Looking for spots with big schools of fish

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Sipadan is unreal. I was there in 98. I had to laugh because divers are encouraged not to touch....but no one told the turtles this in Sipadan. You'd see them everywhere, laying on top of and breaking soft corals or sponge, munching away. I think they, at least then, were TOO protected. The system was out of balance with so many turtles. I guess the only check on that would be a massive increase in tiger sharks?

Since you have been there, they decided to reduce the number of divers rather than the number of turtles. It seems to do the reef good, the coral looks fantastic. Update: my friends on Mabul have just seen a school of ~100 hammerheads on Sipadan!
 
Nice.

I don't know if they still do it, but in 98 they had a fenced off area on the beach where they hatched turtle eggs that were collected….from somewhere, nursed and released. Not sure if all were from Sipadan.
 
The back of the island is full with turtle nests, apparently up to 100 or so.. You cannot go there unless you have special permission. They are cared for by professionals.
 
Key Largo's reefs are also legendary. Snapper Ledges is simply amazing with tens of thousands of fish in less than 20 ft of depth. It's simply awesome.
 
I just dove Sipadan in May, you can read my write-up here: Diving Destinations - Sipadan Diving, Borneo, Malaysia

I unfortunately did not see any hammerheads when I was there (100 would be crazy, I'm jealous!), but we did see a leopard shark, a few barracuda tornadoes, families of bumpheads and jacks... yes, lots of turtles. It was also white tip mating season and there were plenty of those around.
 
I just dove Sipadan in May, you can read my write-up here: Diving Destinations - Sipadan Diving, Borneo, Malaysia

I unfortunately did not see any hammerheads when I was there (100 would be crazy, I'm jealous!), but we did see a leopard shark, a few barracuda tornadoes, families of bumpheads and jacks... yes, lots of turtles. It was also white tip mating season and there were plenty of those around.

To be fair, I never saw a school of hammerheads in 20 days on Sipadan. Did see three though.
 

Back
Top Bottom