Diving Sipadan and Sibuan

---

We did not get work out here, but we are diving anyway. We simply had to being so close to this fantastic island. So far we have done one day at Sipadan and one day at Sibuan.

Pulau Sipadan
What makes Sipadan so special is that is a offshore island with drop-offs down to 600m. This means that “anything” can be seen passing by. You have the regular schools of hundreds of great barracudas, lots and lots of turtles and sharks, large schools of jackfish and batfish, we saw napoleon wrasses - It was good to see them again as they are near extinction and not seen that often anymore. At the moment there are sightings of schools of hammerheads and also the odd whaleshark. The island is now a marine park and most of the buildings has been removed from the island, the only ones remaining on the island are for the army to ensure the regulation of maximum 120 divers a day is maintained. We were diving with Blue Sea Divers and what a great service. They took care of our kit from the time we came to the dive shop until we completed our dives, washing, donning, carrying it to the boat etc. There was plenty of food/drinks and very friendly staff on the boat. They even had towels ready for us when we came up from our dives. The only drawback was that they have less shelter, so if it is raining on the trip to/from the island it can be a very wet experience. I recommend Blue Sea Divers to anybody diving out of Semporna.

Pulau Sibuan
It was good diving on this island, but not as good as we have expected. Here are cool stuff like pygmy seahorses, frogfish, crocodile fish and new types of nudibranch. We just wish it could be possible to clean up the dive site as there is a lot of garbage on the reef. It is the worst we have seen so far. During all our dives we also heard explosions from dynamite fishing, so there is a job to be done in this area. We were diving with Scuba Junkies, and they where alright, but not exceptional. Our DM was super friendly, but for example it is bring your own water and the food could be improved but they do have a good set up in Semporna

Diving and where to stay in General
Diving Sipadan you have several options, the most common one is to either stay at Semporna on the main land or on Mabul island. Mabul is a closer to Sipadan so you don’t have the hour long boat ride every day, and don’t forget you have a great dive sites around Mabul island itself, so if you get tired of the big stuff out on Sipadan you can do a some muck diving “at home”. We chose to stay in Semporna village as we like the flavours of the local life. We have not been on Mabul but understand it is more of a resort island.

There are several dive centres around. Might be worth having a look around before booking, but remember if you want to go to Sipadan during high season (July, August) you have to book in advance. People have been waiting up to a week before getting on a boat to Sipadan because of the 120 dives a day limitation.

---

Photos

Pygmy Sea hourse, Sibuan
This tiny little thing is 15mm long. Sooo cute!

Comments

[KT]

Turtle Wax
Are the big turtle the kind they make Turtle Wax from?

[Trine]

Ser ut som om dere har funnet et paradis til! Flotte bilder. Klem