Dive Review of Sipadan Water Village in
Malaysia/Borneo

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Sipadan Water Village, Mar, 2009, by Stanley Zuk, NY, USA ( Sr. Reviewer 11 reports with 3 Helpful votes). Report 4755.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	I've always wanted to go and dive Sipadan, and finally, after so many years of diving I arrived in Sipadan Water Village on Mabul Island in order to dive there. I was very lucky to be there in a slow season in march, cause I got to dive Sipadan 5 full days. Unfortunately to Sipadan island, the amount of divers is quite excessive, and during some dives we were mixing with another group of divers. The place itself looks like a factory, because it's that busy with divers. The diving is good, but it's not the best I've seen. They usually make you dive famous Barracuda Point for a few times, and if it wasn't for this inexhaustable spot, the rest wasn't very exciting. There was another great reef with an amazing amount of turtles, but overall it became quite boring. Most dives begin with diving Sipadan wall for about 20-25 minutes, the walls are steep and nice, but very boring, and there's not much to see there, except of couple of turtles hiding in caves. The true strong point of Sipadan was its shore diving, and walls vere just a waste of time. I've seen many turtles, many white tip sharks, and a school of humphead parrot fish, however, excessive amount of divers and snorkelers makes fish disappear, or simply go away. I stayed in Sipadan Water Village on Mabul island. It was clean, nice, and very well organized. Food was just acceptable, and boring. There is also one thing about the resort. It is situated on Mabul island with neighboring dirty and dreadful small village, not showing on prospects and photographs, and if you'd like to be away from it, you should definitely stay on Kapalai. Mabul dives were dead and uninteresting, so if you are not diving Sipadan for at least 5 days, it doesn't make much sense to be there. Kapalai dives were a bit better, but not really great. If you really want to spend the time and money there, and you are an experienced diver, go to PNG, Fiji, Tuamotu Islands, or Palau instead of going to Sipadan Water Village.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Bonaire, Cozumel, Yap, Palau, Fiji, Bora Bora, Fakarava, Rangiroa, Caymans, Curacao, Cook Islands, Maldives, Seychelles, Tanzania, Mauritius, Malaysia, many others.
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	windy	Seas	choppy, surge
Water Temp	78-80°F / 26-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	- Ft/ - M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	?
Enforced diving restrictions	Safety stop
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	1 or 2	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of Sipadan Water Village in Malaysia/Borneo

Sipadan Water Village, Mar, 2009,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Sipadan Water Village in
Malaysia/Borneo