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Scuba Diving at Kapalai Island, Borneo
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Dive Site: Cleaning Station
Location: Kapalai Island
Description: Reef / drift
Depth: 15 metres (50 feet)
Visibility: 20 metres (65 feet)
Rating: ****
Kapalai Island is no more than a sand bank located indirectly between Mabul and Sipadan. A floating resort has been constructed here making for the unusual sight of a floating village out in the middle of the ocean with no detectable land mass in the vicinity. Again the viz on this dive was les than expected, at around 10m to 15m, however this didn't deter the marine life. We dived near the main jetty on a sloping coral wall which descended to a sand sea bed at around 15m. Keeping a wary eye out for titan triggerfish, we headed with the mild current along the lower part of the reef. It would have been easy for the untrained eye to miss, however as we hovered over the flat seabed we detected the movement of almost completely buried blue spotted rays and soon realised there were simply dozens of them. Whilst the marine life here was not as prolific as the reefs of Mabul or Sipadan there were hermit crabs and all manner of nudibranchs and sea slugs. The picture (attached here on dive site directory) shows a pair of Nembrotha Kubaryana. These sea slugs come in a huge variety of colours and these Malaysian examples erect their bodies to sense chemicals in the sea with their rhinophores. The fact that these creatures have paired almost certainly suggests that they are in process of mating.
Rik Vercoe, BSAC Advanced Instructor
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