Mabul Island

Always on the hunt for the best diving around, I’ve hit up Cambodia, Thailand, and Perhentian Island in Peninsular Malaysia, looking for the best dive spot in the world.All of them had something different to offer and were worth the time and money spent in their own unique ways, but nothing can ever compare to the amazingness that was SCUBA diving in Sipidan in Malaysian Borneo.

I could sit here and wax poetic about it for ages, but why do that when I can simply show you exactly what I saw?

The best time to dive the west coast (Layang Layang or Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park for example) is between March and May. For Sipadan off the east coast the most settled weather is from April to December. For Peninsula Malaysia the best time is from February to November as from December to March is the rainy season.

Malaysia forms an important part of the coral triangle - one of the most biodiverse areas in the world. It has more sea area than it does land.

In 2016 the Sabah State Government created the country's largest marine park off the coast of Northern Borneo - the Tun Mustapha Marine Park. The park lets the local communities continue fishing in designated zones. According to the WWF, it will be an IUCN – International Union for Conservation of Nature - Category VI Park where sustainable uses are still allowed and local communities living within it are able to continue their activities within designated zones. The productive fishing grounds in the area support more than 80,000 people in coastal and island communities, generating around 100 tonnes of fish catch each day. It will protect almost 1 million hectares of coral reef, mangrove, seagrass and more than 50 islands.

Browse below to read divers' comments and see which dive centres have received the "5 fish" rating. You can rate a diving centre you dived with here.

I love to read trip reports on Scubaboard, so here is a review on my recent trip to Scuba Junkie, Mabul island resort and Sipadan, which I hope is interesting and useful for some planning on going there.

We had booked our trip many months in advance to ensure we got the accommodation we wanted and our Sipadan permit. The email service and help with infos provided by Scuba Junkie was very prompt, kind and professional. Its probably wise to book early if you are traveling in peak holiday season like we were, especially if you stay at Mabul island as Scuba Junkie is so popular there. You have to book 5 days diving to get one day guaranteed Sipadan permit at Scuba Junkie. Other operators have more permits (and probably far less visitors), so depending on your interest its worthwhile to shop around. 

We stayed at the Mabul island resort for 6 nights and did 5 days of diving, including Sipadan.

We were picked up at Tawau airport on time by a good car and brought to Semporna.

We had an easy check-in in the Scuba Junkie shop and then we went off to grab some lunch.

Semporna is a weird and ugly town, so I wouldn't want to stay there and dive from there - though of course you do see some other islands if you stay on the mainland.

We crossed to Mabul island from Semporna in their boat, which was quite small but very adequate, clean and had good life jackets.

We arrived and were assigned our room, which was very spacious, had great AC and a large bathroom. The beds were comfortable. A really great room for a dive lodge.

But we had come here for Sipadan… so we couldn't wait to get there! We prefer diving in the blue and big fish so we were very hopeful to see some big "visitors" to the site. Sipadan was beautiful. The dive sites were pristine. There are huge schools of bumphead parrot fish, jacks, barracuda and trigger fish. You don't see big schools like that in many places, so it is very special. We saw a school of white tips fighting to get to a hiding octopus for a mid-morning snack! There were also a few devil rays on one dive. Sadly we had no "visitors" i.e. hammerheads, pilot whales or the like, but we certainly had some amazing views. South Point and Barracuda Point were by far the best sites we did. Our guide was Simon, who dives 3-4 times a week at Sipdan. He is extremely knowledgeable, he is enthusiastic about his job, he loves the dive site and really shared his experience and love of Sipadan. He made us very aware of the dangers of the currents and briefed very clearly on how to dive in the group in this environment.

We decided to book a second day at Sipadan with another company (Borneo Speedy Divers) who had some spare permits. This was pretty costly at 875 Ringitt (190 EURO) including tax, 3 dives, food, permit etc. The difference in briefing and safety reviews was enormous. Not comparable. However, we were well briefed from the previous day and it was only 2 of us with the guide, so we felt comfortable. During our stay we heard many negative things from other divers about the safety records of some of the operators, such as Uncle Chan. Sipadan is a place where safety MUST come first, so you should make sure you carefully choose your dive operator if you are moving around operators to get more permits.

Things to be aware of when booking to stay on Mabul island:

We are quite surprised that on this "tropical paradise island" the resort is located next to a "village" of boat people. There are two "villages" on the island, which are better described as slums. Im sure that there is no or very little crime, so that is not something to worry about. However, for someone expecting an island paradise, that is not what Mabul island looks like in some parts. Also the boat people (and probably many others also) throw a lot of plastic and other trash in the water, so swimming off the beach in front of the dive lodge, you will see that.

The Scuba Junkie team is really environmentally engaged and does many beach clean ups and educates the villagers about the environment, but still you should be aware this island is effectively a part of the third world.a