The boat ride from Mabul to Sipadan was about twenty minutes. We first checked in and presented our permits to the military checkpoint at the base of the island. I dove three different locations on the island: South Point, Barracuda Point, and The Dropoff. I will let the videos speak for themselves. Notably, I saw: white tail shark, grey turtles, grey reef shark, great barracuda, jackfish, grouper, and triggerfish. I am sure I saw some other rarer marine life, but these dives had a bit of sensory overload. Every time I turned my head, I found another amazing sight to look at. Randomly, schools of fish or sharks would pop into my peripheral vision.
I spent the night editing all my GoPro videos up to this point. Each one takes quite a bit of time to make. Hopefully future me will appreciate this work.
My third day of diving was a bit of a dud. The visibility on the third day was quite poor. This was also mixed with my GoPro fogging up on the inside on the first two dives and my googles relentlessly fogging on the third dive. I have to say, it’s quite frustrating scuba diving in 5 meters of visibility with fogged up goggles. There was a huge school of barracuda right in front of me and I could only see the outline of them.
I’d say the first dive was by far the best on the third day. I started the day doing a wreck dive. When we arrived to the largest shipwreck, we swam through the bottom of the boat. On the dive, I saw loads of frogfish.
Once I finished my diving for the day, I took another stroll around the island. I found it so interesting how every pathway was filled with young children playing. It felt a little bit like Lord of the Flies due to the lack of adults around. Kids played with anything they could get their hands on. For my hour walk, I didn’t see a single child crying or upset. There seemed to be a lot of happiness. I cannot think of a Western city or town where I would see the same thing in 2018. It seems like wealth and technology can bring a lot of comfort and happiness to adults if used in moderation, but Mabul shows that children playing outside brought upon a great deal of happiness. It seemed as people reached the preteen years, a lot of the joy went away. Many of the older children were working in the shops or fishing just trying to make ends meet. Not sure what point I am trying to make. Maybe to limit technology and fancy toys as much as possible at a younger age and allow kids to use their natural imaginations. I’m sure that’s much easier said than done.
After my time in Mabul, I had to catch a 10am boat back to the mainland. I managed to use all four major modes of transportation to get to Kuala Lumpur: boat, car, plane, and train. By the time I arrived at the hostel in the city, it was already 6:30pm. It was just enough time to explore the Central Markets and the Twin Towers. I had a nightcap in the center of the city drinking Delirium Tremens, my favorite beer and one that is quite difficult to find. KL is nothing like Ho Chi Minh City. It was clean, walkable and was not teeming with motorbikes riding on the sidewalks. I could see myself living in KL down the road if ever given the opportunity.