Malaysia Dive Sites - Sipadan |
Sipadan is widely regarded as Malaysia's best diving and is up there with the best dive destinations in the world. Divers first started visiting Sipadan in 1984 and Jacques Cousteau described it as the best shore diving in the world. The tiny island that drops off 600m into the Sulawesi sea is famous for sharks, turtles, barracuda and humphead parrotfish, all of which are virtually guaranteed, but in fact you can see much more than that at Sipadan. All sorts of marine visitors pass by including whale sharks, thresher sharks, hammerhead sharks, manta rays and eagle rays.
Most of the diving is wall diving along the drop offs. Currents are not normally a problem although can pick up at times making for exciting drift dives. Any level of diver can dive Sipadan, just watch your depth gauge. Visibility is usually excellent. Sipadan can be dived all year round and is very good all year round but the best time of year to dive is April to September when the sea is flat, the sun is shining and the visibility is excellent. May-August can get quite busy. Chinese New Year and Japan's Golden Week holiday periods get booked out well in advance. September is a quieter month and a good time for big fish sightings.
In order to protect Sipadan the Malaysian authorities in January 2005 declared the area a protected marine reserve and now limit the number of divers with a daily permit quota. They have also removed all accommodation from Sipadan. Regulations are enforced by the Sabah marine police and the Malaysian navy who have a large and visible presence in the area to ward off any threat from terrorist groups from nearby Philippines.
It is possible to dive Sipadan by fast daytrip dive boat from Semporna but it's an hour and a half journey each way to do just two dives. There is budget accommodation at Semporna but not much else. A far more pleasant option (although more expensive), is to stay in one of the all inclusive resorts on Mabul Island or Kapalai. These delightful resorts are just 10 minutes boat ride from Sipadan and have some world class macro dives on their doorstep.
There are about 20 dive sites around Sipadan island. Four to five days will give you a good flavour of the best sites but if you stayed a month you would not get bored. Many divers like to repeat some of the best dive sites daily such as Barracuda Point, The Drop Off. There is also a famous cavern/cave dive at Sipadan know as the Turtle Cavern or Turtle Tomb where unfortunate turtles have got lost and drowned leaving only their skeletons.
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