Disappointment

These things seem to happen when you travel.

Sipadan is rated one of the top dive sites in the world.  The people we met here who dived it were in awe at the amount of marine life they saw and the inspiring surroundings.

So, it just so happens that on Sept. 1, the Malaysian government changed its policy regarding the island, granting permits to only 100 divers per day, and those only to the super-expensive resorts.  As we were not diving with a super-expensive resort, the island was therefore closed to us, which we found out at 8:00 this morning when we arrived at the shop.  'Where would you like to go?' they asked.  'Um, Sipadan,' I answered.  'No one is going to Sipadan.'

A major part of the reason we took this long trip out to Borneo was to go to this island.  The new policy was news to the diveshop, too - they said it came out of the blue.  They also expected it to be short-lasting, as apparently with many government environmental protection policies here.  They thought that by next week, they'd be sending divers there again, and they had permits already for Tuesday.  So, we happened to arrive for 3 days in a roughly 5-day window in which we couldn't dive at Sipadan.  What dissapointment. 

I dove and Lena snorkelled today at another site.  Great visibility, but the marine life was pretty average, and certainly nothing worth travelling thousands of kilometers for.

Anyway, we will recover, and tomorrow, instead of diving again, we'll move on to Sandakan, from where we are planning to go on a river safari.  That is, if the river isn't closed for 3 days for 'maintenance'...