MABUL

MABUL: overview

If you’re travelling to dive at the world renowned Pulau Sipadan, the likely hood is you’ll probably be staying on Mabul Island, about 30minutes off of the coast of Malaysian Borneo. Many travellers will see Mabul as merely a stopping of point before being able to dive at Sipadan, but the island is much, much more than that and offers a world of fantastic diving opportunities for those willing to give it a go.

In the early 2000’s the Malaysian government took the amazingly farsighted decision to remove all of the resorts that had sprung up on Sipadan island and turn in into a marine and bird sanctuary, which with every passing year looks more and more like a fantastic decision. The result of this decision meant that the fragile eco system of Sipadan had more of a fighting chance to survive in tact and the resorts that once stood there relocated to the nearby islands of Mabul and Kapalai. Mabul itself is the largest of the islands here and is home to a resident population, however in recent years it has become overrun by diving resorts, apparently at a cost to the local population. As most resorts only offer Sipadan diving permits if you stay more than 4 days the likelihood is that most of your time scuba diving will be spent in and around Mabul. This is no bad thing as the island is home to a wealth of fantastic sea life, especially to macro subjects such as ghost pipefish, shrimps, crabs, crocodilefish, seahorses and much, much more. Like Sipadan, it is also home to a healthy population of sea turtles too. The diving here is easy and relaxing and suitable for levels of diver from novice to expert.

mabul Island diving

Mabul is a diving destination in its own right and if it wasn’t located so close to the world renowned Sipadan island it would probably be much more celebrated. It’s probably due to the proximity to Sipadan that it is often viewed as merely a place to stay when going to dive at its more famous neighbour, but that does Mabul a disservice. Its actually one of the worlds top macor/muck diving spots and along with the Lumbar Strait and Anilao it is part of a holy trinity of macro destinations int he region. The diving at Pulau Mabul is a paradise for macro life with the island being the best spot within Malaysia for spotting the small, weird and wonderful creatures. It is not uncommon to see a wide variety of nudibranchs, giant frogfish, flatworms, oragutan crabs, shrimps and even the rare rhinopias scorpionfish. Diving here is pretty relaxed and chilled, there can often be a bit of a current, but nothing compared to those experienced at Sipadan island so it is suitable for all levels.

SMART House Reef

For a house reef this is not bad at all, a series of wood and rope structures with all manner of marine life hiding out in there its a great way to orientate yourself when you arrive.

Depth: 20m

Normal Day: Green turtles, batfish, surgeonfish, scorpionfish, nudibranchs, fusiliers, clownfish, trumpetfish, scribbled filefish, angelfish, juvenile harlequin sweetlips, grouper, pufferfish, porcupine fish, orange lined triggerfish, butterfly fish.

Lobster Wall

Depth: 19m

Normal Day: Turtles, mushroom coral pipefish, crocodilefish, false stonefish, yellow boxfish, porcupine fish, saddleback clownfish, trumpetfish, wrasse, orange lined triggerfish, titan triggerfish, blue spotted stingray, schooling fusiliers, angelfish, batfish, cuttlefish

Lucky Day: Orangutan Crab,

Paradise 2

This site can have quite string currents so best to keep together as a group, not the best dive that Mabul has to offer but still worth trying, some cool wrecks to explore as well.

Depth: 18m

Normal Day: Nudibranchs, lionfish, crocodilefish, flatworms, brown banded pipefish, giant grouper, schooling fusiliers.

Seaventures Dive Rig

This site is located just below a converted oil exploration rig and although not the prettiest site is absolutely teeming with life, a real highlight of diving in and around Mabul and a must do dive. One of our personal favourites here at Southeast Asia diving!

Depth: 18m

Normal Day: Nudibranchs, nudibranchs, more nudibranchs! Morral eels, frogfish, ribbon eels, crocodile fish, lionfish, scorpionfish, stonefish, giant grouper, barracuda, juvenile harlequin sweetlips, hermit crab and much, much more!

Lucky Day: Banded Krait sea snake, bumohead parrotfish

Ribbon Valley 1

There are series of three ribbon valley dive sites, all of which are spectacular for the sheer abundance of life.

Depth: 24m

Normal Day: Crocodilefish, blue spotted stingray, peacock mantis shrimp, nudibranchs, mushroom coral pipefish, cleaner shrimp, hawksbill turtle, ribbon eels, flatfish, mortal eels

Lucky Day: Rhinopias scorpionfish, octopus

Ribbon Valley 2

Depth: 22m

Normal Day: Leaf scorpionfish, frogfish, moray eels, nudibranchs, cuttlefish, boxfish, blue spotted stingrays, hermit crabs, cleaner shrimp, lobster

Ribbon Valley 3

Depth: 22m

Normal Day: Indian Ocean Walkman, frogfish, cuttlefish, blue spotted stingray, moray eels, nudibranchs, juvenile linnaeus batfish

Eel Garden

This site takes it name from the literal garden of ribbon eels carpeting the bottom.

Depth: 25m

Normal Day: Dwarf lionfish, scorpionfish, nudibranchs, moray eels, garden eels, cleaner shrimp, turtles

Lucky Day: Pygmy Seahorse

Stingray City

This dive can be a bit of a drift, so just relax and go with the flow

Depth: 25m

Normal Day: Nudibranchs, turtles, giant frogfish, cleaner shrimp, scorpionfish, moray eels, leaf scorpionfish, blue spotted stingray

Lucky Day: Nudibranch eggs

Getting There

Similar to Sipdadan, getting to Mabul is not easy, certainly if coming from Europe or North America. For those of us based in Southeast Asia things are a little easier, but you can still expect a full day travelling to get to your resort. From Kuala Lumpur the easiest way is to fly into Tawau in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, from here your resort will normally collect you and transfer you via minibus to Semporna where you will be taken by speedboat to your resort on either Mabul or Kapalai.

Airlines flying into Tawau include Air Asia and Malaysia Airlines both of which have a fairly regular service.

where to stay

There are a range of resorts to choose from in either Mabul or Kapalai islands. If you are on a budget you can choose to stay in Semporna and take day trips out to Mabul and the surrounding islands, but if you have made the effort to travel this far it would be a shame to miss out on the excellent macro and muck diving available. Mabul is the larger of the two islands you can stay at here with quite a few different styles to choose from. In 2017 we stayed at Sipadan Mabul Resort (SMART) in their land based bungalows, although they also have water villas too. other options include dormitory style offerings and even an old dive rig, Seaventures which is also home to one of the most interesting and diverse dives around.

time to visit

Whilst you can dive Mabul and the surrounding islands all year round, recently Sipadan itself has been closed in the month of December to allow the marine life and corals to recover - a move that is very welcome. Peak time is from April to August when accommodation can be hard to come by. As with the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia, the wet season or monsoon starts around the end of October through to February time. Both times I have visited have been in October and have had a fantastic experience. The first time I did manage to catch the tail end of a typhoon that hit the Philippines which did make conditions quite choppy for a couple of days but the most recent in 2019 I had clear blue skies and glass like sea conditions and very few other divers so, personally i would recommend this time of year. A

costs

Visit and diving at Mabul is not the cheapest diving you’ll ever do so be prepared to part with a fair amount of cash even for the so called budget options. Budget options include staying in Semporna and taking day trips out to Sipadan and the other islands, mid range would be the land based resorts on Mabul with water villages costing the most. But, if you do decide to make the trip you will not be disappointed.