MUCKING AROUND IN MABUL!
Copyright Neville Coleman
Muck diving may not be every dyed-in-the-wool divers first choice of exciting, breathtaking adventure. However, for those of us who love exploring the nature of things and the unquenchable anticipation of discovering new species at every turn, nothing surpasses the heart-pounding pleasure of capturing the world of waters incredible wealth of living treasure and "Mucking around in Mabul" is what life is all about!
The finding of this unique species of Melibe sp. at a muck dive site in Mabul, was one of the highlights of my diving career. It took another 5 years of divers searching, for a second specimen to be found.
Having pioneered the art of soft-bottom skimming and all its many specialty procedures during exploring Sydney Harbour, Port Hacking and Port Stephens in the early 1960s and Port Moresby and Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea in the early 1980s and discovering hundreds of new species at muck dive sites across the Asia/Indo-Pacific region, it was inevitable that one day I would make it to the Malaysian Borneo Island of Mabul.
This area was legendary amongst the divers of Malaysia and Thailand, with up to 800+ daily dives being carried out year round in the vicinity of Mabul, Sipidan and Kapalai.
Comfortable, medium range accomodation at Borneo Divers Resort right on Mabul Island. The cabins are simple, well laid out close to the dive shop. Tanks and weight belts are delivered to the boat pick up areas.
( photo: Neville Coleman)
With hundreds of thousands of dives and divers visiting on a regular basis from all over the world the diving tourism market is worth a great deal of money to operators and indeed, the entire country.
Over the last decade, the importance of marine areas has been recognised and more and more localities set apart as reserves and marine parks by the Malaysian Government and associated organisations. This importance is emphasised by the sponsorship and production of many large format books illustrating the rich and diverse marine life by the regions top underwater photographers and authors.
Typical of the region, the Panda Butterflyfish Chaetodon adiergastos can generally be seen in pairs around many dive sites in Malaysia. It can be seen in silty areas around Mabul and also in the clearer waters of around Sipidan.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
Although the wondrous beings and excellent imagery in these books was a magnet to me (and many thousands of others) I had not been able to take up the many opportunities to visit through the years, due to the many other commitments.
With my 12 year plan to produce Marine Life Identification Guides as texts to the seven newly designed PADI Project AWARE Underwater Naturalist Specialty Courses and the six World of Water/Project AWARE Identification Guides to the developing Pacific nations almost completed, a chance came up and I jumped at it.
On a wall night dive with Cindy we found a pair of Red Reef Lobsters Enoplometopus occidentalis. These were the first ones I ever managed to get pictures of, they are normally very shy.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
1994 - Celebrate the Sea, Wet Expo and Tourism Malaysia was being held in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia and I was asked to go along and present two audio visuals on Nudibranchs - Butterflies of the Sea and assist with judging the photo-competitions.
By coincidence I also met Cindy Collet, marketing person with Sipidan/Mabul Resort water village at the Sydney Dive Show and she invited me along to see the Smart Divers Resort after conclusion of the Celebrate the Sea show in Kuala Lumpur.
A first for me was this delicate little flatworm Pseudoceros sp. observed feeding on the yellow ascidians Perophora modificata.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
On completion of a very successful dive and travel show, meeting keen scientists, students and divers, other presenters and dive travel eco-tour specialists, seeing old friends and making many new ones and having the opportunity to share good will with all, I left to dive the fabulous three.
Mabul, Borneo
From Kuala Lumpur I caught a plane to Kota Kinabulu International Airport and then another plane to Towau for a night stopover. In the morning, there was a bus ride to Semporna where an hour and a half later we piled into a very fast boat which took us to Mabul Island (45 minutes).
At home in its host sea anemone the Orange Anemonefish Amphiprion sandaracinos can be separated from its nemisis the Skunk Anemonefish Amphiprion akallopisos by the fact that the white dorsal band carries across to its lip.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
Mabul and its sister islands of Sipidan and Kapalai are situated in the Celebes Sea off the Port of Semporna on the eastern side of the Malaysian state of Sabah on the island of Borneo, flanked by the Philippines to the north and Sulawesi to the south.
Mabul Island is by no means a large island and can be walked around in 45 minutes. It is predominantly a large coconut plantation occupied around the edges by two local stilt water villages jutting out into the shallow water lagoonal fringes. Most of the local people are made up of a mixture of various local peoples all living at life by way of fishing, coconut harvesting and various employment at the resorts.
Smart Divers Resort
Sipidan Mabul Resort restraunt, bar and dining area. Everybody is very well catered for and the cosmopolitan clientele fit in and around the lay back atmosphere and as divers do everywhere..talk diving.
( photo: Neville Coleman)
Situated at the south-eastern end of the island the Smart Divers Resort has been well chosen for the best advantage of conditions, the sea breezes cool the air and there are no flies. The resort is well planned and the layout exceptional to providing the best possible ease of operation for everyone.
Visiting all the way from Italy this happy group of divers are typical of clientele who visit Mabul, and although I could not speak their language, one thing we all shared was great diving!
( Photo: Neville Coleman)
Catering to the whims of up to 100 global divers at some times with many languages and at every level; from beginners to advanced divers and specialty courses (cave penetration dives) with six to eight boats of up to 10 dives every day, is no mean feat to organise and run. Every tank fill was up to scratch and air quality, excellent!
A number of Professional dive guides are available and details can be obtained from Mabul dive resorts as to rates and contacts.
