Cuti-cuti Malaysia : Diving in Sipadan (part 3)

Continuation from here ...

The uniqueness of Sipadan Island lies in its geographical built. The island actually lies on an extinct undersea volcano, which rises steeply 600 metres from the sea floor below. Thus, this feature makes the island a spectacular wall diving site.

Sipadan has twelve dive sites overall but we only visited 4 dive sites as we only had 4 dives in Sipadan. The lucky dive sites were South Point, Barracuda Point, Mid Reef and Staghorn Crest.

We went to the South Point first, which was about 15 minutes boat ride from the jetty. The site consists of a wall, a ledge at about 20 metres under, and then a sudden drop down.



wall diving



On the shallower side, lots of White-tip Reef Sharks can be seen!





sleeping



I saw some Moray Eels too. This sea creature looks scary ok!





Another scary looking fish was the Bumphead Parrot Fish. The fish have humped and scarred heads, small eyes, and jutting teeth-like fused beaks.





Also, there were countless of turtles and massive schools of other fish.











Next, we went to Barracuda Point. It's very near to the jetty, less than 5 minutes boat ride. This dive site is famous for its huge schools of Barracudas, hence the name.

I've seen so many photos of divers in the middle of the swirling schools of Barracudas. I also want!! Unfortunately, we missed them. We saw them swimming away and tried to follow them but they were too fast. Saw a few of them swimming alone later.



Anyway, I saw some Common Lion Fish here.



It's beautiful, isn't it? But don't let its look deceive you, this fish is poisonous. The dorsal, anal and pelvic fin spines are all highly venomous.

Since the dive sites are not far from each other, we went back to the island for the surface interval between each dives. Had our snacks and lunch, other than camwhoring. hehehe...

In the afternoon, we went to Mid Reef. About 10 minutes boat ride from the jetty, this is one of the most colorful of the Sipadan dive sites. The emphasis here is on corals, though the fish are awesome too!









Finding Nemo

Round Batfish

I saw Napoleon Wrasse too but didn't manage to capture it on camera.

Our final dive in Sipadan was at Staghorn Crest, also a short boat ride from the jetty. On the face of the wall, you will find plenty of marine life which have made their home there. In particular, watch out for Nudibranchs, Angel Fish, Shrimps. This site is great for underwater photography cos it has great lighting conditions during the afternoons. 



Nudibranch

 

Nudibranch

Angel fish

Angel Fish

Shrimp

Fun Dive 4 : South Point, 44 minutes, 18m max depth

Fun Dive 5 : Barracuda Point, 52 minutes, 18m max depth

Fun Dive 6 : Mid Reef, 43 minutes, 18m max depth

Fun Dive 7 : Staghorn Crest, 51 minutes, 18m max depth 

Diving in Sipadan is possible all year round but the best time to come is from April to December, especially July and August. I am so gonna visit the island again soon!