I had a wonderful encounter with these creatures once. Just jumped into the water near Sipadan Island and on descending, realized that I was descending right into the centre of a small school of barracudas. As I descended further, it formed a circle around me and just stayed out of reach. The encounter was brief but what a wonderful feeling. However, bragging rights goes to another diver friend of mine. In one of his dive trips he was enveloped in a mass of barracudas. So many that it blocked most of the sunlight from the surface. He described it as like a wall that surrounds him, swirling slowly. Intimidating because he knows what these fish can do, exciting at the same time.

Hmm. Maybe I’ll have better luck next time.

Avoid wearing jewelry if you expect to encounter barracudas. They sometimes mistake the jewelry for food.

The Barracuda is from the Sphyraenidae family of the order Perciformes.

Learn more about barracudas at fishbase.

“I am in the tourism industry and I am not happy about it,” said the Australian, who has lived in Sabah the last 18 years, when contacted by New Straits Times today.

“I have been getting e-mails from people asking about it and my reply would be for them not to worry about visiting Sabah. I told them to please come.

“I have not read the actual advisory but generally similar travel advisories have been issued in the past. It’s nothing new,” he said.

I’m born and bred here and I totally agree Sabah is safe.

When the State Government of Sabah made the announcement to evacuate all the resorts from the island, I thought it was obvious that this was a good thing. But after attending a public forum organized by Sabah Society in January last year, I wasn’t so sure anymore. The major issues raised were (if my memory has not failed me) whether to evacuate the resorts from the island or not; and if they were to evacuate, the correct time to do it.

All sides really wanted to see Sipadan Island thrive. But they gave very strong arguments to support their stand. Having the resorts on the island has some good points. It ensures that there are always people on the island and can keep illegal fishing boats from encroaching into the area and fish bomb the place. At the same time, having people on the island is bad for the island too because of the infrastructures that needs to be built will have a negative effect on the eco-system.

On the other hand, moving out too soon, before the island is designated a Marine Park is bad too because the island will not be protected adequately.

The issues was difficult because it involves having to strike a fine balance between preserving the pristine island and at the same time, allowing the diving industry in the area to grow.

Fast forward to today. After 1 year since the resorts have moved out of Sipadan Island, there seem to be some positive outcome.

State Secretary Datuk K.Y. Mustafa said:

…there is also evidence to show that the number of turtle landings had increased significantly. “Statistics indicate that 502 green turtles and five leatherback turtles landed and nested on the island between April 2005 and February this year.

“In the same period, 45,997 green turtle eggs and 502 leatherback turtle eggs were collected. Of the number, 17,255 green turtle eggs and 202 leatherback turtle eggs had hatched.”

This is great news considering that although Sipadan Island is designated Bird Sanctuary since 1933, it has not yet been designated a Marine Park.

TAWAU: The commander of the US Pacific Fleet, Admiral William J. Fallon, was very impressed with the security and stability in Malaysian waters which he described as safe from terrorism, criminal and piracy activities.

He said the US is very interested in this region, especially because of its heavy commercial shipping lane in the Straits of Malacca.

“I wanted to see the country, especially in this region, because of the challenges in the tri-border of the area, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia and to get to know the sense of security and stability for the whole Asia,” Fallon said during a visit to the Sri Mahawangsa ship here yesterday.

Stressing that it was a good thing that he had a first hand-look into the region’s safety, he said without the two important aspects, bad elements would easily disrupt the whole nation.

Fallon was accompanied by Malaysian Army’s Panglima Datuk Seri Mohd Anwar Haji Mohd Nor during the visit.

Glad I am not the only one who thinks Malaysia is safe.

Sabah Tourism Board has issued a press statement. When I blogged this, it isn’t available on their site yet. So here is the full text to the press statement.

PRESS STATEMENT BY CHAIRMAN OF SABAH TOURISM BOARD, TENGKU DATUK ZAINAL ADLIN, ON SECURITY IN SABAH
Released on 1 March 2006

Warmest greetings from Sabah, Malaysian Borneo!

We appreciate your Government’s concern for the safety of Australian citizens abroad. We also know that the Australian Government has issued similar travel warnings to other destinations around the world, including the UK, USA, Singapore, Thailand, Bali.

Sabah is a safe destination to travel to and we are pleased to say that the Malaysian Government have taken the security issue very seriously and will continue to ensure that all Malaysians and visitors alike are safe in the country.

