Kapalai - August 2006
The whole holiday, as always, starts at Kota Kinabalu airport where divers from all points (or in our case Bandar and Miri) grab their dive gear off the carousel and venture out into the humidity to buy a taxi ticket (Ringgit 20 to KK centre). We stay at the Promenade Hotel mainly because of the proximity to the Ocean Seafood Restaurant (get in before 6.30 pm unless you want to stand in a long queue of Chinese diners, AND, hold up your fingers to indicate the number of your group; less than four after 7pm will get little attention). The red-eye morning flight to Tawau (MH2121) now leaves at 7am rather than 6am, nevertheless, the taxi to the airport only needs to get you there an hour before the internal flight.
The 45 minute flight to Tawau often gives you views of Mt. Kinabalu (in seats A, B and C). At Tawau, the resort takes over and a refugee from the Dreadnought Motor Traction Company (remember Terry-Thomas in St. Trinian's) will transport you through the oil palm estates that comprise the 90% of Sabah that isn't Mt. K or full of proboscis monkeys, orang utans and turtles. From the charabanc's destination of Semporna on the east coast, a fast boat (47 kts on my GPS) completes the last 40 minutes through Semporna's Kampong Ayer and finally across the coastal waters of Sabah.
The real holiday then begins with an enthusiastic greeting from the Kapalai staff. Kapalai is the most relaxing place on Earth, a bit like Water World without the Mad Max characters. Built on a sand bank, at high tide, there is no dry land, and precious little at low tide. Normally, the whole resort stands in one to two metres of water with tropical fish and rays in abundance beneath your feet.
The resort just gets better and better !! This time, seven divers, one PADI trainee and one snorkeller spent four days and nights at the resort. We logged 91 club dives, not counting the trainee, taking this year's total of Sabah dives to 385, that's 47% of the club's total dives this year!! AND, there's another trip in October.
The dive package offers three boat dives per day from a choice of 5.30am to Sipadan, 8am to Sipadan (2 dives) and 3pm to the Kapalai reefs or Mabul. Unlimited jetty diving from Kapalai is allowed, however, we found that three or four dives a day was a prudent measure to keep the nitrogen build-up under control. All the diving is conducted by dive guides under the control of Efren. His overall management of 48 divers and four to five boats is superb, however, it always pays to check that your gear IS on the boat and that the BCD is well attached to the bottle.
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The first boat at 5.30 am leaves for a dawn dive at Sipadan (left). This is worth the early start and 20 minute ride, since at dawn, the Bumphead Parrotfish (right) leave their night-time shelters on the north wall and move across the reef. We were lucky on two occasions to meet these herds of fish as they grazed the coral, slowly but surely reducing the reef to coral sand. |
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Returning to Kapalai for breakfast (lunch is at 1 pm and dinner at 7 pm) is the first chance to enjoy the large airy dining room complete with moon-pool! The food is very good, particularly at lunch and dinner where fresh fish and calamari is usually on the menu. "I beg your pardon?!" |
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The morning dives at Sipadan are spectacular for the schooling barracudas at Barracuda Point and the remaining herds of Parrotfish chomping across the reef top. The damage from the 'barge incident' was not seen, even by snorkellers, however, the rubbish accidentally dropped onto the reef by the resident military is rather unsightly. If it's swirling schools of fish that you want, then Sipadan delivers. Barracudas, Jacks, Bumpheads, Sweetlips and Bannerfish all oblige. A group of jacks appeared to charge our group, but passed straight through us. Once they had cleared, the two sharks behind them explained it all!
The picture on the right is pure Sipadan. Floating along in a current, you can see the sand and coral 30 metres below. It's rare to be able to use telephoto underwater! |
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After lunch and a snooze (it's amazing how tiring just drifting in the current can be), the choice is the Kapalai reefs or Mabul. Kapalai's best feature in my opinion are the small fishing boat wrecks in front of the jetty.
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Another wreck has been added to the cluster lying just off the house reef since last year. Each wreck is very specific and makes for a fascinating dusk or night dive. Wreck#1 has scorpion fish, a couple of real giants. Wreck#2 has schools of red snapper and a couple of grouper, and the newest, wreck #3, is home to half a dozen large, dark lionfish (Pterois volitans).
#1 #2 #3 #1: A scorpionfish about to be disturbed by a 'hostile discharge' from a sea-cucumber. #2: A huge, bland grouper plays host to a pod of juvenile golden trevallies. Interestingly, the only colour on the grouper (its pectoral fins) matches the trevallies. Darwin! Where are you? #3: Menacing lionfish with its 300o vision. |
| Mabul has been described elsewhere, however, this visit we dived on Spring tides! Mabul is a macro-haven (i.e. murky and full of small exotic critters), however, in front of the resort lies a group of articial 'things' - assemblages of wood, rather like scaffolding. These huge (5 * 5 * 3 metre) structures are home to vast schools of jacks, so dense that you can't see through them. Visibility is rarely more than 6 metres, however, in the current that was pouring through, we had an absolute blast. Excellent team work was evident as we tried to keep in touch with our buddies and the rest of the group. The guide, Jinky, was amazed that we enjoyed it so much! |
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Dusk and night dives are always great fun from the jetty. The wrecks come alive with their scorpionfish and lionfish residents. The jetty itself, standing in only a couple of metres shelters a school of Sweetlips and Sergeant-Majors. A monster barracuda lurks in the shadows.
It was one of the best Kapalai / Sipadan holidays ever.
Costs and Contacts:
The package is inclusive of transport to and from Tawau airport, food and accommodation in twin-bedded detached chalets, plus all meals, three boat dives per day and unlimited shore dives. The rate varies according to season. During high season, July - September it costs US$ 185/day/person, dropping to US$ 155/day/person in January/February.
The Celebes Sea is far less influenced by the tropical storms and monsoons of the South China Sea, however, the winter months, and August can be rough enough to prevent passage to Sipadan. It didn't affect us this trip, but the previous week, Sipadan was out of reach fro three days!
The contacts we use are:- Thomas Mok kapalai@tm.net.my
Veronica psrt@po.jaring.my
