Exploring Malaysia 
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Touted as one of the top 10 dive sites in the world, it is a truly unforgettable experience for many divers. With just a mention of “Sipadan” within the diving community, one will get multiple great responses and reactions relating to barracudas, humphead parrot fishes, jacks, sea turtle, etc. with an incredible array of marine life that could rival any other world renowned dive locations.
Personally, my experience was no different – it was unforgettable! And every encounter under water was spectacular in its own way.
Swimming into a tornado made up of big barracudas was unbelievable. From far, one would think that one was swimming towards a large underwater wall or rock. When I got close enough, that “wall” was really moving… hundreds of barracudas swimming in a circular fashion. The first sight of these fierce looking fishes should scare the living daylights out of many but not me. It was liked a tornado or a powerful magnet - it drew me and other divers right into the middle. Once we were successful in with the shining metallic wall of barracudas all around and above us, we just stopped our fins and revered this amazing phenomenon.
Before coming to this divers’ heaven, I heard that Humphead Parrot fishes roamed their Sipadan reefs early in the morning and so I told myself not to miss out. Liked a new kid in school, I was up early – signed up for the dawn dive. As the light broke through the surface of the sea into the deep, it was one of the most beautiful sights that I have seen. This first light illuminated the coral reef and the reefs were just teeming with hundreds of reef fishes, sea turtles and also a few white-tip reef sharks. My Humphead Parrot fish encounter was just about to begin. It started with about 20 of them swimming towards me and feeding on some of the corals on the reef. As I breathed out and sunk to the seabed to wait for them with my underwater camera, I realized that there were over more than 200 of them right behind the initial 20 fishes. As the big school of Humphead Parrot fishes swam over my location, I finned up to join them in the swim over the coral reefs of Sipadan. These beautiful fishes were full grown up to 5 foot in length and I was packed between some of them for a good 10 minutes. What an awesome experience to be one with the fishes and it left me breathless!
There were so many other underwater encounters included numerous sea turtles, reef sharks, Napoleon Wrasses, Jacks, Big-eye Trevallies, and the dive into the Turtle Cave.
The Colonial Government of North declared Sipadan as a bird sanctuary since 1933 and no one can stay on the island since 2004 with the government’s bid to allow the island to regenerate itself. So, one can get on the island to rest in between dives but one can no longer spend the night in this beautiful island. Number of divers to Sipadan is also controlled on a daily basis. Most divers will end up staying with resorts surrounding Sipadan. For me, it was the beautiful Mabul Water Bungalows. These wooden bungalows is built over the water and provided a fabulous view of the ocean. A great way to end the diving day – watch the sunset where the sky meets the sea!
Article from: Jerome Yuen
