Borneo Diving? (Other than Sipadan/Mabul)

[hedonist222]

I know Sipadan and Mabul are popular.

Why aren't the other locations as popular? Its a mammoth island. There should be (relatively accessible) spots other than Sipadan and Mabul.
I found dive ops in Kota Kinabalu and Kuching - but didn't get this sense of comfort that they're not tourist/resort dive ops.

Plan is to fly into either Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, or Singapore, then transit to Borneo.

 

[Centrals]

Diving Kota Kinabalu | PADI

Learn key information about diving Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia - when to go, what to see, who to dive with, top marine life, recommended training & more.

www.padi.com

There is wreck diving in Brunei which is not very far from BKI.
Kuching is very limited in diving.
There is also diving out from Miri.
Lyang Lyang is off shore.
Sangalaki(Derawan etc) is very good but it is in East Kalimantan(Indonesia).

Dive Kota Kinabalu | Scuba Junkie KK

Dive Kota Kinabalu with Scuba Junkie! We provide daily dive and snorkel trips, and we offer all PADI dive courses from discover scuba diving to instructor!

www.scubajunkiekk.com

They can offer you BKI + Sipadan.

Dive Sangalaki | Scuba Junkie Sangalaki

Dive Sangalaki with Scuba Junkie! We provide daily dive trips and PADI courses in the Sangalaki Marine Park - Sangalaki, Derawan, Kakaban, and Maratua.

www.scubajunkiesangalaki.com

Another option is Sipadan + Sangalaki

 

[Manuel Sam]

In the Malaysia Forum, CWK has video reports from dive trips he made to Semporna (years ago, the launching point for Sipadan/Mabul - don't know now). The variety of nudibranchs was impressive.

Twenty-some years ago when I was doing Sipadan and Layang Layang, I looked into but never went to Lankayan Island (on the North coast off of Sandakan) as a possible dive spot to do in conjunction with doing the Sepilok Reserve to see the Orangutans.

When I did Sangalaki back then, I had the opportunity to do Maratua as well as a day trip, but did not. That's one I'd like to do in this lifetime.

 

[diveUAE]

We did Lankayan and Sipadan back in 2008, both were stunning. Recent reports/reviews about Lankayan are not that great.

We’re going to Perhentians and Malaysia Borneo in July and will be diving a bit from Kota Kinabalu (and a lot at Perhentian), I’m not expecting the diving from KK to be impressive, but will wait and see…. Read a report on TripAdvisor from someone who dived from both KK and further north - according to him the diving around KK was better than more north (since there’s a marine protected area outside KK).

I ruled out Sipadan/Mabul/Lankayan due to travel warnings- I do consider the areas quite safe, but our insurance won’t cover, if we travel there, so if you go make sure to check your insurance.

 

[Dan]

How about Indonesian side of Borneo, East Kalimantan, just few hundreds miles south of Sipadan?

 

[sipadan.com]

I know Sipadan and Mabul are popular.

Why aren't the other locations as popular? Its a mammoth island. There should be (relatively accessible) spots other than Sipadan and Mabul.
I found dive ops in Kota Kinabalu and Kuching - but didn't get this sense of comfort that they're not tourist/resort dive ops.

Plan is to fly into either Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, or Singapore, then transit to Borneo.

If you go to Sipadan in the best diving season (high visibility from march till september), you need to plan in advance for your Sipadan permit guarantee as it's limited and in high demand. You need AOW minimum level.
You can find more info about Sipadan permits and also resort accommodation (from budget operators to luxury resorts) who have permits invluded in their packages: Sipadan resorts with guaranteed Sipadan dive permits
Also the diving is 2 dives per day at Sipadan and 1 dive per day at Mabul or other islands nearby such as Kapalai.

 

[dumpsterpurrs]

Indonesia: Derawan Islands - Sangalaki, Maratua, Kakaban: a bit difficult to get to, pretty nice diving, maybe just a step below the likes of Raja and Komodo. However, because it takes less effort to go to Komodo and Komodo costs less, I still gravitate away from this beautiful region. The only way to make this trip make sense to me personally is to include it as part of a bigger regional trip.

Malaysia: clockwise from Sipadan/Mabul:
- Pom Pom Island: mediocre diving
- Lahad Datu: I'm not familiar, they claim to have the only blue hole in SEA
- Kudat: tip of Borneo, quite out of the way, very limited season/possible days to dive, doesn't look that spectacular
- Kota Belud: decent, basic diving, cheap accom, nothing special except for being quite unknown and thus no crowd, feels very frontier even though it's not that far from a major airport and other major tourist spots
- Kota Konabalu: almost the same as KB, less good reef diving but better muck
- Layang-Layang: nice diving, very expensive, I think the only resort is permanently closed?
- Miri: I'm not familiar, videos look good, will check it out one day, I'm afraid it would also have the same seasonal problem like Brunei and Kudat

Brunei: GREAT wreck diving, my fav!!!, the wrecks themselves aren't extremely extremely impressive, but they are COVERED in sealife, huge huge schooling, great food, very limited/temperamental season though, I got wiped out during my last trip even though it was scheduled during peak season.

 

[CWK]

If you are into nudibranch, then Semporna is fantastic. I was diving there earlier this year with a Japanese lady who ticked off a number of her bucket list nudis in the week that we were there. Diving Semporna, January 2025