Sipadan Borneo Malaysia and Our 100th Dive

With our latest (and second) diving trip to Sipadan, we have both logged over 100 dives in a year and one half. We love it and the more you go, the more you want to go. Almost every dive we see something new. This trip was no exception. When you go to the east coast from November to May, you always run the risk of less than sunny weather. Sipadan is such a wonderful place to dive, the one day you get to dive there due to restrictions on the number of divers each resort can have per day, is much anticipated. This trip was no exception.















Above a banded pipe fish.















Above a very friendly sea turtle. I love turtles and there were so many it was hard to spot them all! Our eyes were everywhere discovering hidden treasures of marine life and corals both soft and hard alike. Sensory overload is Sipadan - there is so much to see.




















A local handmade boat on Siamil Island near Sipadan.












Look closely on the left side of the coral - that's a frog fish - see the little toes on the far left. His camo is great. He looks like part of the coral, doesn't he? We also saw a black one. Amazing!

A friendly Bat Fish.

A flounder. Another master at disguise! This one was buried in the sand and you could tell him apart from the sand that surrounded him. He moved and we saw him, otherwise, we'd have swam right on by. See the two eyes on top?

We met some great people on this trip. Two of our favorites were Michael (pictured) and James. They were from Hong Kong and Atlanta. Wonderful people to dive with makes it so much more fun. Here Michael checks out the herd of Bump Head Parrot Fish cruising by.

Jack Fish sneaking between divers.

Sea Turtle diving into the blue.

A huge Georgian Fan. It gets it's food from what sifts through the intricate fan. This one was about 6 feet across. A large specimen for sure.

No trip is complete without many spottings of "Nemo." It's hard to get their photo because they are camera shy, but honestly, there is nothing cuter than a really tiny Clown Fish - about the size of a nickle.

View from the dive boat with the underwater camera. Yes, it rains in paradise, but the good thing is it's still really calm down below. You look up and see the rain pelting the water and it's hard to make yourself leave the warm tranquility below the surface.

On one dive we dove beneath an oil rig that has been converted into a hostel. It was fun. It's also the first time I heard a "big boom" under the water. It was a local fishermen dynamiting. I didn't like to hear that.

Storm coming our way. It didn't take long to reach us, but we were done diving for the trip and just playing Canasta as we waited for our ferry to Semporna.

We were playing cards and failed to notice the storm sneaking up on us. Van ran back to the room to get the BCD's (Bouyancy Control Devices) we were trying to get dry out of the rain. It was a "two umbrella" excursion.

Van checking for messages from work on his Blackberry. Not a bad office if one has to work!

Local Semporna kids cooling off on a hot day. I wonder who taught the one on the left to flip us off?

Here we are with our 100th dive certificates that the resort gave us upon completion of our 100th dives. Van is four ahead of me and got his first. I got mine on our fourth dive at Sipadan.

These chairs on the deck are calling me back and I haven't even been home for a whole day yet!

Sunrise from our bungalow deck. Kapalai is a very nice resort that is well run and kept up. They do a really nice job taking care of you, especially the dive shop personnel. George, our dive master was top notch!

Sunrise over the bungalows looking towards the dive shop and house reef.

Sunset from the bungalow. Beautiful!

Sunset over the Kapalai water village.

Harlequin Sweet Lips on the stairs leading to the House Reef. They love it there!

Gigantic Moray Eel. This eel was so big it was unbelievable! I've never seen one this big before. He was a good foot from bottom to top and at least five feet long. We saw him twice and both times Van found him. He lives at the Kapalai House Reef.

Our friends James and Michael. It was really fun getting to know them and diving with them. James and I gave Michael and Van a "thrashing" at Canasta! It was great fun!

This was a great relaxing trip. We were able to get 15 dives in during our stay of four nights and five days. Since we can't dive 18 hours before flying, I'd say we did really well getting that many dives in. I'd recommend the Kapalai Resort to anyone who wanted to dive Sipadan. If you are free in January, it's the slow season at Kapalai so it's possible to get three days diving at Sipadan instead of one if you stay for a week. Sipadan is fantastic. No wonder it's in the top 10 dive spots in the world. I can see why it's listed.

Part 2 of Our European Adventure

If you didn't read part one first, please do as the trip is in chronological order. To continue... we arrived in Rome and met Van at our wonderful Bed & Breakfast - The Fellini Inn. It was in a great location and you could walk to almost every major attraction from there. The service was excellent and the rooms were great. The biggest drawback was the elevator that only fit one person and a big suitcase. The five flights of stairs were exhausting after a day of walking or a night of drinking, LOL, but we managed. We spent three whole days in Rome and saw the major sites. Our biggest disappointment was not getting to see the Sistine Chapel as it was closed on the day we intended to visit. It never dawned on any of us that it would be closed at any time let alone when we were there. We saw many wonderful things and I would highly recommend the Hop On Hop Off bus that picks up near the hotel. It helps you get the lay of the land and get from attraction to attraction very easily.

Van and Joe in a ray of light inside one of the cathedrals.

This artist was doing a chalk drawing on the slate tiles. I marveled at his talent and willingness to spend time on something that would ruined as soon as someone walked over it or it rained. I think I would want to save it for always.

Joe and van glued into the tube with their "mini and mega" beers at one of our rest stops - a pub that sold naval flags. We purchased one from Denmark that Van Sr. can fly at the cabin. Briggs is a Danish name you know. So is my maiden name of Sorensen.