( photo: Neville Coleman)
Yet, while I was there (even though it was the off season weather with 20 to 25 knots winds every day) it was business as usual. Everybody, from the beach rakers to the waitresses, kitchen staff (food is varied, on time and exceptional in quality), office staff, compressor operators, boat skippers, deck hands, dive masters, guides and instructors were thorough professionals and worked together as a well oiled team and they did it with a smile.
Most scuba tank filling stations ( Mabul Sipidan Resort) and air banks are away from accomodation areas and tanks are delivered to a kitting up area, or to the jetty, depending on the circumstances.
( photo: Neville Coleman)
Nothing runs this well without good planning and efficient management constantly working towards improving service to customers and upgrading facilities. Their dedication is reflected in a quality Smart Divers Resort.
Found in an entire range of colours, from yellow, to white, brown, black, orange, red and mauve, the Leaf Scorpionfish Taenianotus triacanthus often sways from side to side as it mimics a leaf being swayed by the swell.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
Due to the weather conditions I was not able to visit all the dive sites at Mabul. However, I did have the opportunity to dive several times a day at many of the sheltered muck dive sites at Mabul and Kapalai.
Green Turtles, Chelonia mydas are quite common in the vicinity of Sipidan and often stray across the channel and can be seen around other dive sites in the area. Although immature turtles feed on a range of sea jellies, the adults feed mostly on red and brown algae.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
Diving with other divers and also other dive boat divers at the one site often reduced visibility as most dives are led by a dive master guide and the slower photographer (me) was always down current. However, Cindy was able to arrange that we got dropped off and picked up at the jetties and house reefs on our own and we found many excellent species. Only one site had to be aborted due to reduced visibility and on several days and nights there were only a few divers in the boat. (Visibility averaged eight metres).
Another species which appears to favour inshore areas around patch reefs on sand and rubble, is the Yellow - dotted Butterflyfish Chaetodon selene. It ranges throughout the Malaysian Peninsula and across to Papua New Guinea.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
Cindy was very keen on nudibranchs and we found around 28 species between us including several rare ones AND at least two new species unknown to science, that had never been photographed before. One was the most unbelievable nudibranch I have ever discovered in over 40 years of searching. The find of my career!
Generally seen in schools, or hareums, female Blotched Basslets Pseudanthias pleurotaenia do not have the characteristic white square patch on their sides as does the male.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
At all the muck dive sites the fish are tame and easily photographed. Red, black, brown, blue and yellow anglerfish, leaf fish, pipefish, angelfish, butterflyfish, giant crocodilefish (flathead) were common, as were multi-coloured hawkfish and at one location little mandarinfish were commonly seen every day at dusk.
Growing to 30 cm the Giant Anglerfish Antennarius commersoni is a master of camouflage and exhibits an unbelievable ability to mimic its surroundings in every imaginable series of colour combinations.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
Many sea anemones contain commensal shrimps and the sea stars also have commensal shrimps. Harlequin shrimps can be found and snake eels protrude their heads from the sand. A number of species of lionfish live under the jetties and reefs while ghost pipefish, shrimp gobies and green mantis shrimp abound.
In the shallow sandy seagrass meadows hundreds of nodose sea stars of many different colours feed on detritus.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that the Mabul area is a vast treasure trove of species diversity and although it is well known to many divers it is by any standards of marine exploration, still being discovered. While my few days recorded several hundred species there is without doubt a long way to go before the true measure of its treasure trove is revealed.
Tucked away in the holes and crannies of walls and areas of current, one can find beautiful little colonies of the Elegant Hydrocoral Stylaster elegans. Although this species is a relative of the Fire Corals, its nematocysts are not powerful enough to sting humans.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
I predict that in the next few years we will see many new species being found while mucking around in Mabul!.
Neville Coleman's diving expeditions, fauna surveys, photographic fauna surveys and marine life identification courses include every major group of marine life.
Neville Coleman's expertise in marine life identification extends to the identification of Algae, Sea Grass, Forams, Sponges, Stony Corals, Soft Corals, Sea Anemones, Sea Jellies, Zoanthids, Corallimorphs, Black Corals, Flatworms, Segmented Worms, Crustaceans, Barnacles, Shrimps, Rock Lobsters, Hermit Crabs, Squat Lobsters, Molluscs, Chitons, Univalves, Bivalves, Cephalopods, Octopus, Cuttlefish, Squid, Opisthobranchs, Nudibranchs, Sea Slugs, Bryozoans, Sea Mosses, Echinoderms, Sea Stars, Feather Stars, Brittle Stars, Sea Urchins, Sea Cucumbers, Ascidians/Sea Squirts, Marine Fish, Sharks, Marine Reptiles, and Marine Mammals, all found in the waters around Mabul and Malaysia.
( Copyright Neville Coleman)
Acknowledgments
Celebrate the Sea - Malaysia 2004
To everybody who helped with my Introduction to Malaysia expedition my sincerest thanks. I would especially like to thank CTS organisers Michael Aw, Chris Lee, Cassandra Dragon, Gillian Fagan, Sidney Seok, Tan Peck San and all the voluntary staff that helped make my book sales so successful and me so welcome.
To Smart Divers Resort managing director Robert Lo, Cindy Collet ( Marketing and dive instruction), Michelle Teo, dive instructor David, Videographer Billee Tan, dive master guides John and Alex and everybody at Smart Divers Resort and Explore Asia Tours, many thank yous; it was brilliant!
Dark - striped Fusileer Pterocaesio tile settling down for the night and taking on its nocturnal colours. These fish sleep alone each night and then school up again in the early morning.