Sel
Registered
We were SO lucky. It was a last minute trip and Sipadan Water Village were able to accommodate us even though we contacted them a week before we flew to Malaysia. Although this might sound like a sales pitch, I must say that Sipadan Water Village has to be one of our favorite resorts. It was our second time with them and we were not the slightest disappointed. The service was amazing, the food great, and on our last day, to make us more miserable that we were leaving, they gave us a private dinner in our bungalow with a wondrous Malaysian 20+ course meal. Simply delightful.
"And how was the diving?" Well, it was different. I have dived in Sipadan 3 or 4 times since 1994 and things have seriously changed over the years. The last time we were there was in 2005 and there has been a significant drop in big-fish sightings. There are a lot less turtles (although still thankfully plentiful), less sharks both Whitetip and Grey Reef (about 5-7 the most during one dive), smaller schools of Barracudas (according to a dive master, the school split up and "convene" at different sites around the island to feed), smaller schools of Jacks, no longer any schools of Humpheads (we were happy to see a few lone swimmers), and the batfish schools have also dwindled in size. We saw a large school of hammerheads last time, this time our highlight was a beautiful Devil Ray (my first). So seeing something "big" was more of a treat now which made us maybe a little more appreciative.
Visibility for most of our dives was quite sad (7-15 meters at best). I wonder if one of the reasons for less big-fish sightings and the bad visibility was due our diving at the tail end of the monsoon season...anyone?
Although there weren't many "big-fish" this time, the Macro or Muck diving was AMAZING. We saw all sorts of shrimps (Giant Mantis, darling Cleaner shrimps, various anemone shrimps, and coral shrimps), DARLING pygmy seahorse, tons of lovely Nudibranchs (from Notodoris to Chromodoris), wonderful Gobis and their accompanying shrimps, all sorts of pipefish (ornate ghost to brown banded), wonderful leaf fishes (yellow and white), etc, etc. It was amazing and I think Sipadan will have to start selling itself as a Macro dive paradise now that the bigger fish have gone.
Concerning the dive permits, it's a pain in the *** but we were SO blessed again because we came during a small pocket in time when there were only 4-7 of us diving!!!! So we dived Sipadan 3 times a day for 3 days at a go. Timing is CRITICAL. DO NOT go during the European summer vacation (i.e. July-September), Chinese New Year, and I forgot sometime when the Japanese have their vacations. It's really sad, and I totally understand people flying in all the way from Germany or the States finding out they can only dive in Sipadan twice, but on the other hand, despite the bureaucratic crap, it is essential for the survival of Sipadan. I have no clue why they don't limit the building of resorts-that's what's incomprehensible. There are 4 major resorts on Mabul and Kapilai and 7 (I think) back-packers operating. Also, there's a new resort, accommodating up to 200 guests being built on Mabul at the moment. Sorry, but that sucks.
So all in all, it was a wonderful vacation and Sipadan Water Village was simply amazing. However, I think that we will probably not dive in Sipadan for a while and hope and pray that it will "recover" during this period of limited dive permits.
"And how was the diving?" Well, it was different. I have dived in Sipadan 3 or 4 times since 1994 and things have seriously changed over the years. The last time we were there was in 2005 and there has been a significant drop in big-fish sightings. There are a lot less turtles (although still thankfully plentiful), less sharks both Whitetip and Grey Reef (about 5-7 the most during one dive), smaller schools of Barracudas (according to a dive master, the school split up and "convene" at different sites around the island to feed), smaller schools of Jacks, no longer any schools of Humpheads (we were happy to see a few lone swimmers), and the batfish schools have also dwindled in size. We saw a large school of hammerheads last time, this time our highlight was a beautiful Devil Ray (my first). So seeing something "big" was more of a treat now which made us maybe a little more appreciative.
Visibility for most of our dives was quite sad (7-15 meters at best). I wonder if one of the reasons for less big-fish sightings and the bad visibility was due our diving at the tail end of the monsoon season...anyone?
Although there weren't many "big-fish" this time, the Macro or Muck diving was AMAZING. We saw all sorts of shrimps (Giant Mantis, darling Cleaner shrimps, various anemone shrimps, and coral shrimps), DARLING pygmy seahorse, tons of lovely Nudibranchs (from Notodoris to Chromodoris), wonderful Gobis and their accompanying shrimps, all sorts of pipefish (ornate ghost to brown banded), wonderful leaf fishes (yellow and white), etc, etc. It was amazing and I think Sipadan will have to start selling itself as a Macro dive paradise now that the bigger fish have gone.
Concerning the dive permits, it's a pain in the *** but we were SO blessed again because we came during a small pocket in time when there were only 4-7 of us diving!!!! So we dived Sipadan 3 times a day for 3 days at a go. Timing is CRITICAL. DO NOT go during the European summer vacation (i.e. July-September), Chinese New Year, and I forgot sometime when the Japanese have their vacations. It's really sad, and I totally understand people flying in all the way from Germany or the States finding out they can only dive in Sipadan twice, but on the other hand, despite the bureaucratic crap, it is essential for the survival of Sipadan. I have no clue why they don't limit the building of resorts-that's what's incomprehensible. There are 4 major resorts on Mabul and Kapilai and 7 (I think) back-packers operating. Also, there's a new resort, accommodating up to 200 guests being built on Mabul at the moment. Sorry, but that sucks.
So all in all, it was a wonderful vacation and Sipadan Water Village was simply amazing. However, I think that we will probably not dive in Sipadan for a while and hope and pray that it will "recover" during this period of limited dive permits.
