Sipadan - A Diving Safari
Jacques Cousteau once said about Pulau Sipadan that it is an “untouched piece of art”, well it may not be untouched these days but it is certainly still a piece of art. Having previously visited Sipadan a couple of years ago and stayed on Mabul island it was with some trepidation that we returned, would it still be as I remembered? Would it be as good? It turns out that the answer to both of these questions was a resounding YES!
We decided not to stay on Mabul this time around, partly to avoid doing exactly the same trip again, but also to avoid the crowds so we decided to stay at Sipadan-Kapalai resort (Pulau Sipadan Resort). It turns out that this was a masterstroke as at this time of year it is coming towards the monsoon season and not too many people were staying there and most of those there were snorkelling, not diving.
Sipadan-Kapalai Water Village - Image by Stephen Poole
Ariving from Kuala Lumpur into Tawau and transferring to Semporna was relatively easy, apart form the early start and after a short wait at the jetty we were on our way to the resort. We were lucky - blue skies and calm, clear water awaited us, the only downside was the amount of plastic waste you could see in the water near Semporna. After a short 30 minute speedboat ride to the resort we were checked in and getting ready for our orientation dive - equipment was all set up and waiting for us and it was just a matter and doing safety checks and jumping in!
The house reef at Kapalai must be one of the best around and really is a macro lovers paradise. We did a short dive with our guide but saw so much in just one dive - Lionfish, Ghost Pipefish, Flamboyant Cuttlefish and lots of Nudibranchs.
The next day we dived around Mabul and Kapalai, mainly looking for small, macro stuff - this was ideal for me as I was able to test out my new camera set up - on the first dive at Ribbon Valley, Mabul we were in for a treat, a Rhinopias, a rare type of scorpionfish. After retuning to the dive centre for our surface interval the second dive was closer at Mid Reef, Kapalai with the last dive of the day being at Mabul again, beneath the Seaventures dive platform. This may not sound like a great dive, but it is actually right up there with the best with an abundance of marine life. We were lucky enough to see some crocodile fish, scorpionfish and even a frogfish.
Rhinopias Eschmeyeri, Mabul, October 2019 - Image by Stephen Poole
The next day was what we had come for - Sipadan! For those who haven’t ever been before its Malaysia’s only oceanic island with a drop off over over 600m all around. It’s the place to go for large pelagic fish and turtles, in fact often you can see over 10 turtles on a dive. We had an early start at 5.30am but we were greeted by a glorious sunrise as we sped towards Sipadan. The reason for going so early is to try and catch the large schools of Bumphead Parrotfish that can often be seen. We started by diving the world famous Barracuda Point and we lucky enough to see a few Bumpheads swimming around, but the real star of the show was the tornado of Barracuda circling around. Thousands of Barracuda swimming around in a circle was a truly spectacular sight and made the early start well worth it. After a surface interval on the island itself the second dive was at South Point where we were greeted by a huge school of Jacks.
The rest of the week was spent alternating between Mabul/Kalalai and Sipadan itself, in total we were lucky enough to get three days of diving at Sipadan which was fantastic. It was the last of the trips to Sipadan that was the most special of all as we were the only two divers on the boat that day, in effect we had our own private tour to the world famous island! Again we set off early and arrived on the island to see a turtle laying eggs in the sand, a great start to the day. After registering we got back onto the boat where the guide asked us which spot we’d like to do - of course we both answered back “Barracuda Point”!
Almost as soon as we had back-rolled into the water the show began - a few Bumphead Parrotfish were hanging around in the shallows and as we set off with the current we came across the Barracuda. After spending a little time watching them spin around we moved on and came across around 15 reef sharks just playing around in the current. What a sight! We came back to the surface and as soon as the regulators were out everyone was exclaiming how amazing the dive was - sharks, turtles, bump heads and barracuda! Again, we had our surface interval on the island before we set off for South Point again. Again we were greeted by the resident Jacks in a huge school and lots and lots of turtles. After spending around 15 minutes watching the Jacks we drifted along with the current. about halfway through the dive, whilst looking out into the blue I saw something, an eye staring at me, it took a second or two for me to work out what it was, but the shape was unmistakeable……a solitary hammerhead shark had come up to check us out! I immediately squealed into my reg to get the attention of the others and was so excited I forgot to get any photos. Still, the memory is in grained into my mind….what a dive!
The last dive of the day we choose to re-do Barracuda Point after lunch, as soon as the boat got into position we could see a huge school of Bumpheads from the surface with great visibility. We hurriedly geared up and got into the water to be surrounded by around 40 or 50 bump heads just swimming around us. The rest of the dive was pretty awesome too, we came across the Barracuda again and there must have been 30 turtles or so over the course of 45 minutes! What a way to finish off a perfect days diving. After we got out we headed back to Kapalai and after a last dive on the house reef we had a few well earned cold beers reflecting on the last weeks diving and what a week it was. We were so lucky to have perfect weather and conditions, great visibility and to see so much life. You don’t often get a week like we had, but when you do you just have to go along with it and enjoy which is what we did.
I would recommend Sipadan to everyone, while not the cheapest place to dive however you choose to do it, it certainly is one of the best places on the planet. You get the best of both worlds with the large pelagic life around Sipadan itself and get critter and macro diving around Mabul and Kapalai. A week I will never forgot and probably the best diving I have done.