Samporna

Dad and I flew to Tawau then took a van the 1 hour ride to Samporna. Our accomodation are VERY basic. (Eric, I think this beat Sam Tillits) It's the place associated with our dive company. Three double beds with just a bottom sheet and light blanket in a concrete room (painted red) and a bathroom. The bathroom is like the one at mom and dad's place (not as nice though). It's all tiled with a toliet and sink, then a shower head and drain. So the whole bathroom is the shower and everything gets wet when you turn on the water. The water heater in our bathroom is broken, as is the TV. There is no shade for the window and if we want to adjust the A/C we have to go to the front desk, borrow the remote, change the temp and take the remote back. We are on the ground floor and they showed a football match on the lobby TV really loud until midnight last night. I had in my earplugs and it still felt like I was sitting right there watching it. I'm just giving you the details- not complaining. :)

Today we dove at Sipidan Island. We first went to Mabul to drop off some people. Both islands are incredibly beautiful. I'll post pictures later, as this computer is really bad (also in the hotel- but it's free). The boat ride out there was as interesting as anything. Houses on stilts were lining the bay as we left Samporna, and then just sporadically out in the water. I have no idea how they would build them, or why. Seems like such a lonely life- raising you family in a house on the middle of the ocean. Although, if they are a like other families I've seen in Malaysia, cousins, in-laws, grandchildren will all be living there. So maybe it's too many people rather than not enough.

The diving was good, but not what I thought. There are supposed to be a ton of sharks (hammerheads, leapord sharks, etc.) We only saw one White-tipped Reef shark all day. But we saw a ton of turtles! Even sitting in the boat you could see the turtles surfacing everywhere. There were a ton of fish and the reef was cool.

Sipidan is shaped like a mushroom, so you dive down then a little under the island to dive the wall. I did face a fear and dive in a cave. We did not have flashlights so we didn't go in very far. I rented a camera and can pick up a CD of my photos tomorrow morning (posted below). We were driving to our final dive site (3 dives today), and I thought I saw a funny bird skimming the water. It turned out to be flying fish. They are cool, and fly a long ways before going back in the water. I also saw some birds, Frigate Birds mostly but I don't know which kind.

Oh- here's something interesting. On the first dive I heard a huge boom underwater. It startled me. There was another one a few minutes later. Back on the surface I learned it was fishermen using dynamite. I thought that only happened on cartoons. :)

We came back to a refreshingly cold shower and decided to walk around town before deciding where to eat dinner. I thought this was mostly a backpacker/diver town, but that just this little road we are on. It's right by the water and has a number of dive shops and cheap accommodations. But as soon as we left this street, it was like no other white people existed. We walked through the market and got this yummy fruit a couple from Denmark introduced us to today. I can't remember what it's called. It's about the size of a plumb, but you peal it kind of like an orange, the slices are white/clear, and it tastes a little like a pear but juicier. We paid less than a dollar for a whole sack of them. The kids around here are so cute. They all want to practice their English so everywhere we go kids are yelling "Hello".

We found a yummy little place to eat right on the water. We couldn't decide what to try so we just ordered a lot. I had a fresh honey-dew juice to drink and sipped it as we watched the most amazing sunset over the water and stilt-homes. As we were walking back we saw what looked like a shop down an alley. We walked down there and it was all the fisherman selling their catches from the day. It was cool- but I would have been scared there by myself. So another night in the noisey hotel. I think I'm too tired to care much tonight. Man, I need a good yoga class to stretch these achey muscles! Tomorrow morning we drive back to Tawau, then fly to Kota Kinabulu to meet mom and Janet.

Look at all those fish!!!

Shark

School of jack fish

Inside the cave

Whenever I hike I take a photo of the toe of my hiking boots overlooking the peak. I figured I try it with my fins.