SnappyTheDiver
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Fellow Divers,
Want to dive Sipadan? Think again and consider the following very carefully.
I am currently on Mabul and this is my tenth trip to Mabul-Sipadan in four years. A few weeks ago the head ranger in charge on Sipadan changed. This happens every six months. The rules on 120 divers/permits per day is now being rigorously enforced.
What does this mean? Let's start with some basic numbers by counting the rooms/chalets at some of the major resorts offering diving at Sipadan.
Sipadan-Kapalai - 40
Sipadan Mabul Resort (SMART) - 60
Borneo Divers - 30
Sipadan Water Village - 45
Seaventures - 30
Total rooms = 205 * 2 (divers per room) = 410 divers
This number does not count the Celebes Explorer liveaboard, homestays on Mabul, and Semporna-based operations. Let's roughly say that these are another 90 divers - but actually this is more.
So we have 500 divers and 120 permits. Roughly speaking you have a chance of 1 in 5 of diving on Sipadan.
Actually that is not entirely true since some resorts for reasons political, historical, or whatever get more permits than others. For example, today Borneo Divers had 30 permits, Pulau-Sipadan (Kapalai) had 27, and SMART had 12.
If you read this board then you will see several recent posts on boats going to Sipadan and being turned back. This is a very regular occurrence. This is because everyone - resorts, homestays, etc. - are trying everything they can to keep their businesses alive by getting their guests to Sipadan.
Here's one of the gambits. They send their boats very early in the morning - 5:30 AM. Those boats do two or three dives. The boats return and the same boat gets sent back with another set of divers who are told the names and nationalities of the divers who went in the morning. Sometimes this works but quite often it does not.
Getting to Sipadan is at best a smooth speedboat ride of 20 minutes or a back-wrenching 45 to 60 minutes of crashing into an on-coming sea. You can imagine how much I enjoyed a 45 minute crossing only to be turned around. That was my experience yesterday.
Sipadan can be very good but the current situation just does not work. Dives are getting shorter and shorter because the guides and the operators want to turn around the boats and try to sneak a few more divers into Sipadan.
Mabul and Kapalai do not have enough dive sites or sites of sufficient quality as a destination in and of itself - in my opinion. I say this from the perspective of someone who is an avid macro enthusiast.
Some resorts are being very honest about the current situation. I don't believe that dive/travel agencies are being nearly as forthright. I have seen far too many unhappy divers who have come a long distance and paid serious money to be unable to dive their primary destination.
If you are considering Sipadan. Consider yourself warned.
Want to dive Sipadan? Think again and consider the following very carefully.
I am currently on Mabul and this is my tenth trip to Mabul-Sipadan in four years. A few weeks ago the head ranger in charge on Sipadan changed. This happens every six months. The rules on 120 divers/permits per day is now being rigorously enforced.
What does this mean? Let's start with some basic numbers by counting the rooms/chalets at some of the major resorts offering diving at Sipadan.
Sipadan-Kapalai - 40
Sipadan Mabul Resort (SMART) - 60
Borneo Divers - 30
Sipadan Water Village - 45
Seaventures - 30
Total rooms = 205 * 2 (divers per room) = 410 divers
This number does not count the Celebes Explorer liveaboard, homestays on Mabul, and Semporna-based operations. Let's roughly say that these are another 90 divers - but actually this is more.
So we have 500 divers and 120 permits. Roughly speaking you have a chance of 1 in 5 of diving on Sipadan.
Actually that is not entirely true since some resorts for reasons political, historical, or whatever get more permits than others. For example, today Borneo Divers had 30 permits, Pulau-Sipadan (Kapalai) had 27, and SMART had 12.
If you read this board then you will see several recent posts on boats going to Sipadan and being turned back. This is a very regular occurrence. This is because everyone - resorts, homestays, etc. - are trying everything they can to keep their businesses alive by getting their guests to Sipadan.
Here's one of the gambits. They send their boats very early in the morning - 5:30 AM. Those boats do two or three dives. The boats return and the same boat gets sent back with another set of divers who are told the names and nationalities of the divers who went in the morning. Sometimes this works but quite often it does not.
Getting to Sipadan is at best a smooth speedboat ride of 20 minutes or a back-wrenching 45 to 60 minutes of crashing into an on-coming sea. You can imagine how much I enjoyed a 45 minute crossing only to be turned around. That was my experience yesterday.
Sipadan can be very good but the current situation just does not work. Dives are getting shorter and shorter because the guides and the operators want to turn around the boats and try to sneak a few more divers into Sipadan.
Mabul and Kapalai do not have enough dive sites or sites of sufficient quality as a destination in and of itself - in my opinion. I say this from the perspective of someone who is an avid macro enthusiast.
Some resorts are being very honest about the current situation. I don't believe that dive/travel agencies are being nearly as forthright. I have seen far too many unhappy divers who have come a long distance and paid serious money to be unable to dive their primary destination.
If you are considering Sipadan. Consider yourself warned.
