This was a unique trip as the 9 divers have planned this trip exactly one year ago and they booked the dive packages through G.O.D. during MIDE 2009. It was a very special trip for Mervyn as he had planned his engagement proposal a long time ago and would need me to assist in doing the proposal underwater. It was to be a surprise to Joanne, his future bride. What I kept asking was " what if she rejects ? " Mervyn assured me his charm will win the day. The day was also to be threaten by tales of typhoons in the Philippines which will definitely affect the visibility of the water and the planned invasion of Malaysia with the first point of attack being Tawau. However, nothing was going to deter us, not when we cannot cancel the holiday without suffering financial losses.
We all met at 5am on the morning of the 7th October at LCCT and made it to the Kapalai~SipadanWater Village at around 1.45pm . The weather was cloudy and remained this way throughout our stay except for a sunny Friday. Little did we know we will experience thunderstorms that will shake the foundations of our water chalets and strong hallowing winds. We had our first orientation dive at 3.08 pm ( this was the secret engagement dive ) and the 10 of us descended into Mandarin Valley, the house reef of Kapalai Village. Visibility was poor at 3 meters and those with cameras were having difficulty locating the couple. After ten minutes of diving around wrecks, the dive guide settled us on sandy bottom, the signal for Robert and Grace to unfold a banner “ Jo, would you marry me, Mervyn”. Joanne was shocked ( lucky she didn’t float up ) and Mervyn proceeded to bring out a large diamond ring and placed it into Joanne’s finger. I was the only videographer and had to swim in all directions to capture the scene amongst sandy particles and the glare of the diamond ring. I almost lost my buddy, Jess, who was still trying to get to terms with her buoyancy. All went well and went we surfaced, Joanne was presented with bouquet of flowers from the proud parents of Mervyn . This was the only35 minutes dive that I was not aware of the fishes in the ocean. I was told that several Oriental sweetlips, 3 groupers, a school of bat fishes and butterfishes, probably sent by Neptune, witnessed this magical moment.
Some of us did the dusk dive and witnessed mandarin fishes doing their mating dances hinting to Mervyn and Joanne.
The night was a stormy affair with strong winds and heavy rain. Most of us did not sleep well and I could have sworn seeing a fish flying through my room. My roommate was Leong, who slept through the night enjoying the breeze from the open sea. Half of our group had to wake up early for the 4 dives in Sipadan Island as the remaining half were only scheduled to dive Sipadan the following day. Sadly, Mervyn and Joanne had to dive separately as the Sipadan permits could not be changed. Luckily, I bought an extra camera with underwater housing and Mervyn enjoyed his novice underwater experiences. We all enjoyed our dives in Sipadan as we witnessed the barracudas and jacks performing the vortex. I too saw a large school of reef sharks at Barracuda point and this time, the turtles appeared more inquisitive as they swam in amongst the divers.
Other days we dived in Siamil Island and the nearby Mabul Island. During surface intervals, most of the guys posted with Robert and Grace for their wedding photos. This adventurous couple did all sorts of stunts in their wedding costumes including free dives. Needless to say, they too were very satisfied as they have great friends who have sacrificed their time to be with them. Truly I have not seen such a good bunch of friends and for them to welcome crazy me into their group was indeed the satisfaction of me setting up G.O.D. As for Dunstan, he was a true ambassador of G.O.D. and he went round to almost every table promoting G.O.D. I soon realized that most people have no groups to dive with and they do need agencies like G.O.D. to give them better options and company.
After one calm night, the next night was scary. It was the day that the Indonesian to be lead by some moron was to invade and capture Tawau. We thought he must have hired a submarine and battleship and bombarded our chalets. The chalets were shaking and swaying BUT not from the attack that never materialized but from the strong winds and rain. This time, I could have sworn seeing a whale shark passing through my room.
We all departed at 1.30pm on 10th October and whole group except Mervyn’s parents and me stayed on to defend Tawau from falling into wrong hands. I had to go back to reality.
My next dive trip will again be in Sipadan during X’Mas and I planned to dive in full Santa Claus costume. I imagine sledding thru the water with bumpheads as my reindeers and a group of Mantas following behind. Join us for more fun and adventure.
