Diving in Southeast Asia. David Espinosa
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their overall color, an olive brown, as from their greenish fat. We saw some of these turtles on every dive, with an occasional individual close to the species’ maximum size (140 kg) and a carapace length of over 1 meter. Turtles are one of the main reasons for Sipadan’s popularity.
The animals are almost exclusively vegetarian, feeding on sea grasses, algae, occasionally sponges and soft corals. While they are protected on Sipadan, elsewhere green turtles are killed for their meat, hide and oil. Turtles take their time copulating, and because of this some believe the eggs can increase male potency, especially if the first three of any batch are eaten raw. The slow rate at which turtles mature combined with low infant survival rates and pressures from illegal egg hunting and poaching have led to a general worldwide decline in their numbers.
Schooling fish are another reason for diving Sipadan. Barracuda and South Point are particularly good in this respect and we sometimes drifted down through four good-sized schools at the start of the dive. Anemones and their guest fish can be spotted on almost every dive, along with hefty sized solitary barracuda (usually in the shallows) and an occasional imperturbable crocodilefish, alias long-snout flathead. Moorish idols, often in pairs, usually accompany every dive.
DIVING BASICS
Sipadan diving is not for everyone. Currents are often present and shift during the course of a dive. At Barracuda Point, in particular, there is often 2 knots of current heading away from the reef and downward. There are relatively easy dive spots, but we found the most interesting were also the ones with the strongest current: Barracuda and South Point.
Sipadan Island lies not far but in splendid isolation from the continental shelf. While it is only some 12 km to Mabul Island on the edge of the shallow Sigitan reefs, the ocean plunges to almost 1,000 meters before rising abruptly.
The 15-hectare island, with its lush vegetation and white sand beaches, is but the tip of a marine outcrop. To walk the surrounding beach would take around 30 minutes, and there is much nature to observe along the shoreline.
The pier at Pulau Sipadan where most tourists arrive.
On the north east coast, where the reef top extends less than 10 meters from the shore, the turquoise waters abruptly turn dark blue at the edge of a vertical wall. Elsewhere, the shallow reef extends as an irregular fringe, over 500 meters off South Point. A dozen or so dive spots dot the edge of the reef, all above vertical walls.
The discovery of Sipadan only goes back to 1984. While on a commercial job on a nearby grounded ship, Borneo Divers checked out the island and liked very much what they saw. After obtaining all the necessary permits, the company started bringing clients to the island in 1985. Divers were initially put up in tents until a small resort was constructed. Following this, two more resorts opened up in the same area. However, the three resorts were only open until 2005 when Sabah Parks recognized the need to protect and conserve an area of such outstanding natural beauty. Since 2005, the resorts have been closed and staying on the island is not permitted, and diving is restricted in order to allow the area to continue to flourish.
Mabul Island has crystal clear waters surrounding its picturesque pier.
Prior to 2005, the island received a boost at international level when Jacques Cousteau spent several weeks there to shoot his film, Ghost of the Sea Turtles. While Cousteau claimed the discovery of Turtle Cave, he and his team were allegedly taken there by Borneo Divers, who had already surveyed the site.
MABUL AND KAPALAI
If you are staying in either Mabul or Kapalai, the highlight of your trip will be diving around Sipadan Island. However, due to the permit system, you should not expect to be doing so every day. If you purchase a diving package for less than a week it may be that only one day of this is on Sipadan (a day trip to Sipadan usually includes 3–4 dives, depending on the operator). Check when booking how many Sipadan days versus non-Sipadan days are included in your package.
Most Mabul and Kapalai operators will strongly suggest that you first dive the sites around the island on which you are based. This gives the operator the opportunity to access your skills prior to venturing over to Sipadan, which is renowned for having currents.
Mabul offers some fantastic muck diving with critters galore and plenty of macro life ranging from blue ringed octopus, ghost pipefish and seahorses to a range of nudibranchs. Like Sipadan, Mabul also has a healthy turtle population and eagle rays are also known to pass through the area.
Kapalai offers relatively easy diving and a range of sloping sandy reefs that are home to numerous creatures and critters, including pipefish, stonefish, crocodilefish, cuttlefish, mandarinfish, frogfish, ribbon eels and nudibranchs.
—Kal Muller/Sarah Ann Wormald
Layang-Layang and Kota Kinabalu
Diving off Sabah’s Northwestern Coast
Access 5–15 minutes by boat
Current Good, 10–25 meters
Reef type Light to moderate
Highlights Excellent condition
Visibility Walls and reef crests
Coral Good numbers and variety of big pelagics
Fish Hammerhead sharks, dog tooth tuna, mantas, turtles
Two world-class possibilities exist for diving from the East Malaysian state of Sabah on the island of Borneo. About 300 km northwest of Kota Kinabalu (KK), in the midst of the South China Sea, lies the Layang-Layang Atoll, which translates literally as “Swallows Reef”, part of the group of atolls that make up the Borneo Banks. Layang Layang Island Resort is the only diving operator and hotel accommodation available, so booking well in advance is highly recommended.
The majority of the atoll here lies underwater with the exception of rocks that are exposed at low tide. The reefs drop in walls on all sides to depths of up to 2,000 meters. There are some excellent dives at all depths with healthy corals and good diversity. Without a doubt, though, the main reason for visiting Layang-Layang is the opportunity to see schools of scalloped hammerheads.
A GATHERING OF PELAGICS
Layang-Layang’s diving season is from March until September. It is, above all, famous for schooling hammerhead sharks, and they are there in abundance until July, but as the water warms up the sharks go deeper. The best diving is around the northeastern end of the atoll, followed closely by the southwestern end.
The eastern point of the atoll is called Dogtooth Lair, and in addition to the tuna that the site is named after, this seems to be the spot for hammerheads. Normally swimming at depths of 40 meters or more, we once encountered a school of sharks in the 10-meter-deep waters of the coral gardens. Schools of barracuda populate the reef and wall. A huge school of jackfish hang out at 10–15 meters and manta rays are also frequent visitors here.
The Gorgonian Forest is a continuation of the wall at Dogtooth Lair, so it is not uncommon to see schooling hammer-heads on this dive either. But this site is famous for its sea fans. From 20 meters down, the wall is covered in multicolored sea fans (gorgonians) of impressive size—great for wide-angle photography.
Navigator’s Lane, next along the wall, is where sea fans give way to an impressive display of soft corals. The site was visited by hammerheads during our dives, and invariably there were grey and white tip sharks circling around off the wall. Tuna cruise up and down the drop-off in search of any unwary reef fish among the schools along the wall.
At the southwestern end of the atoll is a site called D-Wall, a wall so impressive because it is so sheer and so deep. Even at 50 meters there seems to be no end to its vertical drop. The wall is festooned with colorful soft corals that entice the diver deeper. On one dive, while photographing soft corals at