Borneo Malaysia

[Scuba Susie]

Alex,
I also lost their website. Maybe someone can help us both out. It's a great site.
Susie

 

[TheNitroxinator]

Can you compare Sipidan with Lankayan?

I thought Sipidan was considerably better than Lankayan for the diving (so was Layang-Layang for that matter). Lankayan is mostly macro shooting, and, while I was there, the visibility wasn't very good. The coral and creatures are better at Sipidan, and the visibility was a ton better. Sipidan has some great wall dives, Lankayan was mostly shallow slopes. There were Nudibranchs all over the place at Lankayan, so it wasn't all bad. But no whale shark (just one whitetip and teeny black tips by the shoreline).

Are they as lose with the dive times as Lankayan?

In terms of the boat times, SMART had things going earlier, and had shorter intervals between the dives, although the intervals were plenty long enough. Both Lankayan and SMART were specifying 45 minute dives, they weren't bad about allowing you to go for longer. One problem with Sipidan is that different people will go at different speeds. SMART did not force you to stay in a group, and they are doing drift dives at Sipidan. In 21 dives, my buddy and I only surfaced with our boat group once. No complaints, and, the reality is that, if you know you're separated from your group, you will probably wind up waiting to be picked up by the boat. A few minutes of slack isn't going to make much difference.

Food any better?

One thing Lankayan had, in addition to the nice beaches, was really great food. Mabul Water Bungalows was really good, I think Lankayan was a little better on the food.

Bigger critters? Smaller ones? Currents?

Sipidan had bigger critters, and a few big schools (1000+ Jacks, 100 barracuda which isn't that big of a school, lots of tutles). The small stuff was also better at Mabul and Sipidan (ornate and robust ghost pipefish, frogfish, leaf scorpions, ...). Currents weren't a big deal, but they were there. I'd have preferred more current, actually - word has it that the bigger creatures tend to come out when there's more current. Kapalai was the worst current I was in, and you could still swim against it with effort. Lankayan does have one big creature you can't see, you get to go to Sepilok and see the Orangutans; there's nothing like that on the trip out to Mabul/Sipidan.

 

[Scuba Susie]

I thought Sipidan was considerably better than Lankayan for the diving (so was Layang-Layang for that matter). Lankayan is mostly macro shooting, and, while I was there, the visibility wasn't very good. The coral and creatures are better at Sipidan, and the visibility was a ton better. Sipidan has some great wall dives, Lankayan was mostly shallow slopes. There were Nudibranchs all over the place at Lankayan, so it wasn't all bad. But no whale shark (just one whitetip and teeny black tips by the shoreline).



In terms of the boat times, SMART had things going earlier, and had shorter intervals between the dives, although the intervals were plenty long enough. Both Lankayan and SMART were specifying 45 minute dives, they weren't bad about allowing you to go for longer. One problem with Sipidan is that different people will go at different speeds. SMART did not force you to stay in a group, and they are doing drift dives at Sipidan. In 21 dives, my buddy and I only surfaced with our boat group once. No complaints, and, the reality is that, if you know you're separated from your group, you will probably wind up waiting to be picked up by the boat. A few minutes of slack isn't going to make much difference.



One thing Lankayan had, in addition to the nice beaches, was really great food. Mabul Water Bungalows was really good, I think Lankayan was a little better on the food.



Sipidan had bigger critters, and a few big schools (1000+ Jacks, 100 barracuda which isn't that big of a school, lots of tutles). The small stuff was also better at Mabul and Sipidan (ornate and robust ghost pipefish, frogfish, leaf scorpions, ...). Currents weren't a big deal, but they were there. I'd have preferred more current, actually - word has it that the bigger creatures tend to come out when there's more current. Kapalai was the worst current I was in, and you could still swim against it with effort. Lankayan does have one big creature you can't see, you get to go to Sepilok and see the Orangutans; there's nothing like that on the trip out to Mabul/Sipidan.

Dear Nitrox,

Thanks so much! Your posting was very informative!!! Now I am really psyched!
One of the things we loved about Lankayan was partying with the staff in the evening. Do you get to socialize with your DM's etc after a hard (ha ha) day of diving?
Thanks again Dude!
Susie

 

[Ushen]

Dear Nitrox,

Thanks so much! Your posting was very informative!!! Now I am really psyched!
One of the things we loved about Lankayan was partying with the staff in the evening. Do you get to socialize with your DM's etc after a hard (ha ha) day of diving?
Thanks again Dude!
Susie

http://scubamy.conforums3.com

 

[TheNitroxinator]

Do you get to socialize with your DM's etc after a hard (ha ha) day of diving?

If you're staying at Mabul Water Bungalows, not so much. You have to ride your bike over to the SMART resort, that's where the DMs stay, although they did make it over the Bungalows when it wasn't raining at night. Lankayan had one night of partying, but was pretty quiet the 2nd and 3rd day I was there.

Incidentally, my gallery now has my photos for Layang-Layang, Sepilok, Lankayan, Mabul/Kapalai, and Sipidan.