Our Customers

We encourage feedback from our customers as it is one of the best ways to ensure we are living up to your expectations. Please read on for a selection of the feedback we have received to date.

Wreck Diving Safari - May 2008

Full customer feedback is available by going to www.panagadivers.com/Diving/Kota_Kinabalu_2008.htm

"Brigitte, Nigel, Tino, Rita and Mark enjoyed a trip to Kota Kinabalu in early May to experience the wreck diving opportunities and we were very impressed by the BorneoDream team! Many thanks to Jo, Billy and Ron for making it happen with such a high degree of panache, these people have recently established themselves as a well-positioned and fully equipped dive centre in KK that cater to snorkelers, beginners and advanced divers alike with a taste for excellence.

Objective of day one was to explore the “Rice Bowl Wreck”, two dives on a Japanese freighter of name unknown, lying in 35m of clear water just 35nm north of KK. This is a superb dive, look at the photos of the shy juvenile nurse sharks! We found the resident batfish to be particularly curious, ascending with us from the bottom to the surface. Our second day was an interesting challenge, objective was to dive a relatively unexplored wreck that is close to KK and to complete Nigel’s ERD3 assessment on a murky but very intriguing “Gaya Wreck” lying upright in 50m. This is not a wartime wreck as she is largely intact but wow, this is an excellent dive! Jo and Billy expertly set the shot line across the stern allowing 25 minutes to explore a site that is rarely dived. Day three took us back to the Rice Bowl Wreck at Usukan to find more evidence of her identity. One teacup, a rice bowl and saucer were not enough. A perfectly timed departure left us with expectations of two dives however Mother Nature turned and as the wind picked up there were white horses smiling at us upon surfacing from our first dive. Billy and his team wisely decided to turn the dive and head for the lee side of TARP where we enjoyed a relaxing dive on a relatively unexplored reef on the lee side of Pulau Mamutik, within sight of Sutera harbour and our Shangri-La terrace where the complimentary drinks beckoned!

BorneoDream is a superb dive platform, with more than enough deck space to sort out our dive kit. She is equipped with all the mod cons including a private head, twin bunk for those who desire a short kip between dives, all the safety gear one could dream of and a pair of quiet 140hp engines to propel us to our destination at a comfortable pace.

Billy and the Borneo Dream Team know what they are doing and do it extremely well. I certainly will return to KK for more and invite them to visit us in Brunei at the earliest opportunity."

Mark Tuttle

Panaga Divers, Brunei

PADI Discover Scuba Diving - May 2008

"Many thanks to Jo, Ron and Billy for a wonderful time yesterday in Sabah. My first time scuba diving and they made it a wonderful experience. If you're ever going to Sabah you must try it out with these guys - Many thanks again."

Keith Halliday

Lincoln, England

Leisure Diving - April 2008

"On hearing that Billy and Jo were in were in Sabah, I immediately got in touch, having dived with them in the Seychelles. I lost no time in arranging a trip out, Jo was very helpful and suggested hotels and dive trips. I trained on rebreathers with Billy in the Seychelles and wanted to clock up some more hours on the evolutions, while out in Kota Kinabalu, so choosing Borneo dream was a natural choice. Billy Hammond is a thorough instructor and consummate diver he is a natural choice as an instructor, always safe, doesn’t take short cuts, has a wealth of diving experience while being confident and relaxed.

I was met at the airport and made to feel welcome straight away. On the first day I was picked up by Ron and Bev and driven to Sutera harbour where the Borneo Dream 3 is moored. A brand new catamaran fully equipped for diving and in keeping with Billy’s fastidious nature it has been kitted out as one would expect. Billy showed me all the kit, safety is a very important part of Borneo Dream’s regime.

Our first day of diving involved three dives in nearby TARP Marine Park.  The Evolution Re breather is reliable, easy to use and comfortable, however as I hadn’t dived it in a while, the difference of weight and buoyancy takes a bit of getting used to, so for the first couple of dives I had to get back into it. TARP has lots of islands and reefs surrounded by sandy channels. The marine life and macro fauna here is extremely varied and is surprising, many of the best reefs are not that far from the mainland but are not dived frequently, with a bit of exploring as Borneo Dream have been doing there were some great dive sites that are still well preserved and have abundant fish.

