Sipadan - Don't Waste Your Time

[msreefa]

I appreciate the update my bags are packed! Im so looking forward to it. Since we will be on the Celebes I think we have even less of a concern. Then we are off to Mataking. Did you post any pics?
Enjoy!

 

[Eskasi]

Not quite...have not processed them yet as I took loads in RAW format. Here are a few shots that I have done though...

You will love it. The rain has just started though....but that does not bother the fish and you will be wet anyway! Mataking is supposed to be great for Macro as well. Happy diving!

 

[xariatay]

Wow! Nice Photos!!!
Looking fwd to report on Mataking too...

 

[msreefa]

Absolutely fabulous shots! Now the pressure is on! Ill try to bring back some...

 

[serious_fun]

I continue to see bad diving behavior where the lack of buoyancy control results in coral damage but this is a world-wide problem.

I stayed at Sipadan Water Village back in June of this year, and saw some horrendous bouyancy control resulting in coral damage at Sipadan. Divers grabbing turtles was a problem at first, but after a stern lecture that came to a halt.

With regard to the thread's topic, we had 2 days diving at Sipadan over a 4 day stay at the resort.

 

[SnappyTheDiver]

As noted it makes a big difference with whom you are staying. Borneo Divers seems to get the bulk of the permits. SMART gets 10-16 which is very difficult since they have 60 chalets - some of which have three beds. As someone who likes SMART this is very sad.

 

[msreefa]

We stayed aboard the Celebes Explorer. We had 4 days of diving Sipedan which were wonderful and had no worries! We knew we we going to be allowed. The crew was great. Tom and Jerry go out of their way to make sure you have great diving helping you all the way to see all there is to see. The boat need to go to dry dock and have some work done. They have some water problems- toilets not able to flush no running water at times, and need an exterminating they need to do an updating on some things that are broken. But the diving was great. It is the way to go for Sipedan!

 

[bill22]

As noted it makes a big difference with whom you are staying. Borneo Divers seems to get the bulk of the permits. SMART gets 10-16 which is very difficult since they have 60 chalets - some of which have three beds. As someone who likes SMART this is very sad.

I've not been to Sipadan. I've just been reading these discussions as it's an area thats on my list of potential dive destinations in the future.

A couple of observations... maybe I missed something?

Wasn't it Borneo Divers who was set up on Sipadan and moved their business off the island? Might have something to do with why they get more permits. They've been there longer.

Isn't SMART a fairly new resort? I'm sure they are very nice resort as people have mentioned, but shouldn't they have taken a look around at the market and realized the area was overbuilt?

Just a thought.

There should be a process in place to limit impact on Sipadan. On the other hand it's obvious there need to be improvements in the permitting process so that people aren't getting ripped off. Hopefully something workable will come along.

In the mean time, I suspect that my tourist dollars will be spent elsewhere until the situation sorts itself out.

 

[Iain-le-roi]

I am going to Borneo in April and was hoping to Dive Sipadan and stay at one of the resorts. Has anyone got any reccomendations on who to stay\dive with as I wouldn't like to go all that way and spend all that money only to be disapointed. I 'm not interested in spending a whole week there and taking someone elses passes but would like to be able to guarentee 2 or 3 days diving there.

I have heard Bornoe divers mentioned in other posts, would anyone reccomend them and do they do accomadation and diving and seem to present the best chance of doing a reasonable amount of diving, I'm happy to spend the other days exploring the other local sites although have to admit that I am more into diving with the larger life (especially sharks) than macro.

I'd also like the accommodation to be quite nice as I'll be with my girlfriend. Apologies this post is duplicated in anther thread.

 

[msreefa]

See my post on the liveaboard. Its the only way to know for sure you will dive Sipedan is their schedule. We spent some days on Mataking Island after which was great for turtles, barracudas balls galore, macro and just a good balance of diving. They were very accommodating.
Hope this helps,
Marcie