Famous Barracudas in Sipadan

This is one destination that has been on my bucket list for a very long time, but because of the tedious journey, I have always put it off until Nov 2011.

Before I went, I said: I will gladly hang up my flippers if I get to experience being in the tornado of barracudas.

This was last year when I went to Sipadan for the very first time.  Well, although I saw the barracudas .... but I was in the tornado of jackfish instead, so I guess that does not really count for my drastic decision to pack up snorkelling/diving forever!!!

 

 

So last year, Nov 2012 I made the journey again .... and yessssssss it is worth the long haul.  Somewhat 2nd time round, it did not seem to take forever getting there ... perhaps it was because most of the travelling was done in the dark! (night time).

 

As we jumped into the warm inviting waters of Sipadan, within minutes we swam into a huge school of bumperheads .... turtles were everywhere in every direction and you wished you had more than one head or a head with a few pairs of eyes!!!  Then the jackfish came along .... and yesssssssss I saw the barracudas TWICE IN THE ONE DAY and I did get to be in the centre of its swirling tornado!  I was soooooo excited and my adrenalin pumping .... I could not believe I was in the middle of it all .... then I found myself instead of being still ... I was spinning myself round and around in a "on the spot circle" amongst thousands of barracudas and I was gobsmacked.... what an awesome experience!  How nice was it compared to swimming up close and personal to a whaleshark??? .... the comparison is totally different!!!  So far, I have been lucky I am able to travel extensively to experience both, not to mention other critters in the underwater world.



My hand presentation of Barracudas...

If you are a diver or a keen snorkeller, don't look past Sipadan.  It has almost everything you can wish for to see underwater, and you definitely will not be disappointed!!!  Am I going to hang up my flippers??? NO - NEVER for as long as I can still do it.  I guess I lied ... I think I am going to go back again for the 3rd time when I am able to walk without aids!!! *winks*