Author archive
21 July 2017
Getting to Fethiye With a 1040 departure out of Sabiha Gokcen, I woke around 0600 for a light breakfast at 0700. My pickup timed for 0730 arrived shortly after. The one hour drive came to a standstill in parts but the journey took only 1h+. I still had just under 2h before departure when I […]
20 July 2017
I woke at 0300 but managed to sleep again till 0700 before having breakfast at the hotel. It was to be a lazy day as I had done much of Istanbul in recent years and I have the feeling that I will be back soon. Â Today was more a spare day in case things didn’t […]
19 July 2017
We landed around 0445, half hour earlier than scheduled. It was a long half-hour taxi to our remote gate. Immigration didn’t take too long and I was out within 30 minutes around 0545. My prebooked shuttle had their runner waiting outside arrivals. I waited about 30 minutes for other guests before we set off around […]
18 July 2017
We Ubered to the airport a little after 1000. It was a few minutes before bag-drop opened for our flight when we got there. Once Kim had offloaded his suitcase, we went to the lounge where we waited until our on-time departure to Kuala Lumpur. It was about 1600 by the time we collected Kim’s […]
13 July 2017
We woke before 0700. None of us were hungry so we skipped the muesli which we had brought. Rosli took us back to the mainland Kuching at 0800. I had a few bites from the night. Some turned into huge hemi-spherical blisters. I never respond well to sandfly bites; my last exposure to them in […]
12 July 2017
A relative had organised for us to visit one of two turtle hatcheries accessible to Kuching. We are going to Pulau Satang Besar, as opposed to Talang-Talang (which is expensive and available to those doing a 4 day volunteering). We set off at 0830, grabbed some breakfast before driving to Telaga Air to meet […]
9 July 2017
It was a lazy morning with a late breakfast or brunch until our check-out at 1200. We shared transport with a fellow diver from China. The seat-in-coach arrangement was RM20pp and only a fraction of what the hotel charges! We got to the airport about 2h before departure for Kota Kinabalu and killed some time […]
8 July 2017
We found out yesterday afternoon that we had been given an extra day of Sipadan (because we asked). So this morning, we paid for the additional permit fee of RM53 pp before we set off at 0830. I missed the name of the first dive. There were some turtles, a white tip reef shark, a […]
7 July 2017
Today, our second day of three days, was at Sipadan. It is the highlight for any diver as it is amongst the best dive sites in the world. Some rate it as #1. We left at 0830 like yesterday but the boat had trouble with one engine. We pulled into the village area for a […]
6 July 2017
Above: Docked at Mataking briefly. Today is the first day of three days diving with Sipadan Scuba (officially North Borneo Scuba), an operator I’ve used twice before over a period of eight years. They’re very reliable in terms of guaranteeing Sipadan quota slots once booking has been made and paid for online (non-refundable though). Our […]