Monday, July 26, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
My new found Paradise - Sipadan, Malaysia
Eat DIVE, Drink DIVE, Sleep, DIVE
Firstly I have to say that this place is probably the most amazing place I have ever been too, words can't even describe how perfect it is. All I've wanted to do when I started diving was dive with the turtles and throughout the 4 days and 10 dives I lost count of how many I'd seen, something around the 50-60 mark.
Sipadan is located 36km off Sabah's southeast coast. Sipadan (also called 'Pulau Sipadan') is the shining star in the archipelago's constellation of shimmering islands. The elliptocal islet sits like a clay-tinged crown atop a stunning submerged pinnacle with its world famous near-vertical walls. This underwater beacon is a weigh station for virtually all types of sealife, from fluttering coral to school-bus-sized whale sharks (we didn't see any though). Sea turtles and reef sharks are a given on any dive, we saw 50-60 turtles both the Green Turtle and Hawksbill Turtle, at least 15 black-tip reef sharks, blue-spotted rays, schools and schools of Barracuda's, schools of Giant Trevally, a dozen Giant Groupers, Titan trigger fish, crocodile fish, boxfish, pufferfish and the list goes onnnnnn.
We managed four dives at Sipadan's technicolour sea walls which reach deep down - 2000m to the distant ocean floor - and act like an underwater beacon luring docile turtles, slippery sharks and waving mantas. The most famous being Barracuda Point, where streamers of barracuda collide to form impenetrable walls of fish flesh. Reef sharks seem to be attracted to the strong current here and almost always swing in to say hello. Although Sipadan outshines the neighbouring sites there are other reefs in the marine park that are well worth exploring. The macro-diving around Mabul is world famous and in fact the term 'muck diving' was invented here. We were able to do 3 macro dives at Mabul and saw all sorts of colourful Nudibranch, Raggy scorpion fish, Juvenile boxfish, white eye morays, ribbon eel, peacock mantis shrimp....I couldn't name everything....
We stayed at Kapalai-Sipadan Resort, although commonly referred to as an island, Kapalai is more like a large sandbar sitting slightly under the ocean surface. From afar the one hotel looks like it's sitting on palm trunks in the middle of the sea. Basically our days consisted of eating, diving, eating, diving, eating, drinking, diving, in that exact order. With a bit of sun tanning, snorkelling, swimming and kayaking!
This experience has been a once in a lifetime. I don't know how any diving I do the rest of my life will live up to this place, if I find it, I will be sure to let everyone know... The coolest experience would have to be diving with Turtles all around me and then suddenly bumping into a wall of Barracuda's with black-tip reef sharks lurking below...also I had two striped cleaner shrimp cleaning my finger nails at 15m below sealevel and after they were done with my nails they went on to clean Rodel's (our amazing dive master for 4 days) teeth. He took out his regulator, climbed onto his lips and started cleaning his teeth...SO cool...and Amy and I went on a sunset dive on our own...free as a bird in the open water just the two of us as buddies!
Kapalai, Sipadan is a place I will never forget, it's turquiose waters surrounding the entire resort, turtles popping up to the surface to say hello right outside our wood, water bugalow built on stilts, and the pinkest sunsets I've ever seen. We lived in the worlds best aquarium for 4 days and I hope I do it again one day :)
Firstly I have to say that this place is probably the most amazing place I have ever been too, words can't even describe how perfect it is. All I've wanted to do when I started diving was dive with the turtles and throughout the 4 days and 10 dives I lost count of how many I'd seen, something around the 50-60 mark.
Sipadan is located 36km off Sabah's southeast coast. Sipadan (also called 'Pulau Sipadan') is the shining star in the archipelago's constellation of shimmering islands. The elliptocal islet sits like a clay-tinged crown atop a stunning submerged pinnacle with its world famous near-vertical walls. This underwater beacon is a weigh station for virtually all types of sealife, from fluttering coral to school-bus-sized whale sharks (we didn't see any though). Sea turtles and reef sharks are a given on any dive, we saw 50-60 turtles both the Green Turtle and Hawksbill Turtle, at least 15 black-tip reef sharks, blue-spotted rays, schools and schools of Barracuda's, schools of Giant Trevally, a dozen Giant Groupers, Titan trigger fish, crocodile fish, boxfish, pufferfish and the list goes onnnnnn.
