Seadventures Sipadan

[ok3]

If you are scuba diving mania this is the best choice for you cos the unlimit house reef diving can give you the unlimit experience. Many thing to see, if you have good eye 555. The thing I like here is the free WIFI, ensuited bathroom, A/C room. But the bad side I really concern is the food is not familiar to me, really reccommend to prepare some of your favoirte rg. instant noodle, ... compare to the others on the mabul I think this resort can giving you the reasonable price too. In case you are not scuba mania, maybe you need to consider other on the Mabul Island or try to prepare something to do (book, notebook, game, cards, ...) on that resort cos you are a bit touble to go others 555

 

[InDaWata]

Yeah, that does sound pretty cool to me.
Unlimited diving at seaventures.... Although, Im sure I would get tired of it by the 100th dive.

 

[Dreamdivegirl]

Hi, I went to Seaventures a couple of years a go for a 5D4N Diver package. We've also had several friends stay at Seaventures since then. The diving, food and staff were all good / great. We went a quiet time of year (September) so got to dive Sipadan a couple of days as well as the reefs at Mabul and Kapalai. I like underwater photography so enjoyed diving (lots) and enjoyed both the drop-offs at Sipadan as well as the muck diving. The diving below the Oil Platform is very interesting (nudibranches, Frog Fish, Moray Eels, Ghost Pipefish, Pygmy Seahorse, Bat Fish etc.). Only negative is the rooms - very basic. But if you're going for mainly diving then the rooms are there for just sleeping. I would stay there again. Feedback from my friends to me about their stay at Seaventures is very similar.

If you want a bit more luxury to your accommodation then Kapalai is worth looking at. It's not significantly more than Seaventures and the chalets / water bungalows are beautiful. If you'd get a bit crazy being stuck on an oil platform in between dives then consider staying on Mabul Island - somewhere like Sipadan Mabul Resort - where you can walk along the beaches and sea more island life.

Hope this helps. Enjoy your diving holiday!

 

[jbtut]

I stayed at Kapalai last August. It was fantastic and not all that much more expensive. Also here's the deal, if you have a better chance at going to Sipadan more often with Kapalai. They will take you out on the house reef and check to see if you are a competent diver. If you're not, you're going to spend a few days learning how to dive. If you still are crashing the reef they probably won't take you. While they say it is a lottery or whatever, it really is based on other factors $. I'm not exactly sure how to put this, but the military hang out at Kapalai sometimes, and Kapalai tends to get more permits (and divers that don't sign the log book...). You get the idea. I'm not sure if there are really back door deals, but in that part of the world it's standard procedure to bribe anyone and everyone. We stayed for only three days and dove Sipadan. If you want two days on Sipadan, IMO the best odds are to stay for half a week at both resorts as they will both try to get you there once during your stay. If you're just going to one, I'd go to Kapalai.

One thing that I didn't like was that you're going for your first dive at Sipadan at dawn. It's too dark to really enjoy everything you see. You do go for 4 dives there, but you're still done by 2 or 3pm. It would be better to go later. The house reef at Kapalai is as good if not better than most diving you'll see around the carribean, so it's not like it's terrible. But, the diving as Sipadan is spectacular. I'd go during low season if you can. Then you'll likely get to sipadan almost every day.

Also, I'd highly recommend going to Lembeh for a couple days if you can arrange it while you're in SE asia. It is completely different but equally amazing. We stayed with Bastianos and had a great time. Plus it's a LOT cheaper. Finally you aren't too far, once you're in Borneo, from taking a two or three day trip into the Kinabatangan river to see the jungle. Definitely worth your while. Uncle Tan's is the best and most remote of the Jungle Camps on the river.

Good luck.

 

[InDaWata]

"While they say it is a lottery or whatever, it really is based on other factors $. I'm not exactly sure how to put this, but the military hang out at Kapalai sometimes, and Kapalai tends to get more permits (and divers that don't sign the log book...). You get the idea. I'm not sure if there are really back door deals, but in that part of the world it's standard procedure to bribe anyone and everyone."

