A bit late but I finally cleaned up my photos from the last few dive trips and wanted to post a short trip report and some pictures:
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmJJVjUb
We dove 4 days in the Sipadan/Mabul area at the end of April/beginning of May this year. It was a last minute trip, reached out probably a month of so in advance and most of the usual operators (ScubaJunkie, Seaadventure) were out of permits. We ended up going with Billbong Scuba who were one of only 2 operators (other was Uncle Chang) that had permits on our preferred dates (over a long weekend) AND allowed us 1 day at Sipadan for each day at Mabul/Kapalai (others were 3 days or more at Mabul/Kapalai for each day at Sipadan). They were one of the cheapest and don’t have the best reviews but we bought our own equipment and figured it can’t be that bad.
Accommodation was very basic, but passably clean (but just barely). Electricity only from 5pm to 6am (which means it’s almost unbearably hot during the day with no AC), no hot water (but is lukewarm most days b/c of the sun), barely any water pressure (shower was basically a pipe), water is a bit salty, and no internet although you can get 3G reception. Not as bad as some of the reviews on tripadvisor makes it out to be, but definitely not comfortable enough to stay for longer than 4 days. I was quite happy to leave at the end and get a decent shower. Food was actually very good but caters more towards Asian taste (some were quite spicy) which is a plus for us. The local villagers sell fresh seafood (flower crabs, lobsters) and you can buy it and ask them to cook it however you want. We did that one day and it was quite good. The ladies working there are all very nice, you have to ask for a lot of things (even basic things like toilet paper) but they’re always happy to help if you do.
The diving organisation was a mix. Sipadan days went very smoothly, we left on time, divemasters were very very good, and the diving on Sipadan itself was amazing, still ranks as the most fishy/colorful/healthy place we’ve been so far (much better than Thailand, better than Bali, better than French Polynesia, and we have yet to Raja Ampat or Komodo so can’t compare). Endless reef sharks, turtles, eels, huge schools of snappers, barracudas, anthias, too much that I can’t name. We had huge schools of jacks on multiple dives that blocked out the sun and it was very impressive. Did not see the barracuda tornado tho, only medium size schools (saw larger schools in Thailand). Corals were in the best shape out of all the places we’ve been to, huge sea fans everywhere, very colorful soft corals, and healthy hard corals as far as the eye can see.
Mabul/Kapalai was the exact opposite, divemasters were just ok at pointing out macro (definitely a huge difference compared to our experience in Anilao), reefs were a bit barren although there were tons of turtles still, and some schools of yellow snappers but nothing like Sipadan itself. Organisation was horrible as we always started at least 45 min to an hour late, 1.5 hour on one day, not sure why since the dive sites are all relatively close.
The journey there was also a bit of a pain because you have to overnight in Semporna, which is probably the dirtiest and most gritty town we’ve been to. But with the way the flight/boat transfer schedule worked it’s hard to avoid. You lose a full day of travel on both ends even coming from Asia.
Overall we would consider coming back but only if we could secure 1:1 days at Sipadan vs Mabul/Kapalai, and we would book earlier for better accommodation, which probably means we’ll be back in the low season. We are headed to Tubbataha/Raja Ampat/Komodo next year and all those place are easier to get to from HK / have less pains with permits, so if they are just as good or better I don’t see ourselves coming back. Sipadan is great but Mabul/Kapalai was quite subpar in our experience especially compared to Anilao, even Malapascua had much better macro (which I’ll get to next).
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmJJVjUb
We dove 4 days in the Sipadan/Mabul area at the end of April/beginning of May this year. It was a last minute trip, reached out probably a month of so in advance and most of the usual operators (ScubaJunkie, Seaadventure) were out of permits. We ended up going with Billbong Scuba who were one of only 2 operators (other was Uncle Chang) that had permits on our preferred dates (over a long weekend) AND allowed us 1 day at Sipadan for each day at Mabul/Kapalai (others were 3 days or more at Mabul/Kapalai for each day at Sipadan). They were one of the cheapest and don’t have the best reviews but we bought our own equipment and figured it can’t be that bad.
Accommodation was very basic, but passably clean (but just barely). Electricity only from 5pm to 6am (which means it’s almost unbearably hot during the day with no AC), no hot water (but is lukewarm most days b/c of the sun), barely any water pressure (shower was basically a pipe), water is a bit salty, and no internet although you can get 3G reception. Not as bad as some of the reviews on tripadvisor makes it out to be, but definitely not comfortable enough to stay for longer than 4 days. I was quite happy to leave at the end and get a decent shower. Food was actually very good but caters more towards Asian taste (some were quite spicy) which is a plus for us. The local villagers sell fresh seafood (flower crabs, lobsters) and you can buy it and ask them to cook it however you want. We did that one day and it was quite good. The ladies working there are all very nice, you have to ask for a lot of things (even basic things like toilet paper) but they’re always happy to help if you do.
The diving organisation was a mix. Sipadan days went very smoothly, we left on time, divemasters were very very good, and the diving on Sipadan itself was amazing, still ranks as the most fishy/colorful/healthy place we’ve been so far (much better than Thailand, better than Bali, better than French Polynesia, and we have yet to Raja Ampat or Komodo so can’t compare). Endless reef sharks, turtles, eels, huge schools of snappers, barracudas, anthias, too much that I can’t name. We had huge schools of jacks on multiple dives that blocked out the sun and it was very impressive. Did not see the barracuda tornado tho, only medium size schools (saw larger schools in Thailand). Corals were in the best shape out of all the places we’ve been to, huge sea fans everywhere, very colorful soft corals, and healthy hard corals as far as the eye can see.
Mabul/Kapalai was the exact opposite, divemasters were just ok at pointing out macro (definitely a huge difference compared to our experience in Anilao), reefs were a bit barren although there were tons of turtles still, and some schools of yellow snappers but nothing like Sipadan itself. Organisation was horrible as we always started at least 45 min to an hour late, 1.5 hour on one day, not sure why since the dive sites are all relatively close.
The journey there was also a bit of a pain because you have to overnight in Semporna, which is probably the dirtiest and most gritty town we’ve been to. But with the way the flight/boat transfer schedule worked it’s hard to avoid. You lose a full day of travel on both ends even coming from Asia.
Overall we would consider coming back but only if we could secure 1:1 days at Sipadan vs Mabul/Kapalai, and we would book earlier for better accommodation, which probably means we’ll be back in the low season. We are headed to Tubbataha/Raja Ampat/Komodo next year and all those place are easier to get to from HK / have less pains with permits, so if they are just as good or better I don’t see ourselves coming back. Sipadan is great but Mabul/Kapalai was quite subpar in our experience especially compared to Anilao, even Malapascua had much better macro (which I’ll get to next).