by Maria
We flew from Sandakan to Tawau (South) to meet our next tour guide for the diving part of the holiday. Unfortunately we had to wait for 2 other flights to arrive so after a bit of a wait a the airport, we headed east by minibus for an hour to Semporna. The entire length of drive on both sides of the road where filled with Palm Oil trees for as far as the eye could see! considering we had just come from trying to save the jungle for the Orangutans it was quite shocking and very sad.
We where then transferred to boat for the 40 min boat ride to the Kapalai Village resort. The village is built on a sandbar, not attached to any land. Boardwalks attach to all area's, a Dive centre, games room, restaurant, tv room, accommodation and relaxation area. Along every boardwalk there are plants with crystal blue seas with plenty of fish, starfish, coral etc.
View of the resort from the boat
View from our Unit
Starfish, taken from the boardwalk outside our unit
On arrival we were given lunch, drinks and we filled in our diving paperwork, we were then informed our fist dive was in 30 minutes. We rushed to our cabin to change (the cabin is truly amazing, no aircon needed with the ocean breezes. The wooden cabin had slated folding doors to pull open even in the bathroom) The constant sound of the waves to relax you. You don't get any sand flies or flies as there is no land for them to grow on!
Our Unit
View from our beadroom
Walk ways
View from the island (man made)
We changed and headed off to the dive centre to be kitted out with weight belt, flippers, BCD and regulator. Then straight off the pier and into the water (try to picture Mikey and I trying to walk down 10 steps with an extra 15 kg, when your calves and thighs are screaming - we looked like 80 year olds!).
They had made an artificial reef of boat wreaks and Shacks , the dive site was called Mandarin reef. We saw starfish, parrot and angel fish, Large moray eel and lots of other fish. the water was a lovely 27 degrees and about 10 metres viability.
Maria
We then came back to the cabin to get changed and unpack then go to dinner.
Sunset on the "island"
Sunset
We then found out we where one of the 120 divers (from all nearby resorts) to go to Sipadan Island the next day, so had to be ready for 5.30am the next day.
Day 2 at Kapali Resort
by Mikey
We have 4 dives today at Sipadan Island (best dive spot in the area). Today we had dive master Wendy as our instructor and 2 boat staff to help us with our gear.
The first dive (dive 2/8) for the day was Barracuda Point just after sun rise at 6am for around 30mins.
Sunrise from the water
This place was amazing we saw a lot of white tipped reef sharks, grey reef sharks a few turtles and some sleepy barracuda along with many fish. We also saw a few turtles swim by. Unfortunately due to the low light the photographs where grainy and dull.
Shark
Small Turtle
Barracuda
White Tipped Reef Shark
After the dive we landed at Sipadan Island for an hours surface time and breakfast, which was delivered to the island. Sipadan Island used to be a resort Island but was closed for conservation reasons and they now only allow 120 divers per day. The other strange thing about the island is that the army has moved in and you are greeted by machine funs from a nearby hut (stops the kidnapping of tourists).
Dive 2 - Hanging Garden (600ft drop) (Dive 3/8)
The dive was all about Turtles! I think we saw around 20 turtles swimming by or sleeping in the ledge/wall. I forget what else we saw as all I could think about was how many turtles there were.
Turtle
Turtle
Turtles
Back to the island for another 1 hr break.
Dive 3 - Barracuda Point (dive 4/8)
Back to the first dive site of the day. It is amazing the difference 3 hrs makes to the site, especially with the extra light bringing out the colours of the fish and coral.
This dive was memorable for the number of turtles and the pesky trigger fish that kept on attacking me! We saw more sharks but I was mainly concerned by the pesky trigger fish at the end of the dive we also saw a large school of barracuda :)
School of Jack Fish
Resting Turtle
School of Bat Fish
I forgot to mention that the first 3 dives where being filmed.
Up for lunch and a visit from a small monitor lizard.
Dive 4 - White tip Avenue (Dive 5/8)
More turtles, sharks and other wonder fish :)
With the dives now finished we went back to the resort for a free afternoon. We assessed our sunburn and after a second lunch and a quick nap we had a wonderful walk around the resort spotting numerous trumpet fish, starfish, turtles ans sting rays underneath the resort walk ways. One disturbing sight was a black and white sea snake underneath our cabin. After witnessing another perfect sunset back to the restaurant for dinner and to watch the video of our dives.
