Numerous are the tourists that travels to Borneo to get overwhelmed by the remarkable and unique underwater marine sea life. Sabah especially with its idyllic islands, clear blue waters and colorful corals attracts not only confirmed divers but also first timers.
As a diving newbie, I first wanted to do a try out and see if diving is really something for me.
The Seatango’s discover scuba diving tour was also the perfect occasion for me to put on my first scuba diving gears and explore the underworld.
A pick-up was included in the tour and once at the Marina Jetty my water adventure was about to begin. The friendly Seatango team welcomed us in their boat and we were off to go.
A short boat ride brought us to our first shallow diving place. But before entering the crystal-clear water Lester, one of the dive instructor gave us important dive instructions and dive signs for us to remember.
As we put on our diving gears and entered the warm water I started to feel a little nervous, but at the same time I was just super excited! We were put into small groups and started some simple exercises with our designated dive instructor. It’s very helpful indeed to know what to do if you get water in your mask or breathing gear accidentally get removed.
Once the exercises done and approved we headed deeper and I could clearly felt the pressure in my ears. Luckily, we were given a good technique to make it stop and Lester regularly checked with us how we were feeling.
We stood on the bottom of the ocean when a ray suddenly appeared out of nowhere. On our way to the reef we could catch glimpses of more rays quickly sneaking away. The minute we noticed their eyes popping out of the sand they were already gone.
As I looked around me, air bubbles escaped from my regulator. The immensity of the ocean made me realize how small and fragile we actually are on this earth but I felt so lucky to life in this moment.
After 30 minutes of diving, Lester gave us the sign to go back to the surface where the boat would pick us up. While waiting for the others to get out of the water I went to the top deck to enjoy the sun and surrounding views over the different islands.
Cake, coffee and fresh water were at our disposal.
The current in the water got stronger and bad weather was forecasted so the dive instructors decided to change plans and directly go to the second dive spot a couple of minutes away. We put on our dive gears again but this time we wouldn’t enter the water with the ladder. No, they told us to sit on the side of the boat and just let us fall backwards. When my turn arrived, my heart started beating faster. This was the diving part I most feared. I sat on the side of the boat, preparing to let myself go when Lester started to count down from 3 to 1 and there I went.
At the end, it wasn’t scary at all, it was fun!
We sunk to the bottom as we approached the never-ending coral reef. Getting the chance to get so close to so many different sort of corals and sea creatures is such a great experience. Corals got bigger and more colorful as we swum through the reef.
Our dive instructor gave us a sign whenever he saw interesting sea creatures. And we were able to see tiny a lot of little jellyfishes, an unusual big fish and several big schools of fishes.
Moving around with the gears on is really easy and after diving for a while everything as breathing and handling the pressure just becomes natural.
As we got to the end of our dive, another big school of fishes swum just underneath us.
We got back into the boat and directly went to Manukan Island where we would have our lunch. The food was served in a local restaurant with a large choice of typical dishes.
Once finished we could do some others water activities like a bumpy ride on a banana boat or sea walking but I choose to walk around the island and enjoy the beautiful beaches.
We went back to the boat who brought us back to the city in just a couple of minutes.
Overall I would say that this was an amazing experience, and it definitely motivated me into getting my diving license soon!
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