Honeymoon in Sabah

[Kieran Byrne]

Hello all, lets first off start by saying me and the misses have well and truely caught the diving bug. Im having kittens sitting here thinking about diving in Borneo, we cant wait........!
We are newly qualified Padi open water divers with Peak performance bouyancy course under our belts too. We have done 9 dives in the uk dive site called Gildenburgh.

We are coming to Kota Kinabula in about 3 weeks to do our advanced open water course for 2 days, we then spend about a week top side travelling around the rain forest etc, and then hit Sipadan for 8 days and 7 nights. We are staying at SMART in a water bungalow. All our trip as been organised by DiveDownBelow and we can say they have been brilliant in helping us plan this.

A few questions....

1) I would like to ask advice on what your thoughts are on what 3 speciallity disciplines we should pick in our advanced open water course. We will be at the TARK Park KK.

2) Would it be advisable to take a whistle or a surface signalling device etc for when at Mabul or Sipadan (hoping we actually get some dives there, will be so gutted if we dont, spending enough money)

3) Should we take torches or other essential bits of kit.

we currently own and are taking computers, mask, snorkel, booties, 3mm wet suit/shortie,fins.

Also any tips/advice on any items we should bring on hooneymoon for our diving/rain forest trip.

All responses welcome, Thank you.

 

[racerx_]

1) who are you taking the course with?
I would do deep, underwater nav, night, and enriched air diver. Some dive ops still make you do dives for the nitrox certification and its not a lot more cost to add one extra dive to your AOW to get nitrox certified.

2) never a bad idea to have a signal device

3) this is up to you. Dive ops will rent you a torch or you bring your own.. I wouldn't say it's necessary

 

[Tippytoes12]

Hi there

Congratulations on your forthcoming wedding.

My hubby and I both adore diving and sharing this interest has been wonderful for us and I am sure it will be for you.

We had a wonderful trip to Borneo last year , stayed in Scuba Junkies. SMART looked amazing.

We did fish I'D and wreck diving as part of our AOW and really enjoyed them.

Definitely bring an SMB if you can , you are almost definitely not likely to need it but just for reassurance have one.

Shirts and t-shirts with one pair of long trousers is plenty for the river. Insect repellent and Sun cream will also be needed. The river is amazing , we really enjoyed having a non diving part to the holiday. Try to get in a visit to the orangutan in Sepilok as they are amazing.

Enjoy the wedding x

 

[Kieran Byrne]

1) who are you taking the course with?
Hey thanks for your response, we will be completing our AOW with the company known as divedownbelow they have a scuba base in Tar Park.

---------- Post added July 8th, 2013 at 10:15 PM ----------

Hi there

Congratulations on your forthcoming wedding.

My hubby and I both adore diving and sharing this interest has been wonderful for us and I am sure it will be for you.

We had a wonderful trip to Borneo last year , stayed in Scuba Junkies. SMART looked amazing.

We did fish I'D and wreck diving as part of our AOW and really enjoyed them.

Definitely bring an SMB if you can , you are almost definitely not likely to need it but just for reassurance have one.

Shirts and t-shirts with one pair of long trousers is plenty for the river. Insect repellent and Sun cream will also be needed. The river is amazing , we really enjoyed having a non diving part to the holiday. Try to get in a visit to the orangutan in Sepilok as they are amazing.

Enjoy the wedding x

Thank you for your lovely response. We will be visiting kinabatangan River (don't a quote me on spelling lol), and we also have a vist to sepilok to look forward too.
How long did you stay and at what time of the year. Just curious to know how many trips to Sipadan did you receive?

 

[Tippytoes12]

Hi again

We stayed at Sepilok Jungle resort , which was basic but lovely and right beside the scantuary. We only stayed one night which was a mistake , as the afternoon feeding is quieter. it is also possible to do a night walk in the reserve , which we did not know about. People we met saw orangutan nesting.Also go at least half an hour early as you can often see orangutan in the trees even around the car park.

