Mabul versus Kapalai

In article <Hng8f.332914$tl2.227478@pd7tw3no>, slarson@shaw.canada
(chilly) wrote:

>
> Just look at Dave Morgan. He likes staying out on the rig platform
> resort.
> To each his own.

I have been there 5 or 6 times now, mostly on the Rig its quiet, and thats
how i like it. Its cheap/inexpensive, you can strap a tank on and dive as
much as you like, no extra cost for that, i have done 100 + dives around
Sipadan, Mabul, Kapalai and for me the best dive is allways under the Rig,
under it and 100 yards around it. We stopped going to Sipadan, how many
Turtles and Sharks do you want to count ? Mabul....Paradise...is ok, full
of surprising critters, the Mandarins are excellent if you can get to see
them. Kapali.....is beautiful and i have had some good dives there but not
as prolific as under the Rig.

The Rig is a bit "industrial" and not to everyones liking, the guides are
good, we enjoy the food, evening meal out on the "helipad" at the back is
great, sitting talking and exchanging dive stories untill sleep beckons.I
think you have to look at these places and judge them on what your looking
for.......

Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK
Take out the "goes diving" bit....
Trip photos on line at www.morg.co.uk

Thanks for that,


That has given me a lot to go on. Is the Turtle cavern worth going to?

John


Vic wrote:

> On 27 Oct 2005 16:36:46 -0700, "Winethinker" <johnnyaferg@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> >I want to get as much Sipadan diving in as possible but noticed that
> >there are contradictory info about various resorts and quality of dive
> >masters etc.
>
> You might want to give a look at this message of mine:
> gef2i1davlsil9putrcmltdc0lohpkv0j4@4ax.com
>
> You probably know that resorts on Sipadan itself have been closed
> down. I would go back to Kapalai: first dive at Sipadan at 6.00am,
> back to Kapalai for breakfast, two more dives at Sipadan at 9.00am and
> 11.00am. Afternoon dive at either Kapalai or Mabul.
>
> >I was thinking of the Mabul Water Bungalows howefver they are the most
> >expensive of the lot. Any ideas?
>
> I was there in 99, too far away for comparison. If had to say, I
> found rooms and food better at Kapalai, Mabul's DMs were better and
> nicer; all of them leave you pretty much on your own... thought it was
> great but you might disagree.
>
> >Also I was thinking 4 days and 4 nights, is that a reasonable time?
>
> My advice: stay as long as you can, you won't regret it. On my last
> time there, I spent 10 nights and wished I had had more...
>
> Vic

In article <1130874456.494080.155010@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups .com>,
winethinker@gmail.com (Winethinker) wrote:

> Is the Turtle cavern worth going to?

For me it was, very memorable, not for the faint hearted though as it is
enourmous in there, once you have entered the entrance and swam in for
some way the entrance to the "Tomb" is up on the left, once in there it is
completely black so you need god torches, and i dont mean dive center
torches, we spent 30 minutes in there, it is completely disorientating,
was for me anyway, at one point we could look out the "window" out to the
reef wall but if lost you would not get out of the window.
It would be easy to get lost in there, personly i think it should be
"lined" but there is an argument for not doing so. Would i do it
again..yes with two of everything.......with 12ltr singles and a shared
torch.............nope........
If Turtles drown in there because they cant find there way out.....(well
we assume that) then it can happen to others......

Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK

Winethinker wrote:
> Thanks for that,
>
>
> That has given me a lot to go on. Is the Turtle cavern worth going to?
>
> John
>

I guess not every dive operator is willing to let divers enter the
cavern, which is actually a very good thing. However, if you're
qualified to do that and have a gear to safely visit the cavern I guess
you won't regret it. I haven't been inside myself, but the images and
videos I've seen are quite impressive, though also a bit sad in a way.

What comes to dive operators, I was very satisfied with Borneo Divers'
quality of service and friendliness and expertise of the staff. Their
Mabul resort is very nice indeed, but that goddamn rig is blocking the
view...

