POMPOM & SIPADAN

 

What I like about preparing for my departures is also the stress of… checking the equipment, taking the essentials and measuring the small margin of superfluous that will make people say "luckily I took it".

 

My recipe is simple: the suitcase and the diving bag gaping in the middle of the room, the back and forth trips that inflate them with a joyful mess, the friends who pass by, laugh and make me lose my train of thought and the anguish of my blonde girlfriend at the sight of my favorite sarong, the "blanket" that I have been dragging since my real dives, those of the Marquesas a long time ago - but you will still put that! Then comes the serious moment when with Hub, quiet, we turn these two big dominoes to extract the elements that will take up a chronological place (my flip-flops on arrival) or emergency (pharmacy, k-way), which 'they will not leave until they return. Except this year, I have one more sketch to manage. I bring 8 people to my friend Guido for 4 days at Pompom, and:

- What would make you happy, what do I bring you?

- Some wine !

-… ?? Okay, okay, no problem.

- Hello, hi Mikeul-le-caviste! I need 6 bottles of wine, which last 11000 km by plane, a shake at sea, 35 ° in the shade, which are very good on arrival - it's to offer - and that you give me the weight of 'a full bottle!

So here is the essential information to include in your lessons and pass on to your friends: a full bottle of Bordeaux 75 cl weighs 1.4 kg.

- Hello, the sherpas? In your luggage, you have to reserve me 5 times 1.4 kg, well protected, we carry precious!

 

Our organization is square: those who board the TGV take the weight and go to Roissy where the chief sherpa is automatically appointed. It is THE non-diver who has the pounds down and to whom I swore the wrath of Neptune if the drink did not arrive safely! And off we go for 15 hours of flight, a stopover in Kuala Lumpur and arrival in Tawau where Guido is waiting for us. Come stai, bello!

One hour by bus for the 110 km and here we are in Semporna. It gives me pleasure to recognize the places and to play the tourist guide. A few building facades have been repainted, the streets are cleaner, the machine is not working - it has no more tickets, holds it, it hasn't changed, it's honking and it's swarming in the market. I jump in and buy 3 kg of mangoes. I will still have sticky hands and a mouth dripping with sweet juice, the best!

After the reunion and various chatter, all boarding the new pier. We put on the lifejackets and 40 mn later the boat arrives in Pompom at Celebes Beach Resort. We booked and paid from France without any problem, payment by bank transfer for our stay from 14 / 03 to 18 / 03 / 12, for 9 people.

 

POMPOM at CELEBES BEACH RESORT

The boat presents the bow on the beach where 3 steps of the stairs allow to go down without getting wet feet. We are welcomed by the Dive Masters and it is Jerome who will take care of us. He is French but speaks so much English that he sometimes searches for his words in French, asks for an explanation of an expression or an abbreviation, “No Jérôme, a BEES 1 is not a Level 1 equivalent to an Open Water. Do you see the 2 gentlemen there? They are monitors, like you! " Received 5 out of 5! Burst of general laughter that breaks the shyness of the first moments. There is a lot of discussion about pedagogy, levels, required exercises, his job here… He is almost unbeatable on fauna, flora, and nudibranchs. We get along so well that at the end of the stay, we will want to take him with us to Sipadan!

 

The island is about 1 km in diameter, you can walk around in an hour, taking your time. There are 2 hotels on it and that's it. Here we are easy, we are cool, we hang out and we are not agitated. For the party, you have to stay in Semporna. Although! There were evenings here that were well worth Semporna!

 

Le Celèbes Beach Resort is a small structure and this is its very big advantage, I would say that the capacity of the hotel is around 25 to 30 people. You feel at home there.

 

Common life:

- You can collapse for a nap or a drink in the large living room of about 150 m2, with tables, coffee tables, large sofas, diving and marine biology books, television, music, wifi, and the desks dives masters. It is the place of exchanges before the dive, after the dive and the area of ​​the care of the sores " do not worry, it falls into the apples at the sight of the bandage ”.

