{"id":1141,"date":"2011-10-24T18:19:11","date_gmt":"2011-10-24T16:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/?p=1141"},"modified":"2012-10-24T07:33:22","modified_gmt":"2012-10-24T05:33:22","slug":"a-divers-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/2011\/10\/a-divers-dream\/","title":{"rendered":"A diver&#8217;s dream"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ever since I saw <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sipadan\" target=\"_blank\">Sipadan<\/a> in a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.de\/gp\/product\/1906098506\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=elektrischaud-21&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1638&amp;creative=19454&amp;creativeASIN=1906098506\">dive book<\/a> in Boracay I wanted to get there. And after the <a title=\"The new diver\" href=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/2011\/09\/the-new-diver\/\">new diver<\/a> got hooked by the underwater world it wasn&#8217;t too difficult to convince her to go to Sipadan and look for the swirling Barracudas. And it happened on our very first dive at Sipadan, about three minutes into the dive in something like 4 m depth that we hit that huge school of big fish going around in circles&#8230; They were the most expensive days in our trip so far, but once you have seen the photos and if you consider that they only capture a fraction of the real beauty you will understand that it was more than worth it.<\/p>\n<p>Sipadan is an oceanic island, an underwater pillar rising 600 meters from the ocean floor &#8211; hence the wealth of large pelagics. We decided to stay at Seaventures, an old support rig for oil platforms that was turned into a mekka for diving. It features a fully equipped dive center, a lift that can bring you to the boats or directly under water and an interesting house reef right under the rig.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"gallery-1\" class=\"gallery galleryid-1141 gallery-columns-4 gallery-size-thumbnail\">\n<dl class=\"gallery-item\">\n<dt class=\"gallery-icon\"><a title=\"Julia and the barracudas\" href=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_0019-levels-1024x575.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail\" title=\"Julia and the barracudas\" src=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_0019-levels-1024x575-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Julia and the barracudas at Sipadan, Borneo\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<dl class=\"gallery-item\">\n<dt class=\"gallery-icon\"><a title=\"Bumphead parrotfish\" href=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_0043-2-1024x683.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail\" title=\"Bumphead parrotfish\" src=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_0043-2-1024x683-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Bumphead parrotfish at Sipadan, Borneo\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<dl class=\"gallery-item\">\n<dt class=\"gallery-icon\"><a title=\"Diving early\" href=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_0071-575x1024.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail\" title=\"Diving early\" src=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_0071-575x1024-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"7:04 am and we are already half way through our first dive at Whitetip Avenue, Sipadan\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<dl class=\"gallery-item\">\n<dt class=\"gallery-icon\"><a title=\"School of bumphead parrotfish\" href=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_0121-levels-1024x575.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail\" title=\"School of bumphead parrotfish\" src=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_0121-levels-1024x575-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"At Whitetip Avenue, Sipadan\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<dl class=\"gallery-item\">\n<dt class=\"gallery-icon\"><a title=\"Julia's favourite turtle shot\" href=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_0203-2-1024x575.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail\" title=\"Julia's favourite turtle shot\" src=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_0203-2-1024x575-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"At South Point, Sipadan\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<dl class=\"gallery-item\">\n<dt class=\"gallery-icon\"><a title=\"Green Sea Turtle flying through the water\" href=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_0223-levels-1024x683.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail\" title=\"Green Sea Turtle flying through the water\" src=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_0223-levels-1024x683-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Turtle at South Point, Sipadan\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<dl class=\"gallery-item\">\n<dt class=\"gallery-icon\"><a title=\"Surfacing at South Point\" href=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_0272-1024x682.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail\" title=\"Surfacing at South Point\" src=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_0272-1024x682-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"South Point, Sipadan\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<dl class=\"gallery-item\">\n<dt class=\"gallery-icon\"><a title=\"Green Sea Turtle getting some air\" href=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_0287-1024x685.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail\" title=\"Green Sea Turtle getting some air\" src=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_0287-1024x685-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Green Sea Turtle at the surface at Barracuda Point, Sipadan\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<dl class=\"gallery-item\">\n<dt class=\"gallery-icon\"><a title=\"Don't become bored by the more ubiquitous banner fish \" href=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_0298-levels-1024x768.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail\" title=\"Don't become bored by the more ubiquitous banner fish\" src=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_0298-levels-1024x768-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"banner fish at Barracuda Point, Sipadan\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<dl class=\"gallery-item\">\n<dt class=\"gallery-icon\"><a title=\"Playing with the school kids\" href=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_0337-levels-1024x768.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail\" title=\"Playing with the school kids\" src=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_0337-levels-1024x768-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Jack fish at Barracuda Point, Sipadan\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<dl class=\"gallery-item\">\n<dt class=\"gallery-icon\"><a title=\"Gigantic school of jack fish at the shallow reef\" href=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_0378-levels-1024x768.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail\" title=\"Gigantic school of jack fish at the shallow reef\" src=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_0378-levels-1024x768-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Jack fish at Barracuda Point, Sipadan\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<dl class=\"gallery-item\">\n<dt class=\"gallery-icon\"><a title=\"Reaching the dive rig\" href=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_0389-736x1024.