Barracudas, Bumpheads and other creatures of the blue

Following our time in the jungle, a change of scenery was on the cards as we headed down the coast to Semporna, with our ultimate destination being the island of Mabul. We said a sad farewell to Leejiah, our travel companion for the past two weeks, and boarded the bus for Semporna.

The less said about this small town, the better. It is now the focus of Chinese "food tourism" as we learnt upon arrival. People are either here to look at the wonderful marine life, or to eat it. Tables piled high with the left overs of various crustaceans left Dale wondering about the sustainability of this practice. This was coupled with a seemingly non-existent waste management system, as plastic littered the streets everywhere. Fortunately it seemed some establishments were initiating the anti-straw movement. We avoided the seafood travesty and found some great grub at the Semporna night market - incredibly delicious tandoori-style chicken, peanut satay chicken kebabs and vegetable rotis.

To break the three day stint we had inadvertently landed up with in this town we decided to do some scuba diving. This served as a "refresher" as we had not dived in over a year. The offshore islands of the Semporna archipelago were indeed picturesque, a fact not overlooked by the many tourist boats which hopped from spot to spot. Our dive guide mentioned that over 50 boats a day might depart the Semporna jetty for various island destinations in this area. Our three dives were enjoyable, mostly involving drift dives along walls of coral festooned with reef fish. The 3rd dive had a pretty strong current, making it feel more like a rollercoaster than a drift. The boat skipper, however, had over-estimated the speed and strength of this current and drifted further "downstream" to await our surfacing. We popped up with the boat a distant speck on the horizon and proceeded to wait about 30 minutes before the skipper finally caught sight of our infloated dive buoy and came to the rescue. Fortunately we were floating about 3-5 metres above a stunning coral reef and the nearby island was well within swimming distance, making the ordeal slightly less concerning than it might sound to our mothers...

But the main reason we had travelled to this corner of Borneo was Sipadan island and its surrouding reef system. This site regularly features in the world's top dive destinations, and since we were so "close" we could not possibly miss out. The regional government in their wisdom has established a protected area over the island and it's reefs and issues limited diving permits per day. This meant that to secure a Sipadan diving day permit we had booked a Mabul island diving package about three months earlier. Our operator of choice was the aptly named "Scuba Junkie". They are very popular, for good reason; they provide excellent service in all aspects - accommodation, catering, diving and most importantly are a major contributor to the conservation of these natural resources, diverting much of their profits to their conservation division - S.E.A.S (more on their work in a later blog...).

Upon arrival at Mabul Island (pictured above) our bags were dropped off on the jetty, we were immediately kitted out with the necessary equipment and headed off for our first dive. A beautiful coral reef wall and relaxing drift dive followed, indeed these were to become our favourite type of dive over the next few days. Our drift dives revealed plenty of Green and Hawksbill turtles, a Spotted Eagle Ray and many different types of colourful reef fish, including tiny fire dartfish, big shoals of Blue-stripe snapper, Harlequin sweetlips, various colourful nudibranchs, Humphead bannerfish and a very territorial Titan triggerfish who vociferously saw us out of his patch.

In our many searches and time spent planning we had not come across the fact that this time of year sees the southerly wind blowing almost daily. This limited the diving somewhat, meaning we were exposed to something new - "muck diving". We've now learnt that although this is interesting it's perhaps not our favourite kind of diving. It essentially involves diving among artificial reef structures and slowly cruising over a sandy bottom as the dive guides pick out bizarre creatures. These included Crocodile flathead, chocolate chip star fish and garden eels, amongst others.

After a few days of diving in the "muck" we were very much ready for the splendour of Sipadan island. And it most definitely lived up to its reputation. The primary reason that the marine life is so remarkable here is that this tiny island sits atop an ancient volcanic cone, rising up from the ocean floor more than 600km below! Most islands, like Mabul where we were based, sit on the continental shelf. However, this shelf drops of slightly east of Mabul. The deep water and strong ocean currents means that many animals which normally occupy the open ocean, so called pelagic species, come in to these reefs to rest, or breed, or feed. Lucky us. The excitement builds as you approach the tiny island, suddenly emerging from the vastness of the ocean, covered in a thick green layer of jungle and Palm trees. A truly idyllic place. The diving schools are restricted to the small northern tip, leaving the remainder untouched by humans (good news for conservation, less good news for Dale's chances of spotting the rare birds which occupy the island).

Our first dive was on Barracuda point - regularly ranking as the 2nd best dive site in the world - this reef lived up to its namesake as a huge school of Chevron Barracuda drifted past above us, almost blocking out the light as they moved in unison. We were also treated to a few Grey reef sharks, the first of which, at about 2m in size, gave us a closer look, leaving Esti and I doing an underwater jig in delight (yes, there are people who revel in close encounters with these animals). Many White-tip reef sharks were spotted "chilling" on the reef, perhaps waiting their turn at the cleaner wrasse station, or just taking some time out from cruising the open ocean in search of a meal. The second dive was a site called Coral Gardens, which also lived up to its name. During lunch Dale did manage to stalk around the accessible part of the island (which was about 200m across), and came across a flock of stunning Imperial Pied Pigeons and Black-naped Green-pigeons, whilst the regal White-bellied Sea eagle added to the day's "lifers". Friends may be wondering about the use of the word stunning in relation to pigeons, particularly if you're only familiar with the city slicker forms of this group, but South-east Asia and other tropical areas should challenge this misconception.

Our final dive was at Drop Off - previously considered the best shore dive in the world (that is a site which is accessed in full dive gear directly from the shore). Although we bobbed in a boat and plopped casually overboard we could just as easily have walked in from the beach. Sipadan delivered yet again, as the reef seems to cascade down into the abyss directly from the surface, dropping vertically as if on the precipice of a high mountain. The dive guide took the group into a large underwater cave, whilst Dale floated reluctantly at the entrance preferring not to venture into the darkness. We then continued on a casual drift next to this immense coral wall, with green turtles occupying almost every second crevice to our right (Esti stopped counting after turtle number 20), whilst the occasional shark drifted in and out of the deep blue to our left. The reef topography and coral diversity, along with the turtles and sharks, kept us mesmerized for the 50 minutes underwater. As a final treat, Sipadan offered up views of the bizarre Bumphead parrot fish - one of the "specials" of this reef, encountered at low tide. A fitting end to one of our best ever days of diving....coming second only to our honeymoon at Rocktail bay (yup - the South African north KwaZulu-Natal reef systems are hard to beat!).

The boat ride back from Mabul island was a sad affair, as we said goodbye to our temporary home at Scuba Junkie. We can only hope that the efforts of this dive operator, to engage the other resorts and dive schools in the area to participate in jointly conserving the reefs and resources on which their businesses depend, pay dividends, allowing others to experience this magical underwater world.

Thanks to our Canadian friend James for the drone shot of Mabul.