The first few months have seen many distinguished guests and groups coming to Sabah for their holidays and also business trips. There were over 500 conventions, incentives, and events (CIE) in Sabah last year. Last month we had a BBC crew filming on our Survivor island and a Japanese film celebrity just completed a one week shooting in Kota Kinabalu. Two weeks ago a delegation of Australian business group from Rockingham Perth visited Sabah, this week 80 high school students from Japan came to the State for a field trip. Taiwanese incentives are arriving by the hundreds. Koreans and Japanese continue to throng our championship golf courses, spas and beaches. Backpackers and adventure enthusiasts continue to arrive to scale the highest mountain in Malaysia, Mt. Kinabalu.

The Diving industry in Sabah has been thriving and growing steadily annually with divers from all over the world continue to visit the many beautiful and magnificent marine life in the surrounding waters of Sipadan Island, Mabul, Mataking, Kapalai and Lankayan – all on the east coast, Mantanani, Layang Layang Atoll, Pulau Tiga, and Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park of the west coast. We are pleased that the PADI Course Director Training Course, which is the highest achievable level of training within PADI, will be held again in Sabah for the 8th year consecutively. This alone testifies that Sabah’s east coast is a safe place to visit and dive.

I am also pleased to say that Sabah has over 40% repeat visitors and a 25% compound growth in arrivals for the last five years. The Hotels and Resorts in Sabah recorded the highest occupancy rate in the country of about 80%. With the Chinese New Year celebration just over we are looking forward to hoards of Easter holidaymakers visiting the State.

We look forward to welcoming you to The Land Below The Wind – Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.

(signed)
Tengku Datuk Zainal Adlin
Chairman – Sabah Tourism Board

Personally, Sipadan, Mabul, Kapalai and all other diving destination islands are safe. Today, there are armed military stationed on all dive destination islands around Sabah.

I have visited these islands numerous times since the Sipadan incident 6 years ago and never once felt vulnerable. I know you will feel the same way too when you get there.

Along the way, many experienced divers have shared their own diving tips with me. Some other tips are gained from my own experiences – usually after a bad one. Here are some of the tips to share with you.

When choosing a mask, it is best for you to try on the mask before buying. Put on the mask, and inhale through your nose. Make sure you don’t have any hair stuck at the skirt of the mask. Hold your breath and see if the mask stays on and not fall off. Check to see if air is leaking into the mask. If the mask falls off, it usually means the shape of the mask skirt isn’t suitable for your face shape. Try as many brands and models as possible.

Most new masks have a protective film on the window. This can cause fogging problems during your dives if the protective film isn’t cleaned away. Before diving with a new mask, clean the window with a recommended cleaner liquid or defogging liquid. If you can’t get hold of one, try rubbing some clothing powder detergent onto the window and soaking your mask in water mixed with clothing powder detergent and leave it overnight. I’ve had great experiences using this method. Cleaning your mask before the first dive is very important. I should know. I’ve dived at great dive sites but was so busy doing the “flood and clear the mask” manoeuvre to clear the fog that I didn’t see very much, or just saw lots of blurry things at best.

On my dive trips, I’ve also found it useful to bring along some clothing powder detergent packed in a small pill container. I just clean my mask with detergent at the end of the day ready for the next day’s diving. Great way to keep my mask crystal clear all throughout my dive vacation.

Have you ever felt the regulator in your mouth seeming to be pushing your mouth to the left during your dives? You know, the feeling that if you don’t bite hard enough on the mouthpiece, the regulator might just get pushed out of your mouth? If you don’t own an octopus with built in swivel at the regulator, or don’t have a first stage swivel, you might experience this discomfort. One way to fix this is to buy and fit in a regulator 2^nd stage ball swivel. Another way I found quite useful to me, is to turn the air tank slightly in the clockwise direction. As you assemble the BCD to the compressed air tank, with the BCD away, instead of having the K-valve face directly away from you, turn the tank clockwise by about 30° before securing the BCD to the tank. You should be able to feel the difference.

If you regularly do boat and shore dives, I recommend that you get a pair of booties and open heel diving fins. Having booties on as you enter the sea from the shore will protect your feet from sharp corals and stones from cutting your feet. You can walk comfortably to a certain depth before putting your fins and begin your dive. On the boat, you will at least minimize your chances of slipping on the wet floor.

For open heel fins with those removable buckles, the best way to put on your fins is to slip the strap over your heels. While to take them off, by slipping the strap under your heels and removing the fins. I know this advise seems to make the buckle useless, but from my experiences and many other diver’s experiences, the time we most often lose a fin strap or buckle is at the end of a boat dive when we take off our fins by unbuckling while in the water before getting on the boat. And finding a replacement strap or buckle while on an island dive trip can be somewhat frustratingly difficult.

At the end of your boat dive, when you take off your gear before climbing on to the boat, always take off your weight belt first, then your BCD and lastly, your fins.

I hope you find some of these tips as useful to you as it has been for me. Here’s to wishing you a great diving experience on your next diving vacation.