The "skinny" on Sipadan!

[Jonathan Bird]

Back in 1997 I was in Sipadan on a magazine assignment. That was back when the ownership of the island was still contested between Indonesia and Malaysia and there were 7 resorts on the island.

These days, Malaysia is in control and they have kicked the dive operators off the island. So my question is, while I know you have to stay at a nearby island to dive Sipadan, can you get on the island at night to film sea turtle nesting? I am considering doing some work there but the work requires being able to film sea turtles nesting on the beach. Anyone with experience in this part of the world?

Thanks

Jonathan

[Ryan]

I don't know the answer to your questions, but when I was there last September the island definitely wasn't empty, and we were warned not to take any pictures of the fact that the island wasn't empty :)

I have friends there now, so it will be interesting to see what they report.

[Jonathan Bird]

Interesting, I just got an e-mail from Borneo Divers telling me that NO surface filming would be allowed on Sipadan without a permit and that nobody is allowed on the island after dark. Hmmmm.

Jonathan

[Jonathan Bird]

I have friends there now, so it will be interesting to see what they report.

Ryan,
Any updates?

Jonathan

[Dan@jsdive.com]

I was there Oct. 2006. We stayed at the Sipidan Underwater Village and were there for the Underwater Photo Week.
In the old days we could stay right on Sipidan Island, but this isn't possible now. You must stay on surrounding islands. The number of boats allowed to visit Sipidan each day is controlled, and the operators must apply.
The island is patroled by the military.
I would doubt very seriously that there would be any night dives to Sipidan. The Sipidan Underwater Village folks knocked themselves out to show us the very best they had to offer, and a night dive to Sipidan was never an option.
Best of luck. You'll love it!
Dan

[Jonathan Bird]

This is irritating. I know that Sipadan was overdeveloped and it really needed a little more governing. But look what happens when a government steps in to solve the problem. They ruin it for everyone.

Sipadan is one of the most impressive turtle nesting sites in the world. Borneo Divers paid off the egg collectors to stay out, and the place was teeming with turtles every night. You could go out and watch them nest, lay eggs, and watch the hatchlings race to the sea in the morning. Fantastic! But now nobody can go there because apparently the government of Malaysia has decided to close the place. The word I get is that they are building their own development on the island.

Jonathan

[bubbayeow]

Hi guys,

Just joined the "club", though I must admit that I've been peeking in for the last few months. Must say I really do enjoy the threads and the generous amount of assistance you guys provide one another.

As for Sipadan, yes, I was there a year ago. It is now a "marine reserve" and they have kicked off all the operators on the island as well as limiting the number of divers and boats at the island. There is also a marine police detachment permanently based on what used to be Borneo Diver's facility. So, no sneeking in at night for a peek at the turtles.

On one hand, you're right, it is a darned shame that the Malaysian govt. is putting in all these restrictions and then turning around and trying to build their own little concessionaire to rip tourist off whilst on the island. But hey, that's the corrupt way of that land. (I should know, I was born and raised there...) On the other hand, manpower costs there have gone up tremendously, and all the operators there are now resorting to cheap Filipino dive masters. These guys don't give a hoot about preservation, it's not their country after all. And I've seen them watching the Japanese divers kick and beat up the coral to get their shots, and not say or do a thing.

So I guess, for the turtles' sake, this is best. Those of us responsible divers just have to understand that they can't make one rule for us, and another for the irresponsible jerks out there.

[Jonathan Bird]

Well, I'm heading there in a week, so I'll give you all a complete report when I get back. This is the last shoot for my new film, so I have a long list of shots to complete. Hopefully it will all come together well!

Jonathan

[Daniel]

Well, I'm heading there in a week, so I'll give you all a complete report when I get back. This is the last shoot for my new film, so I have a long list of shots to complete. Hopefully it will all come together well!

Jonathan

Have a safe journey Jonathan!

[Jonathan Bird]

Thanks man!

[Jonathan Bird]

Greetings from Mabul! I'm currently at Borneo Divers on Mabul and I have just done a couple days diving at Sipadan, and I have a few more to go. Some very nice diving here! Yesterday I was filming the largest school of jacks I have ever seen....even larger than in the Galapagos. The coral is very healthy. The vis is typical of here 30-50 feet, lots of "tropical" plankton. Turtles everywhere, which is the main reason I'm here.

I will post some pics when I get home. I have shot a few stills between video work, but I haven't had time to dump the camera yet.

Jonathan

[Jonathan Bird]

Hey everyone, I'm home. Getting to and from Sipadan is a pain in the butt. For such a popular place, it really is a hassle. Fly to Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia (typically through Singapore, Kuala Lumpur or Korea) overnight there, and then fly to Semporna in SE Malaysian Borneo, then a 2 hour van ride, then a 1 hour boat ride. Ugh, it takes forever. Go for a minimum of 10 days of diving.

