Mayne Rock

Trip Report – Usukan Wrecks & Mayne Rock Scuba Diving Trip from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah (30th May 2010)

It was 8am on Sunday morning (30th May 2010) as our 9m x 3m RIB berthed at Jesselton Point Jetty in central Kota Kinabalu. All aboard! Once Nick, Poul, Eng Tatt, Richard, Silvia, Billy and Jo were all on board we started our journey 30nm north west of Kota Kinabalu to Usukan Bay – where our two dive sites for the day were located.

RIB Boat Transfer

The sea was very calm, the sky was blue and we had a slight south westerly breeze – perfect conditions! Once away from the port area we quickly accelerated to a cruising speed, on plane, of 30nm. Fast and comfortable. The boat transfer went by quickly. We had views of Mount Kinabalu (4km high), the Crocker Range, Nexus and the Shangri La Rasa Ria Resort, Tuaran Beach and Pulau Usukan.

WW2 Rice Bowl Wreck

We arrived at our first dive site – the WW2 Rice Bowl Wreck – at 9am. We did a full pass over the length of the 150m wreck (lying south west to north east) then came over for a second pass to drop the shot line. Billy, our TDI Instructor, went down on  his rebreather to secure the shot line and to conduct an environmental check. Slight surface current, sediment in the water for the first 10m then lovely visibility down to 40m and no current on the wreck.

Harlequin Shrimp

With the Dive briefing completed and Nitrox (EANx30) checked, the divers kitted up in buddy groups, did a backward roll entry off the RIB and descended the shot line for their first dive of the day. 45 – 50 minutes later they appeared on the surface, on the shot line, with big smiles on their faces. “Fantastic dive!” was the common response when asked how they enjoyed the wreck dive. They saw large shoals of Yellow Snapper, Fusiliers, Barracuda, Scorpion Fish, Stone Fish, Nudibranches and lots more. The Rice Bowl Wreck was covered with fish life.

Wreck Diving

We drifted slowly towards our second dive site, Mayne Rock, whilst the divers enjoyed refreshments and snacks. Got to keep the energy levels high for their second dive. After a one hour surface interval we dropped the shot line at Gon’s Boulders – one of favourite dive sites at Mayne Rock (named after one of our PADI Instructors).  Briefing, gear on, backward roll entry, descend shot line – let’s start our second dive. We went west along the north facing side of the boulders at the start of the dive and then explored part of the fringing coral reef. We came across a very brave ting Cuttle Fish (5cm) and nudibranches. We then turned back on ourselves and wet around the southerly facing side of the boulders as well as dive between them. We were surrounded by darting Fusiliers, saw large lobsters and stunning Gorgonian Fans. After 55 minutes we started our safety stop and surfaced to find our RIB waiting for us.

Our RIB

Back on the RIB, dive gear packed away at the back of the RIB, dry clothes on, refreshments and snack passed round. We were ready for our boat transfer back to Kota Kinabalu. Cruising back at 30nm we chilled out on the ride back, chatted about what we’d seen and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Happy divers all round . Another great day of scuba diving with Borneo Dream from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah!

We run wreck diving and Mayne Rock scuba diving trips on a regular basis from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. The wreck dives are suitable for minimum PADI Advanced Open Water Divers (due to the depth) and Mayne Rock dive sites are suitable for PADI Open Water Divers. If you fancy joining a scuba diving trip to the WW2 wrecks or Mayne Rock during your holiday in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah then contact the Dream Team.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, June 6th, 2010 at 2:23 am and is filed under Mayne Rock, Scuba Diving Trips, Wreck Diving. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.