Lankayan Island, Borneo

[Ocean Xplorer]

Xplorer,
I would never go to a place just for specific species (unless it's a known area). If I wanted whalesharks I'd go to Galapagos, Philippines, Utila, the east coast of Africa and other places where consistent and numerous sightings empirically substantiated.
I found that Lankayan's marketing people over estimated the area's viability for whaleshark sightings. Just because something was seen in the area once in a long while (the whaleshark in Mar 2001 stayed around for 2.5 weeks when I was there) doesn't mean it's a good area to get consistent sightings. A little deceptive advertising, but then all advertising is deceptive in nature. They changed the ads a bit after complaints were made. But the whaleshark thing is still a headline.
I did not grade Lankayan based on whalesharks, otherwise I'd give it a zero! Instead I compared the diving to layang layang, mabul/kapalai and other nearby areas. The diving is typical of Sabah macro if not as rich as Mabul/Kapalai. The pelagics are definitely not as plentiful as Sipadan or Layang2. The resort is typical fair and with their promotions I suppose it's ok value for money. I found the diving to be decent but lacks the variety of say the combination of Mabul/Sipadan/Kapalai or the Sangalaki area (if we were to stay on the same island).
I will say that anyone who says that the prolific critters of Lembeh, Alor and Maumere are not good either don't like muck diving/critters or know of a place that's better (which are probably in Ambon unfortunately). As for comparison to Sabah muck diving, the white sand background doesn't mean much when you do not have the diversity of species as subjects. Obviously, biodiversity and accomodations aren't the only things to consider. Many believe security (until the Sipadan kidnapping), costs, ease of travel are also considerations.

Scubashooter & Honuahank! We agreed with you guys, the resort at Lankayan might have over marketing the whaleshark sighting! We believed that most advertising are deceptive & exagerating, that's part of the advertising industry!

What we're trying to say is that one should experience the dive destination, him/herself rather based on others experiences because each person have different preferences. Mabul is a great place, we've always enjoy diving there! We normally stay at Sipadan Water Village rather than SMART, great services & staffs, but still diferrent people different preference!

Our opinion is, whichever destination you plan to go, always enjoy it eventhough it might not fulfilled your expectation. We believed that each destination has their own attractions. Some will like it, some might not! Just like in Asia, we take rice most of the time, but not in Western Countries!

Anyway, thanx for sharing your experiences!

Happy Diving & Keep Those Bubbles Flowing!

Ocean Xplorer