New dive site in Silam named ‘Journalist Reefs’

Glen showing some of his underwater mapping sketches.

LAHAD DATU: A newly discovered dive site in Silam has been named ‘Journalist Reefs’, in recognition of the Sabah Media Divers for the year-long “End In Sipadan” dive campaign back in 2017.

Pirate Divers founder Glen Hamirullah said the dive site was named after the local media for their contributions towards spreading the beauty of the undisturbed dive sites in Silam waters.

“Journalist Reefs has a depth of between 27 and 30 metres, a dive site meant for advanced or experienced open water divers.

“The dive site has huge corals on one site, while on the west one can see white sands and huge rocks,” he said, adding that among the marine habitats are blue and yellow-tail fusilier, stonefish, big eyed fish and nudibranch.

The ‘Journalist Reefs’, said Glen, is one of the 55 dive sites discovered in Silam waters when Pirate Divers first began their operation in 2009.

Gifted with underwater mapping talent without the need for sophisticated equipment or gadgets, the 56-year-old local-born dive instructor is known as one of the best underwater mapping divers in the country.

He has mapped several hundreds of Malaysia’s most beautiful dive sites since 1997, and reckoned there were more beautiful and untouched dive sites that had yet to be explored in Lahad Datu.

“Lahad Datu has many beautiful and undisturbed dive sites with coral reefs at depths of 27 to 30 metres.

“Here at Silam waters, whale shark can be seen between March and May, while schools of tuna fish are found between October and December,” said Glen.

One of the best dive sites in Silam is the ‘Japanese Timber Wreck’, a vessel that was sunken in the 1980s, now lying peacefully at a depth of 10 meters on the sea bed.

Pirate Divers, which brings divers on a traditional fishing boat, is one of the operators featured in the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia year-long “End in Sipadan” campaign in 2017 to promote diving trails around Sabah.

-borneo post online.