SEAVENTURES OIL RIG, OFF MABUL ISLAND, MALAYSIAN BORNEO
Things were not looking good for diving this morning, as the skies were dark, the seas were getting choppy, and it was absolutely pouring buckets of rain when we got up. Damn! Nonetheless, after breakfast the rain let up a little, so we geared up, took the elevator down to the dive boat, and rode the waves to Sipadan, about a half-hour away. Ian and James came along, too, as James has his last two dives today before getting his cave diving certification. There's an extensive underwater cave system at Sipidan, apparently filled with the bones of dead sea turtles who couldn't find their way out! Not something I think I'd like to explore....
Sipadan is actually a really tiny island (see?), but it's unique in that it's an oceanic island (meaning, not attached to the continental shelf) that rises almost vertically over 600 meters from the sea floor. Actually, the whole structure is mushroom-shaped, wider at the top than at the base, which is very unusual.
And the scenery underwater really is world-class, even with horrible weather above. We dived first at "Barracuda Point," where of course there were a lot of barracuda, along with whitetip and grey reef sharks, schools of batfish, and other big pelagics. We also saw garden eels swaying above the sand, an octopus hiding in a hole, and a pair of really amazing harlequin ghost pipefish. These were different from the robust ghost pipefish we saw at Komodo, a lot more ornate and beautiful, although apparently just as rare. Luckily, they tend to stay in the same spot day after day, so Mando knew exactly where to find them.
We spent our surface interval on the island itself, which as I said before you can't stay on anymore, although the abandoned resort buildings are still there. We just hung out on the beach for a half-hour or so, along with lots of divers from other dive outfits. The rain was still coming down, and it actually got a bit chilly, although we had coffee and Milo to keep us warm.
Our second dive was at "Mid Reef," again at Sipadan, and here we saw more barracuda, some green turtles, and an absolutely massive giant clam. The scenery here was again really spectacular, with lots of soft and hard corals.
It was then back to the rig for lunch, and then our third and final dive of the day. This one was at nearby Kapalai, which is not really an island so much as a cluster of stilt houses on a sandbar. (For people familiar with Miami: It's like Stiltsville, only bigger.) Here we dived at a location called "Gurnard Ground," where Mando pointed out a couple of cool-looking crab-eye gobies and a porcelain crab hiding in an anemone. I also saw three different species of pipefish, and a large stonefish, which is the most venomous fish in the world. Don't piss one off--it can kill you! Also, I think it was here that I snapped a picture of two nudibranchs mating--I didn't realize it, but apparently this is a pretty rare thing to capture on film, as Ian was gobsmacked when he saw the picture later this evening!
Things were not looking good for diving this morning, as the skies were dark, the seas were getting choppy, and it was absolutely pouring buckets of rain when we got up. Damn! Nonetheless, after breakfast the rain let up a little, so we geared up, took the elevator down to the dive boat, and rode the waves to Sipadan, about a half-hour away. Ian and James came along, too, as James has his last two dives today before getting his cave diving certification. There's an extensive underwater cave system at Sipidan, apparently filled with the bones of dead sea turtles who couldn't find their way out! Not something I think I'd like to explore....
Sipadan is actually a really tiny island (see?), but it's unique in that it's an oceanic island (meaning, not attached to the continental shelf) that rises almost vertically over 600 meters from the sea floor. Actually, the whole structure is mushroom-shaped, wider at the top than at the base, which is very unusual.
And the scenery underwater really is world-class, even with horrible weather above. We dived first at "Barracuda Point," where of course there were a lot of barracuda, along with whitetip and grey reef sharks, schools of batfish, and other big pelagics. We also saw garden eels swaying above the sand, an octopus hiding in a hole, and a pair of really amazing harlequin ghost pipefish. These were different from the robust ghost pipefish we saw at Komodo, a lot more ornate and beautiful, although apparently just as rare. Luckily, they tend to stay in the same spot day after day, so Mando knew exactly where to find them.
We spent our surface interval on the island itself, which as I said before you can't stay on anymore, although the abandoned resort buildings are still there. We just hung out on the beach for a half-hour or so, along with lots of divers from other dive outfits. The rain was still coming down, and it actually got a bit chilly, although we had coffee and Milo to keep us warm.
Our second dive was at "Mid Reef," again at Sipadan, and here we saw more barracuda, some green turtles, and an absolutely massive giant clam. The scenery here was again really spectacular, with lots of soft and hard corals.
It was then back to the rig for lunch, and then our third and final dive of the day. This one was at nearby Kapalai, which is not really an island so much as a cluster of stilt houses on a sandbar. (For people familiar with Miami: It's like Stiltsville, only bigger.) Here we dived at a location called "Gurnard Ground," where Mando pointed out a couple of cool-looking crab-eye gobies and a porcelain crab hiding in an anemone. I also saw three different species of pipefish, and a large stonefish, which is the most venomous fish in the world. Don't piss one off--it can kill you! Also, I think it was here that I snapped a picture of two nudibranchs mating--I didn't realize it, but apparently this is a pretty rare thing to capture on film, as Ian was gobsmacked when he saw the picture later this evening!
posted by John Kuge at 9:14 PM
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