Lonely Boy
Contributor
oh, I lived at Abdillah too! The food there was excellent.
Sipadan any good ?
- Thread starter grandebleu
- Start date
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
I just returned from Wakatobi and the resort operator/photo pro (Steve Fish) talked down Sipadan as being degraded to the backpacker circuit. I didn't quite understand this and 3 days later asked the question again with the same response.
Seems like the standard mantra, so I'm not sure if they were threatened by the competition in these tough times or if Sipadan has truly been impacted negatively.
Seems like the standard mantra, so I'm not sure if they were threatened by the competition in these tough times or if Sipadan has truly been impacted negatively.
Rickg
Contributor
For general info, the Wakatobi photo pro (Steve Fish) was at Sipadan Island Borneo Divers for years. He then moved on to Sangalaki for about a year or so and recently moved on to Wakatobi.
Rickg
Rickg
Sipidan is a good place for diving. The last time I went there, I had the 'Unlimited Dive per day" Package. Max I had done is 5 a day. Make sure to ask the operator to take you to the surrounding dive spots, like Mabul. Happy diving.
I was in Sipadan in February 2003. That is about as bad a month as you can get but viz was still 10-15 meters (usually at the lower end) but one dive it did make it to about 20 meters. Almost all dives are drift dives but beginners should not have a problem. In our group of 8, we had 4 with less than 20 dives each and they did not seem stressed at all. The marine life is fantastic and on several dives, I was getting dizzy from spinning around to see everything. For example, on one 50 minute dive at Barracuda Point, we saw 6 white tips, 2 black tips, 4 grey reef, 1 leopard (zebra) shark, too many turtles to count, 2 tornadoes of jacks (trevalies), 3 frog fish, a ghost pipe fish, a ribbon eel, some cool flounders, a few morays and cuttlefish, many bumphead parrots and the usual other suspects in their zillions.
I wore a 2mm shorty and was fine in 28c water. We stayed with Borneo Divers and I highly recommend them. Brian was our DM and was the best I have ever seen. I can't imagine what Sipadan used to be like but it is the best diving I have ever had.
In case you are wondering, I am a PADI DM with 300 dives in places like Lembeh, Minadao, Maldives, Banda, Grand Cayman, Phuket, Bali, Tioman, Aur, Boracay, Utila and Anambas so I have somewhat of a decent perspective (although I know there are 1000's of places I haven't been).
I wore a 2mm shorty and was fine in 28c water. We stayed with Borneo Divers and I highly recommend them. Brian was our DM and was the best I have ever seen. I can't imagine what Sipadan used to be like but it is the best diving I have ever had.
In case you are wondering, I am a PADI DM with 300 dives in places like Lembeh, Minadao, Maldives, Banda, Grand Cayman, Phuket, Bali, Tioman, Aur, Boracay, Utila and Anambas so I have somewhat of a decent perspective (although I know there are 1000's of places I haven't been).
blackice
Contributor
all sound great ... I'm in training for currents and efficent air usage. Getting ready, gear sorted, new bateries ready.
Similar threads
