All of us at Downbelow love introducing diving to others. Seeing their excitement as they experience the beautiful marine world for the first time makes us excited too.

It is a pity though that the majority of the local residents here in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah Borneo don’t know what they're missing since they don't go diving.

The Tunku Abdul Rahman Park is a government gazetted and protected marine park a mere 10 minutes by boat from the shores of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah in the northern part of Borneo. Being so close to a bustling city, many visitors, and even divers, write off the park before they get to know it, simply because of it's proximity to the city.  Yet this is actually its saving grace because its protected !

Recently one of our local PADI instructors Vic was excited as he introduced the diving lifestyle and most importantly, the beautiful marine creatures and reefs of the park to his fellow Sabahans. 

We are happy because of the public's increasing environmental awareness for example the recent environmental day by the students of UiTM and cleanup efforts by concerned corporate citizens such as Downbelow and Hyatt Regency KK, plus the protection and clean-up efforts of Sabah Parks and participation of local communities, the TAR Park is in fact in ever improving good shape.

Everyone can contribute to the preservation and betterment of their local surroundings just by doing simple things like throwing your garbage responsibly, participating in local conservation-themed projects, use less plastic, recycle and raising awareness to others around you.

If you haven't started doing any of these things, then there's no better time to start than now!