Just got back to the mainland after two days of diving off of Mabul island. I did not manage to snap a last minute permit for sipadan national park...But I still got some pretty awesome dives in and managed to see quite a bit of rad stuff underwater.
While the national park will often have most of the sharks in the area and done epic schools of fish like barracuda and the like...the surrounding reefs specialize in so called 'macro' diving...Which means really rare small things. Saw a lot of nudiebranchs, razor fish, eels, very small reef crabs and lobsters, some octopuses, and other things. There were also a lot of turtles. Very large green and hawksbill turtles. Very large. Like over a yard long.
And today...there were a few peacock Mantis shrimps. After the radiolab story about them a while back and the oatmeal comic, you could say that the Mantis shrimp has a bit of hype. It lives up to it. First of all...It is stunningly beautiful. Just amazing colors. Also, it is aggressive and angry. One of them tried to punch a hole in a guy's camera case. Several times. Thankfully for the guy it was just out of reach each time.
The resort was great and the island was amazing. It only took 30 minutes to walk apps the whole island. Didn't have a lot of time to just relax with 3 dives each day, but oh well.
One of the divemasters asked me where I was from, and when I answered, she and where from in Seattle. Turned out she lived in Greenwood for a few years before deciding to go be a dive instructor in Southeast Asia. She made some comment about the weather and ad I was blinded by the sun could only say "uh huh...(for some people)."
Overnighting in Semporna tonight before catching the bus in the direction of Sandakan early in the morning. I'll be meeting a shuttle part way there that will take me to a lodge on the kingabatan river for a few days of jungle cruises and trekking. Hoping to see orangutans, pygmy elephants, and lots of monkeys, snakes, and birds.
Quick note about my lunch in Semporna a few days ago...I ate at 'fat mother restaurant' where I saw a very large man pick the biggest fish out of a set of live fish tanks for lunch and they proceeded to kill the fish by letting it 'drown' on the ground. I'm not really convinced it was dead after it stopped flopping around after 30 seconds...I just think it knew I felt uncomfortable and was doing me a favor.
Pictures of the 'sidewalk' between the dining hall and the rooms at the lodge on Mabul, and the sunset from the jetty.
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