tfitz
Registered
Thanks for the trip report! I am going in mid-June and getting really excited! Any recommendations on stuff to do at night?
Sipadan trip report 12FEB2011
- Thread starter Terryb
- Start date
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At night? You could do a night dive 
After dinner you have a broad choice of thrilling activities--look at fish books, watch pirated DVDs, play a game on your iPad, go to bed early, edit your photos, read old dive magazines that are lying around....
After dinner you have a broad choice of thrilling activities--look at fish books, watch pirated DVDs, play a game on your iPad, go to bed early, edit your photos, read old dive magazines that are lying around....
tfitz
Registered
Hmmm, my ideal evening would be organizing photos and sleeping, but I don't think my husband will be so thrilled. I've heard it's a pretty quiet place and it sounds like that's what you're saying too. Luckily we'll be in Kuala Lumpur for a week afterward so we'll just have to enjoy the night life there.
OP
tfitz,
I agree with hoot72, you don't go to Mabul or Semporna for the night life. After 3-4 dives per day, I had dinner, a beer possibly 2, sent out photos on facebook then crashed till I woke up for a quick morning snack and run to the boat. The diving made it more than worthwhile. I did hear that there was some night life down the beach at Uncle Chang's, a backpacker's place, but everybody was pretty young and heavy into the drinking.
I agree with hoot72, you don't go to Mabul or Semporna for the night life. After 3-4 dives per day, I had dinner, a beer possibly 2, sent out photos on facebook then crashed till I woke up for a quick morning snack and run to the boat. The diving made it more than worthwhile. I did hear that there was some night life down the beach at Uncle Chang's, a backpacker's place, but everybody was pretty young and heavy into the drinking.
Besides, you really shouldn't be diving if you have had a lot of alcohol. Most of the dives out to Sipadan depart anyways at 6:00am and you need to be good to go by 5.30am after breakfast and getting your gear sorted anyways.
After a great dive trip to Bali, and in particular Liberty/Tulamben, we were situated in KL ready to fly to Sipadan; but then the quota system put us off and we decided not to go. Sounds like a lot of people have great luck and dive Sipadan nearly daily; but the other sad stories of diving Sipadan one out of every three or four days is not the kind of Sipadan trip we are looking for. I'm maybe sure the quota system is good for the ecosystem; but somehow USAT Liberty provides such a great and varied dive, and there are no quotas to beg or bargain for; and we can rent tanks and weights and have a relaxing, stress free dive on the Liberty, from sunrise to sunset, as much as we like. When we were looking around at Sipadan dive centers, no one would guarantee we could get enough dive time on Sipadan to make our trip worth while, compared to all the other great dive sites in the world without quotas. We are off to Truk soon, yeah Micronesia... no quotas. Hip Hip Hurray! Then, back to Bali for the great/easy/fun Tulamben/Amed dive sites, more-than-likely. All things considered, I am sure the topic is controversial and there are about as many opinions as people; but we did not find the "beg, borrow and steal" quota system for Sipadan to be worth the effort with all the other great "non quota" dive sites in the world. OBTW, having been diving in Thailand a lot before Bali, I can say, without any doubt, that the coral reefs in Bali are much more healthy than anything we experienced in Thailand. There was no comparison really. The best dive in Phuket was OK, but it was incomparable to the dive sites of Bali.
At least there is somewhat of a system in place rather than no control at all which is the case in 99% of other dive sites around the world. I'd rather this than nothing. It's not a perfect system but at least there is one.
tfitz
Registered
Thanks hoot72 and Terryb. I know what I'm getting into. But, things are always changing, so for me it never hurts to ask someone who's been there recently. I actually don't drink at all during dive trips (well ok, I'm new to diving so I've only been on one
). I figured maybe a nice place to check out on an evening stroll/bicycle ride.
Terryb, you're right. We'll probably be exhausted.
It sounds like you guys are big proponents of this concept I've heard about: Dive. Eat. Sleep. Dive...?
). I figured maybe a nice place to check out on an evening stroll/bicycle ride. Terryb, you're right. We'll probably be exhausted.
It sounds like you guys are big proponents of this concept I've heard about: Dive. Eat. Sleep. Dive...?
OP
good thought Tfitz,
Yeah your'e paying enough to get there and dive without loosing any dive time due to hangover, or worse, dive accident. There's always time after the dive trip to sip some suds. One other thing stay well hydrated when doing multiple dives, drink till you pee then drink some more, reduces the chances of a hit. Also Sipadan is a nice place to stroll around, no issues, and the people are friendly and the island is small. Post a trip report when you get back.
Yeah your'e paying enough to get there and dive without loosing any dive time due to hangover, or worse, dive accident. There's always time after the dive trip to sip some suds. One other thing stay well hydrated when doing multiple dives, drink till you pee then drink some more, reduces the chances of a hit. Also Sipadan is a nice place to stroll around, no issues, and the people are friendly and the island is small. Post a trip report when you get back.
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