Tun Sakaran Marine Park
Tun Sakaran Marine Park, specifically Sipadan, is considered one of the top ten dive sites in the world. And who would pass up an opportunity to dive it while on Malaysian Borneo? Me.
I have been anti-dive on this trip since I had a bad experience on the Great Barrier Reef. But luckily for me, the marine park also offers world class snorkeling. In my humble opinion, it beats the GBR hands down.
Our first snorkel session was off the island of Mantabuan.
What a dump. I am being sarcastic, you know that, right?
One of the highlights was spending time on the island itself. The island is inhabited by native people, referred to as Sea Gypsies. They live in small boats and huts on and around the island. Everyone there was very friendly to us. All of the kids want to practice their English, so your walk around the island consists of waving and saying “hello!”, “goodbye!” every few steps.
We got to spend three fantastic hours exploring the reefs around the island.
The coral was stunning, with so many different types of fish, even turtles.
Oh and Nemo, too. I thought he was in Australia?
WS got to spend a day diving Sipadan by himself, while we joined up again for one final day of snorkeling together on Mabul.
This has been one of the highlights of our trip to Malaysian Borneo. And if you are a diver or snorkeler or even a sorta-diver like me, I can’t recommend it enough. Book your trip!
2 left feet said:
Dawn–Wow!! What a beautiful site. Don’t become totally anti-scuba, though!! Diving where there are only wimpy tiger sharks as opposed to prehistoric-like great whites would be a walk in the park. Of course, the true buzz kill of seasickness is still present, I guess. As a semi diver myself, I am much more afraid of nausea and vomitting than great whites (we won’t mention the bull sharks that frequent the Florida regions I routinely get to dive, tho!!)-Denise
WanderingWhy… » All Right!! Leeches!! said:
[...] Marine Park. A much less adventurous time except for the sharks. WD has already posted about our time here as well, but she did not dive Sipidan. If there was any time for her to get back in the water and try [...]
Cat F said:
Borneo is some where we have really wanted to visit, esp. to visit the orangutans and the marine park, & that was before we learned to dive, so glad it lived up to expectations. Defo in my places to visit now!