How safe's Sipadan?

[Sel]

Hi,

M husband and I with two others will be going to Sipadan Water Village in August and we've been counting the days for a whole year. I was surfing the net this morning and was stunned to find that Australian government had issued a travel advisory telling all Australians to avoid all travel to coastal resorts, and dive sites off the east coast of Sabah due to recent intelligence concerning terrorist kidnaps of foreigners.

Now I'm a bit jittery. We've been planning this trip for so long. Does anyone know whether the travel advisory is just a precaution or something to be worried about?

Selma

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

Selma – I was at Sipadan a few weeks back. It is clear that the Malaysian government takes its role of protecting tourists very seriously. Sipadan Island is a discrete military base, with the old diving resorts now home to soldiers. There are daily flights by surveillance aircraft over the area. At nighttimes there are small navy patrol boats patrolling the stretch of sea between Malaysia and Philippines, which is where the last lot of kidnappers came from.

I felt quite safe.

Anyway - with luck any kidnappings will be over by the time you get there...

Cheers,
Rohan.

 

[Sel]

Selma – I was at Sipadan a few weeks back. It is clear that the Malaysian government takes its role of protecting tourists very seriously. Sipadan Island is a discrete military base, with the old diving resorts now home to soldiers. There are daily flights by surveillance aircraft over the area. At nighttimes there are small navy patrol boats patrolling the stretch of sea between Malaysia and Philippines, which is where the last lot of kidnappers came from.

I felt quite safe.

Anyway - with luck any kidnappings will be over by the time you get there...

Cheers,
Rohan.

Hi Rohan,

Thanks for the tip! I'm glad to hear from someone that was there recently. I've dived Sipadan about 10 years back so I have no clue how it's like today. Hope you had a good trip.

Warm Regards,
Selma

 

[tzeyap]

Sel,
I was in Sipadan last month and there is not so much as a whiff of discomfort in terms of security.
I read the same travel advisory- a link which was posted by Freddi.
If you look at the other advisories put out by the Australian government for other countries including the US and countries in Europe and plan by them, you will stay at home and not travel anywhere !!
These advisories appear standard form for all countries with minor modifications for individual countries.
I would encourage you to proceed with your plan and have a really good time.

 

[Nobby]

Sel,
I was in Sipadan last month and there is not so much as a whiff of discomfort in terms of security.
I read the same travel advisory- a link which was posted by Freddi.
If you look at the other advisories put out by the Australian government for other countries including the US and countries in Europe and plan by them, you will stay at home and not travel anywhere !!
These advisories appear standard form for all countries with minor modifications for individual countries.
I would encourage you to proceed with your plan and have a really good time.

I completely agree. Here in the UK the Foreign Commonwealth Office post reports based on intelligence from arounf the globe. There is intelligence on anywhere that a remote threat is considered. Sipadan (I was there 6 weeks ago, although I am a soldier I felt completey safe, and I stayed on Kapalai which is in the middle of the ocean with no island to speak of). The threat is no insignificant but it shouldn't stop you from travelling. The Phillipines are a threat to the Malay islands but it's been years since they tried anything and IMO years before they'd try again. Go to Sipadan and enjoy the underwater world....Enjoy

 

[Sel]

Hi again,

Thanks so very much for your input! Tobias thinks that we should carry on with our plans to go in August since we've already paid the 10% deposit. I guess I'm one of those ever-precautious persons

Thanks again. I promise to write a report if all works out.

 

[ronnielcm]

hi Selma, I was just back from Sipadan last week. If u stay at SWV I think u will feel safe cos i saw 2 army was there all the time. And feel free to visit below link for malaysian activity up to date.
http://scubamy.conforums3.com/index.cgi?board=local
Hope u enjoy ur trip in Malaysia.

 

[malaysia-islands]

I was in Sipadan-Mabul Water Village last January. All I can say is that there are ample security measures taken, especially when you see a lot of marine patrol boats. I saw one of them was anchored at the Water Village's main jetty.

When I was at Sipadan's Jetty Drop-Off , I saw 2-3 smaller patrol boats (grey colored ones, definitely from the Royal Navy). A lot of the army personnel also went up ashore, and ate their lunch at the resort.

Anyway, the decision whether or not to pay heed to the "travel advisory" is really up to the person. I'd save my further comments because it can become a little too political, LOL!

 

[scubaju]

hi selma

are you back yet?
i'll be going mid september, and i would be interested in what you thought of the place.
i've been wanting to go there for years, and to be honest, i'm more concerned with the quality of the water and marine life than the security...

please keep us posted!

ju

 

[Scuba Susie]

hi selma

are you back yet?
i'll be going mid september, and i would be interested in what you thought of the place.
i've been wanting to go there for years, and to be honest, i'm more concerned with the quality of the water and marine life than the security...

please keep us posted!

ju

I stayed at SMART with a group of us from California in May and we had a ball. We felt very safe and the diving was extraordianary! Some of the best diving I have ever done! Great viz, calm seas, schools and walls of everything, so many turtles you literally bump into them, mola mola!, mating zebra sharks, ghost pipe fish, pigmy seahorse, cuttle fish o'plenty, ...DANG! Just about everything you could imagine. Did I mention the mating Mandarin fish???? I would go back in a heart beat! Has anyone heard if SMART has started refinishing their beach chalets???? Oh, and one more question...when is Monsoon season over? Trying to plan another trip over there with the rest of the Happy Divers who couldn't make it last time!
Thanks
Susie