Sipadan Scuba Diving Travel Blog (Malaysia)

Any avid scuba diver worth his salt would know of Sipadan Island (Sabah, Malaysia). Situated on the northern tip of Borneo, Sipadan is widely ranked as the best dive site in Malaysia. And one of the best in the world. Its school of Barracudas in tornado-like formations and majestic shoals of Jackfish and Humphead Parrotfish had long given Sipadan its legendary status amongst divers and underwater photographers. In this travel blog, we details our Jan-2019 5D4N scuba diving trip to Sipadan Island (and Mataking Island). Share this Sipadan Scuba Diving Travel Blog to inspire your dive buddies!

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Sipadan Island (Sabah, Malaysia)

The diving paradise of Sipadan is Malaysia’s only oceanic island. It is the result of an extremely steep volcanic cone (now extinct) rising approximately 600m from the seabed. With corals subsequently growing on its top.

Sipadan Island is relatively small. Measuring 650m in length, with a width of 300m.

The extreme depth surrounding the island and its near-vertical coral walls makes Sipadan a truly unique diving destination. And ensures that the island is a sanctuary for numerous exotic marine life in the area.

How to get to Sipadan Island

Most visitors access Sipadan (and the nearby islands of Mabul, Kapalai, Mataking) via the coastal town of Semporna. The boat ride from Semporna (to Sipadan) takes 1-hour.

The nearest major airport to Semporna is Tawau Airport (TWU). Which is an hour’s drive away.

(Refer to our other blog on Mataking Island for more details on transportation and flights into Tawau.)

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Preservation efforts: Sipadan Island

With its unique geological characteristics and variety of marine life, Sipadan Island was gazetted as a marine park in 2004 and managed by Sabah Parks. To achieve preservation, the park authorities closed all public accommodation on the island and prohibit visitors from staying over. All other commercial activities on the island were also stopped.

Sipadan Permits

To further limit the impact that visitors have on the environment, the authorities imposed a daily visitor limit of 120. With visitors having to purchase the limited day-trip permits in advance.

These permits are only available via a select few scuba diving operators in the area. Visitors are required to check with their dive operators regarding permit availability and reservation in good advance.
(As of Jan-2019, the Sipadan permit fee is RM140 per pax per day)

It is worth noting that the permit fees are non-refundable. Meaning that in the event of bad weather or other unforeseen circumstances resulting in trip cancellation, the permit fees cannot be refunded.

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Our Jan-2019 Scuba Diving Trip to Sipadan and Mataking Island

As there are no accommodation on Sipadan, most visitors base their trip from nearby islands (e.g. Mabul, Kapalai, Mataking Island) or the mainland port of Semporna.

For our Jan-2019 scuba diving trip, we managed to get a great 5D4N dive package from The Reef Resort (Mataking Island). This enabled us to return to the material comforts of the luxurious and all-inclusive resort after dives. And with the resort having a permanent daily allocation of 7 Sipadan permits, it was easy to arrange for a day trip to Sipadan.

(Refer to our other blog about our stay (and diving activities) on Mataking Island.)

Typical itinerary for day trip to Sipadan (from Mataking Island)

Prior to our trip, we arranged with Mataking Island’s dive centre for our Sipadan trip to be on the third day. Below is the dive centre’s typical itinerary for the day trip to Sipadan. With the trip usually consisting of 3 boat dives at the island.

Day trip schedule for divers on Mataking Island going to Sipadan Island

07:00hrs – Breakfast at Mataking Island’s restaurant
07:30hrs – Dive Boat leaves for Sipadan Island (1.5 hours journey)
09:00hrs – Arrival at Sipadan Island and report to Sabah Park (1st boat dive)
11:00hrs – 2nd boat dive
12:00hrs – Lunch on Sipadan Island (packed from Mataking Island)
13:30hrs – 3rd boat dive
15:00hrs – Return journey to Mataking Island
16:30hrs – Arrival at Mataking Island

Other than the mandatory Sipadan permit fee, the resort will charge a boat fee which will be shared across all divers on the particular day’s trip to Sipadan.

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Restaurant, The Reef Resort, Mataking Island (Sipadan Scuba Diving Travel Blog)

Start to Sipadan Day Trip

On the day of our Sipadan trip, we had an early breakfast at the resort’s restaurant. And subsequently rushed to get our dive gears ready for the dive boat’s departure at 7.30am. The dive centre’s staffs were extremely professional and punctual. Ensuring all divers/gears were ready and the boat left Mataking on time for the 1.5-hours journey to Sipadan.

Arriving at Sipadan Island

Upon arrival at Sipadan, all visitors are required to register and sign-in with the authorities (Sabah Park) at a small office on the northern tip of the island.

The office is located right on Sipadan’s main beach. And is linked to a peculiar-looking broken jetty which serves well as a background for a cracking Instagram shot.

Park rangers' office on Sipadan Island — Park rangers’ office on Sipadan Island (Sipadan Scuba Diving Travel Blog)

Broken jetty, Sipadan Island

Main beach, Sipadan Island

A stone throw from the office is the only public toilet on the island, which is extremely basic and dated. Adjacent to the toilet are two sheds that serve as the resting/dining area for all visitors.

Since no commercial activities exist on the island, all dive operators are required to pack the meals for their entourage and serves lunch in these sheds.

After signing-in at the park office, we promptly boarded our boat again to get started on the day’s diving.

Sipadan Island (Sipadan Scuba Diving Travel Blog)

Sights around Sipadan (Sipadan Scuba Diving Travel Blog)

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Scuba diving at Sipadan Island

As a steep underwater volcanic cone, near-vertical coral walls exist on all sides of Sipadan. With drop-offs of approximately 600-700m. Ensuring anything that a diver drops, will forever be lost in the dark abyss.

Strong currents are another hallmark of Sipadan. It is these currents that bring along abundance of food particles, which in turn attract the myriad of marine life that made Sipadan famous. It is common for divers to see loads of Turtles, Reef Sharks, and schools of Jackfish, giant Humphead Parrotfish, Batfish etc.

There are close to a dozen dive sites around Sipadan, all along its steep coral walls. The more famous sites include “Hanging Garden”, “Mid Reef” and the world-famous “Barracuda Point”. Which as its name suggest, is legendary for its school of Barracudas in tornado-like formation.

Dive sites at Sipadan Island (Sipadan Scuba Diving Travel Blog)

During our trip, it was rather unfortunate that we did not saw the school of Barracuda and Jackfish. However, the presence of plenty other marine life (e.g. Whitetip Reef Sharks, Turtles, Batfish) more than made up for a wonderful day of diving. Refer to our VLOG below for details on what we saw at Sipadan!

Tip: The dive site “Drop Off” is a short distance off the main beach at Sipadan. During lunchtime (or between your dives), simply gather your gears and snorkel out to it for a look.