cleung
Contributor
After my amazing trip to Raja Ampat in Indonesia last fall, I decided that I want to dive more of Southeast Asia. Komodo is a future trip but for my next one I chose to travel to Malaysia and stay at the Seaventures Dive Rig which is the world’s only dive facility modelled after an oil rig at sea. Not only would such a pseudo liveaboard be a very unique place to stay but it also served as a base to dive at Sipidan which is reported to be one of the premiere dive spots in the world. These waters are north of Indonesia so I was curious to see how Sipidan compares with Raja Ampat which in my world diving travel experience so far is the best overall scuba diving on the planet.
To get to Seaventures, I had to fly to Kuala Lumpur and then take a domestic flight to Tawau in a more remote east region of Malaysia. From Tawau I was picked up by a shuttle for an hour road trip to Peer followed a boat ride to the rig. I already accepted the fact that most of the better dive spots in the world like Little Cayman, Raja Ampat and Galapagos involve more complicated travel compared to more mainstream locations like Cozumel.
The food on Seaventures was decent with breakfast, lunch and dinner along with refreshments and snacks available 24 hours per day. There is also a staffed bar during the daytime. Much of the food is of Asian flair which is no surprise since by my observation about 70% of the dive guests here come from Asia due to location. The food is not gourmet standards but quite adequate enough much like it was on my Lady Denok Raja Ampat liveaboard.
The rig itself felt quite spacious with a large main deck where the dive center, bar and eating area are located. The next level will is a recreational games room, dive classroom and a massage room. Three more levels are the guest cabins and my cabin was comfortable enough although I would have liked the shower to be hotter. The top level has a large deck lounge to relax in.
I should mention that this region of Malaysia is close to the border of a dangerous southern area of Philippines where violent Muslim separatists have made attacks and kidnappings. As a counter measure, the Malaysian military patrols these waters now and Seaventures even has a trio of armed police staying overnight at the rig. Fortunately no incidents in Malaysian waters have occurred for many years.
Seaventures offers three boat dives daily to nearby dive sites around Mabul Island and Kapalai as well as special trips out to Sipidan Island for extra fees which require official permits in advance since it is a protected area restricted to a maximum of 200 divers per day and permitting only two dives per day for each diver. Then on top of these boat dives, there are unlimited dives available right underneath the rig itself which is fabulous since as you will see in the video, there is lots of marine life there.
The signature dives which are world renowned are the Sipidan Island sites. I did two days of the local dive sites which are just minutes away since the rig is right across from Mabul Island with the first boat dives leaving at 8 am and two days at Sipidan which require an early 6 am departure. Although Sipidan Island is only about 30 minutes away, it is claimed that the most sought after marine life including big schools of bumphead or humphead parrot fish and barracuda are usually at the dive sites early in the morning. We were able to have epic encounters with both on both mornings we dived there as well as a big school of jacks on the second day.
The bumpheads for me were extra special since they do not exist in my side of the world. As for the barracudas, I had sightings of at least two different species with one dive when my initial descent was right into the middle of a school of yellow fin barracuda. The barracuda species here in Southeast Asia are much smaller than their counterparts in the Caribbean but in much larger numbers. In the Caribbean the barracuda are usually spotted in singles or up to three at a time in my experience where the ones here are often in large schools which I noticed in Raja Ampat too.
The several moray eels I spotted seemed massive compared to the Caribbean ones even if only their big heads were showing out of the rocks. The reefs at Sipidan had a slight edge over those at Mabul and Kapalai but only slightly since all areas had some decent healthy reef life. The big stars at Sipidan are the bumpheads and barracuda.
All three areas had plenty of sea turtles and numbers were significantly higher than in the Caribbean. They were also bigger here too. And as expected, lionfish were spotted since they are native to these waters although I thought I would see them in larger numbers.
