SMART, Oct, 2006,by Phil Gans, Co, USA ( Sr. Reviewer 7 reports with 2 Helpful votes). Report 3094. |
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No photos available at this time | |||
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best): |
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Accommodations | Food | ||
Service and Attitude | Environmental Sensitivity | N/A | |
Dive Operation | Shore Diving | ||
Snorkeling | N/A | ||
Overall Rating |
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Value for $$ | N/A | ||
Beginners | |||
Advanced | |||
Comments | The resort is on the Island of Mabul, about 15 minutes from Sipidan. The diving is exceptionally good. At Sipidan where we went for 2 of the three daily dives, there were tons of turtles and white tip sharks. I, of course, got excited with my first turtle sighting, but then I saw a few more, and then a few more, and then, I just expected to see turtles everywhere. They were sleeping on coral or on walls, just swimming about. It was truly wonderful. There were also lots of white tip sharks, resting on the botttom. On two days we saw a school of barracuda. There thousands of them swimming in circles at one point. Some of the divers just got among them and were surrounded by them. It was truly extraordinary. We also saw a very large school of Jacks twice or three times. There was also a school of very large bump head parrot fish that we saw twice. The school was not large, about 25 fish, but the bumpheads were about 2 or even 3 feet long. the corals were gorgeous and healthy. We only saw a couple of hammerhead at a distance. They are ususally found at Technical deepths. We also saw losts of healthy and large reef fish at both Sipadan and Mabul, plenty of nudibranches, including a flamingo dancer at night, and things like a pigmy seahorse, frog fish, leaf fish pipe fish, ghost pipe fish, junivnile frog fish, crocodile fish,etc etc. the island we stayed on. Mabul is pretty small. You can walk around it in less than an hour. It has a few resorts, including some water bungalows owned by the same people. There is a converted well station that acts as a resort, another set of water bungalows and another resort on the island. The village on the island is very poor, but the peole are very nice. Smart had good food, and a good staff. Wehn I was there there they wer ony at half capacity until the last two days when they hit full capacity. At the point the dive boats became too full, and the dives on some of the baots became shorter to accomodate less experienced divers. This would have made the experience much less fun if I had been on one of those dive boats with 10 or 12 divers. Overall, it was a great experience. | ||
Reporter and Travel |
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Dive Experience | 251-500 dives | ||
Where else diving | Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Utila, Roatan, Cozumel, Belize, Hualtaco, Playa Del Carmen, Philippines, Bali (Komodo), Thailand | ||
Closest Airport | Getting There | ||
Dive Conditions |
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Weather | sunny | Seas | calm |
Water Temp | 82-84°F / 28-29°C | Wetsuit Thickness | 7 |
Water Visibility | 30-60 Ft/ 9-18 M | ||
Dive Policy |
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Dive own profile | ? | ||
Enforced diving restrictions | The last day we were limited because of flights. A few days I had to come up a few minutes ealrier than I would have preferred. If I had been in boat with beginners or a more crowded boat, the times would have been limited. | ||
Liveaboard? | no | Nitrox Available? | N/A |
What I Saw |
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Sharks | Lots | Mantas | None |
Dolphins | 1 or 2 | Whale Sharks | None |
Turtles | > 2 | Whales | None |
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best): |
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Corals | Tropical Fish | ||
Small Critters | Large Fish | ||
Large Pelagics | |||
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best): |
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Subject Matter | Boat Facilities | ||
Overall rating for UWP's | Shore Facilities | ||
UW Photo Comments | They had tanks. It was fine for digital photographers. (what do we need afterall?) |
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