The Art of Spoiling Oneself!

Sea Gypsy Kids
I flew to Tawau, Borneo on the morning of the 17th March. It was earlier than planned and I took with me a new camera & underwater housing, a birthday present to myself. This dive trip was of course another Birthday present to myself! :)) Here I was in Sempora, ready to dive Sipadan once again! Result.

Sea Gypsy Boy

It's the last leg of my trip and why not spoil myself. Well that's what Ive decided, from this moment forward I am simply going to do what I want to do, regardless of cost. Dive Sipadan, Surf Safari in Bali and perhaps a couple of other treats.... we will see. What fun!

Sibuan
Having previously booked myself a place on the earliest available (Mabul based) date to dive Sipadan I had a few days to kill and I certainly wasn't going to waste them in KL. I arrived in Semporna 4 days prior to my booking on Mabul and got chatting to the other dive operators.

For those of you that have been here, you'll know how difficult it is to get onto Sipadan dives. There are quite a few dive operators in town and only a max of 150 diving permits issued per day for Sipadan. In the meantime one can keep busy by diving the other sites such as Mabul and Kapalai islands.

Sibuan

Funnily enough the last time I was here, I was warned off Scuba Junkies. I was told that the team were young and were mainly interested in getting drunk at night. They had a reputation for losing their divers.... ummm!! These guys are a major player on the market they have an average of 3 to 4 boats out a day. This time I decided to have a look for myself. I walked in there and the team looked like fun. A mixed age group: late 20's to mid thirties and they looked responsible. A quick chat, a look at the equipment and I signed up for another 3 day package... which meant that I'd actually dive for 7 days in total, a real treat.

I checked into the hotel and set up my underwater camera for the first time. Its just a little point and shoot canon power shot camera but it has fully manual options which means that this little baby is almost an dSLR at a the fraction of the cost! Of course I'd be disappointed should it get flooded but it means I can keep my real dSLR safe and above sea level. I couldn't wait to see the results of my new toy.

Nudi Branch

In the meantime it was time to go down to the bar and meet some of the divers. The group in town was a great one. There were a few parties lined up for the next few days and the mood was jovial. We were all very lucky, had we shown up 3 days later we would've been swamped by a group of 30 Russians and 40 Chinese divers!! ummm I'd be in Mabul by then, a timely escape!

Blue Mottled Stingray

I had been here before. I came through last June and was disappointed with the diving as the vis was a mere 5metres on the 2 days I had been out. I was lucky
Juvenile Papuan Cuttlefish

though as I saw a hammerhead... I was back for more and hoping that the vis would be good enough for me to fairly compare this place to Komodo, Flores... Up until this point Komodo has always been my favourite...

Hermit Crab

I have to say I am really happy that I choose Scuba Junkies what I'd heard turned out to be nothing but malicious gossip spread through the local grapevine. The team was fun & professional. I suppose though dive teams are nomadic and they change fast.

The best thing about Scuba Junkies is that they dive sites other operators don't bother with. This means great sites and no other dive boats! Through them I got to dive two new areas: Ligitan & Sibuan. Both my new favourite dive sites in the Semporna area. Amazing sites that you must insist on diving. But if you're here to see peligics, you've gotto stick Sipadan in the mix.

Red Eye Snappers

Between Seb (DM - who was hilarious both 1 metre above and below sea level) and myself we spotted so many great finds it was simply amazing. I hope you like the photos... some of the finds are quite rare.

Ornate Ghost Pipefish

Sipadan... I couldn't believe it - on every dive there we heard bombs go off. Never before have I heard the damn things, these are homemade underwater bombs that are set off by the local fishermen - they stun or kill the fish, which subsequently float to the surface and are collected in nets. We were told it was coming from the Ligitan or further away which is the most maddening thing as the coral in Ligitan is far better then Sipadan. Unfortunately too, you can see evidence of bombs of yesterday year
when you dive Sipadan. I could go on
and on about this but I will refrain.