I saw the biggest school of barracuda of my life. Very healthy coral. Tons and tons of turtles. Pictures to follow soon.

Jonathan

[Jonathan Bird]

Here are a few pics to check out.

Jonathan

[Jonathan Bird]

All of the sudden we are having trouble with the thumbnail images. Hmmmm. I'm looking into it.

Test...

[Jonathan Bird]

I am doing away with the thumbnails.

Here are some more Sipadan pics.

By the way, we asked around and got two different pronunciations for the name of the island that people use. "SIH-puh-dan" and "Sih-PAW-den" are both used.

[Jonathan Bird]

Three more...

[sorvju-f]

What can we say?:eek:

Pro is pro,

most I liked pair of turtle.

Jukka

[solisti]

Way cool!

Each pic better than the other... I can't even pic my favourite one!

[Jonathan Bird]

Thanks guys, I appreciate it. Normally I would do a little more optimizing for web viewing. These are just some straight exports from Lightroom on my uncalibrated monitor laptop with some basic levels tweaks. No sharpening, etc. (Lightroom even does the quick-n-dirty copyrights on the images). When I prep images for the web, I usually export from Lightroom as small TIF files, then run them through photoshop where I place the copyright a little more carefully manually and have it do an unsharp mask and then save as a jpeg. It ends up looking a little "snappier" on the screen.

Anyway, as for comments about the place, the marine life at Sipadan is amazing, but it can be hassle diving there. They have a permit system in place and about 7-8 dive resorts have to compete for 120 permits. Basically, they only allow 120 people to be diving Sipadan at one time. People are routinely told they cannot dive there for the day and must go back to Mabul for a dive. Usually they know in advance, but sometimes not. I was lucky in that I was working on a film with a permit from the government and we were able to dive there every day.

They do allow people to go ashore for lunch, but nobody can go ashore after dark. They are no longer doing anything to protect the turtle eggs, so turtles nest on top of each other's nests. Egg survival is going to be way way down from when Borneo Divers used to go out each night and put a little protective fence around recently laid nests to discourage another turtle from nesting in the same spot later and crushing the eggs.

Mabul is billed in government brochures as a "muck diving mecca," something to compare to other muck diving favorites like Lembeh. This is pure marketing to convince people that they don't need to go to Sipadan every day, because in fact they CAN'T go to Sipadan every day due to the permit system. I can tell you that while Mabul has some interesting critters, it's no muck diving mecca, that's for sure. I saw lots of crocodile fish, a leaf fish, a couple cuttlefish, some lionfish, one frogfish and even a pygmy seahorse there, but nothing like you would expect in a top muck spot. In fact, several of the rare and exotic critters listed in the government-issued brochure are rarely seen there. I asked the divemaster about a few of them and he said he had never seen one in 10 years as a divemaster there, or that he had only seen one once. So, don't get your hopes up about Mabul. Good, not great.

Borneo Divers (http://www.borneodivers.info/) is by far the best place to stay. I only saw a few other places, but Sipadan Water village (http://www.swvresort.com/home.cfm) (which is on Mabul, not Sipadan), while it is pretty and located on stilts ON the water, has no AC. Forget it for me! There is also a dive resort on a former oil platform that was placed right in front of Sipadan water village called Sea Venture (http://seaventuresdive.com/). It looks noisy (made of metal and has generators aboard) like a liveaboard but has the best dive site on Mabul right beneath it. Some people might like it...it has AC....and it's like a liveaboard with no sea-sickness because it stands on the bottom. On the other hand, it can't move like a liveaboard. I personally thought it was interesting, but not someplace I would stay given the other option of Borneo Divers.

Borneo Divers has a nice place, land based, right on the water, with nice little houses for everyone, two rooms per house, AC, nice rooms, clean, good food, nice grounds, a pool, a pool bar, etc. They have free wireless internet (a tad slow, but works) and a nice common hang out area. I say they are still the best as they have been since the beginning.

There is another resort on the other side of Mabul (I forget the name) and at least one more on Kapalai (http://sipadan-kapalai.com/), plus a liveaboard operating in the area. The liveaboard (Celebes Sea something or other) looked pretty beat up from the outside, but I didn't go aboard, so it could be nice.

The best dive site by far at Sipadan is "Barracuda Point" and it can get crowded there because everyone wants to dive it. It is a place where the currents coming around the island converge, so all the big schools of fish hang out there. Yes, the coral all around the island is nice and the turtles are everywhere, but to see the big schools of jacks, barracuda and bumphead parrotfish that make Sipadan famous, you need to dive barracuda point, and low tide is better than high for some reason.

