Hi Jo and Gerry,
 
I just wanted to say thank you for helping us organise such a wonderful trip to Sabah.

We had an amazing three weeks and loved the whole place - Lankayan was a great spot to relax after the wedding, we managed to see three orang utans at Kinabatangan.

The diving at Kapalai and Sipadan was incredible and the Magellan was a fantastic place to spend our final few nights.
 
Hope all is well on your paradise island...
 
Kelvin

Messsage Hi Richard,

Thanks a mllion for taking time to gave my daughter the DSD lesson.

She was very happy and enjoyed the session a lot.

She been telling me that she saw a lot of corals and fishes but her favourite things is the clown fish.

Since then she has been asking me when she can go diving again and hope to join me soon.

Also say thanks to Duncan and Cyril for making my daughter day\'s a wonderful occasion.

Thanks again.

Rizal

Many thanks for the pictures.

We will add them to our memories of Dive Downbelow and KK.

We had a terrific time.

The set-up, the gear and especially the staff made it a first-rate dive. I was very pleased with the extra time Richard and the others spent with the kids to make sure they had a great time.

As you know, I already recommended Dive Downbelow to Mike Kelly (he and
Amanda had a great time). And I will recommend you to everyone who asks.

We are already talking about our next trip to KK.

Say hi to Karen at Moonbell. (Mike and Amanda really enjoyed their meal
there.)

If you come through Singapore, please look us up.

Comments from Lauren & Alex:

"Thank you so much for a terrific diving experience.

I really enjoyed seeing all the wildlife and coral underwater, and seeing all the turtles!

I really enjoyed the food, and all your helpful staff and you. :)

I would immediately recommend it to my friends. :)

Thanks for everything.

We told our friend Mike & Amanda Kelley about it and their experience was like ours (except the turtles).

We really enjoyed having all those great dive sites to dive on."

The kids are ready to go back!!

All the best,
Doug, Lauren + Alex Foy

Dear Joanne))))!
 
Thank you very much for Lankayan ))) - it was perfect)). Even with two kids it was relaxing))) and peaceful and very beautiful). We lived in the biggest chalet with 2 floors, and when we decided to sleep on the balcony last night)), big green turtle went for a nesting right near the next chalet...and 3 military tried to send her back into the water, and she was quite heavy), because the place was not proper) - in between 3 trees..... Finally with deep breath she swam away.
Also we dived several times::)))-.
Seems that my head is still there))).
 
Thank you from all of us).
Sincerely,
Natalia)

Messsage I just want to give a big thankyou to all of the Downbelow staff for making me feel so welcome in my short time visiting the Island and many thanks to James as you are an excellent tutor!.

If you would be kind enough to send me some info on the internship such as costs etc i would be very appreciative.

Thanks again

Ste

Hi Jo & Richard,
 
Hope you are well and getting good weather for diving.

Richard-Thank you diving with us and showing us the numerous mating nudis, here a shot of my favourite.
 
-Pat

Hi Gerry,
 
We had another great day with the downbelow team, in particular with Calvin, Tania for the fantastic dives, JC for his guidance, Roy for the bbq and Ashley for her friendly jokes and warmth.
 
Michael.
 

Hi Joanne,
 
My partner and I have just returned from Malaysia and we would just like to say a big thank you to Dive Downbelow! We had a fantastic time at Kapalai, managing 19 dives over 4 full days and 2 half days! We got to dive Sipadan 6 times over 1 full day and half a day! The combination of macro diving around Kapalai and Mabul and the big pelagic fishes at Sipadan was truly amazing!
 
The whole booking process and experience with Dive Downbelow was extremely easy and was by far the cheapest operator around!

Communication was excellent throughout. Everything went smoothly from the airport pick up, boat transfers and final transfer to the hotel in Tawau!  We were even lucky enough to get the water chalet closest to the dive centre at Kapalai. I can't highly recommend Dive Downbelow enough and will be recommending Dive Downbelow to family and friends and personally for future trips!
 
