Kapalai-Sipidan Resort

[myshadeofred]

Hello everyone. This is my first time in Malaysia but I have been seeing threads varying from great to not so great because of cost. Luckily, I get to pay in installments.

Has anyone been to the Resort? What is the best part? What is worst part?

What is something I definitely need to bring and something I need to leave home?

I will be there in February next year.

Cheers...

 

[cjibber]

Hello everyone. This is my first time in Malaysia but I have been seeing threads varying from great to not so great because of cost. Luckily, I get to pay in installments.

Has anyone been to the Resort? What is the best part? What is worst part?

What is something I definitely need to bring and something I need to leave home?

I will be there in February next year.

Cheers...

We stayed there for three nights in March and loved it. It is expensive and would usually be out of our price range but they do have offers that make it affordable. We were staying on Mabul for a week and managed to get three days on Kapali at the start of our trip for what we thought was a reasonable price.

We were quite surprised that most of the guests there were non-divers. About 90% of the guests were Asian (mainly Chinese) and seemed to spend most of their time walking round the resort taking selfies! There were free spaces on the boats to Sipadan on two of the three days and we got the impression that this was normal so if we had we been staying longer and wanted extra Sipadan days then it would have been possible.

The dive times with guides was shorter than some of the resorts in that area but this was compensated for by the fact that we could do unlimited dives on the house reef. If you are happy doing this without a guide, you can do long dives there and there is a lot of macro stuff to see.

The room we had was superb with a large balcony form where we could watch turtles feeding right beneath us. Meal times can be interesting as most of the guests are on a mission to get as much food as possible as soon as the buffet opens. We were surprised to turn up half way through dinner to find no food left on our first day. However, the very friendly staff are aware of the issue and bought us food directly to our table.

Nothing in particular you need to bring apart from your duty free for the sunsets from your balcony! (The resort is totally isolated with not much in the way of shops so if there is anything you particularly need it is better to take it with you but most things that you need are provided)

 

[myshadeofred]

We stayed there for three nights in March and loved it. It is expensive and would usually be out of our price range but they do have offers that make it affordable. We were staying on Mabul for a week and managed to get three days on Kapali at the start of our trip for what we thought was a reasonable price.

We were quite surprised that most of the guests there were non-divers. About 90% of the guests were Asian (mainly Chinese) and seemed to spend most of their time walking round the resort taking selfies! There were free spaces on the boats to Sipadan on two of the three days and we got the impression that this was normal so if we had we been staying longer and wanted extra Sipadan days then it would have been possible.

The dive times with guides was shorter than some of the resorts in that area but this was compensated for by the fact that we could do unlimited dives on the house reef. If you are happy doing this without a guide, you can do long dives there and there is a lot of macro stuff to see.

The room we had was superb with a large balcony form where we could watch turtles feeding right beneath us. Meal times can be interesting as most of the guests are on a mission to get as much food as possible as soon as the buffet opens. We were surprised to turn up half way through dinner to find no food left on our first day. However, the very friendly staff are aware of the issue and bought us food directly to our table.

Nothing in particular you need to bring apart from your duty free for the sunsets from your balcony! (The resort is totally isolated with not much in the way of shops so if there is anything you particularly need it is better to take it with you but most things that you need are provided)

Thank you for this information. I’m actually going a dive club I met up while stationed in Belgium so it’s only group at the resort for 7 days 6 nights. I’m excited to know there are lots of macros because most of what I have seen has been larger and my camera is really just a compact one. Eat sleep dive repeat.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Oh my gosh, I'm thinking that you will have an amazing time!!

 

[myshadeofred]

I

Oh my gosh, I'm thinking that you will have an amazing time!!

I hope I will!!! But anytime I can dive safely is a great place to be.

 

[iamrushman]

would love to read a dive report when you return...have a great trip.

 

[myshadeofred]

would love to read a dive report when you return...have a great trip.

I definitely will do just that.

 

[scubaozy]

Kapalai is really great. On the days you go to Sipadan, you will do 2 consecutive dives with 60 mins surface interval, which takes place at the beach. Afternoon, there is a boat dive around kapalai/Mabul. So typically big stuff in the morning and macro in the afternoon. There is unlimited shore diving. I did a fourth night dive from the shore almost daily. So, bring a torch. You will need an adaptor to charge your electric appliances, it is 220v but connector is different than standard European.
Rooms are really nice, I felt I went diving too often to enjoy it enough. Insist on diving the barracuda point in the early morning dives, I thought it was the best spot.

 

[myshadeofred]

Kapalai is really great. On the days you go to Sipadan, you will do 2 consecutive dives with 60 mins surface interval, which takes place at the beach. Afternoon, there is a boat dive around kapalai/Mabul. So typically big stuff in the morning and macro in the afternoon. There is unlimited shore diving. I did a fourth night dive from the shore almost daily. So, bring a torch. You will need an adaptor to charge your electric appliances, it is 220v but connector is different than standard European.
Rooms are really nice, I felt I went diving too often to enjoy it enough. Insist on diving the barracuda point in the early morning dives, I thought it was the best spot.

Thanks, great recommendations. I like the idea of daily night dives too. Would like to possibly do a sunrise one, just depends on when the boats leave for the excursions. Right now, our trip comes with 17 boat dives and unlimited "shore". I'm super excited. I lost a lot of pictures when I did the Malapascua so this time I'm ensuring to back up all my photos.

 

[scubaozy]

I think shore dive is a bit overstatement, its more like house reef dive . Not very big but you can do few dives without getting bored.