We happened to be in Kuala Lumpur during Malaysia’s 50th independence anniversary. Of course we did the obligatory Petronas Tower Bridge tour that took us up to the 41st floor of the former tallest buildings in the world. We went back out to watch the midnight fireworks at the towers, but found along with a few thousand other people that the fireworks were hidden from view behind nearby skyscrapers. We were woken up the next morning by F-16s booming through the city. We arrived at the parade grandstand just in time to see the aftermath being cleaned up.

After so much strenuous travel in Indonesia, we felt we deserved another small vacation when we crossed into Malaysian Borneo. Conveniently, Jacques Cousteau-approved Pulau Sipadan was waiting for us. Sipadan is a tiny island that is surrounded by sheer walls that drop to a 6000ft underwater trench. It’s famous for having loads of sharks and turtles cruising around its walls. Now it’s perhaps more famous for the number of divers that flock to it in search of the ultimate dive. So many divers were coming, in fact, that the government shut down the 5 resorts on the island in order to protect it. Now you have to stay at resorts on nearby islands and get one of the 140 daily permits to dive here.
Of course, the other version of the story is that the government realized how much money was flowing through here and kicked the other resorts off so they could build their own. That apparently hit a snag when they crashed a barge carrying building supplies into the island that they are trying so hard to protect … So for now it is just the divers and a Malaysian military base sharing a little piece of paradise. As for the diving: it is good. But we’re pretty spoiled after all the great Indonesian dives and can’t say our experience lived up to the hype. We did run across loads of whitetip sharks, a few fat grey and even a leopard shark. Lazy turtles were absolutely everywhere and unperturbed by divers. Actually one barreled right into Mary. We were even ‘lucky’ enough to witness a somewhat disturbing mating scene with the two half-shelled participants surrounded by a group of hecklers who swooped in every so often to bite the female.
There’s also an extensive cave system called the Turtle Tomb that we didn’t get to explore enough. It’s named for all the turtle skeletons found inside, although there’s been 4 or 5 divers left inside, too. Needless to say, the dive shops aren’t interested in taking people in anymore. Here’s Mary at one of the several “warning: you will die” signs just inside the cave:

Most people that come to this speck of the world are divers because the waters around Derawan are known for their abundance of marine life, particularly manta rays. These have specifically eluded us in our underwater adventures so we were excited to have yet another chance to see them. Sangalaki island is the manta magnet with its constant currents, rich cloudy water, and numerous cleaning stations. We saw mantas on 3 out of 4 dives. But it’s not just seeing these graceful rays with 9 foot wingspans that’s amazing here but the fact that you can lay on the sandy bottom like coral and watch them hover over the cleaning stations just five feet away, basically reaching distance, for minutes at a time (an eternity for underwater viewing). As an intermission they swim a lap then come back for more.

We even saw a rare all black manta up close. We inched towards him until we were almost directly below the edge of his wing.Our fingers dug into the sand trying to get enough grip to keep from being pulled away by the current. It felt like we were watching a Discovery channel show live while lounging on a sandy sofa under 50 feet of ocean. All we needed were the chips and dip. I guess we did have sashimi at our fingertips. Then he glided right over us so that his belly was 4 feet above our heads. He hung over us for a while as we stared up in awe from his shadow. Even the snorkelers saw 4 mantas. I thought I’d save you from watching Steve’s actual dance by not taking video.We did see some other cool things while diving here like a 7ft leopard shark that let us crawl up to his tail to get a closer look. Also a jawfish with eggs in its mouth, some frogfish, and schooling barracuda. Yeah, even if you didn’t include all the typical idealic island attributes like crystalline water, pristine strips of white sand spits (like the ones in brochures), and friendly natives this place was more than worth the effort. Get on the next plane!

–Mary

editor’s note: i did catch mary trying to draw the manta closer …

It took a 14hr overnight bus, 1hr flight, 3.5hr car trip, and 30min speed boat to get to Pulau Derawan. In total it was 25hrs of straight traveling. What we didn’t know was if all that trouble was going to be worth it. I had joked to Steve that it would be the size of ToonTown in Disneyland and it was. It took 20min to walk around it. Here’s the count: 1 fishing village, 6 long piers, 3 homestays, 1 resort, 2 dive operators, 2 volleyball courts, and more turtles than people. There is a thriving turtle population that live in these waters and you can see them sticking their heads out of the water from inside your air conditioned room or on any of the piers, even under boats.

Every night turtles come up onto the sandy shores and nest. They dig craters into the sand to lay their eggs and there’s so many that the beach looks like the surface of the moon with turtle tracks leading to the water. We even got the chance to help the conservationists dig up a batch of 100 newly hatched turtles from under a foot of sand in the enclosed hatchery. They’re a little dazed when they see the sky for the first time but then they immediately start wriggling their flippers and turn their big black eyes towards the ocean. They crawl past any obstacle, including our feet. Cute baby turtles smaller than my palm were lifted out of the ground by the handfuls. Once dug up they immediately scattered so we chased after them and put them in a basket to deliver to the open beach. It was a frenzy of little flippers as they wriggled their way to the water. The few stragglers needed a little help so we gave them a nudge now and then. It’s something special to see them touch water for the first time. They take to the medium like fish and instinctively start swimming in every direction. New batches get released almost everyday here.

What comes to mind when you hear the term ‘Venice of the East’? If you imagined a city made of a labyrinth of brown, cramp canals lined with people living in timber shacks on stilts just high enough to keep their toes dry and away from the floating trash then give yourself a gold star for the day. The people in southern Borneo thrive off the river system. As we boated to the floating market through the waterways we saw the locals brushing their teeth, bathing, washing dishes, fishing, and answering the call of nature. Everyone smiled and waved like we were on parade. Guess they don’t see many tourists here so we were on display. Of course the kids tried to jump in to splash us, and they succeeded. We got used to that after the first few times so we were able to turn away fast enough to keep our cameras from getting drenched thus foiling their plan.

– mary

In case any of you caught the news about the 6.9 earthquake in Manado, Indonesia just wanted to let you know that we weren’t there at the time so need to worry. Actually we flew out one day before.

Save your worrying for all the flights we had and will be taking on Indonesian airlines. They’re banned the world over for all kinds of recurring reasons; like flying with failed mechanic checks, no clearance from air traffic control, and planes that just ‘disappear’ in the air.