They sorted our gear out the night before and after a wet night from a leaking roof spent at their backpackers (it was only $25) boarded their boat at 8am for the 1hr trip out to Pulau Mabul.  Once there, a few others boarded the boat (12 in total) and we headed out to our first of three dive sites of the day.  The group was divided into 3 smaller groups with guides and we were pretty soon over the side of the boat and in the warm water.  Mabul is not known for great visibility but more for its ‘muck’ diving however we had at least 10 – 15m vis.

Eel Gardens -   we dropped down onto a sandy bottom with a reef to one side swimming into a very strong current.

Nudibranchs, crocodile fish, cuttlefish, turtles, trumpet fish.  Unfortunately I didn’t have enough weight and spent the last 15mins watching the others from the surface.

Oil Rig -

A guy who lost out on the bid for the fancy water hotel on Mabul towed an old oil rig around from Brunei, painted it orange and blue and dumped it 200m off the shore in 16m of water in front of the hotel and now runs it as a hotel/karaoke bar.  The 4 huge pylons and junk underneath have made a great artificial reef. Heaps of lionfish,  banner fish, batfish, stonefish.

Froggy Lair - 

The best dive of the day – the boat dropped us off at the next jetty 50m up the beach and we did a drift dive along a reef  that sloped at 45 degrees in about 10m of quite clear water. Unexpectedly loads of creatures for a dive so close to shore:  turtles, snake eels, moray eels, cuttlefish, crocodile fish, and a very shy mandarin fish hiding amongst the sea urchins.

While washing our gear on their jetty that afternoon we got the great news that we were going to get to dive Sipadan the following day – we had been pretending to not

be disappointed that we had gone all that way and were not going to be able to get there.  A nice evening was spent at Scuba Junkie’s brand new resort on Mabul exploring the two water villages on the island and laying in the hammock on the balcony.  Word of advice – close the bathroom door (the slat windows don’t shut) and slap on the Aerogard or risk being eaten alive by mozzies while you sleep!

After a nice buffet breakfast, we boarded the boat for Pulau Sipadan about 30 minutes away. With past problems of kidnappings and piracy in the area, there was a strong military presence on the island with soldiers armed with machine guns on duty and there is now no accommodation on the island or night diving permitted in the area. 

Sipadan rises like a mushroom 600m from the ocean floor resulting in a magnificent wall of coral surrounding the island.

Turtle Patch – 

Shallow reef with wall drop.  We were already excited with the several turtles we had seen the previous day – but they were everywhere at Sipadan – we were even seeing them on the surface from the boat.  This site gets its name from the number of turtles coming in to be cleaned by cleaner fish.

Barracuda Point – We were excited about jumping in at the famous Barracuda Point yet a little apprehensive after the dive briefing….”jump in, drop down to about 18m, probably strong currents, watch out for down currents so stick at my level – if you get pulled down grab the wall and climb up,

If the barracuda are in a tornado formation grab a rock after ensuring it is not a stonefish (not liking the no glove policy at this stage!) and watch, oh - your mask will probably be wobbling all over the place in the current’.  Again a wall dive along to a shallower reef, huge schools of jackfish, reef sharks, turtles and more ….as promised about 20mins into the dive a massive school of chevron barracuda swam past creating a wall about 20 fish high that kept going and going and going. 

Hanging Gardens – a drift dive in a strong current at 18m – very relaxing along a wall that just dropped down into the blue with huge corals and fans creating a hanging garden.  Plenty of life – turtles, reef sharks, heaps of batfish, tiny fish of  all colours (like being in a butterfly enclosure), cuttlefish and many, many more species.

While in the water at Sipadan a couple of loud, resonant booms could be heard which turned out to be dynamite fishing on some far off island.

Being Open Water divers we were limited to 20m but the others in the group who were more experienced went deeper but reported that there really wasn’t anything to see down further.   All dives were about 50mins in tropical warm waters.

After the last dive the boat headed back to Mabul to pick up our packs and then back to the mainland for next part of the trip – the Jungle.

Overall, the guides were experienced and easygoing and were happy to let people take their time (setting up, equalising, taking photos). In the water, they were good at spotting and pointing things out. The gear was ok, no one experienced any problems bar some tanks only filled to 170bar.  We enjoyed the diving immensely and could recommend the experience to all.  For anyone wishing to go, the best advice would be to book well in advance to ensure a Sipadan permit and to not bother with Semporna and head straight out the islands – there is several accommodation options on Mabul and on Kapalai nearby.