A dive professional who claims to have discovered what the Malaysian tourism ministry recently launched as an attraction called “Blue Ring Hole” says that it is neither a new find – nor a blue hole.
At the end of April the Ministry of Tourism, Arts & Culture (MOTAC) announced the site at Tingkayu Reef in Darvel Bay as Malaysia’s latest “iconic” scuba and snorkelling location.
But Glen Hapirulla says he discovered the 24m-deep feature while scouting for new dive sites back in 2017, and that it was sketched, mapped, named Blue Ring Reef and promoted as such five years ago.
Hapirulla runs Lahad Datu Pirate Divers, described as “the first and only” dive company operating in Lahad Datu, a town on the east coast of Sabah in northern Borneo.
He is concerned that combining the words “blue” and “hole” could lead visiting divers into expecting a dramatic geological feature of the sort famously found in the Bahamas, Belize, Great Barrier Reef or Red Sea.
Wikipedia defines a blue hole as a large marine cavern or sinkhole open to the surface that has developed in a bank or island composed of limestone or coral reef, typically containing tidal water (fresh, salt or both) and extending below sea level for most of its depth, possibly providing access to submerged cave passages.
Tourism minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri had said there were believed to be only 10 blue ring hole sites in the world, and that the Tingkayu Reef feature was special because there were two holes.
“The discovery of the Blue Ring Reef has long been promoted since 2017 and was brought to the international stage by the former minister of tourism, who is also from Lahad Datu,” Hapirulla points out. “I think it is inappropriate to promote this product as a new discovery by the ministry.”
He suggested that MOTAC needed to experience scuba diving in the Lahad Datu region to fully understand the potential of its diving industry, where he says 60 dive-sites have already been identified for divers to explore. He also called for more support for small operators such as Pirate Divers that had shown commitment to attracting tourists to Sabah.
Divernet reported on the unusual coral-filled site in Darvel Bay in 2019, following an official report describing it as having been dived that February by Sabah Parks senior research officer Nasrulhakim Maidin.
Maidin had said that although he thought the location should be considered for designation as a marine protected area, it could be promoted as a major tourist dive-site like the famed blue-hole sites elsewhere in the world – especially as it was situated not far from the world-class location Sipadan, where diving opportunities remain restricted.
