Dive 13 - Drop-off to Barracuda Point, Sipadan
Our last day of diving, we decided to try dawn diving at 6am again. Descent by the wall to around 23m. The same sinister darkness again but this time I was more prepared and less scared. Some divers in our group spotted a Hammerhead shark at around 30m depth. I didn't realise it was a Hammerhead shark, just thought that it was a normal shark.
Spotted the usual, turtles, bumphead parrotfish. A large school of barracudas appeared all of a sudden to our left (deep blue) and we were rather taken aback. Visibility wasn't good so we didn't take any photos at all.
Towards the end of the dive, there was a gentle current, so we effortless drifted along to the safety stop while admiring the lovely underwater scenery.
Dive 14 - Whitetip Avenue
Our very last dive for this trip.
There were simply so many turtles that this site should be called Turtle Avenue than Whitetip Avenue. LOL. My goodness, they were really everywhere, up on the surface, among corals, mid waters...
The turtles were ever so friendly, allowing us to high five and rub their backs. Yep, that was me, harassing *ahem* caressing a juvenile turtle.
This was quite an interesting and cute sight where a batfish was swimming underneath a green turtle all the way.
We got bored after a while as there were mostly turtles so we started camwhoring underwater :p
Didn't realise I was that close to a triggerfish. Ought to be more careful, I still want my eye loops.
Once again, the shallower waters was a lovely coral garden. With a gentle current, we drifted leisurely along. It was as if we were in an underwater aquarium admiring the views of marine life and just like the scenes in 'Finding Nemo'.
A lovely finale to our 14th dive.
After our last dive, we headed back to the resort to pack, wash our dive gears and have lunch. Still had some time before check out so we explored the resort a bit. Strange that we didn't really walk around; too busy diving!
The Sandbar. This is the truely Pulau Kapalai. Heard that Kapalai was once an island but now left with a thin strip of sandbar.
Forgot to mention in the earlier posts that there is this viewing gallery in the middle of the restaurant with a small coral reef. Day or night time, there would be different visitors. Spotted stingray and even the resident lone great barracuda.It was time to bid farewell to our paradise. We boarded the speedboat and watched reluctantly as the speedboat sped further and further and the resort smaller and smaller.
Reached the Semporna Jetty in the late afternoon, and took a 1hr coach ride to Tawau where we stayed for 1 night at King Park Hotel
Took the opportunity to dry our wetsuits and gears, otherwise our luggage would definitely be overweight.
For dinner, we went to a hawker place well known in Tawau for a sumptuous seafood dinner. Too bad I forgot to bring my camera as the seafood was superb!
Day 6 - 7 Jan
Basically we spent the last day of our trip travelling. As there wasn't a direct flight from Tawau back to Singapore, we had to take an AirAsia flight to Kuala Lumpur first. From there, we had the option of taking coach back to Singapore or shuttle flight service and we took the latter choice.
In a nutshell, it was an unforgetable experience diving in one of the top dive destinations in the world, with a great group of divers. Hopefully I could get a chance to dive in Sipadan again.
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