Scuba Junkie Dive Shop

[namabiru]

You may have seen my report on the accommodation part of the SJ experience. Now here's the dive shop part. I deliberately separated them out, as they are like night and day.

The dive shop was fantastic. Friendly, professional staff who knew how to sort out problems. While some boats were fuller than others (Sipadan was, of course, always full), the divemasters did a fantastic job of splitting the group into beginning-level divers and advanced-level. Depending on who was on the boat, as many of the divers were multiple-day people, beginning-level was sometimes OW and AOW, but sometimes it was only OW. Once again, it depended on who was on the boat.

This breakup was mostly due to air consumption and max. allowable depth. If someone would have had good air consumption in the OW group, and the experience, chances are they would have been put in the other group.

Every divemaster I went with, in the Advanced group, was really cool about just letting you dive and enjoy. As it seemed the advanced divers were the same consistent group (we were there for the long haul, I suppose), it worked well for buddy pairings. Now, this is not to say the divemaster wasn't attentive in the water. If there was a problem, the divemaster knew about it. But we weren't subjected to the continual interrogations on air remaining, or constantly looked for, or the other things which can happen with a group. We were told to please tell them when we had 100 bar, then 50 bar, and it worked well. The people I was with had good air consumption, so there was no issue with being given the responsibility of self-monitoring and self-reporting. Sometimes we were asked, but not every 5 minutes.

I felt we were given the space to make our own dive, as long as we were within the vision of the divemaster. At Sipidan, with visibility being 15 meters plus, this was no problem. In fact, on every dive, we were encouraged to spread out and look for stuff in different places so we could ALL see more.

The briefings and expectations were well-communicated by every divemaster. There was always a general briefing, then a group one.

Requests for island visits were taken well at the dive shop, and in fact honored whenever possible. I requested Mabul-Kapalai, as I had dived Mabul twice and was scheduled to go again. It was no problem, and the dive destination became Mabul-Kapalai.

There were 3 boats-- one going to Sipadan every day, one usually going to Mabul, and then the other boat went to other islands. The 'other islands' during my time were either Sibuan or Mantabuan (once). Boats are properly stocked with first-aid and DAN O2 kit, and stored in a prominent location (which is also emphasized in the boat briefing).

The only minor drag, for me at least, was that if you were going to Sipadan or Mabul, you always had to stop at the longhouse on Mabul for people. Fine if you're at Mabul, but if you were going to Sipadan, it was added time on, two ways. One day no one was getting off to say, but we were only picking up bags on the way back. I was thinking to myself, 'Why couldn't they have put them up front, in the dry area, and saved us this trip?' So there was that.

If you are renting their kit, they set up the BCD and reg for you the next day. If you have your own, you carry and set up your own gear. Which is fine. It eliminates crowding around the staging area on the boat. The kit was in good working order, looked clean/presentable/well-maintained, and there was always extra carried on board. Which got used maybe once or twice, and was only a reg. It was easier to change the reg. out on the boat than to look at it there, of course.

Locker space was a bit tight. I had trouble fitting my BCD, reg, and other stuff in until I worked out the best system. Wetsuits could hang with other wetsuits, but my other stuff I ended up just carrying back to the guesthouse, rinsing, then hanging outside to dry. So, if you have your own kit, then you can arrive early, find out where you're going, then go down and set up before everyone else arrives.

I would definitely dive with SJ again. Everyone I spoke with liked the diving and the operation, from the people my age to the middle-aged folk (all of whom were at least divemaster and above). It's funny, though, that I didn't see people hanging around the other dive shops-- Blue Sea Divers and Sipadan Scuba (Padi 5-star...). I guess that goes to show that 5-stars aren't everything.

The value is unbeatable-- 3 dives plus lunch (which is simple, but fine) for RM250. 2 dives is RM200. You do have to take your own water, but that's cheap enough.

[skippy11]

Sounds like you had a great time! Thanks for the report.

[namabiru]

No worries. The diving itself was fantastic. Plan to write that next, as I get there.

[Scubakraut]

thanks for sharing. That will help for my trip, as I plan on hitting that spot going through Asia.

[kancho]

That is great.. I want to visit there this year. I am going to phuket thailand.

[namabiru]

kancho: Phuket will be fun. I'm assuming you're going in the summer, when it's low season. That's a good time to hit SoThai. If you're going to Phuket, may I suggest you go over to Phi Phi for a bit? Phi Phi is a nice island. I've not been since the tsunami, unfortunately though. Krabi is also nice. I talked to a guy in Semporna who goes to Krabi every year to go rock climbing. Depending on if you've booked your flights, and where you're flying in/out (Bangkok? KL? Singapore?), you could fly into Phuket, spend some time, then get on the ferry, go to Phi Phi. Then go to Krabi. Then from Krabi you can fly Air Asia back to Bangkok.

Scubakraut: no worries again. I've done a fair bit of traveling through SE Asia myself. If you want some more information on a place, PM me. Happy to help. It's the type of thing, though, you learn by doing.

[gbrdiver]

I have been to Ko Phi Phi before and after the tsunami...I compared my photos and can honestly say nothing underwater was affected at all. Of course above water was another story! The bungalows I was staying in 2 days before the wave, I saw next on the cover of a magazine along way up the hill. Phi Phi is a lot of fun and the diving surprisingly good - enjoy!

[pains]

Is it possible to do dawn diving at Sipadan with SJ? Usually the parade of bumpheads is done early in the morning.
And is it possible to do night diving at Mabul or Kapalai?

[gbrdiver]

I would expect SJ to be the same as the other operators. I stayed on Mabul and did one night dive Kapalai and night dives every other evening around Mabul. Company I used had the first boat depart for Sipadan arriving at first light. The day I saw the bumphead parade it was about 3 in the afternoon.

[mobeeno]

I dove with SJ and saw the parade of bumpheads, just went out with their regular am schedule.

Originally Posted by pains

Is it possible to do dawn diving at Sipadan with SJ? Usually the parade of bumpheads is done early in the morning.