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| Inside the Jackfish "Tornado" |
Leave it to Alex to find the best scuba diving sites on earth… Ranked the #1 dive site on the planet, Sipidan truly is the best the world has to offer. Thousands of different marine life and coral specimens call the waters round this small island home. The only improvement would be to sink a big ship nearby for an awesome wreck dive. Six days of diving ahead of us, there was no time to waste. After arriving late in the evening from Tawau (a 2hr drive west) it was straight to bed. Like children dreaming of sugar plums on Christmas Eve, excitement was hard to overcome. Before I knew it, the morning light crept through our window.
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| Sipidan Island, from the boat. |
Day 1: Enriched Air Nitrox. Three dives to get us certified and prepped for the real challenge - Cavern Diver Certification. One of the ultimate courses in recreational diving, Cavern Diving has no textbook, no proper course. Only a professional cave diver can instruct it, and it is simply pass with flying colors, or fail. There are no mistakes allowed. Our instructor, Gerhardt, had lived at Sipidan for 20 years and was beyond a doubt the most senior diver for hundreds of miles. As impressive as his credentials were, the news that week of 5 divers dying in a cave in Italy had us a bit shaken. But hey, we only live once, right?
