Month after month exploring the off-beaten Sarawak, I learned about a secret of Sarawak which is not known to many. Spectacular underwater world. Shadowed by its neighbouring state which houses the famous Sipadan Island, Sarawak’s underwater remains virgin. It started during my first trip to Miri with Sarawak Tourism Board where I was hosted at Coco House. I was introduced to Mr. Ian and his wife, Grace (the owner of Coco House and its sister company Coco Dive) who explained to me how beautiful the dive sites in Miri are.
They were very nice that they gave me a hard-cover coffee table book entitled Underwater Jungles Sarawak by Michael Aw.
Interestingly, the dive site is located at Miri Sibuti Coral Reefs National Park. The beautiful patch reefs hard and soft cover the entire reefs making its one of the best in the region. The reefs are situated on a gradually sloping shelf with the deepest reefs are in 30 metres of beautiful blue sea.
None of the above information was known to me prior to staying at Coco House. Michael Auw says it best in his book as such:-
“The north of Sarawak is Philippines and Micronesia, to the south is Bali and to the east is Kalimantan all of which boast of exceptional coral reef coliseums, offering a kaleidoscope of fish and coral in extraordinary abundance. Neighbouring state, Sabah is illustriously celebrated for marine tourism, a Mecca for divers. Underwater Sarawak is however virgin, no one knows about it, no one talks about it, not many have ventured into the waters.”
Someone once asked me what do I look for when diving? Some divers are interested in fishes, microganisms, hard corals, soft corals, sea fans and sea whips. For a person who loves colours like me, I love every tiny bit of the underwater jungles. In Miri, soft corals and sea fans are found in abundance – said to be equivalent to the concentration in Maldives, PNG and Indonesia.
Massive Gorgonian Sea Fan, Feather Stars, Coral Seascape, Hawkfishes, Clownfish, Stingrays, Angelfish, Whale Shark and Blenny and Baleen are among the numerous species that can be seen in the waters of Miri. There are 40 species of nudibranches recorded here too.
Trivia about Diving in Miri
- The best time for diving in Miri is from March to September with visibility in the water is up to 10m to 30m. Believe it or not, the nearest dive site is just 15 minutes away from Miri town.
- To conserve the environment, only 16 divers are allowed per day to minimize damage to the corals.
- Miri has one of the healthiest hard and soft coral patches in the world.
- There are more than 30 natural dive sites and five wreck dive sites.
- The most beautiful is an artificial reef named “Kenyalang” developed by Shell and Petronas about seven years ago.
If you love what you are seeing in this post, please drop by http://www.cocodive.com.my/