Tripophobia
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I contemplated with a combined Sipadan and Orang-Utan safari trip since we arrived in China 3 years ago. However, we did always prioritize other places (Indonesia, Palau, Philippines) due to the annoying Permit topic in Sipadan. As our time in Asia will be coming to an end in 2020, we planned to finally do the trip over 2020 Chinese New Year.
We were more or less locked-in already with Scuba Junkies when Ksenia from diveandcruise.com recommended the new Celebes Explorer 9 allowing us to dive Sipadan every day while providing the flexibility of a resort as it is "hop-on hop-off".
The boat is not a new boat but a different boat compared to the old Celebes Explorer (that has very mixed reviews). The boat is super nice (a lot better than he pictures we have seen in advance, it just looks a bit dated from the outside) , the rooms are really big (especially the bathrooms), the dining area is nice and spacey and they have sunbeds and a roof that is a huge terrace (perfect to start your drone).
We boarded the boat in Semporna with two other guests (It was just us 4 on the first day). Early in the morning of the next day, big boat was heading for Sipadan. We were diving from a dinghy where all our equipment was stored on (there is no real dive deck on the big boat). Moreover, they do not have a compressor but shuttle tanks with the daytrips that they offer from Semporna.
We stayed four nights (three days of diving) and the procedure was the following:
1. Big boat went to Sipadan early in the morning
2. After a light breakfast take the small boat to registration on the island then first dive
3. Back to big boat for full breakfast
4. Second dive
5. Back to big boat for lunch
6. Third dive
7. Back to Mabul for the night
Apparently Sipadan allows a max. of 3 dives of 45min a day. We usually started the safety stop after 45min so this was a bit flexible. The diving was great we saw lots of sharks, many and huge turtles, barracuda (no tornado unfortunately), bumphead school, huge school of jacks and much more. The As said, amazing diving but there is no huge variety in the topography of the dives, it is all wall diving. Most of the cool stuff is at 15m and above.
- Please follow my channel
We were usually back at Mabul by 4pm latest and there is no real evening program or night diving. One night they offered a shuttle to Mabul island which was nice to walk around and the other two nights we enjoyed sundown and flew drone with the crew.
On our last day they shuttled us by speedboat back to Semporna.
The organization was very flexible and not as tight of a schedule as you might have experienced at other liveaboards. As we were just six guests we could basically decide when we would want to start in the morning. There was no real briefing, probably also due to the fact that the topography does not differ too much between the dives but we would have appreciated a few more details. In preparation for the very first dive, all safety measures were discussed (signs, air, safety stop etc.). Guide to guest ratio was max 1:4. Every morning, when checking in on the island, the guides always ensured that we would get slots on the famous spots like “Barracuda Point” etc. Moreover, they were communicating a lot with other boats to localize the schools.
Food was good and pleny, but more catered for an Asian taste. Combinations were sometimes a bit funny (like French Fries for breakfast). Soft drinks are available at extra cost (1USD for soft drink, 3-4USD for a beer).
Overall it was a great trip, but would I do it again? I think it depends – the combination with Sukau Rainforest Lodge was amazing and I think there are a lot more cool opportunities beyond diving in Sabah. For a pure diving holiday I would prefer Indonesia or Palau.
Sipadan was great diving and Celebes Explorer is probably the best options as you have a guaranteed permit for every day of diving. The hotels that we have seen when exploring Mabul did not look super appealing and there was lots of rubbish on the beach so we concluded that the boat was a very good choice. I would have been fine with a fourth day of diving but not a lot more as the dive sites are limited (12 sites in Sipadan) and topography does not vary a lot. Moreover, 3 dives of 45 minutes is not really a lot.
We did not experience the other dive sites around Sipadan (e.g. Mabul) but the feedback we got from other guests was not really great. However, it would have been nice if they would offer a 4th dive at one of the other locations every day or similar.
We were more or less locked-in already with Scuba Junkies when Ksenia from diveandcruise.com recommended the new Celebes Explorer 9 allowing us to dive Sipadan every day while providing the flexibility of a resort as it is "hop-on hop-off".
The boat is not a new boat but a different boat compared to the old Celebes Explorer (that has very mixed reviews). The boat is super nice (a lot better than he pictures we have seen in advance, it just looks a bit dated from the outside) , the rooms are really big (especially the bathrooms), the dining area is nice and spacey and they have sunbeds and a roof that is a huge terrace (perfect to start your drone).
We boarded the boat in Semporna with two other guests (It was just us 4 on the first day). Early in the morning of the next day, big boat was heading for Sipadan. We were diving from a dinghy where all our equipment was stored on (there is no real dive deck on the big boat). Moreover, they do not have a compressor but shuttle tanks with the daytrips that they offer from Semporna.
We stayed four nights (three days of diving) and the procedure was the following:
1. Big boat went to Sipadan early in the morning
2. After a light breakfast take the small boat to registration on the island then first dive
3. Back to big boat for full breakfast
4. Second dive
5. Back to big boat for lunch
6. Third dive
7. Back to Mabul for the night
Apparently Sipadan allows a max. of 3 dives of 45min a day. We usually started the safety stop after 45min so this was a bit flexible. The diving was great we saw lots of sharks, many and huge turtles, barracuda (no tornado unfortunately), bumphead school, huge school of jacks and much more. The As said, amazing diving but there is no huge variety in the topography of the dives, it is all wall diving. Most of the cool stuff is at 15m and above.
- Please follow my channel
We were usually back at Mabul by 4pm latest and there is no real evening program or night diving. One night they offered a shuttle to Mabul island which was nice to walk around and the other two nights we enjoyed sundown and flew drone with the crew.
On our last day they shuttled us by speedboat back to Semporna.
The organization was very flexible and not as tight of a schedule as you might have experienced at other liveaboards. As we were just six guests we could basically decide when we would want to start in the morning. There was no real briefing, probably also due to the fact that the topography does not differ too much between the dives but we would have appreciated a few more details. In preparation for the very first dive, all safety measures were discussed (signs, air, safety stop etc.). Guide to guest ratio was max 1:4. Every morning, when checking in on the island, the guides always ensured that we would get slots on the famous spots like “Barracuda Point” etc. Moreover, they were communicating a lot with other boats to localize the schools.
Food was good and pleny, but more catered for an Asian taste. Combinations were sometimes a bit funny (like French Fries for breakfast). Soft drinks are available at extra cost (1USD for soft drink, 3-4USD for a beer).
Overall it was a great trip, but would I do it again? I think it depends – the combination with Sukau Rainforest Lodge was amazing and I think there are a lot more cool opportunities beyond diving in Sabah. For a pure diving holiday I would prefer Indonesia or Palau.
Sipadan was great diving and Celebes Explorer is probably the best options as you have a guaranteed permit for every day of diving. The hotels that we have seen when exploring Mabul did not look super appealing and there was lots of rubbish on the beach so we concluded that the boat was a very good choice. I would have been fine with a fourth day of diving but not a lot more as the dive sites are limited (12 sites in Sipadan) and topography does not vary a lot. Moreover, 3 dives of 45 minutes is not really a lot.
We did not experience the other dive sites around Sipadan (e.g. Mabul) but the feedback we got from other guests was not really great. However, it would have been nice if they would offer a 4th dive at one of the other locations every day or similar.