Thank you very much!
 
Kind Regards
 
Rise Chang and So Chun Mak   
 

Hi Gerry
 
Thanks for your patience!
 
Well, I dove 2 times in Sipadan and it was just amazing!!!
Marine environment is different from Kapalai and Mabul, eh? I also liked diving in Kapalai and Mabul especially when I saw a big frog fish which I can only find small one here in Indonesia.
 
So as Joanna said to me the other day, no regret!!
Say hi to Joanna for me please!
 
Take care gerry!
 
Yoko

Hi Joanne & Richard,

Just wanted to let you know that we had a fantastic stay at Kapalai Resort and the diving at Sipadan was something else.

The atmosphere and service at the water village was excellent-everything we had dreamed of and more.

We had 4 dives at Sipadan-all were eye openers.Memories we will never forget.

Our whole holiday was just perfect.
 
Thanks again for all your assistance in our planning and for your professional,very hospitable diving experience whilst in KK.It was Great.
 
Til we are in KK again,
Thanks.
 
Kevin & Carol.

Cheers to Duncan the most funniest guy ever.

Thanks for looking after us on the reef & at the mud baths.

While making us laugh all along the way.

We love him & his hair :)

Alex,Madison,Eliza xx

Hi Joanne,
I am writing to let you know that we had a wonderful and fascinating trip to Sg. Kinabatangan and Kapalai. All of us had a great time and we are very impressed with how organized and efficient the agenda was planned for us. Everything went very smoothly. The staff are friendly and hospitable.
Have a good day,
Sorhwa and family

Hi Joanne,

I just want to thank you for your excellent service in arranging our
stay at Lankayan and our trip to Kinabatangan.
We had a great stay.Lankayan was truly beautiful and the service was amazing.

Regards,
Susanne

Richard and Joanne,

A belated note from me to thank you both for such an excellent diving package at the beginning of the month.  It all came together very well indeed.  Ruth and George were guided through the Open Water course methodically, sympathetically and so effectively that George is now a veritable sub-aqua ‘boff’, rather too regularly testing me on the physics of diving I might add.  

For my part, I was grateful for the opportunity to dust off a few cobwebs and to widen my capabilities with the Advanced qualification.  Thank you, Richard for your personal involvement in my training.  

Ruth and George are now enthused divers and to share the experience of seeing turtles ‘down below’ with them at my side was more than I had hoped for.  If you want a measure of the effect on George, he has proclaimed diving to be better than skiing.  That is saying something, I can assure you!

Your team did you proud, by the way. Calvin struck just the right balance with Ruth and George.  Overall, I was impressed with the professional operation you run.

With Elizabeth still a little young to go through the Open Water course (only 4, bless her), it will be a while before we are all diving as a family, but it is bound to be a feature of future holidays, so we hope to see you again.

With renewed thanks and warmest wishes,

Jonny Bourne
UK

Hi Joanne,
 
I would like to thank you and your team for providing us with such a wonderful diving holiday last weekend at Kota Kinabalu. You have been very helpful with providing useful information before my trip.
 
During the trip, I am especially impressed by the level of professionalism and care provided by JC and Tanya. JC provided us with a little tour and information about KK en-route from our hotel to Jesselton Jetty. He has also recommended a very good Chinese restaurant for our evening out. This is excellent service.
 
A big thank you to JC & Tanya for their care and service during the dive. It is such a pleasure diving with you guys.
 
Zenn was impressed with Calvin instruction to his Open Water divers. As she had just completed her Open diving course last month in Singapore, she was able to compare the difference in instruction methods.
 
I will be recommending you guys to all my friends who are interested in diving.

You will definitely see us again. It’s so easy to get to KK from Singapore and the dive sites are so near. Every dive was different and we see different coral formation each time.
 
I’ve been diving for over 20 years and I’ve only come across turtle twice. During the dive last week, I spotted 2 different turtle in one day! That’s amazing.
 
Please extend my appreciation to Richard for a job well done.
 
