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Thursday, March 20, 2008

Diving in Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park

When I was in Kota Kinabalu last month, I went diving in the nearby Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park. This marine park covers five islands off the coast of Kota Kinabalu. The islands are Pulau Gaya, Pulau Manukan, Mamutik, Sulug and Sapi.

Since my main purpose there in KK was to attend Mak's wedding, I only had one day's time for diving. It was Daniel's idea to go diving, I didn't want to join him at first but after much consideration I decided to be his diving buddy. All planning and hotel booking was done by him, I was busy that time, with work, travel (back from SJ) and CNY around the corner.

One day dive means heading out to sea early in the morning. Which is why the night before the dive, we stay overnight in Trekkers Lodge in KK. They provide a place to stay with an attractive price. Some of the facilities including free flow of self-service coffee and tea (just very normal coffee and tea, nothing special), lots of Sabah's travel information on the walls, TV with Astro and sofa in the common area and free service of luggage storage. It's location is good too, bak kut teh just below the lodge, 7 Eleven and Internet cafe only a few shops away and the Wisma Sabah is just 5mins walking distance.

The day before the dive, after we check-in to Trekkers Lodge we walked over to Wisma Sabah. There's the place where all the diving agents are located. There's where we go agent-to-agent to get the cheapest package. Finally settle for a RM210 package inclusive of 3 boat dives, packed lunch, hotel-to-jetty transfer and dive equipment. Have to pay another separate diving permit fee of RM20 for Malaysian and jetty fee of RM6.



On the dive day itself, the sky was a bit cloudy. At first I said to myself, "it's good to be cloudy, at least I won't get too much of a sunburn". I guess I was wrong, we needed sunlight to penetrate through the water to get a nicer, clearer, better view in the water. Being a diver, I should never be afraid of the sun.

First dive spot was Cabbage Canyon. I supposed this dive spot was named Cabbage Canyon for a reason, so I Google it up and found that there's actually a type of coral named Cabbage Coral.


I think this looks similar to the one in the link...(photo quality very big difference though)

This time around, I have got myself a new Sony Daylight Balance Underwater filter. Remember my previous underwater photos? They were all very bluish and plain, so I thought with this filter, I'll get better photos.


My Sony camera, marine pack and filter

But as the results show, a filter doesn't guarantee better underwater photos. To use or not to use the filter depends on the depth of the dive. As you go deep down into the water, colors with longer wavelength are absorbed by the water i.e. red followed by orange, which is why the color of the filter is red-orange. Since our dive master did not bring us too deep, my photos with filter turns out weird whereas photos without filter looks more natural.


Without filter


With filter, photo looks yellowish because the red and orange that is provided by the filter is not properly balanced with what the water has absorbed (give more than absorb)

But as I dive deeper, the super-expensive filter proves its usefulness. Here's another example photo of with and without filter.


As I go deeper, photo turns bluish


This time, photo with filter comes out perfect!
(no photoshop done except to add signature)


The day I went diving was the day after Valentines' Day. Very surprisingly, I saw a love-shape coral underwater. Love is in the air water? (among the sea creatures) Hrm...not sure whether it's a coral or fish or what.


With filter...yellowish photo...sigh!

After 2 dives, it was time for lunch. We were given the option to either eat our lunch on the boat or have it on the beach. I figure I might get sea sick if I stay on the boat for too long, so I opt to eat on the beach.


We were dropped on a stranded beach filled with rubbish

I am so sad looking at all the rubbish on the beach. You can find everything there, from plastic thundercat sword to mineral water bottle to plastic bags. How can people do this to the environment?


Packed lunch comes together with the diving package

After a one and half hour rest on the beach, it was time for the third and final dive. The cloud was still slightly covering the sun, not too hot. I was feeling a little tired by then, and bored too! The whole boat only got Daniel and I, dive master and the boatman. Dive master and boatman only talk between themselves, never talk to us wan...sien lor...I'm sure it'll be much more interesting if there are more people taking this package with us.


Haven't been able to find out what is the name of this fish. He was staring straight at Dory... :P

Overall, I would say the 3 dive site that I was brought to was not amazing, OK, but not amazing. Not as nice as what I've seen in Tenggol anyway. I'd treat this as a diving refresher course, to refresh back on the things-to-do and things-not-to-do after putting it away for more than 9months.


Couldn't confirm the name of this coral either...my guess is Tube coral, or maybe spiky tube coral?
Anybody out there wanna sponsor me a book of collections on coral and fishes?


There are more hard coral than soft coral here. Furthermore, the dive master does not bother to explain to us what is the name of the dive site that we're going and what is interesting at that particular spot. He only speaks Malay, English is a no no. We only get to know the name of the dive site from our driver after the dive. According to the driver, who is a much experienced dive master compare to what we were given, said that because it was the raining season, the water is not very clear. This driver also speaks good English and he is very talkative.


Ending the post with a picture of coral reef of Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park

Total diving cost = hotel + diving package + diving permit + jetty fee
= 34 + 210 + 20 + 6
= RM270

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1 Comments:

  • Hi LieWei

    I was surfing for news about Tunku Abdul Rahman Park (TARP) and spotted your blog. It takes a good few dives to really appreciate TARP: it is no Sipadan! I share your disappointment about the mess which washes into the park from river garbage. You may like to browse my blog at www.tarpwatch.blogspot.com to find out more about TARP. Incidentally, the 'Tube Coral' you have photographed is a kind of Sponge probably from the family Callyspongiidae.

    The fish you couldn't recognise can also be found in my other blog covering most of the fishes in TARP: www.tarpfish.blogspot.com (don't read the next line if you want to find out for yourself:
    its a Blacktip Grouper - Epinephelus fasciatus).

    Hope you have more fun next time.

    Ditch Townsend

    By Blogger Ditch Townsend, at May 19, 2008, 4:22:00 PM  

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