Events

Congratulations !

Well done to all the Camps Borneo International 7 July – 20 August 2019 participants on successfully completed their PADI Open Water Diver Course with Borneo Divers Dive Academy and Leisure Centre.

The Camp Borneo Scuba Expedition program offers participants to experience the culture and way of life in rural Sabah. Participants spent 4 weeks in Borneo, engaging in community work, environmental project work in rural village and taking up the challenge of learning to scuba dive on PADI Open Water Diver Course with Borneo Divers in Mamutik Island, Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park (TARP), Kota Kinabalu.

We are happy it was another successful Camp International Summer Camp Program.  Wishing all the students the best in life and hope to see them in the future!

 “Most of the student never dived before, it was good to see them certified as divers” PADI Course Director, Mr Chong Hiong Hoak

“Some students were doing great and some needed a little motivations. Generally they had fun with professional guidance.” Dive Instructor, Marilyn.

“My expectation is that the students will learn and discover how important and beautiful is underwater world especially the coral and marine life.” Dive Instructor, Jonathan.

Camps International is a social enterprise which runs educational and impactful expeditions for school groups.

Borneo Divers’ crew kicked start beach and shore clean-up at 8:15 in the morning in Mabul Island. 40 staff from all departments gathered for 1 hour to support International Coastal Clean-up Day.

Beach clean-up in progress.  Every inch we clean!

Happy faces during clean-up session, everyone was working hard to make the beach clean from garbages!

Meanwhile clean-up team also concentrated to collect garbages from the shallow water. It was a cold cloudy day but our team never gave up.

For the first session of 1 hour beach clean-up, the team has collected 488kg of garbages! We has exceeded our target of 150kg!

Second session started at 4pm and underwater clean-up team getting ready to clean underwater near to the jetty.

The clean-up team determined to clean the House Reef – Paradise 2.

Garbages were removed from the ocean for good. A Total of 11kg of garbages collected from the ocean.

Overall it was a fruitful day, we have collected a total of 499kg of garbage today.  Glad for the effort and contribution in making our beach clean.  Until next time!

Borneo Divers and Sea Sports (Sabah) Sdn. Bhd. in collaboration with the Sabah Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment and its various agencies (Sabah Wildlife Department; Sabah Tourism Board and Sabah Parks); the Borneo Marine Research Institute of Universiti Malaysia Sabah; the Dive Unit of the Royal Malaysian Police; The Borneo Connections Sdn. Bhd; and The Flying Dusun Sdn. Bhd. organised the very successful ‘7^th Borneo Divers’ Celebration of Sea Turtles in Mabul 2019’. This Ecovolunteerism and Outreach event was held from 11 to 14 November 2019 at the Borneo Divers Mabul Resort.

The objectives of this event were:

C – Conservation

A – Awareness

R – Research

E – Education

During the course of the programme, Dr. Pushpa Palaniappan from UMS and the team of volunteer Research Assistants photographed, measured and tagged 74 sea turtles caught in their natural habitat in Mabul by the expert dive team (including 19 Marine Police divers) in 15 dives. The two schools in Mabul Island – SK Mabul and School of Hope were also invited to participate in the educational activities held during the event.

The Opening Ceremony, held on 12 November 2019, was officiated by Datuk Christina Liew, the Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, who was represented by Mr Augustine Tuuga, the Director of the Sabah Wildlife Department (Figure 1). Highlights during this event include the following:

1. A NEW record of a third species of sea turtles in Mabul waters – an olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) (Figure 2).
2. A NEW record of catching a juvenile green turtle (Figure 1) on a biannual basis TWELVE (12) times consecutively for biological research since May 2014.
3. Dr Ai Yin, the Wildlife Rescue Unit veterinarian from the Sabah Wildlife Department sent two green turtles to the rehabilitation centre in Mabul – the former was slightly emaciated and covered with algae (Figure 3) and the latter had signs of the skin cancer, fibropapillomatosis (Figure 4)

Figure 1: Mr Augustine Tuuga, Director of the Sabah Wildlife Department releases the juvenile green turtle (Chelonia mydas) that was caught 12 times consecutively for biological research since May 2014.

Figure 2: A new record of an olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) in the waters of Mabul Island.

Figure 3: An adult male green turtle (Chelonia mydas) that was sent to the rehabilitation centre as it was slightly emaciated and covered with algae.

Figure 4: A juvenile green turtle (Chelonia mydas) with signs of the skin cancer, fibropapillomatosis.