Diving with Pirate Captive & Dynamites

Sibuan Island appears to be a paradise.

We left Semporna about 8:30 towards Sibuan Island ... it started off somewhat as a race between us and this 10 year old girl who was in sole charge of a motorised sampan carrying her younger sibling!  People grow up quickly in these surroundings.

We did three dives ... two at the drop-off near Sibuan Island and another on the reef.  The last one on the reef was the most colourful with its coral and sealife.  We saw one barracuda, a couple of giant turtles and a big worm-like creature (about 1 metre long).  It was also memorable because we heard an underwater explosion due to people using dynamites to fish!  A bit scary as I thought I had some kind of catastrophic equipment failure until I checked that I was still breathing.

We're pleased to have built a bit more confidence in our diving, but we have some way to go ... Kim and I use our arms too much (and legs too) ... the others generally dive with their arms folded and the dive master hardly kicks at all.

Talking about our dive master Vincent, he was kidnapped with his party of 21 in 2001 and held captive for 3 months by the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group.  They were fed and watered ... with the same simple food that their captors had.  Fortunately there were no fatailities.