On the second day we went to Pulau Tiga. The marine reserve having such varied topography the currents can be unpredictable, the currents pull over the reef and around the channels with force. As luck would have it we ran into this nearly straight away. Rather than waste time and energy on our first dive we got picked up by the boat circled round and were dropped off again, so that we were drifting with the current rather than against it. We drifted in to find a sheltered reef and abundant life, large coral formations and shoals of reef fish. Anything interesting was being marked on GPS and would be investigated, on one we found a cleaning station with a big barracuda being cleaned. He didn’t move off, unimpressed by our intrusion and when the wrasse had finished cleaning him he left. 

It was great to be exploring for dive sites rather than just diving the bits everyone else does, and shows that Borneo Dream are intent on developing their own itineraries and sites off the beaten track. Ron, Billy, and Jo mapped and located some great sites in TARP and off the Island of Tiga not usually dived by the locals. Borneo dream put in a lot of effort in finding and mapping the dive sites to ensure that they present quality and that is really refreshing. If one dive site won’t do then they’ll find another that is better – or even unexplored.

What you may see: everything macro including pygmy sea horses, nudibranchs, shrimp, lobster, cuttlefish, moray eels, octopus hunting, comet fish, myriad small and exotic reef fish, the occasional whale shark if the season is right. On the seaward sides of TARP dolphins and sharks, I was surprised to see dogfish and small white and black tips even close to the main tourist islands. Coral is undisturbed and some of the formations are immense going off into the distance, and the quality of some of the coral even in TARP is excellent with the lettuce coral in places rivalling the South Pacific. Though a word of warning if you do dive in the more commercial zones you will notice that there is a drop off in both quality of fish.

Concerned to encourage sustainable tourism and develop marine conservation, anti pollution and education about the marine environment, Borneo Dream have links and work with a variety of agencies to enhance the diving around Kota Kinabalu. Borneo Dream is doing what every diving establishment should be, that is developing marine conservation not merely exploiting it. I spent 3 days diving with Billy Jo and Ron. It was a great time welcoming as always and professional at all times. The time on board was spent lounging eating and enjoying the company. Humour as always was a mixture of old Morecombe and Wise, Carry On movies, that had us in stitches much of the time. I could easily have stayed for the whole holiday."

Daniel Knappert,

London, England

PADI Open Water Diver Course - March 2008

"I had been on discover scuba dives in the Caribbean and Australia in the past but never done my PADI open water training before. Upon recommendation from a friend I decided to use Borneo Dream in the beautiful diving location of Kota Kinabalu. I was glad that I did, finding the entire team friendly & very professional whilst making the whole experience fun. The teaching was excellent and done at the right pace with a good ratio of instructors to pupils to ensure everyone's personal needs were met and we all obtained the necessary skills to help us become responsible divers. Prices were very reasonable for such a professional service and the official PADI training materials given to us as part of the course were excellent. I would not hesitate to recommend them to all for any diving purposes and will look forward to diving with Borneo Dream again in the future."

Paul Russell

Kota Kinabalu International School

Leisure Diving - March 2008

"Dear Borneo Dream,

Many thanks for a memorable 2 days of diving off the TARP islands, Kota Kinabalu in March. Myself, my wife and son all enjoyed it immensely. From the lift from the airport, the delivery of the excellent diving equipment to the diving itself it was a great experience and we will definitely come back for more! I think your impressive new catamaran will only enhance the experience and if you maintain the standards of safety combined with fun that you've already established, you will be one of the most popular dive operators in South East Asia."

George Hackford

Singapore

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Making your dreams come true in Borneo.

Borneo Dream Travel & Tours Sdn Bhd - Company Reg. No. 788821-K

Licensed Malaysian Inbound Tour Operator KPL/LN 5470

Office: No. 1 Lorong Ketiti, Jalan Bukit Bendera Upper, Likas, Kota Kinabalu 88400, Sabah, Malaysia.

Workshop: Lot 27, Likas Industrial Centre, Mile 5.5, Jalan Tuaran, Kota Kinabalu 88450, Sabah, Malaysia.

Tel: +60 88 24 6817   H/P: +60 17 817 0071   Email: info@borneodream.com

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