Semporna

Day 1: Morning bus from Sepilok to Semporna and I arrived mid-afternoon. Early impressions of the small town weren't great - lots of deserted buildings and boarded-up windows. The main reason for tourists going there is for diving at Sipidan Island, one of the top dive sites on the planet. My reason was no different and I could quickly see why the travel books describe Semporna as ''a necessary evil''. Perhaps a tad harsh but it's definately not the most scenic of places.

However, walking around trying to find a guesthouse, I found the locals to be probably the friendliest I've come across throughout South-East Asia. I must have had about 30 people saying hello and welcoming me to the town and it was really nice to walk around without everyone just seeing you as an ATM and trying to sell you things. They had no agenda in Semporna and just seemed pleased to have another tourist in their town. One lad even took me on a 10 minute walk to show me where all the hostels and guesthouses were, which I was very grateful for.

After checking into the Backpackers Lodge, I went back out to find Billabong Scuba, the dive company I had booked my Sipidan package with for the following day. Whilst in Kota Kinabalu, I'd also been in touch with Jay, my indecisive american mate, who I half thought I'd said my final ''goodbye'' to back in Bangkok. He had expressed an interest in diving at Sipidan as well and I managed to get us both booked onto the same package - 1 day diving at Mabul Island followed by 2 days diving Sipidan. After checking into Billabong, my intention was to try and find him in Semporna but once I'd found their office, they informed me he was already on Mabul Island and had already done 2 days diving with them! Alright for some! Good to know he had arrived though. I paid up with Billabong and arranged my boat transfer over to their accomodation at Mabul for the following morning, where I would meet up with him.

After sorting all that out, I headed into the town for some nice local seafood and walked around for a bit to see if there was anything worth seeing. There wasn't but the locals were just as nice.

That evening, I met a couple of other travellers at the hostel - Manon (Reunion Island) and Thijmen (Holland), who I had actually met very briefly on the Mt Kinabalu climb. It was Manon's last night travelling so the three of us headed out for dinner and a few drinks. Thijmen is heading to everywhere I've been so far in South-East Asia as well so I was happy to pass on some tips to him.

Day 2: I got to Billabong early doors for the boat transfer over to Mabul Island. Met some nice people on the boat - Rose (Holland), Austin and his uncle Jimmy (Canada), Frank (French) and Damien (Korea). We arrived late morning and I was greeted by Jay telling me I'm ''gonna be stoked'' about the diving (that's a good thing apparently!). However, he was less than complimentary about the company, their professionalism and organisation. After being there for 5 minutes, I could see what he meant. Whereas in Thailand, everything was laid out clearly and there were detailed briefings before each dive, here, it was a case of a 10-minute turnaround, quickly check into your room, get your equipment and get on the boat. We didn't receive any information about which site we were going to and I was relieved to find I hadn't forgotten anything important once we got to the site. If someone had forgotten a regulator or weight belt for example, they had no spares on the boat. I'm all for taking care of your own equipment but the rush to get us out there was crazy and not exactly the relaxed start you want when you haven't dived for a few weeks. Jay told me this was fairly typical unfortunately.

Anyway, our divemaster for the day was a local guy called Dendy, who gave us the most disinterested, unprofessional and vague ''briefing'' I've ever had. We were diving at a site not far away from Mabul (he didn't tell us which one) and went down to discover an artificial reef, which was pretty cool. I was buddied-up with Jay and Damien was also diving with us. The dive was ok but spoiled by the fact that I was drinking water throughout, due to a problem with my regulator. It was nothing major but not exactly pleasant and fairly indicative of Billabong so far. After the dive, we returned to the island and I changed it for another one.

We had 2 more dives that day at other sites near to Mabul. Both dives were pretty good and we saw some interesting wildlife. Once the dives had finished and we got back to the surface, we found ourselves nowhere near the boat and Dendy had no whistle or way of signalling for them to come and pick us up. In Thailand, the dive routes were all planned out and we never emerged too far from where the boat was. Here, we ended up just floating at the surface for about 15 minutes waiting for it to notice us - not easy when you're in the middle of the ocean! Dendy waiving his fins and shouting at the boat highlighted the unprofessionalism of the whole thing. And I discovered that my BCD was letting out air and my mask was letting in water, so they would both need to be changed as well. Going well so far! At least the diving itself was good.

