36. Sipadan, the divers' paradise that Abu Sayyaff invaded

By Filipe Morato Gomes	Where is Sipadan?
Diving in Sipadan is on top of many divers' wish list and I was so close that I decide to go there just to scuba dive. What an underwater paradise! Sipadan Island itself is closed to tourism now, to protect fragile ecosystems and the marine species from too many divers. Dive centres are located in Mabul instead, but Sipadan is still remembered as the island that was attacked by Abu Sayyaff years ago.

The island of Sipadan, Borneo, is world famous due to the magnificence of the marine life existing underwater around the island. More than three thousand fish species and hundreds of different species of coral have already been classified in Sipadan rich ecosystem. The island is formed by living corals which grow up on the top of an extinct underwater volcano. The volcano towers vertically from the bottom of the ocean till the surface, forming a six hundred metres deep wall. Some of the most renowned underwater photographers in the planet use Sipadan as a base for regular meetings and dive expeditions in the region. Amateur and professional divers are attracted to this small strip of land like magnets. Sipadan was the place I headed to.

A turtle next to Sipadan Island, Malaysia. Underwater photo by Kayte Speakmen

I went aboard a speed boat not heading for Sipadan Island but for Mabul, a bit less than twenty miles away. In fact, at the moment no one is allowed to stay in Sipadan, owing to one of the boldest political decisions in environmental terms anyone can remember in the region. Untill about two years before, the number of divers in Sipadan used to be so high that the fragile ecosystem ran the risk of being inevitably spoiled. For Malaysian rulers, they had to choose between the benefits of tourism industry in the short term and on the conservation of a delicate ecosystem as well as the preservation of tourism on the long term.

Courageously, the Malaysian authorities took a radical and bold decision. At the same time, they ordered all the diving centres located in Sipadan to move somewhere else, they imposed the destruction of all the bungalows, hotels and resorts of Sipadan and forbade tourist to stay in the island. Some dive centres moved to the nearby island of Mabul but others had to close their doors. And, as a consequence, today there is a new hope for Sipadan.

A diver observes a turtle near Sipadan, Malaysia. Underwater photo by Kayte Speakmen

Once in Mabul, it was time to put a diving suit on, load a tank of compressed air, take a mask, fins, regulator, BCD and all the necessary dive equipment and leave the island to discover the famous underwater fauna. The scenery I found was ravishing. Dozens of gracious green tortoises wandered through the coral reefs feeding themselves and rubbing their cover against the hardness of the stones, while others mated in front of divers' eyes. Harmless reef sharks laid motionless on the sandy bottom, whereas more active ones swam around the group of divers. Giant manta rays seemed to fly synchronized until they disappeared in the blue immensity of the ocean. Schools of barracudas turned up and soon went away. Crocodile-fish, lion-fish, parrot-fish and water snakes we saw it all underwater around Sipadan, as well as an endless number of other animals with all the possible forms and sizes. Diving in Sipadan was absolutely outstanding.

Just as I also felt astonished when I arrived at the sandy beaches of Sipadan for the first time. The shallow turquoise waters slowly bumped on a spotless white sand beach. Rows of palm trees confined the sandy area where I could see no bathers could be seen, even though I was not in the desert. However, instead of swimming trunks and bikinis, men dressed in their uniform and with a gun at land patrolled the sands of Sipadan, looking attentively at the sky as well as at any boat that arrived. It was a ridiculous sight but with an apparent reason.

Tourists in Danau Bratan Temple, north of Bali

Five years before, the paradise-like island had received an unwelcoming visit. The terrorist group Abu Sayaff, coming from the neighbour Philippines arrived with a group of heavily armed men. In such a quiet, beautiful place, the police forces hardly existed and that's why for the separatists arresting twenty individuals, including some tourists was not a difficult task. The hostages were kept imprisoned during five tense months. “And you, aren't you afraid of being kidnapped?”, a young female traveller had asked me some days before when she got to know I was going to Sipadan while we were talking in a bar in Kota Kinabalu. “There must be more policemen in Sipadan than ever before”, I answered back in a sort of prediction. What I could never guess was that they patrolled a completely desert island.

(originally written in Portuguese)

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