Mabul Water Bungalows vs. Sipadan-Kapalai Dive Resort

[tfitz]

Hi all,

I'm looking for any advice on choosing between the Mabul Water Bungalows or the Sipadan-Kapilai Dive Resort in mid-June. So far, it looks like Mabul might be the way to go since they have nitrox available and from tripadvisor reviews the quality of dive equipment and dive briefings are average at best at Sipadan-Kapilai. Reviews from tripadvisor also seem to imply the food is better at Mabul. But, the Sipadan-Kapilai rooms are supposedly amazing. Any advice out there?

 

[OnTheSpot]

You can enjoy the luxury of Mabul Water Bungalows and use the facilities of their nearby sister resort - Sipadan Mabul Resort - play in the Jacuzzi, have a blissful massage, wallow in the pool, explore in a sea kayaks or show off your beach volleyball skills.

 

[Dreamdivegirl]

Hi tfitz,

Both are very nice Resorts.

We have had friends, and diving customers, stay at both Resorts. All have come back having had a wonderful time at both Resorts.

Mabul Water Bungalows is the closest you'll get to a 5* Resort near Sipadan - the bungalows, spa, service and price reflect this. The house reef is nice too.

Kapalai Resort is a stunning location and the bungalows / chalets are very nice and you pay a cheaper price than Mabul Water Bungalows. Again the house reef is good.

I've never come across any complaints from either Resort from divers we know - but a lot of that will come down to the experience of the diver, if they take their own gear and the specific Dive Guide they are with.

Both are good choices. If you want 5* quality then Mabul is the obvious choice.

Hope this helps and whichever Resort you choose enjoy diving at Sipadan!

 

[Luko]

Here's a sadistic post just to make to choice more difficult : why don't you include Sipadan Water Village in your selection, I think with all 3 you've covered the most luxurious options on Mabul/Kapalai.

From what I've seen I would probably say :
SWV has the best and most comfortable speedboats, less crowded too. I think in terms of luxury they can compete with Sipadan Water bungalows, nicely located near Paradise 2 housereef too.
SM Water bungalows/SMART are probably located on the best piece of land, tho their dive centre and boats tends to be more crowded (it's the biggest operation on Mabul).
Sipadan/Kapalai has probably the best house reef of all three (Mandarin Valley).

 

[AleG]

Kapalai is very nice, but staying at Mabul you'll have a greater selection of dive sites very close at hand.

 

[robertarak]

Although I can not offer any experience about Mabul Water Bungalows, I can say I LOVED Kapilai Dive Resort! The resport and dive staff were amazing. Sometimes it is the people that make the difference. I could not have asked for better people.

 

[tfitz]

Thanks for all the info guys!

Luko, I appreciate the tip about Sipadan Water Village. I'm thinking access to nitrox is going to trump other factors since I took the class along with my open water but didn't get to use it on my first diving trip this year!

 

[mcliffy2]

I was just at SWV in November. We looked at all three (SMART/Mabul Bungalows, SWV, and Kapalai) and ended up at SWV because their price was great (if you email them and ask for a discount, they might give you a pretty nice one ), and because we wanted to be on Mabul. Mabul Bungalows are probably a bit nicer, and you have the pool, etc. but for us the trump factor was making it to Sipadan as much as possible. SWV has a much better diver/permit ratio than SMART/MWB because it has less rooms, and also seems to have more non-divers staying there. We got to go to Sipadan 3 of 5 full days there, and actually had to turn down Sipadan one day so we could have had 4 of 5 (we did a 7 night/6 day package). They guaranteed us 2 days up front, whereas no one else would guarantee more than one.

After having been there, I am glad we did SWV. MWB did look really nice, but we heard from others who were diving with them and Kapalai that you did not get to dive Sipadan as much. I also found the dive guides at SWV to be really good, and the house reef was great. We did dusk and night dives on our own most nights.

 

[mcliffy2]

Also, re: nitrox, this was a concern for us, but most of the diving at Sipadan and Mabul is pretty shallow, 70-80 ft max, usually more like 50-60 ft, so you really dont need nitrox to get in 4 dives per day.

And one other thing, I highly recommend taking an afternoon to walk around Mabul island. It is about 1 mile all the way around, and walking through the villages is a humbling, eye-opening, but rewarding experience. The poverty is sad, yet the people there, especially the children, are so full of smiles and so friendly and welcoming.

 

[gee13]

Ditto, I met some of the most welcoming Dms at SWV. And totally agree about the Mabul island dwellers. Some of the most happy carefree kids Ive met have been from poverty areas. It seems money is not a valid measure for happiness.