- A 200 m2 dining room with small and large tables and a soda and beer dispenser (extra charge).

These two rooms are connected by the reception and completely open on the outside. We are inside / outside and it's very nice.

 

 

 

- Under the trees, on the beach, from morning to evening, we sit on the round tables for breakfast, we sit down for lunch and wait for the sunset from 17 p.m. lying on the deckchair. Phew, life is hard ...

 

 

- The sea is there, even at low tide you can swim, a detail that is important when you are not used to the tides

 

Dodo : 8 bungalows-rooms, spread around a large shaded garden at the edge of the beach. They are spacious, clean, bright and their arrangement far from the living room guarantees the silence to sleep. The bedding is comfortable. Showers and toilets are separated. The air conditioning works and is adjustable. The clothesline outside next to each bungalow is nice. The housekeeping is well done and every day.

As the rooms are large, there is the possibility of having two beds per room, which can lower the cost of accommodation.

My favorite bungalows, 1 & 2 (below) because the bedrooms are in full sun; downside, the heat at the end of the day, but I like it.

 

 

Meals: The food is correct and sufficient, fish, pasta, rice, meat and fresh fruit. As there are 95% of divers, they are used to “good forks” but Guido wants to improve this position, he feels that flavors need a boost.

Tonight he joined us and convened in the kitchen. He had started cooking and was preparing donuts of zucchini flowers, zucchini that grow in the garden. A long conversation followed about his past difficulties and everything that has been put in place since. “You know when I arrived I had to teach the staff to cook, to vary the menus, and to clean the way we see it. Plus the rest ”. A moment of meditative silence then he concludes "There is everything here, you just have to mix the right ingredients ". Then we move on to projects, setting up a collaboration-training with a cooking school, you-teach-me-to-cook and I-teach-you-to-dive, expansion of the Sipadan marine park, total ban dynamite fishing and the means of its implementation. Vast programs that will use his energy.

 

The dives: 3 dives daily departure by boat depending on the weather, and according to the desire of everyone, unlimited beach dives. Dive masters are caring and efficient. They like their job which gives the little more of a friendly atmosphere.

 

Typical Day : 07:30 am breakfast, 09:00 am departure diving with info on the site, what we should see & current; 11h00 diving; 12:30 pm lunch; 14:30 p.m. diving; 16 p.m. dive from the beach or night dive on request.

 

Adjoining the beach is the concrete platform with showers and wooden clothes for stabs and combis. The rest of the material is stored in crates. Each one sailed (or his dive master does it) his material on the platform and crosses the 15 m beach to get on the boat.

The rinsing of the photo / video equipment is done in the large plastic bins reserved for this purpose, except at water changes where the deconnade turns them into an inevitable jacuzzi!

 

The boats have a capacity of 16 divers, but that's a lot and the equipment suffers a bit (I'm a bit maniac). I preferred the outings in small groups or the shore dives where Jérôme and I dried our blocks. I deny it, it is customary for the hospital to laugh at charity!

 

State of funds : Some places are ravaged by dynamite fishing, it really is a calamity. Rumor has it that one of the opponents of dynamite fishing was murdered with a machete two or three months ago. True or Bullying Words? Still, dark economies are living on it. Who makes dynamite? Who sells it? Where do you find it? Who manipulates the fishermen? Who has an interest in its continuity? How to enforce the law given the means and the surface to be monitored? I heard an explosion for the first time while diving at Pompom, it's a big, serious and sinister boom. And let's not talk about the cripples or the dead by these crappy manipulations.

 

There is a will to act and repair: On places that are damaged, I have seen a lot of work in setting up metal structures, tires and wood that have been submerged. Little by little, colonies of sponges, corals and shrimps are reconstituted, attracting the larger ones and the life of the reef resumes. It should only get better. In addition, Guido helps the coral transplant with the association: http://www.projectaware.org/category/tags/coral-conservation

Fortunately, there are still some very beautiful sites and in particular "The Secret Dive" and provided that it remains hidden. There, the coral tables are wide, the colors, the fish and the life are everywhere and I really enjoyed myself.

