Malapascua vs Sipadan vs Similan

[moorish8idol]

I did about 10 dives in Malapascua - the thresher dive doesn't have to be a circus - I did 3 dives at Monad Shoal and it never was. I think the trick is to go with a dive shop that has their own mooring line. I went with Thresher Shark Divers and their line is on the opposite end of the bowl from where all the other boats were. So we could show up even a bit later than the other boats, go down our own line just our group and enjoy the sharks. I also recommend you dive on Nitrox with TSD. Its $5 extra so a lot of the divers opt out of it - not only does it increase your bottom time but it means you may get your own dive guide so I ended up having one dive with 4 threshers swirling around us and just me and the DM. The threshers are definitely gorgeous and amazing and made my time on Malap (which is a super cute island btw). I found the other dives pretty boring but I am not a macro person. I enjoyed the day trip to Kalanggaman just because its a gorgeous little sand bar in the middle of the sea - going with TSD we were leaving the island by the time the day trippers got in so had it mostly to ourselves. We did the threshers in the am and then 2 wall dives there which I found... boring. But still a fun outing.
I second the comment above that says TUBBATAHA.. you are there in the right season so if there were any spaces left on the LoBs there, THAT is a site I would try to get to. Its still my absolute fave of all of my diving experiences, not just in the Philippines, but everywhere!

 

[chillyinCanada]

@moorish8idol, If you don't care for macro, why didn't you like the wall dives? What weren't the 2alls offering you?

 

[Luko]

@moorish8idol, If you don't care for macro, why didn't you like the wall dives? What weren't the 2alls offering you?

i am not moorish8idol (and I DO appreciate macro) but I can perfectly understand that wall diving is often boring, so I tend to avoid this configuration.

Apart from big gorgonians i have often seen walls less spectacular in terms of corals than slopes (There are a few exceptions like Pescador), usually slopes and bommies are home to big bunches of corals and plenty of fish around (think Komodo, Bangka, Raja Ampat, the best parts of Balicasag, etc.) while walls can be barren or repetitive (Bunaken, the worst parts of Balicasag, the poorly lit parts of Sipadan, how would you rate Sipadan without the jacks or cudas schools).

The problem with walls comes as well with the dive profile many operators tend to impose to go deep for uncertain & dubtuous reasons, while the most interesting part on a wall is the shallowest. Also I am a photographer, photographers usually hate walls apart from the shallow drop off part.

 

[bintang_shrimp]

Sipadan was very underwhelming. Went there in Aug 2018, not worth the hassle, considering how overpriced it is (due to permits etc.) compared to general diving in SE Asia, and on top of that the wasted time having to lay over in the awful town of Semporna, the transfers, the mandatory non-Sipadan days of boring diving around Mabul.

Maybe it was all the rage back in the day 20 years ago, but all I saw for 2 days of diving there was a lot of turtles and black/white tip sharks. One elusive barracuda school showed up on one dive.

Muck diving around Mabul is ok, seems to be a lot of flamboyant cuttlefish and frogfish around the artificial reef, but otherwise not even close to Anilao / Lembeh.

The biggest issue here are the idiotic system of permits. They get assigned per-dive operator, not based on who actually needs them. Some busy operators like Scuba Junkie have limited permits, while some luxury resorts where nobody dives, had tons of extra space every day and no way to transfer them to other divers.

I'm going to check out Derawan in a few months, based on word of mouth description, that seems like much better diving for your time and money.

 

[Centrals]

Sipadan was very underwhelming.

I'm going to check out Derawan in a few months, based on word of mouth description, that seems like much better diving.....

It is.
Getting to Derawan is not comfortable if you take the boat option from Tarakan. A 3hrs bumpy ride on flat sea and if the sea is rough then....

 

[jjmochi]

I just got back from Sipadan, did 2 days there plus the mandatory 2 days on Mabul/Kapalai. It was hands down among the best dives we've had so far- we also have around 50 dives but have been to Similians/Richilieu/Hin Deang/Hin Muang just last Dec and would definitely rank Sipadan above it. Never been to Philipines so can't compare.