Overall I would rate the quality of the marine life to be at a level higher than the Caribbean especially at Sipidan but not as high as in Raja Ampat where the diversity and sheer numbers of fish as well as colourful corals are still the most stunning I’ve seen in my world diving experience. Still Sipidan is still worth diving at least once even for the bumpheads and barracuda schools.
As for the Seaventures rig itself, it is a unique experience I’m glad I tried. The cabin was comfortable enough even if basic since this is a rig after all. I was surprised at the high number of staff here and dining and bar staff plus dive staff were always around. I was happy to get no insect pests too since the rig is out at sea. I could only imagine how bad they might be at the land based resorts just across over at Mabul Island given that there’s serious south Asian jungle there near the land based resorts. The plumbing, showers and AC in the cabin could use an upgrade though but again this is not a five star resort but they did do a nice job to make the rig presentable and pleasant with the plants put in all over the structure.
I was not a big fan of their dive boats. Although they were spacious enough, ladders used were only the portable type and there were no back platforms for exit and return back to the boat. So backrolls were done but the sides of the boat were kind of high as well as thin resulting in slightly more awkward backrolls than from average dive boats. The fact that none of these otherwise nice sized dive boats had any heads was not a problem given that they returned back to the rig after each dive or in the case off Sipidan dives, back to the that island where there are washroom facilities. I do prefer these dive boats over the inflatables used on both the Raja Ampat and Galapagos liveaboards I went on. But the dive boats I've been on in southeast Asia just don't compare with some of the more modern ones in Florida Keys and Caribbean with nice back platforms as well as heads.
As for the Seaventures divemasters, I dived with three different ones and they were on par with the those on the Lady Denok liveaboard I dived with for Raja Ampat. Without getting into specifics, from a guiding and safety perspective, they were adequate especially for experienced divers who are not overly dependent on them as I have honestly had divemasters at a higher standard in other dive locations. Of course being an active dive master myself leading dives back at home, I’m perhaps more critical here as I think dive masters should be more attentive in keeping dive groups together especially with less experienced divers rather than spending more time looking for macro.
So to conclude, I would recommend Sipidan as a dive destination especially if you are making the travel rounds through Southeast Asia waters. Staying at the Seaventures Dive Rig is a unique and interesting experience for all scuba divers to try at least once.
To get to Seaventures, I had to fly to Kuala Lumpur and then take a domestic flight to Tawau in a more remote east region of Malaysia. From Tawau I was picked up by a shuttle for an hour road trip to Peer followed a boat ride to the rig. I already accepted the fact that most of the better dive spots in the world like Little Cayman, Raja Ampat and Galapagos involve more complicated travel compared to more mainstream locations like Cozumel.
The Food
The food on Seaventures was decent with breakfast, lunch and dinner along with refreshments and snacks available 24 hours per day. There is also a staffed bar during the daytime. Much of the food is of Asian flair which is no surprise since by my observation about 70% of the dive guests here come from Asia due to location. The food is not gourmet standards but quite adequate enough much like it was on my Lady Denok Raja Ampat liveaboard.
Rig Facilities
The rig itself felt quite spacious with a large main deck where the dive center, bar and eating area are located. The next level will is a recreational games room, dive classroom and a massage room. Three more levels are the guest cabins and my cabin was comfortable enough although I would have liked the shower to be hotter. The top level has a large deck lounge to relax in.
I should mention that this region of Malaysia is close to the border of a dangerous southern area of Philippines where violent Muslim separatists have made attacks and kidnappings. As a counter measure, the Malaysian military patrols these waters now and Seaventures even has a trio of armed police staying overnight at the rig. Fortunately no incidents in Malaysian waters have occurred for many years.
The Scuba Diving
Seaventures offers three boat dives daily to nearby dive sites around Mabul Island and Kapalai as well as special trips out to Sipidan Island for extra fees which require official permits in advance since it is a protected area restricted to a maximum of 200 divers per day and permitting only two dives per day for each diver. Then on top of these boat dives, there are unlimited dives available right underneath the rig itself which is fabulous since as you will see in the video, there is lots of marine life there.
