Best time to dive at Kapalai Resort

[Triggerman]

Hello I'm looking for info on diving at Kapalai Resort. What is the best time to go diving at Kapalai, thinking about end of august is this a good time? What are your favorite dive sites?

Thinking about adding a 2 night stay in KL, but cost is over $1000 for the 2 nights if booked as package, is it worth paying this much or can you do some sight seeing and accommodations cheaper?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Quero]

Does that $1000 include airfare for two? From Tawau or from Singapore? One way or return? You can get local low-cost flights from Tawau to Kuala Lumpur for about $150 each, one way. So taking $300 out for air tickets leaves $700 for two nights at a hotel--waaaaayyyyy expensive! If we consider a round trip, we're talking $600 for air tickets and $200/night for hotel, which is more reasonable but still expensive, IMO.

 

[Midget]

$1000 USD? Or 1000 MYR?

 

[Hashsaz]

Hi,

I don't recommend you to go during end of august. it's national day in malaysia on 31st august. All the accommodation in mainland will be about doubled for low season.

the best time to visit kapalai, jan - may, june- august may rain sometimes which cause poor visibility. Try not to go during year end, maybe raining very often. However, the place is opened for diving all year round.

best dive site, around kapalai area and mabul island is famous for its macro. If you enjoy macro, the kapalai's artificial house reef itself is the best! You will be impressed. For large fish, apply for visiting to Sipadan Island. The MUST dive spot is barracudas point, you can enjoy the scene of hundred thousand of bumphead, barracudas and jack swim like tornado around you. All of them are in size of more than 1 meter. One of the best dive site in the world.


Price in Kapalai and Mabul are extremely expensive due to their world top ranking dive destination, all price is around 1000USD, you will see two different rates - malaysian rates which is cheaper and foreigner rates, however, it's still expensive for the local as it cost around 2500++MYR or more for 5d4n package (around 850usd per person if you're malaysian.)

All rates are excluding airfare. But you will NEVER regret for visiting there!

 

[Midget]

I did stay at Kapalai in late August a few years ago. The resort was full with an equal mix of Asian and European visitors.
The diving was excellent, but vis was not as good as I'd experienced during previous trips. I think vis is hit or miss at Sipadan, but it is never too bad to avoid going!

Are you flying international in & out of BKI (Kota Kinabalu) ?

As Quero stated, you were quoted a crazy high price for a KL package (if it was in USD).

There are fantastic things to see & do in Sabah.....especially viewing wildlife.....so there is no need to go to Kuala Lumpur. If you are traveling all the way from Canada, you should try to see wild orangutans while you are there! It is easier than you'd think to do that as a 2 day side trip, and can even be done on a smallish budget.
After diving, you can travel overland from Semporna to the Kinabatangan River and not waste a day of sitting in ugly Semporna or Tawau before you can fly. Sandakan is the closest city to the Kinabatangan River and there are several flights a day to both Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur.
AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines serve all of those cities, and AirAsia is almost always cheaper. Sign up on their website for their sales alerts. I've flown from Kota Kinabalu to Tawau for $17.

I love Sabah because you can make such an incredibly rich & diverse holiday there.
Dive Sipadan + exotic wildlife (orangutans, elephants, proboscis monkeys, etc) on the Kinabatangan River = AMAZING!!! The stuff dreams are made of :biggrin:

As Hashaz mentioned, Barracuda Point is superb. However, Sipadan Island is small with only 12 dive sites. I've never done a dive at Sipadan that I didn't enjoy immensely. It is top-rated as world class for a reason.
I've encountered the tornado of barracudas and school of bumpheads on other dive sites around Sipadan. Kapalai and Mabul offer excellent diving, also.

If you have any questions about easily putting your own package together and avoiding agent costs, pm me.

 

[Quero]

If you have any questions about easily putting your own package together and avoiding agent costs, pm me.

That's a very nice offer, Midget, but I'd like to point out that most agents here don't impose any extra costs that need to be "avoided." I keep hearing this from North Americans asking how much extra I charge customers for this kind of service, and the answer is "nothing." Perhaps US-based agents do add a surcharge, and that's where it comes from? So to readers, please don't think that anybody who hasn't got access to Midget is going to get fleeced by greedy agents. Most of us just want to help visitors have a great time. The more happy visitors we host, the better business is here for everybody--there's no advantage to any of us in "taking advantage" of visitors by charging them agent fees.

 

[Midget]

Quero, I'm talking about seeing some of Sabah's topside attractions without doing a package tour. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

Malaysia isn't like Indonesia. You can book and pay for your own flights on the internet.
Sabah also has safe public transport options.

I've seen the prices on topside package tours for Sabah and they're always hundreds of dollars more than we pay. While many divers have much deeper pockets than I do, there are surely some folks that would like to have a look around without breaking the bank.

 

[Quero]

Oh I see. No, it really wasn't clear, but now it is. You're not talking about steering clear of agents but rather steering clear of pre-packaged bus tours. Most divers don't like pre-packaged tours, and in my experience most dive tour agents don't sell them but work instead with FIT visitors.