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail\" title=\"Reaching the dive rig\" src=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_0389-736x1024-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Seaventures Dive Rig, Mabul\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<dl class=\"gallery-item\">\n<dt class=\"gallery-icon\"><a title=\"Harlequin sweetlips\" href=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_0425-levels-768x1024.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail\" title=\"Harlequin sweetlips\" src=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_0425-levels-768x1024-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Harlequin sweetlips at the Seaventures House Reef, Mabul\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<dl class=\"gallery-item\">\n<dt class=\"gallery-icon\"><a title=\"The lift at the dive rig\" href=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_0504-768x1024.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail\" title=\"The lift at the dive rig\" src=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_0504-768x1024-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Seaventures Dive Rig, Mabul\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<dl class=\"gallery-item\">\n<dt class=\"gallery-icon\"><a title=\"To Sipadan anybody?\" href=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_2324-1024x683.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail\" title=\"To Sipadan anybody?\" src=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_2324-1024x683-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"At Seaventures Dive Rig, Mabul\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<dl class=\"gallery-item\">\n<dt class=\"gallery-icon\"><a title=\"Going doooown\" href=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/M0010297-1024x768.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail\" title=\"Going doooown\" src=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/M0010297-1024x768-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Preparations at Coral Garden, Sipadan\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<dl class=\"gallery-item\">\n<dt class=\"gallery-icon\"><a title=\"Turtle encounter\" href=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/M0010375-1024x768.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail\" title=\"Turtle encounter\" src=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/M0010375-1024x768-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Green sea turtle in a cave at Coral Garden, Sipadan\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<dl class=\"gallery-item\">\n<dt class=\"gallery-icon\"><a title=\"Ocellaris clown fish in their anemone\" href=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/M0010397-1024x681.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail\" title=\"Ocellaris clown fish in their anemone\" src=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/M0010397-1024x681-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Clown fish at Coral Garden, Sipadan\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<dl class=\"gallery-item\">\n<dt class=\"gallery-icon\"><a title=\"Our diveboat at the Sipadan jetty\" href=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/M0010414-748x1024.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail\" title=\"Our diveboat at the Sipadan jetty\" src=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/M0010414-748x1024-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Stopping for breakfast on Sipadan island\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<dl class=\"gallery-item\">\n<dt class=\"gallery-icon\"><a title=\"Turtle over head\" href=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/M0010426-1024x768.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail\" title=\"Turtle over head\" src=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/M0010426-1024x768-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Green sea turtle in the sun light of Barracuda Point, Sipadan\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<dl class=\"gallery-item\">\n<dt class=\"gallery-icon\"><a title=\"Getting closer to the swirling school\" href=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/M0010444-2-1024x768.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail\" title=\"Getting closer to the swirling school\" src=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/M0010444-2-1024x768-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Your heart beating faster at Barracuda Point, Sipadan.\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<dl class=\"gallery-item\">\n<dt class=\"gallery-icon\"><a title=\"Diving with the green sea turtle\" href=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/M0010567-2-1024x768.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail\" title=\"Diving with the green sea turtle\" src=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/M0010567-2-1024x768-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"At Barracuda Point, Sipadan\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<dl class=\"gallery-item\">\n<dt class=\"gallery-icon\"><a title=\"Green sea turtle\" href=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/M0010659-2-1024x768.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail\" title=\"Green sea turtle\" src=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/M0010659-2-1024x768-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"At Hanging Gardens, Sipadan\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<dl class=\"gallery-item\">\n<dt class=\"gallery-icon\"><a title=\"Whitetip shark at Hanging Gardens\" href=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/M0010709-2-1024x768.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail\" title=\"Whitetip shark at Hanging Gardens\" src=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/M0010709-2-1024x768-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Whitetip shark at Hanging Gardens, Sipadan\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<p><br style=\"clear: both;\" \/>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-flattr-button\"><a href=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/?flattrss_redirect&amp;id=1141&amp;md5=1fbec9d58b7a634d88a1a27e1af6a953\" title=\"Flattr\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/plugins\/flattr\/img\/flattr-badge-large.png\" srcset=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-content\/plugins\/flattr\/img\/flattr-badge-large.png\" alt=\"Flattr this!\"\/><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ever since I saw Sipadan in a dive book in Boracay I wanted to get there. And after the new diver got hooked by the underwater world it wasn&#8217;t too difficult to convince her to go to Sipadan and look for the swirling Barracudas. And it happened on our very first dive at Sipadan, about &hellip; <a class=\"read-excerpt\" href=\"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/2011\/10\/a-divers-dream\/\">Weiterlesen <span class=\"meta-nav\">&raquo;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94,56,21,61,7,25,10],"tags":[199,207,208,206],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1141"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3924,"href":"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141\/revisions\/3924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ruckh.org\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}