In Kinbatangan we stayed in Bilit Rainforest Lodge which was flashbacks plus standard....we loved it...the bungalows were huge and really comfortable.We stayed 3 nights , which was enough but of course longer would have been even better. We also stayed in Kinabatangan Junlgle Lodge which was ultra basis, with rock hard beds...I would not really recommend it. However on both occasions we were there the pygmy elephants were in Sukau so if we went back we might consider staying there. But then elephants are elephants and they move around alot.

We went in November , the start of the rainy season ...it did not affect us too much on Kabul but it rainfall in Sepilok. Again if you can avoid the rains it is better but I would go again in November if unavoidable.

The Sipadan permit system is confusing sitting at home, but when you get to Sipadan and see so few divers an boats you will appreciate it. Scuba Junkie guarantee one day at Sipadan for every 3 days booked. They will let you know at the time of booking if they have enough permits. We were there 9 nights and got , as promised , 3 wonderful days at Sipadan. Everybody we met got the trips to Sipadan they were promised , without a single exception. However other resorts have more permits and fewer guests ....not sure why. So it is entirely possible to ask around and get extra visits. However you may have to pay for the diving you missed at the local sites....you pay for a package.

I see that you have booked SMART ...who had more permits than Scuba Junkies. Unless there is a large dive club staying at the same time as you , which is unlikely but not impossible you may well get up to three days.....but this is just a guesstimate. The only thing you can do is keep asking nicely when you get there and mentioning that it is your honeymoon won't do any harm either.

Sorry if I have rambled on too much.

 

[James R]

We also stayed at Sepilok Jungle Resort and Bilit when we visited Malaysia in Oct 2011. We did two nights at Sepilok (I think) and two or three at Bilit. Both we enjoyed a lot. The jungle walks are great, especially at night, but do a good check for leaches when you're done!

Before that, we spend 10 days at Sipadan Water Village, which we loved. We were able to dive Sipadan Island every other day, as many of the people in our group were more into macro photography and gave up their spots.

 

[Kieran Byrne]

Thanks for your help and advice we are well and truly looking forward to getting out there and enjoying all the wonderful experiences that you all have mentioned. Let's hope we're as successful with the permit and we get a little special treatment as it's our honeymoon.

 

[Lorenzoid]

My wife and I did the same sort of circuit: from KK we went to Sepilok and then a few days at Uncle Tan's, which I suppose is similar to Sepilok Jungle Resort, though not in the same area. It was very basic. We saw a LOT of wildlife. Then on to Mabul/Sipadan, where we stayed at Sipadan Water Village. We chose SWV over Scuba Junkie, Borneo Divers and others because we had never done the villa-on-pilings-over-the-water thing. We found it to be as fun and romantic as it looks. Our only "mistake" was not booking more than three days of diving there. As you have discovered, three days of diving generally means only ONE day at Sipadan unless you are very lucky. If we had booked five days of diving, our odds of getting a second day at Sipadan would have been substantially greater. That one day diving at Sipadan lives in my memory as some of the most amazing diving I have done anywhere. The image of divers with poor buoyancy and/or total disregard for preserving the coral also lives on in my memory (a group of Asian divers were literally standing on shelf coral and taking pictures of each other), but that's another story. Have a wonderful honeymoon!

 

[Kieran Byrne]

My self and the wife Are currently enjoying sabah. Had our first taste of underwater sea life and also the nature above land.seen so much.cant wait to get to sipadan and mabul. Off to sepilok now.

 

[Tippytoes12]

My self and the wife Are currently enjoying sabah. Had our first taste of underwater sea life and also the nature above land.seen so much.cant wait to get to sipadan and mabul. Off to sepilok now.

Brilliant Kieran, I hope the wedding went well. Thanks for the update , give our love to the orangutan, the elephants and all the turtles.