Semporna (23-26 March 2023)

My forth diving trips since returning to Malaysia  

I love ocean, I love mountain. I love the peacefulness in the nature. And yet, I only wrote about my hiking trips thus far. 

Ever since returning to Malaysia, I have given less priority to hiking. Instead, I dived regularly. 

Perhaps it is time to write about the diving. 

How did I end up visiting Semporna 

I have been to Semporna before, probably 14 years ago when I haven't acquired my Diving License. Back then, i went to Sipadan for Snorkeling, and the divers on the boat chided me for taking up the slot without diving. "Hey, your slot could have been given to other divers!" Even though it was just a snorkeling, the Sipadan underwater convinced I to get a diving license. And finally in 2016, I got my Open Water License, and in 2022 I got the Advanced Open Water. 

I always wanted to return to Sipadan. Jeff, a diver I met up in Tioman Trip in 2022 initiated this Semporna trip, and he even helped making arrangement with a dive center in Semporna to include a day trip to Sipadan. 

I came across a youtube video produced by local Malaysian, Fikri. He has produced many high quality videos to promote islands in Malaysia. While waiting for this trip to happens, I watched Fikri's video many times. 

(Credit to Fikri for his excellent video, as shared below)

The planning 

Thank you Jeff, who has been very helpful arranging with Cooldive center in Semporna. Back in Nov 22, he shared with me that he plans to have 3 days diving around islands in Semporna (Tun Sakaran Marine Park), and invited me over. I made 3 requests,

1. I need a room for myself, as i snore when i sleep 
2. I would love to have one day diving in Sipadan
3. I have a friend Chua coming with me, he needs a room for himself too and he only snorkels 

"Can be arranged", Jeff responded. 

Next, we booked our tickets. 

The highlights of the trip 

Chua, thanks for waiting in the Tawau Airport. 

By the time I arrived at Tawau Airport, Chua, a friend i knew since I was 20, was already waiting there. 

Our organizer, Jeff has arranged a van to pick us up, to shuttle us all the way to Cooldive center in Semporna. 

The room in Cooldive center definitely met our expectation. I care a lot about the mattress quality. Who doesn't want a good sleep after a day of tiring dives right?  And it turns out that the mattress is very comfortable! 

1st Day dives  - Sipadan & Mabul Islands 

The much awaited Sipadan diving trip turned out to be imperfect. Our dive center has signed me up with another dive center that specializes in Sipadan diving. After enjoying the wind gust throughout the 1.5 hours boat ride, we arrived at Sipadan, with a surprise! Not one, but 2! 

My dive center has given wrong information to this operator. Wrong wet suit size, wrong fin size. Both oversized. 

While I can bear with a loose wet suit, I can't dive with a loose fin. When I informed the dive master that the fin is a wrong one, he showed me a text from my dive center, confirming that he brought what the dive center informed him. Well, I didn't counter back by showing him my message to the dive center. The dive master turned agitated after failing to get a pair of fin that fits me well, even after approaching several other dive boats nearby. Finally, the boat man suggested, why not just put in some folded plastic bags in the oversized fins? 

It works. The fin was no longer loose, but we know how it feels when you are using a pair of fins that don't really fit you well.  

But sometimes, we have to settle for less, so that the rest of the people can still get what they want. I am glad, by settling for Mac Gyver's fins, all the divers could finally back flip from the boat into the ocean, starting our dives in Sipadan. 

Before started diving, we stopped at Sipadan Island for registration. And after the first dive, we came back again, to take our lunch at the shelter. 

4 years back, Sipadan corals were much more colorful, and healthy. How much I wish those beautiful corals are conserved well! When a dive haven is over commercialized, we can only expect deterioration of the marine life there.

Now, let's see what we have under water.

There was a mild under water current, and at times, we had to drift with the current. 

At Sipadan, we went to 2 dive sites, a lot of turtles, and in few occasions, we were greeted by Fish Storm, including a school of Barracuda.

2nd Day dives - Mataking & Padanan Islands

Perhaps we didn't land at the right dive sites. The dives at Mataking area weren't impressive. Pretty sandy at the bottom, but there was always some suprises for us. 

Look at what we found!

True enough, there is no guarantee what species you can encounter under water. The 2nd day turns out to be just so-so. But, shouldn't we go diving with less expectation? It is for us to discover, for us to find out what is down there. 

3rd Day dives - Kapalai Islands 

A very nice gesture by the dive center. After 2nd day disappointment, the dive center altered the plan, this time to head to Kapalai. For new divers, this is a heaven! 

After paying for the ticket, we went to our first dive site - a ship wreck! I was among the last to enter the huge opening of the wreck. Though the opening is huge, some of the divers at the front still kicked up the sand. :( 

And this was when a Diving Torch became a necessity. In the wreck, we were greeted by huge swamp of anchovies. 

For the second and the third dives, we went to Aritificial Reef nearby the Kapalai resort. 

