Our flight to Tawau, Sabah was at 7am hence i had to get up by 4.30am and took a cab to Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT).. when i reached at LCCT, the sky was still dark and i was sleeeeeeeeeepy!! >.<
Checked in, dropped our baggage, had breakfast and time for our flight.. oh oh, i went there with a bunch of friends ;) let me re-phrase.. i went with a bunch of DIVER friends.. and i'm the only one not diving :(
Nevertheless, Sipadan was 1 of my dream place to go IN Malaysia :D
I slept mostly throughout the flight and ended up with a neck pain :P
Arrived at Tawau airport around 10am ish i think as the flight was like 2 and a half hours
Before we could get to our destination, we've to fly to Tawau, take a bus to Semporna and then a speed boat to Sipadan
We arrived at the Semporna jetty in about 75 minutes and we all getting ready to board the speed boat
Here are some pictures of the scenery along the way to Sipadan Water Village (SWV)
After about 45 minutes, we arrived! look at the water!!
We were greeted by the SWV employees, checked in, the porter took our bags to our rooms and dive centre while we went for lunch
This was my room number (bear in mind, our rooms has NO air-cond, just a ceiling fan)
This was the view outside of my room (on my right).. that's the place where we'd have our meals
Our rooms above the sea!
The abandon oil rig which has turned into a 'hotel'
This is me with a bikini which you would RARELY see
After lunch, we all checked out the dive center and most of them were eager to get INTO the water.. including me myself :P
There's a pet turtle!
Getting ready...
Dexter's sophisticated camera with underwater casing
Gearing up!
And off they went for 2 dive sessions!
Later at about 6pm, we'll hear the 'Gong'.. the employee will hit on the 'Gong' when it's time for breakfast, lunch, dinner, arrival of new guests and departure of guests.. cool eh?
After dinner, we spotted this in the water.. SO many of them.. guess what it is.. they were hunting obviously.. during the night especially..
They were the.... LION FISH!
The 2nd day, we all woke up pretty early for diving and as for me.. i went snorkeling..
The view from my room's balcony
Went out to the sea on a speed boat
On our 3rd day, we went to Sipadan Island.. had to wake up at 4.30am, get ready by 5am ish and be there at the island by 6am.. i could barely opened my eyes and i ALMOST told them that i won't go :P
Arrived at the island and it was still pretty dark
People arriving to the island to register themselves.. apparently each day they only allow 200 pax to dive/snorkel at the island.. and each of us had to pay RM40..
Spotted a rainbow! :D
Juvenile batfish swimming underneath the jetty and the water is SUPER clear
This is how a juvenile batfish looks like.. they are really pretty!! 1 of them came up to me REAL close from behind while i was snorkeling..
Okay, more on the Sipadan Island
The sand was so white, fine and soft
Water is clean and clear
The bunch went out for diving and snorkeling for the 2 time
BUT i decided to stay at the island as i was starting to feel sea sick on the boat.. the current was quite strong.. so while i was sunbathing, i took some photos
About 30mins later, the boatman came, picked me up from the island and took me out to the sea to pick up the divers
As the divers were climbing up to the boat, they spotted a school of bumphead fish! and then they all jumped back into the water =.=
This is how the bumphead fish looks like.. it's an ugly fish :P
We went back to SWV for our lunch.. and they all went back for their 3rd dive at Sipadan Island while i slept in :P
Forth day, i just stayed at SWV.. woke up for breakfast with Sharon and went back to sleep while the gang went to Sipadan Island AGAIN for the 2nd time =.=
If i'm not mistaken, this is a trumpet fish that i spotted while i was on my way for breakfast.. it has a blue tip on its tail!
And a school of fish
I woke up at about 11am, knocked on Sharon's door and we went to the dive center to wait for the gang to come back from their dive so that we can have lunch together..
After lunch at about 2pm, i went out to snorkel.. around SWV.. it's good enough as there were so many corals and fishes for to to see
Then i had a full body massage in my room for RM120.. the masseuses was a 80 year old grandma BUT her hands were SUPER soft!! it was a good massage :) so i tipped her RM20 and she was SO happy.. smiled from 1 ear to another and THAT made me happy as well :D
I slept for awhile after the massage and it was time for dinner! hehe.. not before i took picture of the last sunset which i'll ever see from SWV
Last day *teary eye* i didn't want to go home :(
Went around taking pictures for 1 last time... the sky was dark and gloomy at 10am..
Alas, it was time for us to pack and leave.. the speedboats picked us up at 2pm
I'll DEFINITELY miss this place.. how could you not??
Before we left, we took a group picture
It was really an AWESOME trip.. we laughed, ate, drink, snorkeled and dived..
For me, i was really lucky to see some magnificent marine life.. including the banded sea snake, jelly fish, jack fish, lion fish, puffer fish, angel fish, chocolate chip starfish and moray eel.. saw the white tip shark resting on the reef, swimming with turtles, got attacked by a trigger fish..
WHAT AN ADVENTURE!
Some of you might want to know how much i paid for this whole trip.. i paid RM2,000 including lodging (room with no air-cond), meals (3 times a day buffet style), snorkeling and transportation.. can't remember if it's included the air flight but then it wasn't too expensive..
ps: this saturday i will be getting more pictures from my friends.. so come back and check out my blog next week for more pictures! ~
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