I went to Mabul and stayed with Sea Ventures. When this operator found out that they wouldn't let him buy land on Mabul, he bought an old oil rig, dragged it back to Mabul and converted it into a hotel. It 's actually a great set up and luckily the group there was fun too. We had the usual 3 dives/day and unlimited dives under the rig which was the best site for muck diving and finding odd little specialties!

Alex & Tash

Eve was assigned to us as our local Instructor, she'd be leading our dives. The clients in our group were all DMs or Adv open Water divers but for some reason, Eve, had this ridiculous rule: maximum dive time 45 mins. Most of us came up with 100 bar at the end of each dive!!! No worries though as Josef, another rig instructor, sensed the issue and joined our group. This meant two things, it gave me the option of diving Turtle Tomb and our bottom time was extended to a decent 65-75mins!!! Turtle tomb is a huge cave dive. Its at 18m on Sipidan's Drop Off and is sign posted with skull bones warning divers not to enter. Sadly some turtles venture in and sometimes get lost... if this happens, they end up drowning. There were three turtle skeletons there when we dived the site and one was brown meaning it wasn't long since the poor mariner past away. The cave itself is a great dive and Ive got some of it on video. Just wish the internet here was fast enough to upload the damn things!

Hawksbill Turtle

We were also lucky enough to have Josef with us on the boat back to Mabul after the Sipadan dives. We spotted dolphin and one of the clients suggested that we swim with them. Count Dracula (Eve) said 'no!' but Josef said 'Why not?' We jumped in and swam towards the dolphin, I have 5 of them on video, it was AMAZING!

Giant Moray

We didn't see any Hammerheads but ScubaJunkie pals: Alex, Jack and Michael saw reef sharks hunting and a turtle orgy... sadly no one had a camera on that dive!! I saw a huge grey reef shark that was pregnant and swimming solo. She was incredible. (also on video - I'll get one up here soon enough)

Harlequin Ghost Pipefish (x2)

I was glad to get back to SJ and Semporna. The fun and banter of the SJ team was missing and I treated myself to an extra day of diving with them before leaving on Wednesday 26th to fly back .....home! Bali Bali Bali! The next treat.

The verdict:
a) my camera ROCKS!
b) Komodo Flores wins hands down!

Bubble Coral Shrimp

Juvenile Clown Frogfish

Crocodile Fish

Critter

Dive Boat

Flatworms in Kapalai

Kapalai Resort

Clown Anemone

Nudi Branchs

Yellow and Red Painted Frogfish (2) - Sea Ventures Rig

Pygmy Seahorse

Scorpion Fish

Leaf Scorpion Fish

Sea Anemone Shrimp

Tom Yum Goong Paradise!!

Ko Lipe

Crossing that border and arriving in Thailand felt so good. Malaysia as lovely as it is, is far too developed for the likes of my trip. I want pristine white beaches and I want jungle. I want bamboo huts with a hint of danger: snakes and other critters (and the lungs required to alert people in the immediate 5mile radius that I need immediate help should the danger present itself) and I most certainly want a spicy Tom Yum Goong!! :)) My friends laugh. It never ceases to amaze them that I could quite happily live off this spicy prawn soup, day in day out and never tire of the wonderful flavours... !


I took a ferry from Langkawi to Ko Lipe. A darling of an island which up until only 3 years ago was apparently quite untouched. Unfortunately people like myself looking for that more remote location found it and then the Thais of course cottoned on to the opportunity. I saw people arriving on the long tail boats (that pick you up off the ferry and deposit you on the beach) with luggage on wheels... when you see that and the hoards of backpackers in the usual backpacker's uniform you know the place has its days of pristine bliss numbered..

So far Ko Lipe has managed to retain something of its original charm. The majority of the population there are Chao Ley. The sea gypsies. Poor things really dont have any undeveloped islands left for their nomadic marine based lifestyles. They have had to put down roots and stake a claim on whats left.