 

A little info by the way: with all the actions taken against the massacre of sharks with local associations and Sea Shephered, the expansion of the marine reserve area and the fight against dynamite fishing, Guido lost his diving license. to Sipadan… No comment.

 

What we saw : anticenaries, barracudas, giant clams, cicadas, clownfish, fish chests, crabs, shrimps, crocodile fish, starfish, fish hawks, moray eels, nudibranchs, sea urchins, parrots, fish needles, batfish, pterois, scorpionfish, cuttlefish, spirographs, syngate, turtles, plus reef fish and this list is not exhaustive because I had to forget about it. The followers of the macro are delighted.

Boat trips in the turquoise blue lagoons while diving are pure bliss.

 

Bobos : In water at 29-30 ° three hours a day and a temperature outside 35-40, blisters, scratches and sores of all kinds become infected and heal badly. Betadine is used and allowed to dry as much as possible. This year, will know why, I took 2 boxes Tricosteril band, they will serve throughout the 15 days and especially in Sipadan. For the time being in Pompom it's the Apis Melifica mother tincture, plus antihistamines, plus a bandage of crushed ice that will relieve me. The pals complain "Stooop the ice cream!" rum will be missing tonight! ” While taking my towel, I was bitten by a centipede. My hand has doubled in size and for the pain it looks like the burn from an iron. The dirty beast! I swear to taste them if I find them fried on the market!

"Guidoooo, put chickens in your garden, not those, the others!" Those who eat centipedes! ”

 

On 18/03 we buckle our bags and leave for Semporna at 13:00 p.m. I take a quick tour of the mangoes on the market - when you love you don't count - we will say goodbye to Guido and his boat transfers us to the Celebes Explorer on which we will spend the week around Sipadan.

 

SIPADAN on the CELEBES EXPLORER (reader without self-mockery and sharp humor to abstain)

The 5 friends who could not come to Pompom are already on board. We are left with pleasure, and we are greeted and briefed by Axel, who is in charge of logistics on the boat. Tom and Cristina are our two Dive Masters.

 

The boat is dilapidated in terms of the cabins, yet one has the impression that there would not be much missing to have it repaired. Lack of will from the owner? Laxity of the crew? Moreover, the agencies which sell the trip have comments in return for their stay, what do they do with this information? Are we the only ones to list a bailiff's inventory! We had all taken a cruise in Egypt and during the stay the comparison with the Egyptian boats and service was naturally made, Egypt - Malaysia: 1 - 0. I start with what made us roll our eyes and do pfffh, that will end my copy on everything we liked!

 

State of 5 cabins downstairs and 2 cabins on deck (There are 8 cabins in all) from 18 to 25 March 2012, I give the dates in case a miraculous repair took place and my info is out of date:

- Unpleasant musty odors in the lower cabins and since the portholes do not open, the smell is permanent despite the aerosol cans

- The toilets in the lower cabins do not work in navigation. Some of us were sick, fortunately friends had their cabin on the deck and they could use their toilets.

- Cabin n ° 1: There are leaks in the ceiling. The air conditioning does not work, they were forced to sleep with the door open to get some air and if so, some freshness. On the other hand, in terms of privacy, we can dream of better.

- Cabin n ° 2: mine. When it rains, there is seepage on the wall at the foot of the bed. the computer, lying on the floor in its bag, was wet. I didn't appreciate it at all. Besides, in the event of a breakdown due to humidity, how did it work? Who is responsible for repairing or replacing my computer?

- Cabin 3, I don't know, the occupants were not in our group.

- Cabin n ° 4: There are water leaks in the toilet, the floor is permanently wet. The air conditioning is on full blast and the system is broken, it cannot be reduced. They froze or suffocated. With the hot and cold M was ill for two days with sinusitis and the related problems that we all know. But when you're only there for a week, you dive anyway.

- Cabin n ° 5: They had drip above their bed and the mattress was getting soaked. In the toilets there are leaks from the hot water tank and the shower. The ground is permanently wet.