The site was rich with marine lives, marco too. 

The undewater of Kapalai was impressive. But let's not discount off what is above the water. 

My transports, accommodation, and F&B

Transport – 

I paid around RM320 for my flight tickets, booked 4 months in advance. If you get your ticket during promotion, it could be lower than this. Offcourse, if you plan your trip during school holidays, expect the ticket to be at the high side. 

The van shuttle from/to airport costs RM30/person per way. 

Accommodation & Diving package  – 

I opted for a package arrangement. This time around, I went for Cooldive, as recommended by Jeff. 

The price is decent and transparent. 

For my 4 nights stay in a single occupancy room, together with 3 days divings (including one day in Sipadan), I paid RM1880. 

F&B –  

There are many choices in Semporna town.  Coffee shop/ restaurants do not open until 7am in the morning. IF you are looking for food earlier than that, consider Mc Donalds. 

Our lunchs were provided by the dive center.

For dinners, we have options of buying fresh seafood from the jetty/ seafood offloading point and pay certain restaurants to cook it, or we can go directly into restaurant. 

If you are not looking for some high price seafood (e.g., thenus 拉尿虾，humphead wrasses 苏眉, lobster), it is much easier to just order your seafood directly in the restaurant. You need to be aware that many restaurants do not accept processing and cooking seafood you brought from outside. 

On the 1st night, we had our dinner at 南海渔村 in a big group of 16 people。Each of us paid around RM50. 

On the 2nd night, Chua and I went to Restoran Then Wang. A prawn, a sha pai soup, a vege and sotong, it costed less than RM90. 

On the final night, we went to Welcome restaurant. 3 of us, and the meal costed RM120 - 700gm of mud crab, small plate of prawn, sha pai soup, sabah vege, and a jug of herb drink. 

There are few pub/cafe with nice liveband too. 

My 3 Plus and 2 Minus:-

3 things I like about this trip: 

1. Learning more about Tun Sakaran marine park. While Sipadan is wellknown as the diving paradise, let's not discount other islands within the Tun Sakaran Marine Park. Mabul, Kapalai, Mataking, Timba Timba, Padanan... etc. Sounds like there are more trips to come. 
2. It is not just about Diving! The massage at the end of the day, the liveband that sang many BEYOND songs, remind me how fortunate we are in Malaysia. We can still afford much pamperings, by paying a fraction of what we need to pay in Europe. 
3. Of the 3 days, I like most the final day, diving at Kapalai. There is a ship wreck, and there are plenty of artificial reefs, attracting abundances of marine creatures. Besides, the aerial view Kapalai water resort and its surrounding look absolutely stunning. 

2 thing I would do differently if I can turn back the clock:  

1. Bring my own fins - after several dives, I start to realize the importance of having a pair of personal fins. I could have avoided the problem of not getting the right fin, the right suit if i bring my own one. Besides, having a good paif of fins would make the diving more pleasant too, putting less strain on the foot joints. 
2. Dive with my smart phone. Yes, dive with the smart phone. You  must be thinking, what a joke! I never know that with the right casing, smart phone camera works like a magic under water. Most sport camera, e.g., GoPro, Sony HDR, Insta360 perform badly in macro photography. Those Macro photos taken by the sport cameras just do not justify how beautiful those creatures are in real life. On our way back to Tawau Airport, we had this discussion. Instead of bringing our day to day phone into the ocean, it is best to get another smart phone for the purpose of under water photography. This phone can be a 2nd hand one.   

Surprise learnings of the trip 

1. The bajau and the locals, many of them speak Mandarin now. As i trolled around the seafood offloading jetting, i was approached by many locals, "苏眉，苏眉，龙虾， 拉尿虾"..  from their willingness to pick up mandarin alone, i learn what an impact the Chinese Tourist has brought to Semporna. While they have spurred the economy in this small town, the arrival of many tourists could also mean the start of the end. More seafoods will be extracted from the sea. If the locals couldn't find a huge humphead wrasses, they will catch the small one. Soon, the whole ecosystem will be damaged. I remember how colorful and lively the corals were in the sipadan area 14 years back. Even as a snorkeler, I could tell what a paradise sipadan was back then. A lot has changed over the years. One thing for sure, I saw a lot of dead coral. Could this be the result of uncontrolled diving activities? Or it is just global warming that leads to bleaching of Coral? Responsible diver - that is what i want to be, what i want to advocate. And it has to start from me. On the final day, i saw a little boat went below the wooden house built on the water, the boat man was busy picking up trashes . I plan to bring a trash net bag in the future, so that i can pick up the trashes in the water as i dive.   

I enjoyed the trip, even though choices for breakfast were limited - i.e. either McDonalds, or an overpriced charsiew shop. We can keep harping on the negative ones, or we can treasure the positive ones, and i chose keeping the positive memories. 

Semporna, See you again next month!