We managed four dives at Sipadan's technicolour sea walls which reach deep down - 2000m to the distant ocean floor - and act like an underwater beacon luring docile turtles, slippery sharks and waving mantas. The most famous being Barracuda Point, where streamers of barracuda collide to form impenetrable walls of fish flesh. Reef sharks seem to be attracted to the strong current here and almost always swing in to say hello. Although Sipadan outshines the neighbouring sites there are other reefs in the marine park that are well worth exploring. The macro-diving around Mabul is world famous and in fact the term 'muck diving' was invented here. We were able to do 3 macro dives at Mabul and saw all sorts of colourful Nudibranch, Raggy scorpion fish, Juvenile boxfish, white eye morays, ribbon eel, peacock mantis shrimp....I couldn't name everything....
We stayed at Kapalai-Sipadan Resort, although commonly referred to as an island, Kapalai is more like a large sandbar sitting slightly under the ocean surface. From afar the one hotel looks like it's sitting on palm trunks in the middle of the sea. Basically our days consisted of eating, diving, eating, diving, eating, drinking, diving, in that exact order. With a bit of sun tanning, snorkelling, swimming and kayaking!
This experience has been a once in a lifetime. I don't know how any diving I do the rest of my life will live up to this place, if I find it, I will be sure to let everyone know... The coolest experience would have to be diving with Turtles all around me and then suddenly bumping into a wall of Barracuda's with black-tip reef sharks lurking below...also I had two striped cleaner shrimp cleaning my finger nails at 15m below sealevel and after they were done with my nails they went on to clean Rodel's (our amazing dive master for 4 days) teeth. He took out his regulator, climbed onto his lips and started cleaning his teeth...SO cool...and Amy and I went on a sunset dive on our own...free as a bird in the open water just the two of us as buddies!
Kapalai, Sipadan is a place I will never forget, it's turquiose waters surrounding the entire resort, turtles popping up to the surface to say hello right outside our wood, water bugalow built on stilts, and the pinkest sunsets I've ever seen. We lived in the worlds best aquarium for 4 days and I hope I do it again one day :)
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Malaysia - Kuala Lumpar & Kota Kinabalu
We had one nice day on the beaches of Railay, Thailand before heading to Krabi and eventually (slowly) making our way to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We arrived at the bus stop in KL early early, found a place to stay in the Golden Triangle to sleep for a few hours before using the only day we had to tour the city and sights of KL. We had a little sleep in the then put on our walking shoes, in other words our Havianna flip flops which we've lived in for 6 weeks to walk about the city. First stop was the famous Petronas Towers, opened in 1998, the 88-storey steel-clad twin towers rise up to 451.9m. They are the headquaters of the national oil and gas company, Petronas and also house several different companies as well. Islamic influences are also evident in each towers 5 tiers - representing the five pillars of Islam. Unfortunately the towers closed to the public on Monday's, go figure. But they said only a 1000 tickets are given out in the morning and people lineup starting from 6am to get these...the view of the towers was better than going up anyways.... So we ventured from there to China town and did a bit of shopping, cheap dvd's and bags before heading back to our accomodation to get ready for the evening. Big plans...:) We went to the traders hotel Sky Bar which has a pool on the 40th floor and has the best view of the Petronas Towers lit up at night, so we drank cocktails and looked over the beautiful city of KL. I could definitely live here if the opportunity arose :) After a cocktail at this highclass establishment we went to see the long awaited movie 'Sex and the City' and it was SOOOOO good. Amy and I left the theatre wanting to watch it again. Maybe with the girls in Canada and then again in Australia :) We called it quits after the late movie because we had an early flight to Kota Kinabalu.
Now in KK, I was planning to climb Malaysia's highest mountain, Mt Kinabalu, but I didn't plan ahead and book, in my head I was climbing it but once I got here all the reservations were booked for the next few days, so I wasn't able to climb it :( Next time.....just means I WILL be coming back. So Amy and I spent the last two days on the islands of the coast of KK just relaxing in the 33 degree sunny weather on whitesand beaches, snorkeling with the most under sea life I've ever experienced. 10m from the shore of the island I was swimming with Barraccuda, anenome fish, angelfish, butterfly fish, trevally, wrasse, damsel fish, coronet fish...etc and they were all in less than 2m of water....I was literally in fish heaven!!! So I guess I wasn't too too disappointed I couldn't hike the gruelling climb of Mt K, I will just have to save my climb for when the fam can join me :) So during the day we relaxed on the islands that were surrounded by coral reefs and for sunset we headed to the Filipino BBQ market which is the best place in town for grilled seafood at unbeatable prices. We hunkered down at one of the crowded tables located right beside the sea, pointed to our prey and watched the sun diminish at the horizon while the sky filled with pink and orange.