The signature dives which are world renowned are the Sipidan Island sites. I did two days of the local dive sites which are just minutes away since the rig is right across from Mabul Island with the first boat dives leaving at 8 am and two days at Sipidan which require an early 6 am departure. Although Sipidan Island is only about 30 minutes away, it is claimed that the most sought after marine life including big schools of bumphead or humphead parrot fish and barracuda are usually at the dive sites early in the morning. We were able to have epic encounters with both on both mornings we dived there as well as a big school of jacks on the second day.
The bumpheads for me were extra special since they do not exist in my side of the world. As for the barracudas, I had sightings of at least two different species with one dive when my initial descent was right into the middle of a school of yellow fin barracuda. The barracuda species here in Southeast Asia are much smaller than their counterparts in the Caribbean but in much larger numbers. In the Caribbean the barracuda are usually spotted in singles or up to three at a time in my experience where the ones here are often in large schools which I noticed in Raja Ampat too.
The several moray eels I spotted seemed massive compared to the Caribbean ones even if only their big heads were showing out of the rocks. The reefs at Sipidan had a slight edge over those at Mabul and Kapalai but only slightly since all areas had some decent healthy reef life. The big stars at Sipidan are the bumpheads and barracuda.
All three areas had plenty of sea turtles and numbers were significantly higher than in the Caribbean. They were also bigger here too. And as expected, lionfish were spotted since they are native to these waters although I thought I would see them in larger numbers.
Overall I would rate the quality of the marine life to be at a level higher than the Caribbean especially at Sipidan but not as high as in Raja Ampat where the diversity and sheer numbers of fish as well as colourful corals are still the most stunning I’ve seen in my world diving experience. Still Sipidan is still worth diving at least once even for the bumpheads and barracuda schools.
As for the Seaventures rig itself, it is a unique experience I’m glad I tried. The cabin was comfortable enough even if basic since this is a rig after all. I was surprised at the high number of staff here and dining and bar staff plus dive staff were always around. I was happy to get no insect pests too since the rig is out at sea. I could only imagine how bad they might be at the land based resorts just across over at Mabul Island given that there’s serious south Asian jungle there near the land based resorts. The plumbing, showers and AC in the cabin could use an upgrade though but again this is not a five star resort but they did do a nice job to make the rig presentable and pleasant with the plants put in all over the structure.
I was not a big fan of their dive boats. Although they were spacious enough, ladders used were only the portable type and there were no back platforms for exit and return back to the boat. So backrolls were done but the sides of the boat were kind of high as well as thin resulting in slightly more awkward backrolls than from average dive boats. The fact that none of these otherwise nice sized dive boats had any heads was not a problem given that they returned back to the rig after each dive or in the case off Sipidan dives, back to the that island where there are washroom facilities. I do prefer these dive boats over the inflatables used on both the Raja Ampat and Galapagos liveaboards I went on. But the dive boats I've been on in southeast Asia just don't compare with some of the more modern ones in Florida Keys and Caribbean with nice back platforms as well as heads.
As for the Seaventures divemasters, I dived with three different ones and they were on par with the those on the Lady Denok liveaboard I dived with for Raja Ampat. Without getting into specifics, from a guiding and safety perspective, they were adequate especially for experienced divers who are not overly dependent on them as I have honestly had divemasters at a higher standard in other dive locations. Of course being an active dive master myself leading dives back at home, I’m perhaps more critical here as I think dive masters should be more attentive in keeping dive groups together especially with less experienced divers rather than spending more time looking for macro.
So to conclude, I would recommend Sipidan as a dive destination especially if you are making the travel rounds through Southeast Asia waters. Staying at the Seaventures Dive Rig is a unique and interesting experience for all scuba divers to try at least once.