- Cabin n ° 6: There are leaks on the toilet and the ground is permanently wet. The musty smell chased away the friends who spent three nights on the deck making a cot with the beach mattresses. The humidity got the better of their sinuses and they had a cold the rest of the stay

- Cabin n ° 7: There are leaks at the flush, the ground is permanently wet. Leaks (due to air conditioning and / or rain?) Soaked the cabin mattress

- Cabin n ° 8: Above the bed there is a leak which soaks the mattress; ditto the storm and / or the air conditioning?

 

Having no choice, everyone took his trouble, found a towel to seal, or used the bed underneath where possible. When we talked about it to Axel, Tom or Cristina, except for the circumstance that indicates that it is usual and thaton Can't help it, we only got a single response: "a new boat is under construction, it will be operational next year". It's very good but we do not care, we're on this one. I did not say it because I know that in front of me, it is not the right interlocutor.

Moreover, every week the group changes and in any case, it will be obliged to adapt. So the three employees who are in the front row wait during the quarter of an hour of unnecessary discussion and wait for it to pass.

Tip of the day: book cabin 2 and leave nothing at the foot of the bed. Bonus: you can stretch a clothesline from the hook outside the door to one of the rungs of the ladder.

 

The sketch of fruit juice

The cruise has started the 18 / 03 at 18h, the 20 / 03, there is more pack of fruit juice. There were 4 liters for 16 people. Axel told us that the boat was not stocked and there was none to buy in the fridge dispenser. Mince, a glass of fruit juice in the morning on vacation, that's part of the little fun we expect.

 

As we were in Mabul, I suggested that the person in charge of the boat buy some fruit juice. He first replied that there was none, but as I knew Mabul, I indicated that there were restaurants that probably had some fruit juices in stock. Finally Tom went to get 5 liters of mango juice. On his return, not having found any mango juice, he returned with 5 liters of orange juice (not a local fruit) for which he presented us the invoice for the modest sum of 132 ringgits, or € 30.70. For Malaysia, it's not expensive, it's colossal! (I send the pdf of the invoice to whoever asks me).

1 Malaysian ringgit is worth 0,25 €, 1 liter of mango juice in Semporna is worth 2.30 ringgits, or 0.53 €. So we paid for it over 11 times the price of a basic juice. Laughter!

The breakfast ironics that followed: "Hey, juice compulsory", "Whoever refuses has a pledge: swim back to Mabul and come back with 5 liters of juice stuck at the bar of the restaurant without getting caught". Or “This is my blood. Amen! ”. Another, another! Okay : "Dive Master is a cover, it makes a juicy traffic!"

 

Above all, we concluded that relations between this boat and the islands are strained or non-existent. He is the only one to turn around Sipadan, he is so jealous that there was no question of Mabul's restaurant doing him a service: "you come back next week, bring me the 5 liters that I will give you. ready today ”. Obviously, it's everyone for himself.

The advice of the day: eliminate the fruit juice permanently or have a pallet delivered on board.

 

Pigeon flies

During the return trip, Sipadan-Semporna, we see two empty cans flying from 2^rd bridge into the sea.

And us from below: Ho-ooo!

A head appears. - "why are you throwing your can into the sea?" »Why are you throwing your can in the sea? - "Which can? »What can?

The advice of the day: resist the verification of Archimedes' principle by passing the sailor overboard.

 

Pigeons fly

When paying for purchases made on the boat, Axel presents the note. Where things get complicated is when the exchange rate is priced according to the euro banknotes with which I pay and not on the sum total of my purchases. To know :

I pay with a ticket of 50 € or 100 €, the exchange rate is at 3.8

I pay with a ticket of 10 € or 20 €, the exchange rate is at 3.6

I pay with a ticket of 5 €, the exchange rate is at 3.4

And as I pay with several tickets, we do a calculation every time.