I didn't really like Dendy and was hoping we would have somebody different for our next 2 days. He seemed fairly disinterested the whole day and acted like he didn't really care about making any of it enjoyable for us. Completely different to the other divemasters I've had so far on the trip. Throughout the day, we also kept finding that some of the tanks had less air in them than they should have (your supposed to have at least 200 Bar and many of these had between 170-180 Bar). We weren't happy with this, considering the amount we had paid for the dive package. Less air would obviously mean shorter dives but we just got the expected ''don't care'' response from Dendy. We made him switch the tanks eventually until we had got the amount we had paid for but everything was proving to be a real battle - not what you want when you have just come to enjoy the dives.

Once the day's diving had finished, we returned to Mabul and enjoyed the sunshine for a few hours in the afternoon. Jay and I then went to explore the small island and were greeted by hundreds of kids as we walked around. That evening, we had dinner (at least the food was good) and chilled at the homestay. Fingers crossed things would be better the next day, when we would be diving at Sipidan.

Day 3: Thankfully they were much better. After changing my BCD, Mask and now using a regulator that wasn't giving me an unwelcome drink of seawater every time I breathed, we headed for Sipidan. Thankfully, we didn't have Dendy this time and instead had an English guy called Mark, who I had met the previous evening and instantly got on with. Also diving with us were Damien and a Russian guy called Alex. We arrived at Sipidan, signed in (needs to be done because this site requires permits to dive it) and then Mark gave us a proper dive briefing, which made me feel a lot more optimistic about the day ahead. For me, it's vital to have a divemaster that's professional and you can put a bit of trust in. It makes the dives a lot more enjoyable. 

We had 3 dives that day, which Jay and I hired an underwater camera for. The dives were fantastic, although the visibility wasn't great unfortunately - probably a result of the crazy storm we had the night before (I thought the roof of the homestay was going to come off). It was still good enough for us to see lots of Reef Sharks (some big ones too) and also my first sightings of Turtles, which I was chuffed with. One of the dives was at Barracuda Point, renound as one of the best sites in the world and it didn't disappoint. Thousands of big Barracuda swimming around us, which was awesome. Thankfully, we got some great pics with the camera and also both had a good laugh doing some stupid poses underwater. Some really strong currents at Sipidan though, making the dives a lot more physically demanding. After one, I joked to Mark asking him what the hand signal was for ''I'm completely shattered'' (there isn't one).

A really fun, if tiring day of diving and I was grateful to Mark for his part in it after the shambles of the day before. No equipment breakages or malfunctions this time thankfully although we did again end up miles away from the boat with no whistle to get their attention. It was lashing down as we waited for another 10 minutes for them to come but we didn't really mind this time.

We returned to Mabul and I relaxed that afternoon feeling pretty wiped. Dinner at the homestay that evening (not much else to do on the island) before watching an ancient version of The Planet of the Apes, which the locals put on for us and actually turned out to be pretty good. Our final day diving in the morning - Sipidan again.        

Day 4: We headed out to Sipidan again and had a lady called Suzanna (Finland) as our divemaster this time. Thankfully, she was just as professional as Mark and gave us a proper briefing before the diving got underway. Incidentally, before leaving Mabul, I saw Dendy looking extremely hungover before taking some other people out for dives - just the image you want to portray as a divemaster!

Damien had headed home the previous evening so it was just me and Jay diving with Suzanna and we hired the camera for the second day running. Again, visibility wasn't fantastic - the storms really do make a difference, but it was still about 10-15 metres so we could see lots. More Sharks and even more Barracuda when we headed back to Barracuda Point (wonder why they give it that name?). The currents were even stronger though and it meant swimming constantly just to stay still and have a look at them. I think my experience on the Thailand live-aboard stood me in good stead though and I was far better at dealing with the currents this time.

