Semporna, Malaysia

We had to be at the dive shop at 7:45am so we were up early to catch the start of breakfast at 7am. At first we didn't see the western breakfast buffet and so had served a Malay breakfast. We both changed to scrambled eggs and toast :)

We had prebooked our diving with Big John Diving, run by a local Malay named John who is pretty big. It was one of the few places that took bookings for Sipadan without forcing you to buy a 3 or 4 day dive package. Big John doesn't get allocated any of the 120 permits per day so they booked my Sipadan dive with an operator that did.

Today's excursion was two dives around Mabul and then one at Kapalai. It's a 45 minute boat ride to Mabul, where Big John's has their dive operations. It's a very family-like atmosphere - all the staff and guests were chatting and joking around.

Heather went snorkeling at the same sites that I was diving. They actually had a snorkel guide - to assist with the currents etc.

I had rented a camera for today. I decided not to rent it for Sipadan because I was worried I would be to focused on the camera and not on enjoying the dive.

The two dives around Mabul were okay. Heather saw a few green turtles, about 3' - 4' big. I saw a couple too. With the camera I was mostly focused on the macro - the small little fishies that I otherwise ignore. My divemaster took half of the pictures I posted until he was comfortable with my diving experience, and then he passed me the camera.

I suppose it's just experience, but I found it hard to keep my buoyancy and forgot to equalize at times.

In between each dive we zipped back to the dive shop on Mabul and had yummy snacks and lunch.

The third dive site was at Kapalai. The visibility wasn't as good, and the fish were slightly different. The water temperature was nice, around 29C. Much better than the 24C in the Red Sea!

Back at the dive shop we had the most excellent freshly-made doughnuts! Food always tastes better after diving, but these were especially good.

After the 45 minute return boat ride back to Semporna we showered up and then headed for dinner. We ate at the same place as yesterday, and we both tried the roti, which was great.