Dreamy Sipadan

my photo


stock photo

yeah. we just dived in one of the world's top dive locations. finished my advanced open-water certification and learned that it's best to dive, or to photograph, but not to do them both at the same time, underwater. that said, we got some sweet photos from the experience.

so, arriving here. we get to Semporna and find a hotel that is actually both clean and cheap, a rare find in malaysia. then we find a dive shop - dive junkies - and the adventure begins. six dives, two days, in some mind-numbingly beautiful underwater reefs. our first dive was from an island - 30 meters from shore, it drops straight down to 2000 feet - yikes! "you'll get bored of seeing turtles" we had heard, but it wasn't true. a dozen turtles into the dive, i was still astounded by each one. they move by so slowly! hawksbill and green turtles, white-tipped reef sharks, a few grey reef sharks and i somehow missed a leopard shark.

the eeriest experience was cruising a few meters into a cave, with warning signs and all. turtles get trapped in the caves and drown. a turtle burial ground. it wasn't until being inside the cave, in almost pure darkness, and turning around to see thousands of fish careening by the entrance to the cave, that i realized just how bizarre the act of diving was. everything seemed to be moving in slow motion, and i felt like i was somehow both acting in a motion picture and also watching myself in a motion picture at the same time. bizarre feeling.

i escaped being eaten by a saltwater crocodile (20 feet long!) - it failed to make an appearance - and i avoided the banded sea snakes - seven minutes to live if bitten!

lots of tourists complain that the town - semporna - lacks even a single bar or restaurant catered towards tourists. it's true. i loved it. i took a day off from diving to wander and apparently a bunch of people asked daniel what on earth i could possibly be doing. they all felt semporna was boring - all malay. that was what was lovely about it! all the muslim women, scarves on their heads. men sitting around wasting the day away, drinking coffee with their buddies. women frying up roti (our favorite dish here) in every shop. i wandered around the fish market, said hi to dozens of curious children, avoided the lecherous gaze of the younger men here (this ain't no safe haven for women like other parts of southeast asia), and took in the smells and colors. lovely, lovely town.