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Monday morning arrived, and actually .. I still didn’t know if I’d be allowed to be on Sipadan Island. See, the Sabah National Park authorities doesn’t allow just anybody to visit the island for two obvious reasons. One is for the conservation of the corals and wildlife there, and the other is to prevent nice people like you and I be kidnapped by not-so-nice people like Abu Sayyaf the pirate. Hmm.. I wonder if he has an eye patch. Anyhow, you’ll need a permit .. in which the diving guys were supposed to get .. but couldn’t confirm before then. So .. you could call it .. going by faith.

I left the house slightly after 6:15am, to make the hour and a half journey to Semporna. The sun was just coming out, and the drive was just pleasant. Of course, other than travelling alone WITHOUT the mental threshold of speed hovering in my head, or in this sense .. beside me in the form of my aunt .. I truly enjoyed the drive. I sped all the way, and took about a little less than an hour and fifteen minutes. I was supposed to call my uncle and tell him that I’ve arrived, but I didn’t do it immediately. Ehehe. Didn’t want him to know I arrived super early. Shhh…!

I had to wait for all the divers to come, the permit to be approved, and the gear to be loaded up into the boats. I waited from 7:30 am till 10plus! Boy, was the wait long. At first, I was excited and all .. but after a while, I just wanted to get off the wooden planks I was sitting on while everyone’s talking about their diving gear. I did join in their conversations .. with some of the backpackers that were on the same trip. A Finn, and 2 Brits. Oh, and a grumpy German. He was like,”Khow longhh zhu whvee hahve to whait?” [That's .. "How long do we have to wait?" .. for those who don't speak German. Haha!]

Finally, we were “cleared” to go! I found out from one of the guys that we’re just gonna go there and ask permission directly from the coast guard. Now, that’s a way to get a permit. I like. Of course .. to have someone in your boat that knows the guys over there on the island helps. So, instead of the 120 people allowed to visit the island in a day .. there’s 128 now! And I’m one of them!

The boat ride was long though. You’d think after waiting for 3 hours, another hour wouldn’t be a problem right? It would .. on land. The sea was moderately rough, but the boat was going up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down .. you get the point, right?

Finally, we arrive. I had to snap out of my up and down routine and my first impression of the island was .. “Wow.” I’ve never seen such a thing .. I mean when you look down into the water, it’s just dark blue. As you approach the island .. you begin to see corals under you .. and that’s such an amazing contrast between the island and dark blue sea! We first approach the jetty to obtain our “permit” to hang out around the island, and off we went!

First stop, was the most beautiful part of the reef .. as told by the boatman. The divers were going for a deeper dropoff while the German guy and myself were dropped off at the shallow reef section. This was the second time I am snorkelling .. and though I was a little braver now .. I still panicked in the water once. I was swimming around, and when I looked up to check where the boat was .. I got scared! I called for the boat to come and pick me up immediately .. and yeah. Got scared lah. Of drowning. The shore was way off .. and there’s no way I could swim to dry land … like when I was on Manukan Island. I got on the boat .. and the boatman urged me to give it a try .. and told me that there are places where I can stand .. at the shallower parts.

So .. I went back in and this time .. I was able to see some turtles! Tried to chase them .. but it’s amazing how fast they swim underwater .. contrary to how the move on land. There was a big momma turtle .. and maybe a papa turtle .. and there was a junoir turtle .. prolly half the size of the papa turtle. Kinda cool .. to see them swimming around .. and going up to the surface to get air. Ah, it was WAAAAY cool LAHHHHH! I mean .. you’re flapping around in the big blue sea, and a turtle just swims pass you! In slow, gliding motion! Gosh. I gave the German guy a thumbs up .. and he was psyched. I swam around, took some pictures with my disposable underwater camera and headed back to the boat. The cold water was getting to me .. and I couldn’t stop shivering. Dang .. should have asked for a wetsuit.

We headed back to the jetty, and it was time for lunch. I ordered a packet of fried rice with chicken earlier at Semporna, which cost me RM4. So, on top of bringing some Chipsmore chocolate chip cookies, 2 hot dog buns, and some kaya puff thing I bought the night before in preparation for this trip, I had LUNCH! Ah, I filled my stomach well. Then, the Japanese couple [quite aged, in their fifties] told the German guy about some fish ball in the sea .. going on and on about .. “This giant fishball .. near the edge, near the boat” .. I found it kinda funny .. cause the only fishball I’ve ever seen is floating in a sea of noodles .. not in the sea. So I kinda ignored, rested and let the food settle, before going out again. The weather was just so nice. It wasn’t all too sunny, and it looked like it was gonna rain .. but thank God .. it didn’t.

I grabbed my fins and snorkel .. and went out snorkelling on the shore .. when the German guy signals me to follow him. So I did .. and I saw a huge school of fish .. just swimming around .. in smooth circular motion! I couldn’t believe my eyes! It was an amazing sight. What was also amazing was the fact that below me .. was NOTHING! Despite how clear the water is, I couldn’t see anything below me. It was truly .. the deep blue sea! Freaking out … I swam back … to the portion where there was the island. See, Sipadan is like an upside-down cone. The top part is the land .. and as you swim out .. it just drops down to the ocean floor. So all the corals and anemone .. are all on the sides of the wall of the island. How cool is that?!

Looking from afar, I couldn’t help but to be drawn back to that school of .. hundreds and thousands of fish .. so I swam back into it .. and the fish would just swim around you! Then .. the sight of a huge fish, not a huge school of fish .. but ONE BIG HUGE FISH swimming with the school of jackfish. It was a grouper fish, which was prolly slightly less than a meter in length .. and it was FAT! Like really fat! Fatter than a FOOTBALL! Gosh .. that was so cool. I didn’t dare swim close to it .. in case it thought my hand .. or my foot .. or worse still my gonads as .. fish feed. God knows what’ll happen if it takes a snap at me. Hmm..

The school of fish was amazing. It’s a sight that I’ve only been able to see when I watch Discovery channel, but experiencing it was just exhilarating! I guess you can call it my .. fishball in the sea experience! Trust the Japanese to give you the best description, aye? HahaHAHA! The rest of the time was spent hanging out on the beach .. and taking stupid shots like the one you see as the slideshow image .. below. Hahaha.

I thought the boat ride coming to Sipadan was bad. The boat ride back to Semporna was even worse .. cause I was kinda wet from the sea, and didn’t wanna use my towel yet. It was cold, and the sea was mega choppy, and nearing the islands around Semporna .. it started raining! We were in the rain for a full 25 to 30 minutes! By that time .. I had to bring my towel out .. to shield myself from the rain. It was all wet when we arrived at Semporna, but that spared me from being drenched. My bag was spared too, so my Chipsmore was safe. Thank God. Hahaha. I had a change of clothes in the car, so I got into dry clothes and made my way back to Tawau .. another .. hour and a half drive back.

As you might be able to tell, I enjoyed the sunset.

David[hmm]