Sipadan

Recently voted as the world’s number 1 dive site, Sipadan, Borneo, would hopefully raise the bar even further on some excellent diving in Thailand and the Philippines. However, diving the shockingly rubbish-strewn waters of nearby Mabul island as a warm-up for the main event left me thinking: Would it be worth the hype?

The sea was as flat as a pancake as the speedboat bombed it over to Sipadan. An epic storm the previous night had taken the punch out of the water, which was great for the boat journey, but what about the current? Sipadan is renowned for sharks and turtles  but these mainly come out to play when the ocean gets going. 

Fingers crossed.

After a quick buddy check, our super-chilled Dive Master, Susannah, gave us the nod and one backwards roll later, we were off the boat and ready to descend. Our group of 6 quickly maneuvered to the edge of the huge reef wall and let the gentle current carry us along as we marveled at the variety of coral canvasing the rocky surface. This was my first ever ‘drift’ dive and it was a great feeling to casually float past all the marine life, using minimal effort. Schools of fish began floating past us, including herds of blue triggerfish and my favourite ‘standard’ exotic fish, the moorish idol, appeared in huge numbers of dazzling colour. The excitement level got cranked up a notch shortly after as the first shark effortlessly swam past us. White-tip and grey reef sharks appeared out of the blue with surprisingly regularity and were completely non-plussed by our existence in water. If I stopped moving all together and just let the current take me, the sharks would come within a couple of metres for a nice close-up shot. I was attempting to use an underwater camera for the first time, which was more difficult than I thought, but at least the sharks were happy to pose and make my task slightly easier. As we finished the dive, there was even time for a big green turtle, gracefully swimming past us, to put some extra gloss on an amazing dive.

The next dive was at the Hanging Garden site. I handed the camera over to another guy in the group, meaning I could fully enjoy the relaxing sensation of gliding through the underwater world without the hassle of taking pictures. I can never decide which aspect of diving I enjoy more; the feeling of weightlessness and being part of a world you don’t naturally belong, or the incredible stuff you get to see. This dive was definitely about the former, or maybe that was because of the lack of sharks and turtles this time round! Still a nice dive but maybe the lack of strong current was keeping most of the bigger creatures away.

There was one dive left, Barracuda Point, the particular site which drew the recent praise for world’s number 1 dive spot. This is due to the immense barracuda and jackfish ‘tornados’ which are created by huge numbers  of fish moving in unison. But would they appear today? This time, everyone had their fingers crossed. However, any anxiety about not seeing this awesome sight was quickly banished as we descended right next to a huge cluster of jackfish numbering in their thousands! They are about a foot long each and the proximity to each other creates a seemingly impenetrable wall of fish. We watched from a distance, just in case any close contact disrupted this staggering sight vision. We continued to move across the shallow reef and soon after the second dive-master, sharp-eyed, “Small” John Wong, spotted what appeared to be a dark cloud in the distance. We all kicked our way enthusiastically for a closer inspection and the dark ball of matter revealed itself to be a giant school of the famous barracuda. As we watched these creatures huddle together, they almost read our minds and dutifully, began to form the synchronsied ‘tornado’ we had all been hoping for! It was an awesome natural spectacle and if I had had the power to speak underwater, I would have been rendered speechless anyway! Still keeping my distance, I swam underneath the tornado, turning over so I was lying on my back facing up at the mass of fish. As I passed underneath it, the Sun was actually blocked out and sea went dark for few seconds, such was the density of the fish. Amazing. 

Eventually, we left the barracuda and continued along the reef wall and once again the sharks came out to play. They seemed even less bothered by us this time and I was able to swim almost side by side with one of this impressive animals for a few seconds. We then passed a giant moray eel, a huge boxfish with sticky-out, cartoon eyes, as well as other big schools of smaller, but more beautifully vibrant fish. This was already the best dive of my life, but there was still time for a big finale. Others in the group began surfacing after the safety stop but I still had plenty of air left and I wasn’t about to leave Sipadan prematurely. I swam a little away from the group, scrutunising the coral and peering into all the nooks and crannies, searching for ‘macro’ creatures. However, there was something far more engaging just up ahead, another huge tornado of jackfish! Although once again impressive from a distance, this time I had the jackfish all to myself. I wasn’t about to let this final opportunity go to waste, so I swam hard directly at the cloud. At first the school wobbled and buckled slightly, before forming a portal which I duly swam through. Incredibly, as I turned around, the portal closed around me, I was fully encapsulated in the jackfish cyclone! It was an incredible feeling, being alone in my own personal whirlwind of jackfish. A huge highlight of my travels and a memory I won’t be forgetting in a hurry. Sipadan was definitely worth the hype.