The Holy Grail

Ever since I first started diving in 2007, there’s been one place above all others that I’ve been wanting to go to. From conversations with fellow divers during my travels, google searches of ‘top places in the world to dive’ and select YouTube videos, one name kept coming up over and over again.

Sipadan.

Sipadan is a tiny island off the coast of eastern Sabah in Borneo Malaysia. It is consistently ranked among the very best places in the world to dive and as such, in order to protect its pristine environment, the Malaysian government has instituted a limit of 120 divers per day. Thus in order to dive at Sipadan, one often has to book months in advance in order to secure a spot. After much haggling and emailing over the past month or so, I was finally able to secure a couple of days at Sipadan and see if the hype was justified.

From a distance, Sipadan looks like your typical tropical island: sandy white beaches, palm trees and crystal clear blue water.

However, under the waves is a paradise unlike any that I’ve seen before. Most of the great dive sites I’ve been to in the past had one or two qualities that stood out. Bali/Gili Trawangan had turtles, sharks and manta rays. Costa Rica and Cabo had large schools of fish. Bohol in the Philippines had magnificent vertical walls. Belize had fantastic visibility, really warm water and healthy, colorful coral.

Sipadan had ALL of this.

To have everything in one place was incredible. But the one thing that makes Sipadan truly unique is the sheer amount of marine life on its reefs. The very first time I hopped in the water, I immediately saw a huge ball of barracuda, probably the best known fish on the island.

My second dive was filled with so many turtles and sharks, I didn’t know where to look half the time. Seemed like everywhere I turned, it was ‘oh look, there’s another turtle’ or ‘hey, look 3 more sharks’. I even found a turtle completely knocked out in a reef, completely unaware I was inches from its head.

The incredible things about Sipadan is that even when you’re not seeing the big stuff (turtles, sharks, huge balls of fish), there’s always SOMETHING no matter where you look. All types of little colorful fish along the reefs, a ray over here, a lion fish over there. Diving here would get you ridiculously spoiled. By my 3rd or 4th dive, I was beginning to think, ‘oh its just another turtle’. I had to keep reminding myself that this is NOT normal, that I’ve had countless dives where I saw nothing and that just seeing ONE turtle would have made it a successful dive.

My last dive on both days was at Sipadan’s best known dive site: Barracuda Point. No barracudas were spotted on either day here but if I had to choose one lasting memory of this incredible place, it would be this:

Gigantic swarms of big-eyed Jacks, forming a wall so dense I couldn’t see my fellow divers on the other side. Being completely engulfed in the school that the only image visible when I did a 360 degree turn is one of hundreds of fish eyes staring at me.

I thought these things only happened in BBC documentaries. Safe to say, the hype is justified.

Kerala

After nearly 3 months in Mumbai, I figured it was time to get out of my bubble and see another part of this fascinating country. Last week I took a trip to Kerala, a state located at the southern tip of India. Kerala is a skinny, small-ish state bordering the Arabian Sea and is one of the four states (along with Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh) that make up ‘South India’. Kerala is widely considered one of India’s ‘model’ states, as it rates very highly in both social (literacy rate, child malnourishment, average education level, women employment..etc) and income (poverty level, average income) indicators. A couple of my favorite people I’ve met here in India so far are originally from Kerala and after hearing some of their stories, I decided I had to go check it out.

Pictures are worth a thousand words, so I’ll keep the verbatim to a minimum.

 

We flew into Kochi and spent the first couple of days in one of the main areas of town, Fort Kochi. A noticeable feature of the area are these nets attached to big wooden contraptions that local fisherman use to catch fish. The nets are raised and lowered manually using weights and ropes and some of the fishermen were nice enough to let us do the touristy thing and help them out a bit. For a small rupee donation, of course.

At night we caught a few cultural events. The first night, we saw a Kathakali show, a form of Indian classical dance/drama that originated in Kerala in the 17th century. The make-up of the actors was exquisite, really cool.

The next night, we went to an Indian classical music show, featuring two musicians, one playing the Tabla and another playing the Sitar. They had my head bobbin’, shit was dope.

Check this out.

Next stop was Alleppey, a town known for the ‘backwaters’, a series of interconnected lagoons, rivers, canals and lakes that Kerala is famous for. We took a leisurely canoe ride along some of the backwaters during one of the days we were there but honestly, I left a little disappointed. The water was really dirty and I couldn’t help but feel grossed out when I’d see someone on one bank of the river washing themselves/their clothes in the water, and then another person dumping trash/defecating on the other bank. Definitely a reminder of how much I have to be thankful for.

One of the highlights of the trip was definitely finding this gorgeous, clean, damn near empty beach thanks to a tip from a local rickshaw driver. I didn’t know beaches like these existed in India as every one I’d seen so far was filled with people and trash. Another reminder to get out of Mumbai more.

If you ever find yourself in Alleppey, make sure to go to Marari Beach.

Last stop on the trip was Munnar, a hill station located in the Western Ghats mountain range in inner Kerala. Place was BEAUTIFUL!

Munnar’s hills are filled with tea plantations as it is a major source of tea leaves. We took an epic hike through the hills, passing above the clouds and walking through the plantations themselves. The views were breathtaking.

Overall, going to Kerala was a great trip. It was really nice to finally get out of the concrete jungle and be surrounded by green things, fresh air and silence.  More than just a pretty place with some fun activities, I’ll remember the trip, especially the time at Munnar, as a time for self-reflection.