Regards,
 
Sam Loong
Singapore

Hi,

Just a quick note to thank you for organising parts of our trip to Borneo.
We enjoyed the mountain trip and Lankayan island very much and everything went very smoothly. The staff that we met during our mountain trip were great; they were friendly, helpful and we felt very 'looked after'. Lankayan island was definitely one of the highlights of our trip. The Hyatt was also very nice and we had avery pleasant stay there.

If we ever return to Borneo, we'll be sure to use Downbelow and would not hesitate to recommend you to others.

Best Wishes,

Jane Leighton
UK

Hi everybody at Downbelow,

Just to say thanks for making my daughter bubblemaker session possible last week.

To James, I appreciated you spending the times for the session despite your tight schedule on that day.

My daughter enjoyed the session although at first she felt a bit scare.

But, by afternoon she was asking when she can do it again.

Finally, thanks again from me and Husna.

Hi Joanne
I'm running out of words to describe how good this is! 

The diving is incredible, but the resort, the sea, the skies and everything about this place make it an out of body experience.

Everyone's buzzing about it - we saw enough stuff on the orientation dive to keep most divers happy for 6 months!!

Thanks for your (and Richard's) persistence in recommending the place - I think its gonna top the list of the things I've done in my 6 month tour of Oz and Asia!
Cheers, Peter.

Hi Richard & Joanne
 
Trust you are both keeping well & busy!
 
Just to let you know that I have just been asked to do a review of your dive centre by www.scubadviser.com  & of course I have just given you a glowing report!
 
I have also attached the photo of Richard & Elliott taken on our last day with you, Elliott is still your biggest fan & he has hardly taken off his t-shirt since we left Borneo. In fact he worn it the whole time whilst we were in Singapore & even to afternoon tea in Raffles!!
 
Kind regards
 
Sally Statham & family




 

Whale Sharks have arrived on Gaya Island Kota Kinabalu Sabah !!

March to April is traditionally Whaleshark season in the surrounding waters of Kota Kinabalu and along the west coast Sabah.

At Downbelow we run daily dive packages, visiting their favorite feeding grounds around Gaya Island and within TARP in search of these beautiful creatures.

Yesterday to every ones delight our divers came across a huge school of Krill whilst on their 1st boat dive of the day.

Knowing that the Sharks would not be far away they began searching the shallow waters.

In total 3 of these enormous fish were spotted, 2 of the Whale Sharks were 4-6m in length with 1 of them around 12m long !!

What a spectacle !! The divers spent an hour with them cruising back and forth the bay.

In the excited frenzy they didn't manage to get a great picture and unfortunately Richard did not have his camera but thanks to Tan from Sarawak we do have a couple of images of the actual sharks.

Among our guests that day were two people on a 3 Day Dive Package, specifically to see the Whale Sharks and they have both written very some lovely comments for our guest-book.

"I herewith attached the whale shark pictures that I took on Friday the 13th March 2009. These are the only pictures that I have in my cam.
 
I really have a great times diving with your team! Only two words that I can describe your team, and that is  VERY GOOD!
 
That's all from me now and I hope I will manage to get the divers from Kuching to dive in KK for Whale Shark next year!
 
Thanks for everything! Warmest regards,
Tan (Sarawak)

Your centre have got yourself great staff with superb eyes sight.. I'm so glad I did see the whale shark... The excitment in me is like so so huge... Really enjoyed myself. Thank you so much...

Warmest Regards
Lirene


TEL: +6 012 866 1935
www.divedownbelow.com

I herewith attached the link of the pictures that I have taken during my dive trip with you guys. Hope you guys enjoy it!
 
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2005117&id=1551420303&l=b17ee17064

Hi Richard, Joanne and Eve,

I just got back to Kuching not long ago. I'm glad you guys like the pictures. Anyway, tomorrow will be my first day at work after my one month holidays. Thanks for everything once again! Oh yeah, remember to inform me again if you guys see WHALE SHARK AGAIN!!! :-) Tan

Hi Joanne

We had a great time at KK, Richard is a great teacher for underwater photography & he demonstrated patience & enthusiasm for his art.

