Sipadan worth it after Malapascua, Apo and Moalboal?

[Ashantiashanti]

Heya guys,

I would just like to hear your recommendations.
Due to the unexpected high visa extension prices in the Philippines (yes, we should have done our research beforehand,) we will leave the country a week before planned,and are not sure if we should go directly to Hongkong for some big city life or pass by Sipadan on the way.

We will be doing a week in Apo, about 12 days in Malapascua and then around 4-5 days in Moalboal. I expect that we will have completed around 12-15 dives. So as far as the amount of diving, we will have done a lot according to our own needs.

However, is Sipadan so amazing that, since we can get there on the way to Hong Kong, we should do some diving there? Or will it not be that much better/different from what we will have already been done with in the Philippines?

Thanks a lot for the advice,
Cheers

 

[pughio83]

Sipidan deserves a full week and with the permit limits you will likely need to dive mabul as well during your stay. There is a reason why sipidan gets voted one of the best sites in the world. In a word it is very good. Corals, macro, sharks, turtles and shoals , has the lot and with occasional surprises! I haven't dived Apo or malapascua but from what I have heard and other places I have dived in Philippines, my bet would be Sipidan will be better. Obviously no threshers there as a general.

 

[Ashantiashanti]

Sipidan deserves a full week and with the permit limits you will likely need to dive mabul as well during your stay. There is a reason why sipidan gets voted one of the best sites in the world. In a word it is very good. Corals, macro, sharks, turtles and shoals , has the lot and with occasional surprises! I haven't dived Apo or malapascua but from what I have heard and other places I have dived in Philippines, my bet would be Sipidan will be better. Obviously no threshers there as a general.

Thanks for that! Well perhaps then we will skip Moalboal and spend some more time in Sipadan due to the permit quotas.

 

[dirtfarmer]

Sipadan has excellent diving. Sipadan itself offers turtles, bumpheads, sharks, big school of jacks, and big school of barracuda and good reef fish action, beautiful coral. The diving around Mabul is good white sand muck diving. I'd dive it!! Sipadan definitely deserves a stop.
In comparison in the PI you'll will have the Threshers at Malapascua, but I hate to say the other fish action there is lacking due to overfishing/dynamite fishing. I was there for ten days this Jan and enjoyed the diving but found the lack of fish and destroyed coral habitat depressing.
I haven't been to Apo for 6 years but when I dove it it was really had really nice coral, fish, turtles, and a nice school of jacks. The muck around Dauin is top notch also.

The PI really needs to rethink the length of it's visa times. 21 days is not enough and next time we go we will get a 60 day ahead of time. We renewed ours there this last trip and lucked out to have a really good/nice driver who went out of his way taking us around town for pictures and copies we needed, and luckily back at the immigration office we didn't have to wait in line again as it had grown to about 15 long which would have taken hours to get thru.

 

[FT]

Had understood that the Visa on Arrival (for eligible nationalities) now lasts 30 days, a better deal than the former 21.

Please, just don't skip Apo. It is magical. Cannot say how Sipadan compares.

 

[ocdiver1]

Had understood that the Visa on Arrival (for eligible nationalities) now lasts 30 days, a better deal than the former 21.

Please, just don't skip Apo. It is magical. Cannot say how Sipadan compares.

Yes, VOA is now 30 days. Have also extended my visa while in the Philippines before and, other than it taking several hours waiting, was done on the spot and not costly at all...so maybe that could be reconsidered.

Sipadan shouldn't be missed...as much as I love Malapascua, Sipadan is more of a "don't miss" experience that any of the places you plan on visiting in the Philippines

 

[Centrals]

The quota is the biggest issue!
As far as I know the quota is not distributed evenly among all the operators! If the resort is full and you will have difficulty to make it to Sipadan if you only stay for couple of days.
Select the operator carefully and do enquire before hand.

 

[pughio83]

If you book a week or more you will more likely get more than one permit (ie more than one day there). Avoid peak seasons also as less chance. I went off peak and although only had 4 days I still got a day there. Each resort gets a number of permits and it varies with resort. Budget resorts get less. And if u can contact operator in advance and get in writing your number of permits.

 

[Luko]

Basically the "historical" resorts which were the ones settled first on Sipadan and relocated in Mabul 10 years ago own the most permits per day (14 each) : this includes Kapalai resort, SWV, SMART, Borneo Divers (+ MV Celebes Liveaboard owned by ex Abdillah resort).
The Celebes liveaboard can go diving Sipadan every day while the other resorts will schedule Sipadan according to the number of guests they have OR sell their quotas to the other resorts. It's then an estimation of the resort capacity and occupancy that will give you an idea of the number of probable dives on Sipadan, of course they will favor longer stay guests. To give you a hint in terms of capacities, Borneo Divers is the smallest, SMART is the biggest.
The other on historical resorts will get a significantly smaller daily number of permits and try to buy additional permits from other resorts. One of the best ratio is usually obtained by Seaventures, (the oil platform) they own something like 10 daily permits and they don't have that many guests.

 

[Tippytoes12]

We have done Maolboal and Mabul....in my opinion Maolbaol is far better than Mabul...clear err water , better coral and much cleaner. Sipadan is better than anywhere else , but try to get some reassurances regarding Sipadan permits before you make any rash decisions.