Qualla: Sipadan https://qualla.com/sipadan en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:37 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/w/8/s/r/sipadan-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Sipadan https://qualla.com/sipadan Sipadan: Introduction https://qualla.com/sipadan/ Photo credit Avoini, CC BY-SA 3.0. Beneath Sipadan island, inside the limestone column that rises 600 meters from the seabed, there is a tomb full of turtles. The underwater cave system branches into a labyrinth of tunnels and chambers, and green and hawksbill turtles that swim in searching for shelter sometimes cannot find their way back out. Their skeletal remains accumulate in the dark, a quiet cemetery beneath a place that is otherwise overwhelmingly, exuberantly alive. More than 400 species of fish and hundreds of coral species have been classified in the waters surrounding this single island -- Malaysia's only oceanic island, formed by living corals growing on top of an extinct volcanic cone in the Celebes Sea.

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Image: Avoini | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/8/s/r/sipadan-wp/w8sr-sipadan-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Sipadan: An Untouched Piece of Art https://qualla.com/sipadan/ Photo credit Albert Kok at Dutch Wikipedia, Public domain. Jacques Cousteau came to Sipadan in 1989 to film Borneo: The Ghost of the Sea Turtle, and what he found moved him to a statement unusual for a man who had spent decades exploring the ocean: "I have seen other places like Sipadan, 45 years ago, but now no more. Now we have found a...

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Image: Albert Kok at Dutch Wikipedia | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/8/s/r/sipadan-wp/w8sr-sipadan-an-untouched-piece-of-art.mp3 0:06 2 full Sipadan: Fought Over, Awarded, Transformed https://qualla.com/sipadan/ Photo credit AzmanJumat, CC BY 2.0. Sipadan's beauty made it contested territory. Both Malaysia and Indonesia claimed the island, and when bilateral negotiations failed, the case went to the International Court of Justice. In December 2002, the ICJ awarded Sipadan and neighboring Ligitan to Malaysia, ruling on the ...

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Image: AzmanJumat | CC BY 2.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/8/s/r/sipadan-wp/w8sr-sipadan-fought-over-awarded-transformed.mp3 0:06 3 full Sipadan: The Kidnapping That Changed Everything https://qualla.com/sipadan/ Photo credit CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 3.0. On 23 April 2000, six armed Abu Sayyaf militants arrived by boat from the southern Philippines and kidnapped twenty-one people at gunpoint -- ten tourists and eleven resort workers. The hostages were taken across international waters to Jolo, where they endured months of captivit...

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Image: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/8/s/r/sipadan-wp/w8sr-sipadan-the-kidnapping-that-changed-everything.mp3 0:06 4 full Sipadan: Island of Limits https://qualla.com/sipadan/ Photo credit Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE, CC BY-SA 2.0. Sipadan today exists under a regime of deliberate restraint. No one sleeps on the island. No permanent structures remain beyond Sabah Parks facilities. Divers travel by speedboat from resorts on nearby Mabul and Kapalai islands, arriving in the morning and departing before dark. ...

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Image: Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/8/s/r/sipadan-wp/w8sr-sipadan-island-of-limits.mp3 0:06 5 full