and bites itching I shower (LT) before crashing out with what has become a form of meditation - Mr Pfr.