Kapalai-Mabul-Sipadan 2009

Took off last week for what will be my last dive trip for the year. I got so tanned my foundation powder is at least 2 tones too light for me now.

But it was so worth it.


Frogfish, the cutest little sea creature ever. Everytime I see one I feel like giving it a pinch on its cheeks ^___^


Emperor Angelfish. This is a big one, almost half a metre I suspect. I think he was trying to sleep when I pointed the camera in his face, hehe.


Chromodoris, a type of nudibranch. I really like the colours on this one.


Gold spec jawfish. We wanted to get one with its mouth open but we'd most likely run out of air before that happens. The male would carry the eggs in his mouth until they hatch.


Hypselodoris bullockii, Another type of nudibranch. Looks really beautiful when it "stands".


Saddled toby. Cute buggers but hard to photograph. I noticed they're always eating away.


Halgerda. So cute, ain't it? Saw so many types of nudibranch. I like photographing them coz they don't move that fast ^___^


Sleeping Green Turtle... zzzzz.... Saw several more during my Sipadan dives. They're so beautiful.


Clown Anemonefish, or as I like to call it, Nemo-fish! Awefully shy and kept hiding in the anemone.


Seastar


Jackfish swimming in a school at Barracuda Point. Just ahead of them we saw a school of Chevron Barracudas and chased after them. Barracudas tend to sometimes swim in a circle, thereby creating the infamous vortex. Makes a really awesome picture! However, the school we saw did not create a tight enough vortex but it was still amazing all the same watching its massiveness.

A green turtle with a Batfish as companion swam by above me. Such graceful and gentle creatures. I can't imagine how people could kill them for their meat and harvest their eggs.





The Sipadan Kapalai Dive Resort, built on stilts on the shallow sandbanks of the Ligitan Reefs. The water chalets are standalone units and more than comfy. Bring your own toiletries as they only provide Lux soapbar. The chalet's balcony oversee the open sea and we enjoyed many a cool afternoon breeze and starry night there.

The resort is right in the middle of the ocean and the house reef is a better dive site than a lot of the east coast islands. As all dive resorts, it's full board and all about eat dive and sleep. If you don't snorkel or dive, there's pretty much nothing you can do, except chill. Or eat. Restaurant serves up some really good calamari!

Oh, on our first night there, it rained buckets and the wind was so strong. The windows and doors were slamming and every time the wind blew and the waves crashed against the stilts, the whole chalet trembled! At one point I wondered whether we would be washed away, hehe. Sleepless night that.

All in all, I really love love love the trip and Sipadan is so beautiful. I will definitely go back there again. Until then, I will harry my baby to take up diving so he can go back with me ^___^