Sipadan. any one been in the last few months?

[t-rocks69]

has any one been in the last few months. am looking for any first hand info on conditions since the screwup happened there. i know that the goverment has said that they will not build all the buildings they said they would but Malaysia's goverment has a bad habbit of saying one thing and doing another. I believe if we as a group of divers don't keep pressure on Malaysia to do the right thing they will end up destroying one of the best dive sites in the world.

any input is apperciated
thanks troy

 

[slurpeee76]

what happened???...i was planning on going there next month!!!

 

[omnio]

I'm curious if anyone has been there recently too. I'm planning on going there at the end of December. I believe the screwup that t-rocks is referring to is this : http://www.finsonline.com/blog/fins/20060516/sipadan-tragic-incident.html

 

[malaysia-islands]

Nah, it is all done and dusted now. Of course, you will keep hearing noises here and there. Pls enjoy your dive trip. I know I would (plan to go next year, now that AirAsia is having mega sales again).

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

Sipadan is still there. The dives have not changed one single bit. There is a small area of shallow coral on the reef flat that has been crunched - but this was never a dive site to start with (<1 metre depth). You won&#8217;t notice it on any dive. The walls and the island are still there.

The accident and its aftermath has been discussed in a few threads this year: do a search for &#8216;Sipadan&#8217;. This will also turn up a few recent trip reports from the area. The Malaysian PM has directed no further developement there without a thorough review.

Cheers,
Rohan.

 

[jiveturkey]

The Malaysian PM has directed no further developement there without a thorough review.

"without a thorough *cough* bribe."

 

[malaysia-islands]

Malaysia just went down in corruption ranking from 39th place to 44th place this year. Darn, must be the new clubhouse bringing the country with it.

If that metal barge gonna stop you from diving, so be it. Good luck! Oh, make sure to book early. 120 divers per day now.

 

[Zippsy]

If that metal barge gonna stop you from diving, so be it.

A metal barge will never stop me from diving unless it lands on top of me. The stupidity and greed of some people, on the other hand, will definitely stop me from diving at certain sites. There are lots of better places than Sipadan to dive and the place moved much further down my list after the plans for the clubhouse came to light with the barge incident.

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

are lots of better places than Sipadan to dive

Such as?

Just curious - I try to dive somewhere new in southeast asia once every six weeks and would like to hear of any other nearby sites better for big walls than sipadan.

Lembeh, Bali etc are all good for macro, and similans have nice reef fish, but if you were after big walls and a chance for pelagics at a site within 3 hours flight of singapore where would you recommend? I was under-whelmed by Bunaken which is the other well know wall site in the area.

Cheers,
Rohan.

 

[Traminer]

Such as?

On my to-do list other than Sipadan:
- Bohol/Malapascua
- Tubbataha (Mar - June)
- Similians
- Burma Banks/Mergui
- Pulau Weh/Aceh
- East Timor/Flores
- Maldives
- Palau
- Ningaloo Reef