Arrived in Borneo on the 28th and caught a bus to Semporna where I would be diving. This area is supposed to be one of the top ten places to dive in the world so it should probably suit my needs just fine.
The town itself is... well it's a shithole. There isn't really another way to put it. There is a small area near the docks where all the diveshops are and that's basically where the tourists live and stay. Even that area is very run down, dirty and smells bad. Anyways I didn't come here to tour Semporna, I knew it was a dump. I came here to dive.
I completed both my open water and advanced open water courses and I'm now just fun diving and I'm absolutely loving it! I don't know why I haven't been doing this for years! It's amazing to go down under the waves, there is so much life down there!
I saw my first shark yesterday! Just a small nurse shark, but it was very cool. Apparently they've been spotting hammerheads at Sipadan for the last three days so I'm hoping I'll see one when I'm there. Today I saw an eagle ray and a blue marlin. The marlin was jumping out of the water as it hunted for fish, it was really cool.
The dive outfit that I've been using is called Scuba Junkie and I have to give them two big thumbs up on their work. They own the dive shop, the hostel and the bar next door and that's pretty much all I need from the town here. My days start at 7am, grab some breakfast, over to the dive shop, on a boat to some island, do two dives, have an amazing lunch (the food here has been so good), do another dive, back on the boat to Semporna, shower, change, over to the bar for about 6 hours, bed, repeat.
The first day I went diving I was at an island called Sibuan. Sibuan is basically a spit of sand with some beautiful tall palms on it and a few huts where the local villagers live. It honestly looks like something out of Robinson Crusoe. We went ashore at lunch and a bunch of kids from the village came running down the beach with fresh coconuts for us. One little boy in particular who was probably around 4 years old came down the beach with a coconut on his shoulder and looking all proud that he had carried it all that way but wasn't wearing a stitch of clothing. It had to make you smile.
The diving has been great, I've seen a nurse shark, eagle ray, octopus, lots of turtles, lionfish, scorpionfish, a school of thousands of jackfish that swam all around us, giant morays, colourful little nudibranches, boxer shrimp, batfish, angelfish, triggerfish, little nemo fish, trumpet fish, surgeon fish, spotted ribbon tailed rays, remoras and so many other things.
Yesterday a green turtle passed by me and it had a remora on it's back. Well as it passed, the remora came off and swam towards me. It seemed very curious and came to take a close look. I tried to shoo it away but it was very persistent and I sort of lost track of it when it swam down towards my chest. I didn't think much of it and carried on my way. Well about five minutes later I felt something on my head and so I looked up and saw a flash of a tail above me and then felt more movement around my head. I tapped my dive buddy on the shoulder and sort of pointed to my head and made a kind of "is there something eating my head?" kind of signal. She initially looked confused and then she had big eyes and laughed as she saw the remora trying to clean my head. Well my little friend eventually left me alone when our instructor came over and it decided instead to try to swim up his shorts. Rowan was luckily quick enough to clamp down the leg of his suit before the fish made it's way up.
I've met a ton of good people here, most of them come and go... well I guess all of them have moved on by now and new ones have arrived. I seem to be the only one who's stayed for the long haul but I just can't get enough of it. Tonight I went on a muck dive in the harbor and it's such a different world down there at night. Lots of different and curious little creatures. It was a little creepy too with nothing but darkness around you and just a flashlight to show your way.
I'll be heading to Si Amil island tomorrow. Looking forward to it already.
G'night.
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