By Bernard L. Supetran
ASK any true-blue scuba diver his or her bucket list, and Sipadan Island in Sabah, Malaysia, would surely be one of them. Hordes of enthusiasts, including the legendary underwater explorer and pioneer diver Jacques Cousteau, can’t be wrong in making this marine world their playground of choice.
Located at the Coral Triangle, the center to three-quarters of the world’s marine biodiversity, it is the only oceanic island in Malaysia rising 600 meters from the ocean floor.
More than 3,000 species of fish and hundreds of coral species have been classified in this ecosystem called the Sipadan Island Park, which was formed over thousands of years by corals growing on top of an extinct volcano.
The 13.5-hectare island is a lush jungle and habitat to tropical birds, such as kingfishers, sea-eagles, sunbirds, starlings and wood pigeons. This tell-tale patch of land off Semporna town has been declared a bird sanctuary as early as 1933 and gazetted in 2004 as a marine park.
Small wonder, this underwater kingdom was vetted for the New 7 Wonders of Nature, only to be edged out in the popular online voting that screened the finalists, where our very own Underground River landed a coveted spot.
This, and other rather unfortunate security incidents in the past decade, didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of adventurers in exploring this underwater wonder, which offers pelagics to small critters.
Upon plunging into the water, divers are instantly struck by the overwhelming number of aquatic wildlife—green and hawksbill turtles, white-tip reef sharks and assortment of fishes, only found in this part of the planet, not to mention a profusion of coral gardens.
I myself lost count of the big sea turtles and white-tip sharks that crossed my path and headed for the other direction.
Sipadan’s resident attractions are the schools of big-eye trevallies and barracudas, which swirl like a spectacular whirlpool near the surface. The barracudas, which sport a fearsome look, flock by the thousands and form a vortex large enough like rainclouds blocking the sun.
Colonies of enormous bumphead parrotfish swim through the Barracuda Point’s shallow portion, creating a visual spectacle.
Deep down are gray reef and scalloped hammerhead sharks, eagle rays, devil rays, manta rays and octupi. Lovers of macrolife won’t be disappointed with the spotted garden eels, morays, scorpion fish, lion fish, nudibranchs, frog fishes and leaf fishes and pygmy seahorses, to name a few.
The marine park boasts of about a dozen dive sites, with the equally enchanting islands of Kapalai, which is just a heartbeat away.
In between dives, called “surface interval”, you can laze at the powdery white-sand beach under the shade of the swaying palm trees. But before your foray into the underworld, adventure actually begins at the posh Sipadan Mabul Resort on Mabul Island, which will serve as your home base in exploring this tropical paradise.
Monikered Smart, it is composed of the island-based native-themed accommodations and the luxurious water bungalows that stand on stilts at the gin-clear waters of the Celebes Sea.
The well-appointed bungalows, restaurant and spa of the latter is connected by a network of wooden boardwalk with gazebos, which serve as view decks and stopover sheds.
Manned mostly by migrant Filipinos from Zamboanga, Smart is like a piece of the Philippines with its Visayan- and Tagalog-speaking crew from the dive center, housekeeping and kitchen to management instantly making you feel at home.
A Padi 5-Star Gold Palm Dive Resort, it offers a wide range of dive courses, ranging from basic to technical, or even the introductory dives for those who want to survey its house reef for mandarin fish, frogfish, pipefish, gobies, shrimps and crabs just a few feet below.
Known as a dive resort, it also offers expeditions to other dive spots in Sabah. In addition to its royal Bajau architecture, the resort’s other claim to fame is its artificial reef, the biggest of its kind in the world put together and nurtured over the past two decades by its owner Robert Lo.
A junkscape of wooden frames, crates, rockpiles and motor vehicles, the man-made reef attracts a variety of marine life, which has spawned and have made it a vibrant underwater thoroughfare once more. Its most visible creatures are the large schools of juvenile barracudas, batfishes and jacks wandering through the maze.
At low tide, you can kayak around the tranquil that will make you feel like the proverbial stranger on the shore.
Smart also takes pride for being the home of Miss Scuba International, a unique new pageant where the advocates for the protection of the world’s marine ecosystem are chosen from a bevy of beauties who are all certified divers.
For the past six years now, the resort has been developing a breed of charmers to nurture the fragile oceans with coastal and underwater cleanups, coral propagation and preservation of sea turtles through efficient egg hatching. Call it “beauty with a purpose”, as another famous world pageant puts it. This is Sipadan, a sizzling blend of sun, sea and scuba, and everything in between that will snatch you out of your senses with its sheer beauty.
***Getting there: Fly to Kota Kinabalu via Air Asia or Cebu Pacific, and take a connecting flight to Tawau. From there, Smart can pick you up and take you to the resort by land and sea transfer.
Image credits: SMART