Day 3 at Kapali Resort by Maria
Not such an early start today. Today we started at the dive centre at 8.30, we headed out on the boat to Mabul Island, to Stingray alley, today was all about the macros, very different to yesterday!
We saw nudi's, cuttlefish, 2 turtles and frog fish (strange buggers) then back to Kapali for a break.
Then back out to Maul to the artificial reef, saw a massive school of jackfish, nudibranch, eel, stone fish and a black seahorse, then back to Kapali for lunch.
We then jumped back on the boat to midreef at Kapali, saw lots of different starfish, eel, cuttlefish and stone fish.
We spent the rest of the day relaxing and eating.
Day 4 at Kapali Resort by Mikey
It was a sad day as we really enjoyed our stay here and the diving. With check out at 12 and the no diving within 24 hours of flying we were unable to dive and it looked like our group would of been scheduled for another day at Sipadan (next time we will stay longer) Today we spent time walking around the resort and with low tide around 12 we had specular views of the area including the reamins of Kapali Island which is now a sand bar. The boat ridge back to Semporna was smooth and with great views of the nearby islands. The bus ride back to Tawau was sad and interesting as we drove another 90km through Palm Oil Plantation land.We had blown a tire on our bus about 20 kms from the airport with quick work from the driver and a very worn and dodgy looking spare tire we made our flight back to Kota Kinabulu with 20 minutes to spare.
Tonight we ate in the hotel restaurant and enjoyed a beautiful Beef Randang.
Galleries - Above Water, Dive 1, Dive 2, Dive 3, Dive 4, Dive 5, Dive 6, Dive 7, Dive 8
Slideshow - Above Water, Dive 1, Dive 2, Dive 3, Dive 4, Dive 5, Dive 6, Dive 7, Dive 8
Dive 4 - White tip Avenue (Dive 5/8)
More turtles, sharks and other wonder fish :)
Michael with a turtle
Shark and Turtle
With the dives now finished we went back to the resort for a free afternoon. We assessed our sunburn and after a second lunch and a quick nap we had a wonderful walk around the resort spotting numerous trumpet fish, starfish, turtles ans sting rays underneath the resort walk ways. One disturbing sight was a black and white sea snake underneath our cabin. After witnessing another perfect sunset back to the restaurant for dinner and to watch the video of our dives.
Day 3 at Kapali Resort by Maria
Not such an early start today. Today we started at the dive centre at 8.30, we headed out on the boat to Mabul Island, to Stingray alley, today was all about the macros, very different to yesterday!
We saw nudi's, cuttlefish, 2 turtles and frog fish (strange buggers) then back to Kapali for a break.
Cuttlefish
School of fish
Then back out to Maul to the artificial reef, saw a massive school of jackfish, nudibranch, eel, stone fish and a black seahorse, then back to Kapali for lunch.
Lionfish
Michael in a school of Jack fish
We then jumped back on the boat to midreef at Kapali, saw lots of different starfish, eel, cuttlefish and stone fish.
Michael and Maria
Nudibranch
Reef Fish
Nudibranch
We spent the rest of the day relaxing and eating.
Sunset
Evening view of the resort
Hungry after the dives
Day 4 at Kapali Resort by Mikey
It was a sad day as we really enjoyed our stay here and the diving. With check out at 12 and the no diving within 24 hours of flying we were unable to dive and it looked like our group would of been scheduled for another day at Sipadan (next time we will stay longer) Today we spent time walking around the resort and with low tide around 12 we had specular views of the area including the reamins of Kapali Island which is now a sand bar. The boat ridge back to Semporna was smooth and with great views of the nearby islands. The bus ride back to Tawau was sad and interesting as we drove another 90km through Palm Oil Plantation land.We had blown a tire on our bus about 20 kms from the airport with quick work from the driver and a very worn and dodgy looking spare tire we made our flight back to Kota Kinabulu with 20 minutes to spare.
Tonight we ate in the hotel restaurant and enjoyed a beautiful Beef Randang.
Galleries - Above Water, Dive 1, Dive 2, Dive 3, Dive 4, Dive 5, Dive 6, Dive 7, Dive 8
Slideshow - Above Water, Dive 1, Dive 2, Dive 3, Dive 4, Dive 5, Dive 6, Dive 7, Dive 8
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