After weeks of anticipation, I finally got to head down to Mabul for my long-awaited trip to dive Sipadan and the surrounding locations of Mabul and Kapalai. Having returned fromt he 5 day trip I'm now back in the office counting down the days (and dollars) to my next trip.

I travelled with a UK friend (Stuart) from Singapore who had only qualified 9 months ago, but who had just taken his Advanced Openwater qualification and was keen to let me organise a trip - so I chose Sipadan, not knowing *if* we'd get a permit to dive, but hoping that as we'd booked 6 weeks ago, and visiting in a quiet time after Japanese Golden Week, our chances of getting a few dives there would be maximised. We weren't disappointed.

Met up with Stuart Weds night as he flew from Singapore to KL, quick pizza and beer then to bed for an early rise to catch AirAsia's early flight to Tawau on Thursday morning. Arrived in Tawau on time and we met by the driver from SWV (Sipadan Water Village) - our diving hosts for the trip. An hour's transfer by minibus through the endless palmoil plantations saw us get to Semporna by 11am, where we boarded the waiting speedboat for the 45 minute trip out to SWV on Mabul. So far, so good. Weather was beautiful - sunny, blue skies, flat calm.

After arrival at the resort we had lunch and the obligatory checkout dive on Paradise 1 house reef, followed by an easy self dive on hour later on Paradise 2. I had my new Nexus housing to get used to (which took all of 2 minutes...its a great pice of kit) and the D300 was set up with any number of practise shots to assess what was a good default macro starting point, since this was the first time I was shooting totally manually - no TTL with the 2xDS-125s - and using my 105mm Micro-Nikkor (and a +4D Nexus wet lens).

On surfacing we looked at the dive board for the next day's trips - and SIPDAN straight away...big whoops, and then figuring a 6am start for breakfast and a 7.15am departure would mean an early night..not a problem!

I've not yet managed to get a 10-17 Tokina for WA work, so I was making do with a 12-24 Tokina for this trip. After a few problems with it last year I was desperately hoping it wouldn't play up again, especially when I'd got somewhere that I really wanted to photograph. Anyway, after the quick 30 minute trip from SWV to the island for registration, we headed out to Barracuda Point. Immediately on entry, we were in the midst of a massive ball of schooling jacks...The camera and strobes were on as I hit the water, settings at 1/200, f9 and full power strobes. Hopwever I knew I had a few seconds to start and make the adjustments necessary to try and capture a few quick shots as the other divers descended. Its amazing how a minute or two can pass so quickly when shooting over-then underexposed shots and trying to do the mental calculations as to what combo will work best. Also with the strobe arms set wide apart, altering the strobe power takes up time and the jacks didn't hang around that long. A spectacular, if photographically unrewarding start!

The current wasn't too bad to start with as we drifted along some nice walls, but as we got to Barracuda Pointitself the current really started to rip along. Nothing was in sight for a minute or two, then a small shoal of medium-sized Barracuda came into sight , line astern, just hangin out at the point..we waited , finning steadily to hold position, but they moved off and that was that..oh well.

Next dive South Point with a lot of turtle action (in more ways than one). Got an amusing shot of a Batfish literally sucking up a continuous line of turtle poop straight from its maker! (I may post that one later). Some white tip sharks were around but kept a long way away from us, more's the pity. Final dive was the Dropoff. Spectacular in some ways, drifting over the deep blue, but we were hampered by FOUR other dive groups all being there at once - this made the Turtle Cavern morelike a motorway rest stop than an interesting dive location. A disappointing end in some ways to what had been a great day.

On retturn to SWV we checked the board for the following day - SIPADAN AGAIN! - seems as if we had picked a very quiet time so we got another chance for 3 more dives. This time Barracuda Point was stunning at 8am..gentle current and the appearance of a large shoal of barracuda circling the point gave us a thrill..yet 2 minutes later what seemed like thousands of barracuda came pouring in...simply breathtaking..they started to circle tighter and tight, I was swimming within feet of them and debating how to get inside when the switched direction and there I was..in the middle of this massive shoal and simply overwhelemd. My shots of the occasion do absolutely no justice to what I saw..in hindsight I'm really disappointed I didn't capture the experience better than I did, but next time I hope I know what to expect....and there WILL be a next time.

