diving in Malaysia

Hello Benedite,
We went on a dive trip Borneo / Sipadan from 15 / 08 to 01 / 9 / 10.
- We did not have time to take care of the trip to go solo and we put in competition qq agencies. AMV & OCEANE remained. Amv is sometimes "overwhelmed" by the questions but if you persevere you end up getting by, OCEANE understands quickly and well, but was a little more expensive. We opted for Amv.

Outside the dive, what we did:
- Kota Kinabalu,
• The market is colorful, alive, has sweet and juicy yellow mangoes, you have piles of dried fish and a singer machine path (those of your great-grandmother with the pedals) where the couturiers can repair you almost anything at any time.
• The Mosque is beautiful, built on a body of water (I do not know if it is visited)
• The Chinese temple, red and gold, completely open, finely chiseled statues, incense, it is superb,
Mount Kota Kinalabu with mountain walks and views; to note, we had the chance to see rafflesia, the largest flower in the world, 50 cm diameter, no stem, no leaf, a large brown orange flower placed on the ground and that does not smell very good. She puts 5 years to grow and bloom a week: for fan of botany!
• The park with the different species of trees and the monkey bridges that connect the trees, halfway up for an aerial walk in the canopy
• Side shops souvenirs, we found nothing, but maybe we are not talented.

- Sepilok, the orangutan rehabilitation center in Sandakan. As this is the only place where we can really approach them (10 m), we found it great. It is not a zoo, the territory is open, they are re-educated to return to the jungle which is getting smaller and smaller (there are oil palm plantations everywhere, it is a disaster).

- Go up the river to go to the Rainforest which is aptly named. Everything is big, green, the trees are gigantic. Saw the proboscis monkeys (and others whose names I forgot), but these are so special in head and color that I haven't forgotten them. Namely, despite the kway, you are soaked because it is raining, because it is hot and humid and you are sweaty and you end up feeling cold, the last straw! (humor, I prefer to specify, the French have a reputation for complaining!)

- Selingan to find out about the turtle protection and reproduction plan. You can zap without regret.
In detail: departure for the island to 9h30, arrival an hour later, installation in your room, lunch, the afternoon nothing to do on the island (there is a vague volleyball court and no luck the tide has removed the sea), 18h a documentary film that dates a bit, about 40 mn, a small museum to complete the film, meals and a wait that can go from 22h to 3h of the mat.
We managed to catch 22h15's turtle: the park rangers came to pick us up and we ended up in front of a turtle who was laying eggs and who was pissed off by 10 people around her (although there is little noise and no lamp light).
22h30, back to the center, where I suppose, as every night, the guards poured into the pen for the tourists, a 50ain of turtle babies born in the day. You take three crap shots in the middle of the scramble. They keep the little ones and bring the bowl, the babies and the bath water on the beach for their big start in life.
22h45 coucouche basket, papattes in round; the next morning departure to 7h.
In hindsight, we would have preferred a day of diving or Rainforest extra but we did not really get any info. On the bright side, we have been financially involved in the continuation of the plan that has achieved 3% turtle increase since its inception, that's a lot considering what remains after the predators - dixit the center.

- Dives
• Accommodation: We were at Sipadan Mabul Resort (also known as SMART) on the island of Mabul. The bungalows are impeccable, the staff cares, the food varied (the pasta too "aldente" but for the uninitiated, it's difficult), the equipment neat (we had ours but we like to take a look in the back shop).
What I liked about this hotel, unlike the others when we went around the island, is that it is facing the ocean and the only island you see at sea is Sipadan.
• The tour of the island on foot, is done in an hour and still you take your time. On the outskirts near the sea you find clubs and hotels. If you go around the island after your last dive, take a torch, because you will inevitably meet people with whom to chat and have a beer and to return after dark, there is no Street lamp.
For the back of the scenery, the village, made of wooden boxes and corrugated iron sheets, electric cables snake on the sand, sewage flow directly into the sea (not all), litter - I did not understand if they were burned or evacuated - smells of gasoline and oil from small club compressors, with squatting guys, smoking their cigarette in the noise while watching the dials and giving an impression of clandestinity.
I saw only one restaurant in the village (excluding those adjoining the hotels), some shellfish stalls without jaws of shark, it must be said, three or four grocery stores, a school and a mosque.
• Beware of bad plans: we met a couple of divers who had booked a stay in a small club on the island. The evening of their arrival, the door window of their room fell to the sea by closing it. For two days, no one came to get it to replace it (it was in 2 m water) or replace it, we did not offer another room because it was complete. Their belongings remained in sight during the two days, the sheets were not provided, when to intimacy ...
The icing on the cake that made them break, the dive in Sipadan canceled because there were not enough permits, and in front of the stupefied customer, the monitor told him that he could go to swim! Finally, the day of our meeting, the whole team of the club had gone to 16h with the last transport boat to go to party in Semporna, no responsible had remained and the customers wandered in the village in search of a restaurant or shop to buy something to eat.
• For dives: water at 30 °, I like this precision! In Kapalai and Siamil, seen striped knit serpents, beautiful moray eels, groupers, huge dry, pterois and all kinds of nudibranchs with colors and delirious forms.
For Sipadan, it's a festival. First the Drop Off at 10 m from the beach and you swim above looking at the big blue. "I was there", it's for the long winter evenings and blues! Then there are turtles galore, sharks, benches of hump parrots, schools of trevallies that glide spirally in the sun's rays, and the famous wall of barracuda that never ceases to pass. It is magic. On the way back, thanks to the engine failure, we had the chance to see a baby whale shark and swim with him for a few minutes.
A diver told me "There are dives before, and after Sipadan", I do not know if he is right, the sea is so big! but I had a thought for him while diving. Go ahead, you're going to have fun.
If you can board on Mabul because Semporna is pretty ugly.