sipadan, malaysia

[kjpwong]

g'day everyone,
my brother and i are going on our first dive trip to sipadan island, malaysia in mid january for 6 days, staying at a resort called borneo-mabul dive resort. cant wait!!!
anyhow, just wondering if anyone has dived there before. if so, what are the things to look out for in terms of sites, marine life, currents...etc and are there any special equipment/ things we need?
thanks in advance
kenny

 

[frogfish]

I think that if you do a search on Sipadan in this forum you will find a ton of info... Have a great trip it is a beautiful place.

 

[Batfish]

Some Information:

Sipadan Dive Site Info

Mabul Dive Site Info

 

[malaysia-islands]

I'll be diving in Sipadan next March (my 1st time since getting Open Water cert). My previous trips were snorkeling but it still gives you a decent preview of what Sipadan has to offer.

My Sipadan trip report

 

[Travelnsj]

I was in Sipadan Sept. 04 for 2 weeks and stayed at Kapalai.....Loved Kapalai water village....If you are into Muck diving you will love it.

But around Sipadan Island...well the only thing I saw were Turtles....and a few other fish, once the famous school of Barracuda. Visiblity was about 30' to 40'. I'm into Pelagics....So there was not much for me to see.

 

[JonnieB]

yeah, search this forum for multiple trip reports, including mine

only recco would be to be sure to bring all your own gear and spares...there is nothing really available there, except the resort's rental gear.

diving is awesome...sipadan for pelagic action and kapalai and mabul for macro :14:

 

[Mel.B]

I've just returned from Sipadan and had a great time.

Viz was 10 - 20m while I was there. The first day was best (around 20m) and it progressively got worse - down to 10m. I didn't see the barracuda, but apparently the day before I arrived they did (isn't that always the way!) A few large white tip sharks and lots of babies on the reef, also saw a threasher shark which was a highlight. No hammerheads but I think you have to be pretty lucky to see them. Lots of turtles (obviously) but I had the impression before going that the water would be thick with them! Not quite that many...i saw maybe 30 - 40 during my week. The school of jacks are great and I got encircled by them which was fantastic. Didn't see any bump head parrotfish, but I believe you need to go early in the morning to see them. Unfortunately one couple on our boat didn't want to do an early morning dive so it meant we all missed out

Mabul & Kapalai are great for muck diving. Try to do the sunset mandarin fish dive in Mabul and the ghost pipe fish at Kapalai. All the diving was pretty easy...drift along with the gentle current. I stayed at SMART and they were great.

HTH,
mel

 

[malaysia-islands]

I've booked my airplane ticket to Tawau (Sipadan) from AirAsia for next March. Supposedly, March offers the best viz, we'll see about that.

About dive site, not too sure yet. It depends where North Borneo Diver wants to go that day.

Well, kjpwong, have fun! I think January is a great period too. I've been to Sipadan on end-Jan/early-Feb this year, it wasn't too bad.