I take so long to understand (blonde I am) that finally Axel:

(*)

□ offers me an aspirin

□ tells me that if I continue it aligns the exchange rate on the price of orange juice

□ shows me the rate sheet he received from his office. For each currency, Dollar, Yen, British Pound, Euro etc., a different rate is applied to the banknotes. I am so stunned that I peel everything. The date of its tariff has been out of date for a month. After checking (on my return to France) the variations of the stock market are negligible.

(*) check the unnecessary box (es).

 

I take a photo of his change sheet which includes the email address of his job (for those who are interested and who also want an explanation - the more the merrier the more we laugh - SRB Tawau:  tawau88@myjaring.net) and I absolutely want to clear this up. Is this a legal practice or a scam?

My actions to take and which I have not yet had time to take care of: send an email to tawau88, to the bank of Malaysia equivalent to the bank of France, to Guido who may be aware of local customs ( we did not have this problem at home, nor elsewhere in Semporna) and a post on the diving forums, in order to cross the information and extract the truth if possible. I was in Borneo two years ago, never had this system or any other country I have visited.

The tip of the day: change the change at Tawau airport or anywhere else but BEFORE boarding and pay everything in ringgits. Or not to buy anything on the boat (I feel that you will develop your frugal side).

 

The aperitif

Back in France, I am in contact by email with one of the divers preceding our group and, as luck would have it, with a diver from the following group. The first one informs me that he has left us, among other things, a broken bottle of rum and he hopes that we have drunk it to his health. I email the second that Cristina and Axel have been given pastis, vodka and armagnac, with a mission to give them to them.

No one has recovered anything, so it is diverted or thrown away. Provided that it is diverted!

The tip of the day: finish all the bottles before disembarking. Hips!

 

All we liked:

- The deck with the hangers for drying the wetsuits, the tidy and easily accessible crates, the place to get dressed, and the lockers with clean towels inside.

 

- The large departure and arrival platform with the hot shower. The cherry on the boat, between 2 dives. We hear :

              - Hey, come see, there's a snake on the platform! Indeed, a striped knit begins the ascent of the

              rinse photo. I approach to see the beast and courageously let go:

              - Get over it, I've already been bitten! And that no one answers me “yes”!

             Finally it is the sailor who gently pushes the snake into the water with a stick.

 

 

 

- The second deck where everyone meets in the evening sipping a drink and waiting for the return from night diving. And it's also a good quiet and airy place for a nap.

 

- All the electrical outlets at the entrance to the saloon and in the saloon for our sprawling appliances, no need to wait your turn, there is something for everyone.

 

- The varied and plentiful cuisine

 

- The captain of the small boat, always smiling and pleasant, deaf mute and who sent everything that happens around him and communicates with the dive masters by the waves of their kicks on the hull; a transmission of sound through the bones that one of our diver and ENT buddies explained to us.

 

- The walk on Mabul

 

- Sunsets, heat, water at 29 °

 

The dives

At the first dive the festival welcomes us and there is everything: the turtles, the school of humpback parrots, the school of trevally, the wall of barracudas, plus everything else. Do not lose sight of the main thing: the dives are extraordinary, there is too much to see, everywhere. And Cristina and the other dive masters add more, they know the sites by heart and get straight to the point.

 

Diving every day, 5 times a day in Sipadan, that's good, with or without too much visibility: Antennas, giant clam barracudas, jacks, cicadas, clown fish, trunk fish, crabs, shrimps, crocodile fish, falcon fish, grouper , moray eel, napoleon (large and small), nason, nudibranchs, pegasus, humpback parrots, batfish, pterois, sharks, scorpion fish, cuttlefish, syngate ...

 

On return, the plan rest in the cool

After the morning shopping and waiting for the transfer to the airport, I installed everyone around a round table at the Dragon Inn, a restaurant on stilts, almost at the end of the pier after the bridge. It's big and quiet, at 400 m from the transfer point, the view is nice, we eat well, and at 11h we had finished their quota of fresh pineapple juice.

 

So Sipadan is still relevant today, go ahead, it's great, but the week is too short!