I am planning to write a more detailed trip report for my site at some point. In the meantime, I can say that Sipadan is still great, perhaps even better than it was in 1997 during my last trip, because there are fewer divers. I certainly saw more this time and the coral looked as good or better. Everyone on my crew felt it was excellent diving. However, getting there is a long process, so stay a while!

Jonathan

[Jonathan Bird]

most I liked pair of turtle.


Hey Jukka,
Thanks. Funny story about that. We spent several days between dives cruising around looking for a mating pair of turtles. I specifically planned the trip at the height of the mating season so I could film it. It was a critical scene I needed for the film. We found mating pairs easily every day, but they would vanish and dive deep before I could get in the water with them (you are unlikely to happen across a mating pair on a dive...they go to the surface and often end up out in the blue). Finally I got in with a mating pair and it went on forever. We left after two hours and it was still going on...a male riding the female, 3-4 more males in pursuit and trying to dislodge the primary male. Very violent and something I have never seen filmed extensively for a documentary, so my footage will really be interesting in this film I hope. I shot an hour of HD footage of the mating before I decided I had enough (I was out of tape) and then switched to the still camera that my assistant had been carrying for me. (Thanks Scott!)

Jonathan

[Andrew]

Wow Jonathan, what wonderful pics, a standard that some of us can only dream of!

Andrew

[Jonathan Bird]

Andrew, thank you for the compliment but don't believe it for a minute. With a digital camera, as long as you have a good eye for composition, you can see what you are doing wrong (such as exposure, etc.) and fix it on the spot, and get great shots. It has definitely narrowed the gap between pro and amateur significantly because the learning curve is so much steeper now. It used to be that the pros delivered better images because of how long it took to become really good with a film camera. Pros took more pictures and travelled more, so they got really good at knowing what the final image would look like without being about to see it. With digital, that is not so much an issue any more. Now the thing that seperates the pros from the rest is creativity (which includes composition) and consistency. By consistency, I mean that when you get sent someplace on assignment, you need to consistently provide good images to the editor, with no excuses. A pro doesn't get to say "Well, the pictures are not that good because there was a storm and the viz was 10 feet." A pro finds a way to get good images in 10 feet of viz and get the job done. The editor should say "Holy crap, you got this in 10 feet of viz?"

One last tip...I'll give you a good rule for having people think you are a great photographer: only show people your great images. Never ever show the mediocre ones. If you go on a dive trip and shoot 1,000 pictures but only get 35 really good ones, those are the ones you show people. The other 965 pictures should not be seen by anyone but you!

Best,
Jonathan

[sorvju-f]

Andrew, thank you for the compliment but don't believe it for a minute. With a digital camera, as long as you have a good eye for composition, you can see what you are doing wrong (such as exposure, etc.) and fix it on the spot, and get great shots. It has definitely narrowed the gap between pro and amateur significantly because the learning curve is so much steeper now. It used to be that the pros delivered better images because of how long it took to become really good with a film camera. Pros took more pictures and travelled more, so they got really good at knowing what the final image would look like without being about to see it. With digital, that is not so much an issue any more. Now the thing that seperates the pros from the rest is creativity (which includes composition) and consistency. By consistency, I mean that when you get sent someplace on assignment, you need to consistently provide good images to the editor, with no excuses. A pro doesn't get to say "Well, the pictures are not that good because there was a storm and the viz was 10 feet." A pro finds a way to get good images in 10 feet of viz and get the job done. The editor should say "Holy crap, you got this in 10 feet of viz?"

One last tip...I'll give you a good rule for having people think you are a great photographer: only show people your great images. Never ever show the mediocre ones. If you go on a dive trip and shoot 1,000 pictures but only get 35 really good ones, those are the ones you show people. The other 965 pictures should not be seen by anyone but you!

Best,
Jonathan

I just refer interview of Chris.... commitment! You have to know technology, you have to be under water and push the trigger...make mistakes (those 965 )...more mistakes...push trigger...and learn!

Experience makes pro.

Our difference is that you still can get 35 to show, I might have 0 to show!

Of cource to have pics to refer to art needs "eye" to do it while stormy and low viz...also during normal conditions!

Chris was saying that there is lot of UW-art still to be made.

...some day I will have 35 to show...

Jukka

[Jonathan Bird]

Here are some pictures from my trip, including Mantanani Island, Mabul and Sipadan:

http://www.jonathanbird.net/cgi-bin/saved_light_box.asp?s=834690314&t=39396.9007986111

Jonathan

[sorvju-f]

Here are some pictures from my trip, including Mantanani Island, Mabul and Sipadan:

http://www.jonathanbird.net/cgi-bin/saved_light_box.asp?s=834690314&t=39396.9007986111

Jonathan

For the choice of best one I couln't choose either macro from Red soft coral with light and dark blue background or mating turtles, where four of them looking staight to camera:eek: .

Also scools of fishes pics are impressive!

Jukka