kapalai-sipadan, malaysia certification dive trip

28-31  january 2010:  i joined my group of malaysian diver-friends from kuala lumpur and ventured down to kapalai/sipadan – a small group of islands just off the south eastern shore of malaysian-borneo for a few days of diving. known for its pristine waters, stunning wall dives full of turtles and sharks – we were looking forward to several days of spectacular diving and R&R. while the visibility didn’t turn out as terrific as i’ve seen sipadan before, we all still had a great time. PADI welcomed 4 new divers on this trip. i was able to finish up certifying my first two star open-water students: Geraldine Chan & Jia Wen Loo. in addition, it was also my honour to certify two new advanced open-water divers, Sit Fong Wong and Jia Mayne Loo in the deep waters off sipadan’s shores. we stayed at Kapalai Water Village – a chinese-owned resort built on stilts in the open ocean upon a shallow reef/sand-bank, staffed predominantly to my surprise by numerous dive crew from the Philippines! i was very happy to meet the filipino staff and they too were happy to see a filipino instructor on property. yabang pinoy! our DM, Alvin, was also a fil-chinese like myself. you can see a pic below of me and him toasting ice cold Tiger beers after our last dive. (we are not only kababayan, we also dove with the same equipment and are both left-handed! a sure sign of a great diver!) below are several photos from the dive.  click on the individual thumbnails for a larger view.  there are much more and i’ll be making a slideshow later. but a final congratulations to the new divers: Gerry, Jia Wen, Sit Fong & Jia Mayne. you guys worked hard and did well. i’m really proud of all of you. we can be buddies anytime! well done!

Taking Sit Fong and Jia Mayne (advanced students) on their first night dive. Fun!

Sit Fong and I – Thermal Tec and A700 Scubapro BW’s! Cool!

The view from my bungalow down the long pier back to the main resort hall. Had to walk past 41 bungalows every day.

The exhausted divers snoozing in the Garden Lounge between dives.

The water in Kapalai Water Village was spectacularly clear!

Another view of the Kapalai Water Village Resort.

Me floating next to one of my Advanced students, Jia Mayne after successfully completing her Underwater Navigation exercise.

Sit Fong and I again posing with our A700’s!

The magnificent Petronas Towers on a magnificent day in K.L. before leaving for Kapalai.

My two open water students, Jia Wen & Gerry – paying careful attention to my underwater demonstration. Look at the concentration!

Jia Wen performing her final skill – complete mask removal, replacement and clearing while underwater.

Our Scubapro A700 regulators enjoying the sunset after a long day of diving.

Drinking games courtesy of the local DM’s + Tiger beer.

Selamat Datang, Laksa Divers!

Filipino-Chinese Alvin the DM and I toasting our success after 3 days of full-on diving.

The Malaysian flag flying proud at Kapalai Water Village resort.

The Oakley boyz – Jason, Me & Allan.

I flew MAS back to KL alone from Tawau aboard this 737 – an airplane I used to fly.

She Dives. The two sisters – one open water, one advanced on the early morning flight to Tawau.

Low cost but charge you for everything…RM15 for every 1 kilo overweight bags.

Well Wong & Speedy happy to be in Tawau.

Speedy signing her life away to me. Only 2 more dives Speedy!!

A stressed Well Wong signing her life away to me as well.

Mayne (a.k.a. Pacific a.k.a. Gorillaffe) happily signing her life away to me.

My star open-water student, Gerry contemplating which Cheezel fingers to eat first.

On our way to Kapalai Water Village via speedboat.

Me with two Malay girls on a secluded beach outside of Kapalai.

Presenting my two open water students their Certification “C-Cards” underwater with sister Mayne congratulating in the background. Congratulations Gerry & Jia Wen!