Laine was asked to get her Dad and brother a Gelato. Too bad it was a hot day and by the time she returned she was covered in a melted mess. It's the thought that counts, Laine. Besides, the Italian Gelato was SO GOOD, I'm sure they didn't even mind a little melting. We judged our days by the number of Gelatos we had... it seems like it might be a two Gelato day.

The view of the bridge over the Tiber River in front of the Castle Sant Angelo. It was a beautiful day and there were many people enjoying the sunshine.

Joe and Laine on the Hop On Hop Off Bus. We were cruising by the Coliseum after drinking a bottle of Chianti we purchased in Tuscany.

What flavor of Gelato do you want? Well, the choices were overwhelming, but my very favorite was lemon!

The Coliseum at sunset - beautiful!

Our hotel was only about a 10 minute walk from the Trevi Fountain. Here, the rays of the setting sun are shining on the water.

The Italian flag flying in the breeze from the Victor Emmanuel II Monument.

A lighted stand near the Trevi Fountain.

When we left Rome we headed toward the eastern coast of Italy and Bari. This was the view from the turn out about 100 km north of Bari.

We took the overnight Superfast Ferry from Bari, Italy to Patras, Greece. We were planning on camping on deck, but drunk truck drivers throwing chairs over the railing made us nervous. We purchased a cabin for the night and slept in four single bunks. It was one of the best nights sleep we had. Must have been the gentle swaying of the boat. The photo above is of the sunrise from the deck.

Once we reached Patras a truckers strike had us heading south. We rented two small cars and split up for our tour of the Peloponnese Region of Greece. We camped the first night and decided a day of rest the next day was in order. We were going to camp again, but Laine found a sign that said "Navarino Dunes" and it turned out it wasn't sand dunes, but a brand new 5 star resort complete with 18 hole golf course. We checked in and stayed the night. We swam in the Mediterranean, I hit the spa, we rented bikes, had dinner under the stars while a movie played on the screen of the outdoor theater, etc. http://www.starwoodhotels.com/luxury/property/photos/index.html?propertyID=3290. Check out this link for photos of the resort. We could have happily stayed there longer. It was amazing!

Above, we stoped at Olympia the site of the very first Olympics and looked around - fabulous!

We watched a storm brewing over the rental umbrellas and chairs on the beach. However, the rain never reached us.

We stayed on the beach in tents one night on the southern coast of Greece and this is the site that greeted us in the morning.

Once we returned the rental cars to Patras, we headed north to Athens via the bus. We met Lee and Kerry at the airport and rushed on the last metro into Athens to have dinner at Strofi's. Joe's friend John made the arrangements for us and we were seated on the rooftop that overlooked the lighted Acropolis. Dinner was wonderful. We had a chance to catch up with Lee and Kerry, then headed back to the airport hotel for 2 hours of sleep. We had a 5:30 am flight to Santorini the next (same) morning to catch. We arrived in Santorini and spent the day on the beach killing time until we could check into our hotel. Naps and beach side massage (along with some really great pina colladas) made the lack of sleep more bearable.

While on Santorini we rented ATVs for the day. Laine gave Kerry a ride and had a little accident. Luckily, no one was seriously hurt. Here is Laine sporting some road dust. Her shorts were ripped to shreds. Good thing they had liners or she would have been arrested for indecent exposure. Ha.

Lee with his new shades and Kerry with her "pouty" lips. We did a sunset cruise on a catamaran and it was a really great time. Lee got his sailing fix, we swam, drank, and relaxed the day away.

Joe in the blue waters of Greece. He swam out to see what kind of fish were making the sea churn with fish trying to escape. The skipper thought it was tuna. Joe didn't get close enough to see, but enjoyed the exercise.

A familiar site on Santorini. The famous donkeys. I must say they leave quite a mess on the walkways down to the harbor.

Bells were everywhere. This one caught my eye with the caldera in the background. If you ever go to Greece, the one thing you must do is make sure your villa has a view of the caldera for the most amazing sunsets.

Churches, domes, temples, crosses, bells and blue doors were everywhere in Santorini. It was a really beautiful place.

Sunrise our first morning in Santorini. We were having breakfast at the only restaurant open. If I had a choice, I'd love to have had a Gyro. I have never tasted a chicken sandwich in pita bread that tasted so good! They were reasonably priced, too!

The streets of Santorini were a maze of steps, alleys, and alcoves. It was really fun to walk around and discover things you missed the first couple of times you went by.

The view of the harbor from the turnout where Laine and Kerry wrecked. We went by here when we were on the catamaran and wanted to see it from the shore. We had an early lunch of calamari here. Seems Lee really likes calamari and I think he had it for every meal as long as it was on the menu - ha.

Sunset over the harbor as we returned from our sunset cruise. Amazing sky!

Sadly, all trips must come to an end. Here is Joe and Laine's plane leaving the gate. Van and I were supposed to leave at 6:15 am, the kids at 7:15 am, but fog in Amsterdam delayed our flight from Madrid for four hours. We had a connecting flight in Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that we missed by about 10 minutes. There were 20 KLM flights cancelled and the lines to change your tickets were 500 deep. Luckily, we were flying business class and could get to the front of the line faster. We had a 9 hour layover in Amsterdam, but used it to catch up on emails and such. We arrived home and were at work the following day - exhausted.

It was a trip of a lifetime and I am so thankful for the many blessings given us all so that we could spend that much time together with family and friends in such wonderful places. I wish we had more time in a lot of places, but we made the best of the time we did have together and that is what counts. Thank you Van, Joe, Laine, Kerry and Lee for the amazing memories. You are the best husband, son, daughter, and friends I could ever ask for. I am so blessed.