On arrival, I walked (there is no transport of any kind on this island) around the island in the already steamy heat at 9am and I looked for a decent bungalow to call home. On the way I also checked out each of the dive operators. I was planning on doing some Dive Master work and getting paid to dive!!


It was only when I stopped at the 3rd decent looking dive shop to have a chat that I was asked how long a visa had the Thai immigration stamped in my passport. I reached for my passport in my back pocket only to find ...opps passport is not there!! A Bad mistake - and I remember thinking this as I did it, never put your passport in your back pocket... I now had to retrace my steps and walk the island again!

I was lucky, I found it. A caring French lady had found it in the sea (!!!) and handed it in to the resort nearby. It had fallen out of my pocket when I was walking along the shoreline to the next bamboo resort and the tide had risen. It was soaking wet and full of sand and the identity page had fallen out but was still with the passport! But of course now cello taped and still sandy, Ive not had many problems traveling on with this document of character! Don't you just love SE Asia!

I had been in Lipe for 6 days when Ben from Lotus Divers announced 'I need a Dive Master pronto!' my other Dms are sick and may even leave the island.

Ben's chipmunk impression

And great news this was, although I was thrown in at the deep end: I had to lead 3 dives the next day for 7 clients at dive sites I had never dived and I was informed that I was going out there with an apparently somewhat dodgy boatman called Tom who didn't always know the best drop in location!! Ben had Open Water courses to teach and the two other DMs were out of action! So I took a deep breath and confirmed that I'd do it!!


Ben in the hammock with some well meaning Dive Students !!

I immediately began to dive for free and not only that, I was being paid for this pleasure. The first dive was hilarious. 45mins in and we still hadn't seen a single fish! This doesn't even happen in the Med! It was one of those dive sites that was easy to miss ...and thats exactly what we did !! The next two dives and all subsequent dives thereafter were bliss... loads of fish and good coral. All the clients we had were incredibly good fun and Ive kept in touch with some of them. Tom however, was not only dodgy but also quite scary!! Take a peak...

Don't you agree?

Besides Ben from Edinburgh were the other DMs Francois and Armelle, a French couple from Toulouse who I managed to persuade not to leave but to take a few days of rest.
We lived in the same area of the 'jungle' and walked home together at night on many an occasion.

Oui Je suis Fort, je suis Beau... et je suis Francais!!

Armelle & Francois

We were terrified of snakes. A python had been found in some girl's bungalow and the Frenchies found a small snake in their bathroom. I found two scorpions!!! I almost forgot to photograph them... this is the second on its way down the drain...

Big ones one each on two consecutive nights. I killed them both.... with mosquito spray!! It worked thank god they were pretty nifty and I certainly didn't want to share my bathroom with them! Hehe I got what I wanted... danger had eventually found me on this long trip in Asia!! I also had this weird critter come visit ...anyone knows what it is??


What IS this???

My Bungalow was owned by a couple who I affectionately named Wilma & Fred, they were Choy Leys and they lived next door. Wilma used to sing a really strange song too early in the morning, lucy I had to get up at 7am to go to the dive shop most mornings! This is them...

'Fred n Wilma'

Ive always found in Asia that when you take a picture of someone who isn't used to having their photograph taken, they stiffen up and try to look as official as possible. If they have any photos of themselves in their homes you'll notice its always the same official pose! Its not that they are opposed to the photo being taken as I always ask first.


Wilma on her morning walk

I have to say it was fun but a little different to go back to the basic bamboo hut, after spending so much time with Carrie in her gin palace in Bali not to mention the recent 5 star treatment recently received in Malaysia! But I liked it nonetheless..

Home

Being a DM was a lot of fun. Its quite tempting to do it again. With the right team and the right dive shop set up you can quite happily spend 6 months looging up some great dives and being paid to do what you love most. We had a really great time in Ko Lipe.

The Dive Boat