Pulau Sipadan Travel Forum

hi,

I am planning to go diving at sipadan. I am just an certified padi open water diver and I heard its a spot for advanced divers only. What you think about this, is I true? Should I get advanced before diving there?

Thanx Andreas

be fast! cox there's news that the government is planning to temporarily shut the place.

check this out.

http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=42118

hi, to answer ur question, yes u can dive in sipadan as an open water but do be a conscientious diver meaning dont plough into the corals, straddle the turtles or anything idiotic like that. advanced level would mean u get to explore the other fantastic dive oppoturnities in sipadan such as the turtle cavern, deeper dives and so on. buoyancy is important but because it is mostly wall diving, not crucial as long as u dont harm the marine life.

Hi, sure you've heard about the tragic incident that occurred in Sipadan recently. http://www.finsonline.com/blog/fins/20060516/sipadan-tragic-incident.html

While the dive operators are doing their best to salvage the situation, i feel that the best and strongest way to show to the Sabahan Government that these sort of cover-ups and foreseeable travesties to the precious marine life is to boycott Sipadan. It will take thousands of years to heal anyway after the accident, and if divers like us keep going there right now, it would simply show to the Govt that they can keep the media quiet and the furore will just die down and they can continue exploiting the islands as normal. Feigning ignorance about the barge and the developments being approved for the island is completely unacceptable.

There are many other lovely areas to dive around Malaysia. Pls avoid Sipadan and its surrounds for now, if not the whole of Sabah.

Thanks.

hi, mizzthang, i respect your opinion but that is so NOT the way to go about it.
First of all, the damage really is not as tragic as what seems to be implied.
What is tragic is how the officers on the island let it happen. If u do dive sites like Barracuda point and South Point, u dont even know tht such an incident has happened.
Yes it is very very sad that it happened and I was livid when I first heard. But boycotting the island, and therefore missing out on the fantastic diving that is sipadan and even nearby Mabul is simply going to be your loss. Whilst I am not encouraging mass tourism there- I certainly dont want unconscientious divers - it is still awe inspiring at the best of times. I was there a few days ago and I still am gobsmacked at the fish life.

Sipadan remains one of my favourite, if not most favourite divesites. And yes, I'm thankful that I've been there long before this disaster. But i'm appealing for people to stay away, for awhile, not forever, because the only way to show the government over here that divers mean business is to STOP business for them. Doesn't have to be for years, it can just be to stop going for a few months.

Only money talks. Stop the money coming in, they'll stop approving projects like this. Just now in Pulau Perhentian on peninsular side of Malaysia, the government approved a ROW of SHOPHOUSES to be built on Long Beach... which is also ridiculous!!!

And i'm sorry, joolea, i SO do not agree with your point that the damage is "not that serious"? Damaging reef and corals the size of TWO TENNIS COURTS is not that serious??? Have u been listening to the government reps or actual divers and naturalists like Andrea & Antonella Ferrarri who go there all the time? And if you would care to give me an external email address i can forward you emails by concerned locals, Sabahan natives, with photos and descriptions of the atrocity that was the incident. The damage goes as far down as 30 meters and the roof of Turtle Cavern is in danger of collapsing! That's not serious? Did u really go there and dive at the Drop Off??? Can u compare to how it was before?

I'm all for going there and helping "to heal the island".... but HOW? How do u heal coral reefs that took thousands of years to develop in a few years? Sure we can plant, but it's not going to be the same. That part of Sipadan now looks like so many other islands in Malaysia that have a line of dead corals washed up on house reefs. It's pathetic and it should never have happened to an island in a designated marine park. A marine park!! Marine park + steel barge = oxymoron.

Keep going there if you wish of course i cannot stop you. But the government will look at tourism figures and go, ahhh... not much effect, it's okay. We'll pretend this never happened and go ahead with development. They will keep coming back. The marine life got damaged, yes, but oh well, these things happen. We'll just tell our media to be quiet, oh wait, they have already been told. We just need to tell the foreign media to be quiet now and noone will really know about it.

Hi Joolea, I assume you are diver but am not agree that not able to achieve perfect buoyancy is not important. In fact that is the most important thing as a responsible diver. I don't care whether or not you're going to hurt yourself by crushing into corals, but you are definitely destroy few decades of growth for those corals.

To visit or not is not a real concern. Any responsible diver should at least maintain perfect buoyancy or strive to improve their diving skills because we have no reason in the water in the first place.

mizz thang, yes i have dived at the drop off as recent as a week ago, and in 2004, before the dive operators were evicted, so yes, i do know a little of whut im talking about. Im also a journalist here n one of the first who realised the blog entry that andrea and antonella put online and instantly put in into a national paper. i also interviewed many local natives and sabahan environmentalists, local divemasters, international photographers, politicians including the chief minister and the tourism minister who was answerable to the project. so yes, i do know 'a little' of what im talking about. but to report the story on whut other established n esteemed journalists say is the lazy reporters way which is why i went there myself.
and what hv u been doing? reading whut other ppl wrote? the damage is not good, i agree, i was livid when i heard and started pointing fingers in all directions. i am still livid at how it was allowed to happened. the damage is said to be approximately 372sq meters (about one n a half tennis courts), and at a depth of about 5metres. contrary to popular belief, it did not wipe out coral reefs. of course it was damaged, but the essence of sipadan is not lost. it wasnt smack in front of the drop off (although thats no consolation) and it isnt like u look at the island and no longer see anything worthwhile.
what i mean to say is the damage is done. it is very sad n i can understand why u are so angry. I am a Sabahan native and a passionate diver. if anyone should be livid about it, its me. I still am, but the Government has acknowledged the screw up and nobody, i repeat, nobody wanted to see this happen. I dont understand how boycotting the island will stop development. It wont. SIpadan will never be short of visitors. And that itself is not a comforting factor. To a certain extent, I almost wish ppl WOULD stop coming and give Sipadan a chance at a more relaxed pace. The good thing that has come out of the barge incident is that it cast a spotlight on the development that was supposed to happen which is now going to be reviewed for more environmentally friendly specs. For those who think that no more development is necessary, I agree as well, except that the buildings left there now, for army and park officials, is disintegrating and a horrible eyesore. I am not saying yes, lets build bigger structures for more divers! but for everyone who pays RM40 a day to dive there, the management can make it more presentable. And although all divers I've spoken to are in agreement tht no one really wants facilities on the island, the Government has to justify taking that fee. At least having a nice shaded rest or picnic areas (we stood under the rain during surface intervals) for the 100 or so divers that come everyday. And yes, sorry, muddybok I do agree that buoyancy is very important. It pains me to see experienced divers with expensive kits and top range cameras climbing and clutching on to corals, and riding turtles. I personally know divemasters who have been in fist fights for such offences.

This is a good perspective - take a look

http://www.finsonline.com/blog/fins/20060525/perspective-the-sipadan-saga.html#more-55

yes i did read that.

it's fine, at the end of the day everyone has their own opinion. i feel the same way about the whole whether or not to go to myanmar issue, but let's not start on that here.

conclusion: u won't see me there for a long time, but happy diving to all those going to sipadan! over and out.