4D3N trip to Sipadan

~~The Journey Start~~

The moment has arrived. I was so excited about the trip, waited for so long and it's definitely far more excited than my new job after the trip.

Woke up early in the morning around 3:45am and headed to Martin's condo to pick him up. We arrived LCCT around 6:45am. Both with pretty good mood, until a small incident happen. He didn't manage to get his ciggy break, cause he has to check us in while i was having my toilet break (it was a long queue on the washroom) and by the time he checked in, the plane has to leave in 20 minutes. So, i got this "unpleasant attack" from him and there goes my whole morning... I didn't know he could be that moody for not having his ciggy... i suppose that is far more important than everything else.

Arrived in Tawau around 10am and picked up by an unexpected nice big coach (the normal dive trips are usually very budget and nothing nice to shout about) to the jetty and follow by a 45 minutes boat. Hoolahh!... Another nice surprise... a water chalet. The whole hotel is built on top of the sunken island and with crystal clear water. You can see the small fishes and star fishes by just looking down to the water. Amazing !!!

~~ The Diving ~~

We had two check-out dives on our arrival day, this was the house reef where you can just swim out from the dive centers. But, it's not just a normal house reef dives, there were "a lot" fishes and at least 2 wrecks.

Day 2. A very excited day, cause it's the first time we dive here in the famous Sipadan (world's top 4th dive site). We did 3 dives today. Famous barracuda points, north point and kapalai island. Alone in the first dive, we have seen at least 5 turtles and 5 white tips (the white tips were far deep down in the water, but u can still see them swimming forth and back very fast...). One thing that is rather strange here, the fishes here are either very big or very small. At one point, I get very scared off though... we swam thru a very strong current, I almost got drifted away and my buddy was no way near me (we both ended having some argument about this - i always thought a nice buddy will be someone always next to you and not in front or at your back ! ). Luckily, some other dive member lend me her hand to save me from drifted away. Lesson learn... no more swimming next to him, cause I never be able to catch up his speed... never swim behind him, cause he never look back... the best to do, swim next to or behind the dive master.

Day 3. We did 1 dawn dive, 1 morning dive and a house reef dive. I swear, I never thought I would see such a big group of Jacks in my life.... never... till today, i am still very amazed what I saw there. One very unique things about Sipadan... the dive sites here are very deep, so I always have this mystery feeling when i dive into the Sipadan... it looks so dangerous, yet, so much things happen down there... Far down you see white tips swimming around, on another side, you can see big group of bat fishes and angels fishes swimming peacefully up here...

~~ The Private Aquariam ~~

The chalet was built on top of the sea, you're kinda have your own private aquariam. The morning fishes and evening fishes are different. I spent at least an hour looking at the fishes each day. And whenever we did our reading at night on the balcony... guess what... you will have at least 3 turtles swimming by to say hello to you.

~~ The Journey Ends ~~

It was definitely a long day.... had to leave the resort at 1pm and our flight was only at 9pm (which was delayed to 11pm). We basically spent hours and hours on the airport, but luckily it wasn't that bad. We our pizza in Tawau town, spent a lot of time chatting... and time flies a lot easier that we thought. But but... i definitely come back to this place again.