We thoroughly enjoyed the lessons.  Your staff are also very nice, considerate people.

I think Rob has nothing but praises for them haha

We look forward to diving with your team again!

Thanks!
 
Kind regards
Kelly Kau

Hi Joanne
 
Quick note to say thanks to you and Richard for looking after Kim and I when we visited last week.  Easily the most professional dive company I’ve seen.
 
Richard took some photos of a fish laying eggs, and mentioned he’d like to see them so you can find them in the attachment.  If you want the original files just let me know which ones and I’ll send them individually, as they’re huge!
 
We both want to come back and go to Sipadan at some point, so will perhaps see you again.  Please pass out regards on to Richard and his team.
 
Regards,
 
Andrew

Hi Joanne,
 
Thanks again for taking us to Survivor Island!

I talked to everyone afterwards, and they all said it was their favorite trip of the week.

Can you send me the pictures Richard took when you have some time?
 
Thanks!
Amy
 

Dear Joanne,
My wife was very much impressed by the professional standard of your diving centre enterprise this afternoon.
We booked and paid for tomorrow's (27th) snorkeling activity immediately before departing Gaya today. Well Done.
Thanks.
Gary FUNG

Dear divers,

I`m sending you regards from Tokyo and wanted to thank you for everything.

I spent a great time on Borneo with all of you.

Marcin Sapeta

Hello Richard and Joanne,
 
I was out to dive with you at the beginning of the month while my mother came to snorkel. 

I loved the experience and would love to see some additional dive sites with you on my next vacation! 

You had mentioned a photo of a cuttle fish that you might send me. 

I'd love to show a few of the people I learned with here in Taiwan.  If you have any other clear pics of me in the water, I'd be grateful if you could send them along. 

Mine were alright but it would be nice to show some clearer images so I convince some people to join me next time.

Thanks and I'll be looking forward to seeing any pics you might have.
Sincerely,
Tim Bolton

Hi Richard & Joanne,

Many thanks for the photos they are really great, I will have a look on Facebook also.
 
It was a great pleasure diving with you, I thoroughly enjoyed the professionalism, atmosphere & good humour.

Hopefully I will be back again in the not to distant future (departing for winderful Yemen tomorrow morning for around 5 weeks).
 
Best regards
Steve

Hi Joanne - We just got back in Singapore today.

We would like to thank you for the experience we had with Downbelow for our very first scuba dive.

Me and my friend, Melai would like to extend our warm gratitude to your team especially to James, who was very patient and helpful all through the time.

We're missing KK already because of you guys. Hopefully we could come back this year.

It was such a blast for the both us that we are already thinking of coming back soon. Thanks again and best wishes to your team.

Regards,
Stella Wong
Singapore

Hi, The Bubblemaker program was the highlight of my trip to Borneo.

I really want to thank James , Richard and Joanne.

I liked to see all the animals and plants under the water, even touch some of them.

My favorites were the giant clam, clownfish, different colored live corals, blue starfish, sea cucumbers, bright colored nudibranchs, blennies,  butterfly fish, even a tiger cowrie seashell.

I'm really enjoying the website and practising my swimming until I can get back to Borneo.
 
David, aged 8

Hi Richard!

Thank you for your kindness.

Yesterday we arrived back at Japan.

I enjoyed diving trip and we could spend precious time each other.

Someday we would like to go back in order to do scuba there again.

Takuo Yoshikawa

Hi Guys
Alan and I just wanted to say thanks SO much for everything you've done for us so far, including hanging about this evening for us to get back from the mountain... we expected to have been back in KK about 3.30 not 7.30 but Eddie our guide was a gem and was keen to show us all sorts including a flowering Rafflesia which Alan was very pleased about!

Anyway, we had a fun packed day but it was long and we were beat when we returned, just packing up the cases now and heading to bed shortly for our flight in the morning but logged on to print off our itinerary for the next few days as I'd forgotten what we were doing when!

