Sipadan & Mabul Dive Shots

Here are some dive-related and underwater pictures from Sipadan and Mabul in Malaysia.

Managed to use the SPK-WB underwater casing that Stan bought (thanks Stan!)....pero hanggang 3m/10ft lang dapat yun. Yung first underwater dive nya, umabot sya ng 10m! Hehe...it survived! Buti na lang kinuha ng DM yung camera at sya ang nag-picture, kasi ang pangit ko mag-picture underwater... =p

We dived from our base at Mabul Island. The dives were organized by the resort we stayed in. Both Sipadan and Mabul Islands are on the south portion of East Malaysia, Borneo. Sipadan is famous for its abundant marine life....daming turtles, sharks, barracudas, big fishes! Haha...sabi ko nga, ang classification ko lang ng fish ay "small fish", and "big fish". So don't ask me about the fish species! =p

For more underwater pics (and possibly better details about Sipadan and Mabul's marine life), check out buddy Jao's multiply, or Lala's smugmug gallery.

Some notes:

Dive Fees - There's a RM50 dive fee (per day) to dive in Sipadan. As of 2004, no one except the military can stay on the island...tourists are only brought in to rest on the island between dives. You can use Mabul Island (20 mins away) or Semporna on the mainland (around an hour away by boat) as a base for diving in Sipadan.

Muck Diving - first time I heard the term. A nice way of saying the visibility underwater is practically non-existent! But supposedly, this is good for macro diving.

Macro Dive - this is when there are supposedly a lot of colorful nudis and very small fishes/organisms, so you have to put your underwater cam in 'macro' mode to take a picture.