Sipadan

Back in Malaysia after 3 months. And surprised again. This time with Kota Kinabalu. We were expecting small Asian town (this is Borneo after all!), but found amazingly modern town with beautiful sea front. And best food market we have seen so far (and we have seen a few... unfortunately...).

Just a short flight away is a small town of Semporna, one of starting points for Sipadan. What can we say, it was really nice. But just nice. It is good diving with good drop-offs and good viz and lots of sea life, but... Unfortunately, we visited it after Palau, so can’t say we were stunned. Just felt it was missing that zing, that something extra and above.

We did some muck diving as well on Mabul. For ones that do not know what we are talking about, you are dropped in sand and this is where fun starts – you go on to look for funny and incredible creatures. And there were few, we can tell you that.

Semporna is nothing to talk about. Just a dump with few hotels and zillion dive-shops. Definitely not a place you should have on your radar if you are not a diver.

After Sipadan we spend few more days in KK. We met a local, René on a flight from Manila. He and his family were amazing hosts, they showed us all around KK and drove us to Borneo attractions as well. Proves again, it is just awesome to get a guided tour by locals. We did a jungle canopy walk (special trail built on the top of the trees, so you can observe jungle from above) and saw Mount Kinabalu as well. Clouds dissolved for full 2 minutes and believe it or not, we were at the right place at the right time.

2 weeks passed quickly. And now, we are on our way to the last diving stop of this trip – Manado, Indonesia.

Our camera flooded in Palau, so this time more pictures from fellow divers. And yes, we are the boring people now – stalking other divers in a bar for their pictures.