Trip Report - Sipadan/Mabul/Kapalai

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Your idea of difficult and mine are not the same.

Shall we say, not difficult but a pain in the butt?

Fly to KK,fky to Tawau, van for 3 hours to Semporna, hang around until boat ready to take you over to where you are staying. Ya, not difficult

This was my sentiment exactly- can't fly direct to Tawau, KK is a sucky airport with no lounge and not even AC, 3 hour van ride is on uneven and windy roads (I got carsick), flight/boat schedules often mean you are stuck spending a night in Semporna (last boat at 4pm meaning you must land by like noon if you want same day transfer, which doesnt jive with flight schedules). With the same number of vacation days taken I can fit in 1-2 more diving days going to other places in Asia (Phillippines, Bali, Thailand) than Sipadan because you don't lose 1.5 days on either end. Perhaps from US tho it doesn't make a dent and everywhere in SE Asia is equally far.
 
This is nothing if compare with a trip I made to Cocos Island in Costa Rica! The boat journey to Cocos alone took 36hrs each way! It was a 15 days trip with only 6 day of diving.

Getting there is half the fun, alternative is going somewhere else.
 
This was my sentiment exactly- can't fly direct to Tawau, KK is a sucky airport with no lounge and not even AC, 3 hour van ride is on uneven and windy roads (I got carsick), flight/boat schedules often mean you are stuck spending a night in Semporna (last boat at 4pm meaning you must land by like noon if you want same day transfer, which doesnt jive with flight schedules). With the same number of vacation days taken I can fit in 1-2 more diving days going to other places in Asia (Phillippines, Bali, Thailand) than Sipadan because you don't lose 1.5 days on either end. Perhaps from US tho it doesn't make a dent and everywhere in SE Asia is equally far.

I stayed over in KK one night, on the way in and again, one night on the way out. It was not fun.

I did wonder if it could have been made more enjoyable by checking out the cool caves and orangutan centre.
 
I've been wondering if anyone has been diving in Bahrain.
 
I stayed over in KK one night, on the way in and again, one night on the way out. It was not fun.

I did wonder if it could have been made more enjoyable by checking out the cool caves and orangutan centre.
The Caves are better in Sarawak.
The orangutan centre is nice but that would add another day in the trip.
The trek on Mt Kinabalu is also very good but will add at least another 2-3 days.

Bite the bullet.
 
I stayed over in KK one night, on the way in and again, one night on the way out. It was not fun.

I did wonder if it could have been made more enjoyable by checking out the cool caves and orangutan centre.
this was in 2001? Another poster before you said that KK airport sucked as well.

I've been twice in the last two years. KK is one of my favorite cities in SE asia! Really convenient from the airport to the city, lots of cheap hotels and nice, cheap restaurants. Cheap diving that's passable. And the airport now is very nice. The entire airport was rebuilt in 2015, and the previous terminal is now only used for cargo storage. There's a priority pass lounge airside that's very nice, order made food!

Don't let your old opinions linger too long in Asia, things change fast.
 
this was in 2001? Another poster before you said that KK airport sucked as well.

I've been twice in the last two years. KK is one of my favorite cities in SE asia! Really convenient from the airport to the city, lots of cheap hotels and nice, cheap restaurants. Cheap diving that's passable. And the airport now is very nice. The entire airport was rebuilt in 2015, and the previous terminal is now only used for cargo storage. There's a priority pass lounge airside that's very nice, order made food!

Don't let your old opinions linger too long in Asia, things change fast.

I don't remember the KK airport at all, neither good nor bad. I don't believe that was a problem for me. And Tawau airport was nice.
I arrived late in the day and so was insecure about walking around in the dark. From the window in my room, the main street appeared to be nicely bustling but I was ready for bed anyway. The next morning I was picked up for the airport at around 5 a.m. to fly to Tawau.

The trip back was similar.

My brother in law has climbed Mount KK more than once, so if a person is into that kind of thing, that would be fun, I suppose.

Regardless, KK may be more fun nowadays but it matters not to me because a person still has to fly to Tawau and then take the van 3 hr trip to Semporna. Then the boat over to where that person is staying. Then that person has to hope like heck that they get a permit for at least one day, preferably more than one. The diving at Sipadan, is great but not so great that I wouldn't trade in a heartbeat for Raja Ampat.
 
...because a person still has to fly to Tawau and then take the van 3 hr trip to Semporna. Then the boat over to where that person is staying. Then that person has to hope like heck that they get a permit for at least one day, preferably more than one.
This is all true, can't argue with it. Semporna isn't a pleasant place to spend time. I can say I did 11 dives with Seaventures over 4 days, during the high season this summer, and got 2 permits to Sipadan of the 3 days we did boat diving. I was happy with that, and I think if you go in low season, the odds of you doing > 50% of your dives at Sipadan is good (but not guaranteed).
 
This is nothing if compare with a trip I made to Cocos Island in Costa Rica! The boat journey to Cocos alone took 36hrs each way! It was a 15 days trip with only 6 day of diving.

Getting there is half the fun, alternative is going somewhere else.

I really want to go there but the journey is sooo long. I wish I had known about it while I was still in NY- where there are direct 5h flights vs 28h from HK. What flight/route did you take?
 
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