- Miika -

In article <7Iaaf.443$1i5.348@read3.inet.fi>, n@a.com
(=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Miika_H=E4rk=F6nen?=) wrote:

> but that goddamn rig is blocking the
> view...

Of What ???????

Funny thing that.......from my perspective its "that godam Mabul Island
that blocks the view of Sipadan"


Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK

morgand@cix.compulink.co.uk wrote:
> In article <7Iaaf.443$1i5.348@read3.inet.fi>, n@a.com
> (=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Miika_H=E4rk=F6nen?=) wrote:
>
>
>> but that goddamn rig is blocking the
>>view...
>
>
> Of What ???????
>
> Funny thing that.......from my perspective its "that godam Mabul Island
> that blocks the view of Sipadan"
>
>
> Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK

I saw that coming =D

Okay, I'll admit... there's not much to block. But anyway, when you're
looking from the beach you could happily live without the rig being
there. It just doesn't seem to belong there.

On 1 Nov 2005 11:47:36 -0800, the cup of "Winethinker"
<winethinker@gmail.com> overfloweth with the following:

> Thanks for that,
>
>
> That has given me a lot to go on. Is the Turtle cavern worth going to?
>
> John
>
>

There's been a history of people going into the cavern from various dive
centres with a guide from some of the resorts on Sipadan, but they
usually go in without any lines, which I personally think to be close to
insanity. Having been in the cavern numerous times, I would think
definitely think twice before letting any random dive guide leade me in.
As Dave mentioned, the cavern reaches quite far back, and to see the
various turtle remains you are sometimes beyond the reach of cavern
(area from which you still see the light of the entrance). Even going in
this far really requires a couple of good lights and a long reel, so if
you have any sense of self-preservation I recommend you think carefully
about who you let guide you in there. Sipadan Mabul Resort (SMART) have
a technical dive centre, so someone from there should be able to sort
out either a safe guided dive, or a TDI Cavern course, depending on your
whim.

Stan

In article <iqslm1tkg4i23q8dm7oa89qr1udgd5hnvg@4ax.com>,
grost@NOSPAM.yahoo.co.uk (G Winstanley) wrote:

> *From:* G Winstanley <grost@NOSPAM.yahoo.co.uk>
> *Date:* Fri, 04 Nov 2005 05:43:49 GMT

> There's been a history of people going into the cavern from various dive
> centres with a guide from some of the resorts on Sipadan, but they
> usually go in without any lines, which I personally think to be close to
> insanity.

We went in with our guide without lines, singles, the guide the same and
he only had a "dive center" torch, you know the ones with batteries and a
power output of about......oh as much as two or three candles......
But he did know his way around, we had my wifes video lighting which
creates virtual "daylight" and you still could'nt see the walls.

> Having been in the cavern numerous times, I would think
> definitely think twice before letting any random dive guide leade me in.

Yes i would want to know that they knew the place like the back of their
hand.

> As Dave mentioned, the cavern reaches quite far back, and to see the
> various turtle remains you are sometimes beyond the reach of cavern
> (area from which you still see the light of the entrance).

From my recollection you would never see daylight once you entered the
"tomb", the entrance to the tomb is maybe 70 yards up the cavern entrance
from where you can see daylight, well the dark blue glow anyway.
Once you enter the small hole into the tomb you have left any light source
behind except what you are carrying, from the that "hole" it is still
quite a way into the tomb itself IIRC, and its a massive chamber, if a
diver suffers from the slightest hint of claustrophobia then this is not
the place for them.

> Even going in
> this far really requires a couple of good lights and a long reel,

I would go so far as to recommend a glow stick at the entrance and a
couple laid down to mark the way out, if i did it again i think i would
actually do that.

> so if
> you have any sense of self-preservation I recommend you think carefully
> about who you let guide you in there. Sipadan Mabul Resort (SMART) have
> a technical dive centre, so someone from there should be able to sort
> out either a safe guided dive, or a TDI Cavern course, depending on your
> whim.

Good advice......i would want a spar tank and a couple of good torches,
UK400's or the like.

