Dive quality - off Sabah

[flylow47]

Considering a long weekend to Sabah in June-July and am curious as to what the dive quality is really like. TARP, Gaya, other places? Seems like a lot of operators and schools, so that's a concern.

How good compared to Tioman? vis, marine life, diversity. Andaman is good but not that time of year, and I need a summer dive spot that's easy to get in and out of.

Anyone been on a liveaboard out of Labuan?

Not looking for muck diving.

 

[Quero]

Tioman is better. Easy in and out from KUL in summer is Bali.

 

[Dreamdivegirl]

Hi flylow47,

We run a PADI Dive Centre in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah so I can share some feedback based on our knowledge of dive sites here.

For both Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia (west coast) June typically has more predictable, calmer weather. July can sometimes be impacted by periods of rough seas depending upon what is happening with the start of the Typhoon season in the Philippines.

From Kota Kinabalu the most popular diving trip is to TARP (Gaya is located in TARP). You can have some very pleasant coral reef diving (depending on the dive sites you visit) but a lot is down to the weather at the time and the resulting vis.

There are also some really nice, less well known dive sites ~ 30 nautical miles by boat from Kota Kinabalu. South of KK you find Pulau Tiga, north of KK you have WW2 wreck diving and Mayne Rock. The Rice Bowl Wreck (min. AOW divers) and Mayne Rock can off some beautiful dives.

Mantanani is also becoming more popular - with good weather / calm sea state you get some lovely vis / turquoise waters. There used to be some very nice shallow reef diving here but the dive sites are becoming a bit hit and miss due to local fishing practices and the increasing volume going there.

Elsewhere in Sabah you have Sipadan and Layang Layang - both world class diving sites - but I'd suggest going there for a longer stay than a weekend to get the most from your time there.

Hope this helps. Wherever you choose to go have a lovely weekend!

Thanks,


DG

 

[Hike]

we dove the rice bowl wreck outside Kota Kinabalu on the way back from a recent layang layang liveaboard and it was one of the worst dives i have ever seen. The wreck itself was in good formation and did have a fair amount of fish, but there was a lot of dead fish around from a recent dynamite fishing incident. hundreds, if not thousands of fish lying on the bottom. Layang Layang itself was not bad, but for the remoteness, i really dont think it is worth the trip. We did see hammerheads, but they were extremely deep (most 50-60+ meters). I was just surprised that there was a general lack of pelagic life, we saw a couple grey reef sharks, both 40+meters deep. A few sleeping white tips and one eagle ray, but we heard a lot of dynamite type sounds, which is probably an indication of what is happening there.
Sipadan on the other hand (atleast when i was there at the beginning of last year) was amazing. I have never seen anywhere with so much life. Though you have to deal with the permit issue, but if you do your research, there are a lot of ways around this, by choosing the proper place to stay

 

[Rhone Man]

we dove the rice bowl wreck outside Kota Kinabalu on the way back from a recent layang layang liveaboard and it was one of the worst dives i have ever seen. The wreck itself was in good formation and did have a fair amount of fish, but there was a lot of dead fish around from a recent dynamite fishing incident. hundreds, if not thousands of fish lying on the bottom. Layang Layang itself was not bad, but for the remoteness, i really dont think it is worth the trip. We did see hammerheads, but they were extremely deep (most 50-60+ meters). I was just surprised that there was a general lack of pelagic life, we saw a couple grey reef sharks, both 40+meters deep. A few sleeping white tips and one eagle ray, but we heard a lot of dynamite type sounds, which is probably an indication of what is happening there.
Sipadan on the other hand (atleast when i was there at the beginning of last year) was amazing. I have never seen anywhere with so much life. Though you have to deal with the permit issue, but if you do your research, there are a lot of ways around this, by choosing the proper place to stay

I am planning to do Sipidan later this year. Where did you stay, and any other advice you would offer?