Diving in Sipadan-My new adventure

I started diving a bit late compare to other media friends. But its an amazing experience to venture into a new activity which is out of my comfort zone, at my early 30's.

Never crossed in my mind, I'll have the courage to dive and explore what we have underwater, especially in Sipadan, Sabah. This dive site rated as top 10 dive site in the World.

I certified as an OWD on December 4, 2016 and had an opportunity to dive in Sipadan in November 2017. It took me a year to dive in Sipadan.

We were lucky to get an opportunity to dive in Sipadan with OWD license. As we know minimum requirement to dive in Sipadan is Advanced Open Water license.

We given a privileged to dive with OWD license because we were part of 'End In Sipadan' campaign, a program organized by Ministry of Tourism & Culture, Sabah.

Media representatives invited to join this all year-round programme in 2017.

At first, I thought diving is all about wear all the dive equipment & jump to the water.

My perception on diving totally change during an OWD course. There were a lot of technical things I need to learn to ensure my safety underwater. This technical part I need to master if I want to be a good diver.

I have to do lot of diving to improve my buoyancy and problem with equalizing. After more than 10 dives, these 2 technic improve by itself. 

In Sipadan, we dive at 3 diving site-South Point, Barracuda Point & Coral Garden.
Diving at dive site that listed as Top 10 Best Dive Site in the world really an amazing & fantastic experience for new diver like me.

As expected Barracuda Point is really beautiful with lot of big marine life such as turtles, whale sharks & of course a school of barracuda.

Dive beside all these marine life can't be described or explained by words. Its like we are watching a documentary of marine life.

In South Point, we dive along a wall of corals. The ground can't be seen as its located at 60m depth.

So a good bouyancy control very important for this dive site. Luckily there was no current when we dive at this first dive site.

In Barracuda Point, I felt a current but its not too strong. We need keep close to the rocks.
After two dive, I still excited to do my third dive as I really like corals. Corals garden is a forest filled with corals.

Oh ya since the programme called End In Sipadan, Sipadan was our last stop. The program started in Kota Kinabalu-Kota Belud-Kudat-Lahad Datu-Semporna.

The ministry plan to create a diving trails for tourist and divers. All this time, people only dive in Kota Kinabalu & Semporna without knowing there are a lot of diving site in other part of Sabah such as in  Mantanani, Kota Belud; Simpang Mengayau, Kudat; Silam Bay, Lahad Datu.


All the dive site have their own attractions. For Kota Kinabalu, we explore dive site in Sepanggar area. We dive in Clement Reefs that filled with big size of corals and macro species.

For Mantanani Island in Kota Belud known for its crystal clear water. Visibility while diving up to 20m. However, some of the corals started to bleach. Most probably because of fish bombing or global warming. If the damage because of the fish bombing, lets pray the authorities will take stern action against them. It takes hundred years for the corals to growth. Its a great loss to the diving industry if all corals damage by human greed.  

I can't tell much about dive site in Kudat because this is the only stop I didn't participate. I didn't get approval from my superior to join the programme in Kudat.

However, the pictures of dive site in Kudat attract me to go there and see the beauty of underwater world in Kudat. 

Kudat well known for surfing activity not diving. People didn't know Kudat also offering diving activity for tourist.

Our second last stop was in Silam Bay, Lahad Datu before we go to Sipadan. Among all dive site I dive throughout this programme, I would say my favourite is Silam Bay.

The beauty of underwater scenery make me fall in love with the dive site in Silam Bay. For those who really into corals, Lahad Datu should be in your list to dive. There is no current, visibility very good. Lots of dive site to explore.

The dive operator in Lahad Datu (Pirate Divers) told us they face a difficulty to operate the dive centre after Tanduo incident. 

People still get a bad impression about Lahad Datu. People still worry about their safety. As Sabahan, I hope people will change their mindset on the safety issue in East Coast of Sabah.

There are marine patrolling around this dive site areas. I feel very secure during our dive trip.

All photo by Joe Starzz. One of the local heroes I met during End In Sipadan campaign. A school dropout who make a living by taking video & photos underwater. All photos taken by him amazed me.

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Zaman muda remaja tidak mahu explore apa ada di dasar laut. Bila usia makin lanjut ni, baru aku terbuka hati dan punya keberanian untuk explore dasar laut di Sabah ni.

Tanggal 4 Disember 2016 aku certified as an Open Water Diver (OWD). Setahun sudah berlalu. Tidak banyak tempat yang aku dive sepanjang tempoh tu.

Tapi bila dapat peluang menyelam di Sipadan, listed as Top 10 beautiful diving site in the world memang terasa diri amat bertuah.