2nd and 3rd dives at Mid-reef and Hanging Gardens..lovely relaxed drift dives with plenty more turtle and shark action, nice sea fans and a few co-operative fish. I've not yet had time to review all the images as my laptop decided to go AWOL on me a few times ...but will post any decent ones I got.

Day 4 was macro time. In fact after 6 Sipadan dives I actually wanted to get to muck diving since my WA work was coming up short and I felt I had a better chance to practice my macro skills in calmer waters!

Seaventure rig (an ugly beast that does spoil the view) was first and within 10 minutes I had 3 great shots of my first pygmy seahorse!! Unbelieveable. The 105 + 4D wet lens was a great combo for this and I had set the strobe power at the beginning of the dive by shooting a small rock at f22, 1/100, strobes half power, diffusers fitted. The lighting seemed to work and so with my one chance to get the pygmy seahorse I positioned myself as best I could and fired off 4 shots Click to view attachment

<RANT MODE ON (I was severely hampered by 2 divers from an Asian nation that shall remain nameless that consistently barged in and hogged anything the divemaster pointed out, crashed in to coral as if it wasn't there and had apalling diving skills - armed with small P+S cameras they wanted a snap of everything). RANT MODE OFF>

I have to say that Seaventure is a productive sight with plenty of life..Ribbon Eels mating were a great find.

Next dive was Kapalai Buoy 2. As we were flying 24 hrs after this dive, this was to be our final sortie..and a good one it was. Again, the divemaster found a good variety of macro subjects..the Commensal Shrimp and Bubble Anemone shrimp were faves and again the 105+4D wet lens combo proved a winner...the pickup lens in the Nexus housing made a big difference too and for now has made me re-thing if I want to spend any more cash on an Inon viewfinder..I think I'll wait for now!!

Click to view attachment

Then that was it...all over. 10 days in 3 and a half days. SWV is a great, relaxing and friendly place. Staff are wonderful and so helpful. The dive staff are knowledgeable and highly professional. I would recommend SWV in a nano-second to anyone that wants to vist Mabul-Spidan. Spent the afternoon with a massage (by possibly the oldest woman EVER to have laid hands on me, and that includes my long-departed grandmother)...then tea and donuts - yum - then a walk though the village that adjoins SWV. Depressing to see stalls full of conch shells and shark jawa..even a dried triggerfish! The bright spot was being waylaid by 4 kids on their verandah, all asking to have their pcitures taken and then squealing with delight on seeing their pics on the screen..cries of "Looks, looks" after each shot made us laugh..! So innocent..so friendly. Even villagers stopped us to ask where we were from, what football team we supported - Liverpool was my obvious answer as I've been a lifelong fan and season ticket holder - and a good banter as to how shit Man Utd really are, despite winning the Premier League..haha.

The evening was beers, chatting with resident Scubazoo videographer Andy Chia and a great feed...the grub is plentiful, tasty and a credit to the chefs.

6.30 am departure from SWV saw me back in KL by 13.30 - not bad 6 hrs. On my final dives I had struggled with some sinus trouble which meant the final ascent had been pretty painful and my flight back was a fairly painful 2 hrs of mild reverse squeeze..luckily its settled down now.

Well, I'll post a few pics now and might get around to creating a Flickr gallery for the best of the rest. Better get back to work..or maybe later as its now lunchtime :-D

Steve

Sounds like you had a blast, Steve.

I do know who you are referring to when you talk about the very, very old and very, very short woman who gives massages. My wife - who is a total of 5 feet tall actually was looking DOWN on her....this is a rare event for my wife who at 5 feet tall has spent most of her life looking up. Anyhow...the woman does give a quality message!

I also always enjoyed Andy Chia's nightly presentations of the daily Sipaden dives. I referred to these as the "Sipaden nightly news".

He, he....I remember her as well. I just couldn't do it.

My friend Stuart had allowed me to book the massage..the *look* on his face when she turned up was priceless....he was expecting a lithe beauty just past her 21st birthday, rather than 3 score years and ten and I thought he was going to do a runner!! Quality massage tho'!