Anyway i would allways advise that if the slightest feeling of
apprehension rears its head then dont do it.......it aint worth it.

Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK
www.seatreker.com

On Fri, 04 Nov 2005 03:20:51 -0600, the cup of
morgand@cix.compulink.co.uk overfloweth with the following:

> We went in with our guide without lines, singles, the guide the same and
> he only had a "dive center" torch, you know the ones with batteries and a
> power output of about......oh as much as two or three candles......
> But he did know his way around, we had my wifes video lighting which
> creates virtual "daylight" and you still could'nt see the walls.
>

Ha ha...so true about the dc torches - give me a Kowalski or Light
Cannon any day. Fair enough about guides knowing their way, but what
happens when the guide has an accident for some reason? Hmmm...people
lost in cavern with no line out. Understood about the video lights, but
sometimes less light is more in environments like that, then you stand a
chance of seeing the exit light.


> From my recollection you would never see daylight once you entered the
> "tomb", the entrance to the tomb is maybe 70 yards up the cavern entrance
> from where you can see daylight, well the dark blue glow anyway.
> Once you enter the small hole into the tomb you have left any light source
> behind except what you are carrying, from the that "hole" it is still
> quite a way into the tomb itself IIRC, and its a massive chamber, if a
> diver suffers from the slightest hint of claustrophobia then this is not
> the place for them.
>

That's kind of right, yes. There are actually skeletons in various
different places, rather than all the turtles deciding to end up just in
the tomb area, but you're right in that where the majority of them are
located is out of sight of the entrance (in about 50m in, up a bit,
over, round and to the left). It's ok once you know you're way around,
but I wouldn't like to have a failed light in there without a line. I
did an entertaining blind exit drill (light off, mask off, silt kicked
up) along a line from the tomb area, and I would definitely not like to
repeat the experience without a line!


> > Even going in
> > this far really requires a couple of good lights and a long reel,
>
> I would go so far as to recommend a glow stick at the entrance and a
> couple laid down to mark the way out, if i did it again i think i would
> actually do that.
>

Good plan - I'd mark the line with the glowstix at crucial points.
Trouble with being diligent sometimes is that the dive guides can use
them as references on the way in, and then find them gone on the way
out. Not the best situation for any new dive guides who decide it's time
they lead tourists into the cavern.


> > so if
> > you have any sense of self-preservation I recommend you think carefully
> > about who you let guide you in there. Sipadan Mabul Resort (SMART) have
> > a technical dive centre, so someone from there should be able to sort
> > out either a safe guided dive, or a TDI Cavern course, depending on your
> > whim.
>
> Good advice......i would want a spar tank and a couple of good torches,
> UK400's or the like.
>
> Anyway i would allways advise that if the slightest feeling of
> apprehension rears its head then dont do it.......it aint worth it.
>

Similarly good advice, although I'd definitely plan to not need the
spare tank at all - probably find it gone when you return with all the
traffic in there. And as you say, cavern/cave doesn't seem to be the
sort of place to take indecisiveness/apprehension; life's worth a little
more than that.

Stan

In article <9e4om1dq35di34lumdsq0q7crgkgu8gpcj@4ax.com>,
grost@NOSPAM.yahoo.co.uk (G Winstanley) wrote:

>
> Ha ha...so true about the dc torches - give me a Kowalski or Light
> Cannon any day. Fair enough about guides knowing their way, but what
> happens when the guide has an accident for some reason? Hmmm...people
> lost in cavern with no line out. Understood about the video lights, but
> sometimes less light is more in environments like that, then you stand a
> chance of seeing the exit light.

I was just saying how we "did" it, not how i would do it again, i agree
with you, shit happens, lord knows what we would have done if the guide
had an accident..........jesus, makes you shudder.......all the talk about
doubling up and spare this and that starts to come into its own here....
So......should entrance to the tomb be left to the individual guides to
decide how and when they take guests in there ? my gut feeling is that
they should not, it should be regulated......

Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK
Take out the "goes diving" bit....
Trip photos on line at www.morg.co.uk