During the dive, Jay got my attention after feeling something at the top of his tank. I had a look and got Suzanna's attention towards a slight leak where it met the regulator. Thankfully, it was only small and she didn't seem too concerned but I think it spooked Jay a little bit, as it would anyone. Just another example of Billabong's shoddy equipment and lack of maintenance.

When we got back onto Sipidan Island after the dive, I asked Jay if he had left enough time between the day's diving and his flights to Kuala Lumpur and Bali the following day. According to the manual, after repetitive dives, you are meant to leave at least 18 hours before you fly, due to the pressure changes that are put on the body. We worked out that after the final dive, he would have an 18 hour window before his flight but then Suzanna showed him her dive computer, which said he should wait for 26 hours.

Jay decided not to take the risk and ceased diving for the day, not wanting to give himself problems on the plane. Needless to say, he wasn't happy, both with the service and equipment we had had to put up with from Billabong and now this.A real shame he couldn't dive as we had been having good fun but also perfectly understandable. He decided to hang out on Sipidan until our day's diving was over.

I was joined by Alex for the final 2 dives (he had just been snorkelling for the first one) and they were both brilliant. We did 2 new sites around the island, where the currents were weaker meaning we could stay down there for longer and had to fight against them less. Loads of different varieties of Fish and some amazing Corals, that were reminiscent of those at Richelieu Rock in Thailand. The highlight was looking up to see a huge Turtle swimming right over my head, which was amazing.

On the final dive, Alex decided to let ME know when he was low on air rather than Suzanna! After gesturing for him to let her know instead (she is the divemaster), he didn't do anything and just kept looking at me. This meant I had to grab her foot to get her attention and direct her gaze at him. I'm not sure what he expected me to do about it. Was pretty weird - I hope he didn't think I was the divemaster! Bit worrying.

All in all, a fantastic day's diving, despite the limited visibility and Jay having to sit the last 2 out. Saw a huge amount of wildlife and lots of the Sharks and Turtles I was hoping for. No Whale Sharks, Hammerheads (seen there 2 weeks previously) or Manta Rays for me yet but I don't think this will be my last dive on the trip so fingers crossed I see some before it's over. They may well have been there after all but we just couldn't see them. Even with the limited visibility, I can definitely see why Sipidan is such a popular site. So much to see.

After we had finished, we headed back over to Mabul to gather our things for the boat transfer back to Semporna. Whilst the diving has been excellent, Billabong Scuba on the whole were frankly shocking and I would strongly advise people from going with them if they dive here. Almost everyone on the island had one problem or another with their equipment and it was clear that they take no care of any of it or repair/disregard those pieces which are broken. Scuba Diving isn't really the sort of activity where you should be cutting these kind of corners in my opinion and I suspect they are just taking advantage of being one of the few companies that can offer diving at Sipidan. Thankfully, Mark and Suzanna were at least professional as divemasters and it said it all when Mark told us he was switching companies because of the problems. Turns out they are a lot more deep-rooted and I'm not at all surprised.

Jay and I said goodbye to everyone on the island, including a nice dutch couple (Ruben and Sanna) we had met the previous day. We then headed back to Semporna, where he managed to get a refund for the diving he had missed out on, which was something at least. That evening, we headed out for some food and for a walk around Semporna. I booked a bus to take me back to Kota Kinabalu the following day.

Day 5: Said goodbye to Jay early morning as I headed for my bus. He is heading to Bali too though so we will be meeting up again there after I have been to Singapore.

I then spent 10 hours on the bus to get me back to Kota Kinabalu. Nothing much else to report from the day, other than visiting an internet cafe with extremely clean glass doors. So clean in fact, that I smashed my nose into one of them when trying to leave without opening it! Don't worry, no harm done other than to my pride and I'm sure you all found that funny. Afterwards I found a pub to watch Liverpool get beat, despite battering Arsenal. So a good day all round!

That's me done with Borneo and I would have to say it's been one of my favourite places so far. Loads to do within a relatively small area and I've seen an amazing amount of wildlife both on land and underwater. Feel very lucky to have seen so much. Cheers for the tip Rich. I would highly recommend a visit to Borneo for anyone coming out here. Just don't go with Billabong Scuba!

Flight to Singapore the following day.