In Sipadan we did 6 dives, saw 10+ turtles and 10+ sharks on every single dive, saw the giant tornado of jacks twice (literally thousands, was incredible) and found the barracudas twice but was mid-size school of 50-100 only both times. Tons of reef fish of all sizes and colors, was better than any aquarium we've been to. Corals were much healthier than Thailand also and so pretty. No mantras or hammerheads tho.

I heard from our dive guide that starting this May, they are increasing the daily permits from 120 to 240, and limiting each diver to 2 dives per day only. Which feels like a bad trade.

Mabul/Kalapai I felt was just ok but I don't like muck dives and am not good at finding small stuff so your mileage may vary. Semporna was a dump and but is a must to transit through unfortunately.

We were on a 6 day liveaboard to Thailand over xmas week last year and while it was also pretty good diving Sipadan just blew it out of the water. Thailand was also much more crowded, and we missed out on seeing any whale sharks or mantas (was told it was too early in the season). Overall reefs were not as healthy, but out of the 18 dives we did I would say maybe 1/3 was on par with Sipadan.

 

[sipadan.com]

Number 1:
Sipadan (and Mabul for macro) is still excellent with blacktips, huge hawksbill turtles, big coral, and a limited number of divers. The macro around Mabul is amazon thanks to the villages which act as a nursury. Stay easily 5/7 days. Aboid the peak seasons (Chinese holidays mostly), ask for extra permit. If you book via Sipadan.com, you can apply and get more permits. Discounts.
Number 2:
Gato island near Malapascua is great with white tip sharks in the tunnels and many rare macro species around the rocky island. Malapascua has develloped a lot since 10 year and is quite overcrowded. The macro around Malapascua has decreased since the typhoon. The Threshers are still there but the mantas are only luck now (previously it was guaranteed to get giant mantas on the way to monad shoal). There are other dive spots in Cebu that are worth it, such as MoalBoal for the sardines and turtles. Don't go to Oslob, it's baby whalesharks and packed with thousands of tourists every morning. Go to Donsol (also not guaranteed to see whalesharks as it's not allowed to dive where to snorklers go), so need to go a few times.
More down the list:
The Similan are good for landscape, hure rocks, for marine life it's not as 5 stars are Sipadan or Malapascua.

 

[Centrals]

No one had ever mentioned giant manta was guaranteed on the way to Monda Shoal to me in all my previous visits to Malapascua. Many divers did not realize that mabula was cruising above them at Monad Shoal because they never bother to look up. There is a big difference between manta and mabula.

 

[Griffo]

Sipadan was very underwhelming. Went there in Aug 2018, not worth the hassle, considering how overpriced it is (due to permits etc.) compared to general diving in SE Asia, and on top of that the wasted time having to lay over in the awful town of Semporna, the transfers, the mandatory non-Sipadan days of boring diving around Mabul.

I guess I saw a very different Sipadan in 2017 then. We dove 4 days out of 5, so were quite lucky with the permits. I think every single dive was amazing. From barracuda storms, rays, turtles that wanted to come and say hello, even a school of jack fish so big it literally blocked the sun and went dark. We didn't hesitate to spend the extra $$ to extend the day and do 5-dive days.

Malapascua on the other hand.. lovely island. Boring diving apart from the thresher sharks and you have to try to avoid the circus.

 

[Dan]

I'm going to check out Derawan in a few months, based on word of mouth description, that seems like much better diving for your time and money.

Getting to Derawan is not comfortable if you take the boat option from Tarakan. A 3hrs bumpy ride on flat sea and if the sea is rough then....

Derawan is definitely worth the 3h boat ride. In May 2014 the 3h boat ride was smooth. I had a blast there then.

It’s 233km south of Sipadan in the Indonesian side of east Borneo, called Kalimantan Timur. So you would expect similar underwater scenery.

I dove in the Channel or the Big Fish Country site as Home - Nabuccoislandresort called it to see the amazing barracuda tornadoes several time in Maratua Atoll. Then we went to Sangalaki to see the mantas. Also we visited Kakaban to swim with stingless jellyfish, like the ones in Palau. There were also resident Coconut crabs living in Nabucco island.


My next visit there will be on liveaboard with Raja Manta