| Rating: | ★★★★★ |
| Category: | Other |
Kapalai Water Village Resort is located in the ocean off the North East tip of Borneo, East Malaysia section. Its beautiful and the cost is reasonable. Cost about US$1000 for 5 nights - or about Aussie $1700 - Sing $1700 - depending on the exchange rate... That will cover accommodation, food, all transport (except air)...
The chalets are roomy, well built, have great views with modern toilets with a bath - and the sewage is treated. Each chalet can fit a couple; 4 people would be a squeeze. They also have ocean view balconies - 180 degree magnificent views of the ocean. And yes, there is a bar fridge. No mosquitoes due to its unique position. The resort is built on top of a sunken atoll in the middle of the Ocean. There is a security barracks in the resort run by the Malaysian Army.
The food is catered and served buffet style. You get fresh made waffles and pancakes for breakfast. Umm... the usual buffet stuff for lunch and dinner.... But strangely the fish is not fresh. I know that in Mabul - the other resort in Sipadan - you can order fresh fish - Coral trout etc.. - which taste absolutely heavenly.
I'd like to live here for a month or two; with a pleasant female friend. I should have done so at the end of 2007, it would have saved me a whole lot of bother. But in hindsight, things always seem so simple.
To get here you fly into Tawa then the resort bus will take you to Semporna, the port on the North East tip of Borneo - In the morning, the resort jetty takes you to the ocean resort. There used to be a direct flight to Tawa from Johor - but now it seems you have to fly to KK and take a connecting flight.
If any of my dive friends plan a trip there- I'll be there in two shakes of a lamb's tail. :)
10 comments:
unfortunately, there's a very strict divers quota on Sipadan island now. You would only do 2 days' tops of diving there. For the macro fans, Kapalai and Mabul will provide plenty of satisfaction but pelagic fans will be disappointed.
On the other hand, we can fly to KK from SIN (no more rides to Senai) with relatively little hassle. But I do miss the 1L wines (with no limit on how many you can bring) at Senai airport!
Don't you mean 2 dives a day?
actually, one will be lucky if they get to go at all.
Hhmmm... why the quota? I haven't been back in Sipadan for a while... is the fish life suffering?
It used to be 3 boat dives at Sipadan for Kapalai's schedule during the years I went. Then they imposed a quota of 120 divers per day but there was a loophole so resorts could still send out divers for 3 boat dives for at least 2 days. Then recently, the 120 quota is revised to be shared between ALL the resorts; the 120 divers who go on the first boat dive must also be there for the other boat dives. The resorts used to switch names around so that the 120 that go in the morning need not be the same 120 that go in the afternoon.
Marine life has suffered a lot. I remember going to the same dive site - Barracuda Point for dawn dives and seeing schools of hundreds of bumpheads wedged against the walls to sleep. During a trip to years ago, we were all sorely disappointed. The numerous white tips that used to hang out on the sandy patch between Barracuda Point and Coral Garden had also dwindled. The huge huge school of jacks at South Point have also disappeared. The closure of the resorts on the island did little to help; the sand barge accident a few years back created damage that would take a few years, if not decades to recover from. The famous drop off still has its resident jacks, but too much corals are covered in too much sand and debris to be healthy. That being said, there's still plenty of turtle sightings.
I went back in 2008 and I found it rather disappointing as there was a lot of dead coral. On the same dive, a fishing boat was also doing dynamite fishing - with one or two Navy boats closeby.
On a separate note I would like very much to be buried at sea off Sipadan's drop off point. The idea of my body descending 500m - 1000m and resting at the bottom of the sea - I somehow find cool. It would be a very serene place.
and sipadan is supposed to be a protected marine zone!
there was some talk recently about building an artificial marine park. what else are they gonna do to ruin what's left of sipadan?
It's such a shame... Sipadan was a great place to go dive, especially with its proximity to Kapalai and Mabul.
It still is - there are still massive schools of fish in the area.
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