Sibuan Island

My last day in Semporna I noticed the rather beautiful mosque in town. Bill agreed to stick around for another day for a 'no action day'. Some of the other divers joined us. It's hard work convincing a type A personality to do nothing!

Sibuan Island was the destination for the snorkel trip. It's a beautiful island of palm trees and Sea Gypsies, the fishing community that lives here. The kids came out to hang around for some treats and we took some pictures together.

We walked around the island and discovered that the military had decided to set up shop here. In 2003 some Filipino pirates boarded Sipidan Island and took the tourists there hostage. Since then the islands have been closed off for overnight stays and tourists require a permit to enter. I had to pretend to be Anne Douvesville from France for the day when I arrived on Sipidan yesterday. The permits have to be applied for two months in advance and the hotels use the names of guests from two months ago to aquire them.

The snorkeling on Sibuan was beautiful as well. Sipidan is in a class all it's own and nothing can compare to it. Sibuan was nice too. We watched three turtles swim into the blue depths of the sea. The coral was amazing shades of orange, green, brown and blue! The fish were colourful and abundant. At one point the water was so shallow that I was seriously concerned about making it back to the beach without scraping my entire front.

I should have been more worried about the sunburn I was acquiring on my back. It is red, hot and painful. Wearing my backpack hurts. The last two snorkels I managed to find an extra wetsuit to wear into the water.