We really have had a brilliant first 3 days in Sabah all thanks to you guys and re-reading the excursion know the next week or so will be just as great if not better. :)

I have an old school friend honeymooning here in a couple of weeks and I've already passed your details on to her if they want to dive or book excursions and we'll be sure to do the same with anyone coming here.

You've certainly made it a breeze for us to see the best of the place in our short time (wish it was longer) and we appreciate it massively.

Really hope we get to come back and visit you again in your little share of paradise but will drop you a note on our return to the UK and let you know how the rest of the trip goes.

Big big thanks again,
Lara & Alan

Hello Rich & Joann + rest of crew,
 
Remember us!? ... Linda & Peter to whom you sold the Kapalai trip? :o)
We had a absolutely wonderful time down there and got to dive 8 times at Sipadan + another 6 dives around the rest of the islands! Brilliant!!!
 
We are coming back to KK tonight and are flying out again on the 8th! I was wondering about my PADI OWA card! Did you get it back from PADI yet, so I could pick it up tomorrow maybe!?
 
Hope to see you tomorrow!
 
Kind Regards
Linda & Peter, DENMARK
 
P.s. I have enclosed the photos from your birthday party! Goooood cake!!! 

Hi Richard,

Once again many thanks for looking after Paddy and I so well over the last three days.

We thoroughly enjoyed the course and the company of yourself and the rest of the staff.

You run a really great operation in a lovely spot.

We have both suffered withdrawal symptoms today, so I am sure we will be back.

Please find below a link to the photo's Paddy took, and feel free to use anything you think may be up to standard.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/atthepikes/sets/72157611415789246/

Cheers and a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.

Peter

Hi Richard,


We are back Singapore now with wonderful memories of Kota Kinabalu.



Thank you for the wonderful day on Gaya Island on 1st Dec for my family.


My son Julian certainly enjoyed his first experience of scuba diving with your team.


Can you send the photos we took on the boat to my email address.
Thank you! 

Warmest Regards, 
Elsie Tan

Hi Richard,

Thank you very much for your online confirmation and I have also received a confirmation email from Padi webmaster through my yahoo email. I made an excellent choice in joining you. I truly and sincerely enjoyed my program.

You have such a wonderful and friendly staffs, especially ivy, extremely friendly, I can still hear her laugh, ha ha. I will plan my diving again as you mentioned to me the whale shark season is in April and maybe I can do another course at the same time.

Take care and send my regards to everyone.

Kind regards.

Jehan.

Hi Richard & Joanne,

Thank you for being part of what was a fantastic holiday! You have a great set up/business, the staff were very friendly, and your approach to service was spot on.

Not that many of my friends dive and pop over to Borneo very often, but you will certainly be recommended if they do.

Hopefully will be over again in a couple of years for a fortnights diving!

Of course the 4 of us are extremely jealous and feel you made the right move (England is currently 4 degrees, grey and windy).

Kind Regards,
Matt, Andy, Helen & Jane.

P.s. Joanne, hope you managed to catch the end of 'Heroes'!

Dear Sir/ Madam,

I am very jubilant with your good service that day I did my Discover Scuba during my vacations in KK, Sabah. You have made me eager to try the Open Water Diver Course which I believe you the expertise one!

Looking forward your reply.

Thank you.

Richard, Jo,Eve, and the rest of the staff at Divedownbelow.

Adam and I just wanted to drop you a note to say how wonderful your operation is.

The recomendation for the river cruise was great.

Our Day with you was great fun. Even though the weather was a disaster, and did not allow us to dive as much as we had hoped.

Your staff was very attentive and pleasant.

Our boat trip back to the mainland in the 2 meter swells was almost as fun as the diving.



Again just wanted to say GREAT JOB. The hats and photo of "NEMO" was a excellant touch!

Hope to see you again..

Mac&Adam
Canada/USA

Got the pics, thanks Richard. And I really enjoyed the course, please tell Jo I said thanks :)

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