Diving in Sipadan and Mabul

Finally, after all these years I finally made a trip to every diver's paradise, Sipadan Island. It's a tick off my bucket list. 

Beautiful Sunset at Sipadan Water Village Resort

Started my journey at an ungodly hour, 6.00 am flight from KL to Tawau and fortunately the flight was smooth. This was followed by another hour plus by road to Semporna and a 30 mins boat ride to Sipadan Water Village on Mabul Island. Arriving at SWV, we were warmly welcomed by the resort staff. While our check in procedures were being prepared, we headed off to lunch. The food was simple and nice but the sambal belacan was amazing!!!!

We headed off to our respective rooms, a chalet on water. The chalet has a balcony facing the sea, room was very spacious and so was the bathroom. The amenities in the room is quite complete and adequate for daily necessities. 

Aerial View of Sipadan Water Village

Spacious Bedroom

The Living Area

Balcony outside the Chalet

Day 1  - House Reefs 

Having complete all necessary check in procedures we headed off for our first check dive, SMV house reefs located just in front of the resort. Weather was perfect !!!😁😁😁

Having done all normal procedures of checking our equipment, we headed off for our first dive, a shallow dive to familiarise ourselves....Interestingly, we managed to see quite a good variety of marine life so close to the resort

The second dive was also in front of the resort just about 50m from our first dive. After an exhausting afternoon, I was all geared up for a hearty meal and it didn't disappoint. 

Hearty Lunch and Dinner

It was an early night for me due to the early flight and hardly got any sleep, I had to make sure I get sufficient rest for next day's dive..... an instant 😴😴😴😴😴

Day 2 - Kapalai House Reef, Seaventures Reef & New Lobster Cave

After a simple breakfast we headed off to our next dive, the first at Kapalai Island house reefs. The boat ride was a short 15 mins from our resort. This is a man-made reef in front of Kapalai Island. Like the Mabul Island, it is teeming with marine life. 

After a short break from our first dive, we headed off to Seaventures Reef. Seaventures is actually an old oil rig that has been converted to another diver's resort. You can still see some of the old steel pipes and debris lying around and overtime has become a reef for the marine life. You can see a great variety of large and small marine life in this reef area

Seaventures Resort with the house reef below

We came back for lunch after our second dive, rested a while and headed off to New Lobster Cave around the Mabul Island. This is supposedly where you can get to see lobsters....but our dive master mentioned that there are not many. It's a huge wall along the edge of Mabul Island and fortunately for us, we only encountered slight current. That made the dive very pleasant as we flowed along the wall. Back at SWV, after a short rest I continued diving at the house reef.

Day 3 - Sipadan Island Barracuda Point & South Point

Sipadan Island is a short boat ride from Mabul Island, only 30 mins. Upon reaching the island, you will need to register at the Marine Park Office. You will need to show your diver's licence and ID card to verify. Sipadan Island is currently open from sunrise to sunset only. The island also acts as a Malaysian Navy Outpost. Our dive master mentioned that the navy do check on divers to make sure that nothing is taken out from the sea and that the corals are not destroyed by divers. If caught, a fine is imposed. There is also a Marine Park fee to be paid and it cost RM140 per day. If you plan to dive more than a day, make prior arrangements with your resort to get it.

Barracuda point is an interesting dive site, this is where schools of Barracudas, Jack fish and Bumphead Parrot fish gather. Lots of marine life to enjoy. However I was a disappointed with the South Point side, the corals were not great and marine life was lacking. Not my day I guess!!! After we returned from Sipadan Island, we took a rest and did a 4th dive at the house reef in front of SWV.

That night, we celebrated with some of the other divers group that were leaving !!! and also to celebrate our Sipadan Dive trip!!

Day 4 - Smart House Reef, Ribbon Valley 2 & Old Lobster Lair

This is our final day to dive, I just wanted to take it easy and did only 3 dives. These dive sites are a combination of macro as well as big marine life. We encountered slight currents at one of the dive sites but it was manageable.

Overall, it was a good and interesting diving experience, the dive masters were friendly at the same time strict with our preparation. On our last night the dive masters treated us to a BBQ plus some drinks!!! Philippine Rum !!! We had great fun, karaoke and dancing away. Thus, a night to remember our stay in SWV, Mabul

I will surely return one day to cover the other dive sites in Sipadan Island and to explore more dive sites around Mabul and Kapalai.