Dive Trips with The Pavilion Dive Centre
International Dive Travel
The Pavilion Dive Centre makes a number of dive trips each year. In order to be eligible for the trip, divers must have an Open Water Qualification Certificate.
Sipadan PADI National Geographic Diver Exploration
The following is an account of the August 2011 Sipadan trip by The Pavilion Dive Centre’s very own Rebekka Pentti:
In August 2011, The Pavilion Dive Centre took 14 divers for an adventure of a lifetime to Malaysia, Mabul Island, 20 minutes from the world famous Sipadan. Sipadan is recognised as one of the world’s tip five dive locations for its breathtaking scenery and its rich marine life from tiny micro organisms to sharks, rays, and turtles.
Four dives a day made it possible for divers to fully discover the beauty of the Malaysian underwater environment. In addition to all the incredible diving over the week, divers also got to meet residents of the village of Mabul Island. These people depend on the ocean as their main source of income. Boys generally grow up and become fishermen. They depend on the sea as a source of food and dive tourism which is their main source of income.
On any given dive around Sipadan, one can easily encounter 10 to 20 turtles. You will find turtles feeding, sleeping, mating or getting their shell cleaned by Surgeonfish in one of the turtle cleaning stations. Many of the turtles have signs of external impact on their shells which are the results of predators, but often boat propellers and boat collisions. Divers on the trip got the chance to visita turtle hatchery on Sipadan and were even lucky enough to see protected baby turtles that had hatched the night before.
The Pavilion Dive Centre keeps returning to Sipadan two to three times per year and it never fails to impress. This trip has the power to influence attitudes, beliefs, and biases of people towards the use of resources and environmental protection.