....Um, hang on to your money. Ive been living in SE Asia for years and havent bribed anyone....

The permits are arrnaged by Sabah Parks, it doesnt have anything to do with the military. Some dive OP's get more permits than others...

 

[jbtut]

"While they say it is a lottery or whatever, it really is based on other factors $. I'm not exactly sure how to put this, but the military hang out at Kapalai sometimes, and Kapalai tends to get more permits (and divers that don't sign the log book...). You get the idea. I'm not sure if there are really back door deals, but in that part of the world it's standard procedure to bribe anyone and everyone."

....Um, hang on to your money. Ive been living in SE Asia for years and havent bribed anyone....

The permits are arrnaged by Sabah Parks, it doesnt have anything to do with the military. Some dive OP's get more permits than others...

All I can say is that it doesn't seem random. And I know that a number of divers on our boat were told not to sign in. And the military is the enforcement group. Not sure how you'd explain that othewise. Maybe they let all the dive shops bring guests who don't sign in?

 

[InDaWata]

When were you there?

If there was any problem with them stacking the boat- then I would suggest that the dive op was the one picking the people who went to Sipadan and didnt.

Sabah parks issues the permits, but the problem is that if the dive op doesnt sign up for them ahead of time, they will get fewer spaces. So they usually have to sign up with "phoney" names to prevent their business from losing permits. People come in anyway, so the permits end up being used even if they go to walk in customers during the downtime.

The same thing happens when people cancel their reservation. Sabah parks has someone else's name on the register- but they never turn up so the permit goes to the next guy (who probably doesnt have the same name). The register will probably still have the last guys name on the list.

At the end of the day they cap their quota of ~120 divers a day.

 

[jbtut]

I was there in August of 2009. The dive op absolutely was picking who went to Sipadan. We didn't have any type of prearranged permits or guarantee that we would go to Sipadan. They decided the night before who would go and put the names on a white board. So you would find out around 5pm where your boat was going the next day. Our group of 4 were the only divers from our arrival group that went to Sipadan on the day we went. And that's a good thing because the rest of the group were terrible as far as buoyancy control and diving safety in general. I don't know if Japan has a different dive training, but they were walking on the house reef, crashing coral, and one lady made an uncontrolled ascent and I don't think she even know she did it until she hit the surface. She was probably under 100lbs with 6kg of weight. No wonder she was having trouble with buoyancy. During our stay they never went to Sipadan.

And we signed in with our own names. The ones who didn't sign, didn't sign at all.

 

[The Wolf]

All I can say is that it doesn't seem random. And I know that a number of divers on our boat were told not to sign in. And the military is the enforcement group. Not sure how you'd explain that othewise. Maybe they let all the dive shops bring guests who don't sign in?

You can't dive Sipadan anymore without signing in; Sabah Parks have 2 boats out now waiting for dive boats as they approach Sipadan and they have eye's on all boats approaching the island from 6am onwards.

As far as the military is concerned as an "enforcement group," thats total and utter nonsense.

They are a army special forces unit who rotate out every 3 weeks and their job is to provide overwatch and security on Sipadan and to patrol around Kapalai from time to time. THATS ALL.

There is also a naval SF unit based out of Semporna and more often than not, its them that are out at nights patroling Kapalai, Mabul and Seaventures.

 

[Nishan]

Yes they have tightened up the patrolling and I think its good in the long term. For places to stay I would second Seaventures anytime if your not after luxury and want to maximize diving. The diving is great including the house reef, rooms are basic (but have AC and everything worked) and the food was simple but tasty and there was always plenty of it. Add free WiFi and friendly staff you have a winner in my opinion. Why go all the way to Sipadan if diving was not your priority. There are nicer beach resorts with decent diving than Mabul and Kapalai all over the world. Seaventures also gets a decent number of permits for Sipadan. Some friends just returned from a week there and managed to get in 14 dives in Sipadan over 7 days. And i actually enjoyed the early morning dives. Great way to start the day followed by picnic breakfast on Sipadan and you done by lunch leaving you time to have a nap and dive under the rig in the evening or night.