Kota Kinabalu or Mactan? Or somewhere else?

[Dreamdivegirl]

Hi,

First of all, sorry the late reply.

I live in Kota Kinabalu (used to come on holiday here as a tourist) and run a dive business based in Kota Kinabalu. My feedback is based up on my experience living here, and visiting here as a tourist.

If your partner is looking for a nice Resort with access to swimming pools, Spa & beach then I'd recommend three Resorts (I've personally stayed at two of them and love Spa's too - Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort (10 mins from central KK), Shangri-La's Rasa Ria Resort (better beach, 45 mins from central KK) or the Pacific Sutera Resort (10 mins from central KK). The Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort had a major refurbishment earlier this year (don't worry, it's completed now) - the swimming pool area, water slides and sunset bar are great. You need to be aware one of the wings at the Shangri-La's Rasa Ria Resort is under refurbishment from this month - but you should still have access to full facilities at the Resort.

The diving along the west coast of Sabah can be surprisingly good - as long as the weather is kind to us. It is not to the same standard as the drop-offs at Sipadan and Layang Layang (after all, they are both usually on the list of Top 10 dive sites in the world). However, you get a really good range of marine life (especially for macro) and for experienced divers there is wreck diving and offshore dive sites such as Pulau Tiga or Mayne Rock. The better coral reefs in nearby Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park are typically on the westward (seaward) facing side of Gaya, Sapi, Manuklan & Sulug (cleaner water, better quality reefs), plus Edgell Patch. Having said that, we see the most Turtles around Sapi House Reef. So, diving from KK is a nice choice for a couple of days of chilled out diving.

I hope you both have a great time away wherever you choose to go

Thanks,

DG

 

[vladimir]

Thanks, DreamDiveGirl. Sadly, I will spend the weekend in Macau, Monday at work, and Tuesday at home eating mooncakes, I guess. I appreciate everybody's input; hopefully I will be able to put some of it to good use on another weekend soon--I haven't dived since June.

 

[Nudie Dreamer]

TARP (Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park) is some 20-30minutes boat ride from Kota Kinabablu city pier. Most dive operators depart from there. Dive trips usually depart at 9.00am and return between 3.00 - 4.00pm.

The diving in TARP is nice. If not, great for the location. Visibility doesn't really get affected much by weather. Like most of the above posters, macro diving is nice within TARP but you will also see Eagle Rays, turtles, mandarin fish (I didn't believe it at first myself but was surprised to see it), frog fish, orangutran crabs and the rare dolphins appearance (Rare because we have yet to have it on photo!).

KK is perfect if you're on time constraint holiday but if a day diving trip is all you can get, TARP is your best choice. Also, staying at the Shangri-La Tanjung Aru is also nice. Plenty of activity, big pool, spas and things to keep the fiancee busy with while you dive.