The day we arrived in KK before heading out to the islands we arranged a trip out to see the almost extinct Orang-Utans about 40 mins outside of town in one of the four rehbilitation centres in the world. Orang-Utans are the only species of great ape found outside Africa. A mature male is an impressive, hairy creature with an armspan of 2.25m and can weigh up to 144kg. It was once said that an orang-utan could swing from tree to tree from one side of Borneo to the other without touching the ground. Sadly this is no longer the case, and hunting and habitat destruction continue to take their toll, it's estimated fewer than 15,000 specimens now exist in the wild. They are amazing, intelligent creatures and I feel honoured that I was able to see this creature before they become extinct, which I hope does not happen....
Now in KK, I was planning to climb Malaysia's highest mountain, Mt Kinabalu, but I didn't plan ahead and book, in my head I was climbing it but once I got here all the reservations were booked for the next few days, so I wasn't able to climb it :( Next time.....just means I WILL be coming back. So Amy and I spent the last two days on the islands of the coast of KK just relaxing in the 33 degree sunny weather on whitesand beaches, snorkeling with the most under sea life I've ever experienced. 10m from the shore of the island I was swimming with Barraccuda, anenome fish, angelfish, butterfly fish, trevally, wrasse, damsel fish, coronet fish...etc and they were all in less than 2m of water....I was literally in fish heaven!!! So I guess I wasn't too too disappointed I couldn't hike the gruelling climb of Mt K, I will just have to save my climb for when the fam can join me :) So during the day we relaxed on the islands that were surrounded by coral reefs and for sunset we headed to the Filipino BBQ market which is the best place in town for grilled seafood at unbeatable prices. We hunkered down at one of the crowded tables located right beside the sea, pointed to our prey and watched the sun diminish at the horizon while the sky filled with pink and orange.
The day we arrived in KK before heading out to the islands we arranged a trip out to see the almost extinct Orang-Utans about 40 mins outside of town in one of the four rehbilitation centres in the world. Orang-Utans are the only species of great ape found outside Africa. A mature male is an impressive, hairy creature with an armspan of 2.25m and can weigh up to 144kg. It was once said that an orang-utan could swing from tree to tree from one side of Borneo to the other without touching the ground. Sadly this is no longer the case, and hunting and habitat destruction continue to take their toll, it's estimated fewer than 15,000 specimens now exist in the wild. They are amazing, intelligent creatures and I feel honoured that I was able to see this creature before they become extinct, which I hope does not happen....
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Phi Phi - My Love
Amy and I are now back on Phi Phi...after a night in Phuket Town we wanted to get out of there pretty quick, not much to do there and the wet season was in action. We made our way over to Ko Phi Phi which is an island I visited three years ago and absolulely loved. I didn't do any diving on this side of Thailand at the time and have heard it's amazing so this is where I planned to do my Advanced Diving course with PADI and Amy did her Open Water course with SSI. The weather here has not been too great....a little sunshine the first day for diving and then basically drizzle with a few sunbreaks. But the great thing is it made it easier to sit in a little cafe with a coffee and study my book. When you're out on the water diving you don't notice the weather so it actually hasn't affected me which is nice. Temperatures are still above 28 degrees and the water temperature is 30 degrees which makes it a diving heaven for me.
Amy and I met a couple guys from Australia, Ireland and girls from Paraguay on the boat over and ended up going out with them that evening, drinking, watching fireshows and dancing the night away.....
The next two days consisted of study, diving and beach time...the first day I did the Navigation and Peak Performance Buoyancy dives and then next day did the Fish Identification dive, a Deep dive and Night Dive. With water temperatures at 30 degrees I could have stayed underwater all day, it's the warmest conditions I've ever been in and probably the most sealife I have ever seen. This place basically has it all. I saw everything from a black tipped reef shark, a dozen groupers, angelfish, butterfly fish, cornet, trumpet fish, a school of travelly and barracudda, a couple giant moray eels, black spotted snake, which will kill you if it bites, squirrel fish, anenome fish (little nemo's), crabs, wrasse, and the list goes on....no turtles but that is why I've booked the Malaysia dive trip so I can SEEEEEE a turtle. I think it's been long enough.
So I officially got my advanced diving certificate on Canada Day 2010 but I was too exhausted from two days of diving and the night dive that I passed out right after a little celebration and video watching in the dive shop... It was great fun completing the course, maybe next time I'll do my rescue and dive master :) Today Amy and I will take a boat over to Railay which is near Krabi on the mainland before heading to Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