Terima Kasih Kementerian Pelancongan dan Kebudayaan (Motac) Sabah atas peluang yang diberi.

Aku dapat lesen dive pun atas tajaan Motac Sabah. Masa tu kami menyertai Program Voluntourism: Volunsharing bersama Media ‘End in Sipadan’.

Honestly, sebelum ni aku beranggapan diving ni cukup sekadar pakai equipment dan terjun ke dasar laut.

Tapi bila certified as a diver, banyak weh benda kena belajar. Banyak teknik dan perkara perlu diambil perhatian supaya tidak bahayakan diri masa berada di dasar laut. Tapi perkara berkaitan teknikal ni, pelan-pelan praktis pasti boleh punya.

Back to Sipadan. Barracuda Point is the best diving site in Sipadan. Kenapa? Sebab di situlah hidupan marin yang pelbagai boleh kita temui. Dari school of fish hingga ke penyu dan shark. Bukan shark do do do do do do ya..

Oh sebelum pergi jauh merapu. Kami diberi kelonggaran untuk menyelam di Sipadan dengan lesen OWD. Standard requirement untuk diving di sini adalah Advanced Open Water.

Tapi disebabkan kami menyelam dibawah Kempen ‘End in Sipadan’ iaitu Program Motac Sabah jadi, kami dibenarkan diving di situ dengan lesen OWD.

Ok our first dive was in South Point. Dive site ni memang lawa dengan a wall of corals. Dive next to a wall of corals memang amazing. Kalau tidak jadi diver, tidak merasa la pengalaman best macam ni.

Current masa tu not so strong, jadi agak mudah untuk kami melakukan aktiviti selaman dengan tenang.

Untuk 2^nd dive, kami diving in Barracuda Point. This is one of the best dive site in Sipadan. Jika dive site first tu a wall of corals. Tapak selaman kedua ni, kami terpegun dengan hidupan marin yang pelbagai.

A School of fish berada di keliling kami masa diving. Perasaan excited tu tidak boleh digambarkan dengan kata-kata. Keindahan diving sites di Sipadan ni biarlah gambar berbicara.

Jika diving di tempat-tempat lain sebelum ni aku tercari-cari kelibat Penyu, di Sipadan ni penyu berlambak. Toleh kiri ada penyu, toleh kanan pun ada penyu. Dari saiz sekecil-kecil meja coffee table sampai sebesar-besar dining table.

Dive site ketiga adalah Coral Garden. Memang macam berada dalam forest of corals.

Setiap dive site kami dive kira-kira 30-40 minit. Tapi aku punya gas bertahan sampai 30-37 minit saja. Kawalan pernafasan kurang baik. Teknik belum betul.

Apa pun overall pengalaman menyelam di Sipadan aku gambarkan sebagai pengalaman yang tidak dapat dirasai di tapak selaman lain.

Sebelum dive di Sipadan, dibawah program yang sama, kami dibawa menyelam di Mari-Mari Sepanggar, Pulau Mantanani, Kudat dan Silam Bay Lahad Datu.

Setiap dive site ni mempunyai kelebihan tersendiri. Mari-Mari Sepanggar dipenuhi dengan corals dan macro species.

Pulau Mantanani terkenal dengan crystal clear water. Jadi visibility masa diving memang terbaik. Tapi aku perasan beberapa corals di Mantanani ni mula bleaching. Sedih tengok khazanah laut kita alami kemusnahan. So let’s pray fish bombing dapat dihentikan sepenuhnya di perairan kita.

Kudat juga terkenal dengan hidupan makro. Nudies antara hidupan yang senang ditemui di perairan Kudat.

Last dive sebelum Sipadan adalah Silam Bay, Lahad Datu. Ni antara diving site yang aku terjatuh cinta. Keindahan dasar laut di Lahad Datu boleh sama taraf dengan Sipadan.

Sebab aku lebih gemarkan corals berbanding hidupan marin. Melihat saiz corals yang besar di Lahad Datu buatkan aku kagum. Indah sungguh ciptaan Tuhan. Jadi kenapa kita tidak jaga khazanah alam sebegitu.

Bagi divers yang menyelam sebab ingin melihat keindahan corals yang pelbagai, Lahad Datu adalah tempat paling sesuai untuk anda. Untuk penyelam yang suka dengan hidupan marin yang pelbagai spesis, menyelam la di Sipadan.

I would say, diving in Lahad Datu worth your money. Don’t let the Tanduo incident affect our diving industry. The security personnel are always patrolling our water. I felt secure during our dive trip in Silam Bay on November.

All photo by Joe Starzz. One of the local heroes I met during End In Sipadan campaign. A school dropout who make a living by taking video & photos underwater. All photos taken by him amazed me.