Dive Review of SMART in
Malaysia/Borneo

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SMART, Oct, 2006, by Phil Gans, Co, USA ( Reviewer 6 reports with 1 Helpful vote). Report 3094.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	The resort is on the Island of Mabul, about 15 minutes from Sipidan. The diving is exceptionally good. At Sipidan where we went for 2 of the three daily dives, there were tons of turtles and white tip sharks. I, of course, got excited with my first turtle sighting, but then I saw a few more, and then a few more, and then, I just expected to see turtles everywhere. They were sleeping on coral or on walls, just swimming about. It was truly wonderful. There were also lots of white tip sharks, resting on the botttom. On two days we saw a school of barracuda. There thousands of them swimming in circles at one point. Some of the divers just got among them and were surrounded by them. It was truly extraordinary. We also saw a very large school of Jacks twice or three times. There was also a school of very large bump head parrot fish that we saw twice. The school was not large, about 25 fish, but the bumpheads were about 2 or even 3 feet long. the corals were gorgeous and healthy. We only saw a couple of hammerhead at a distance. They are ususally found at Technical deepths. We also saw losts of healthy and large reef fish at both Sipadan and Mabul, plenty of nudibranches, including a flamingo dancer at night, and things like a pigmy seahorse, frog fish, leaf fish pipe fish, ghost pipe fish, junivnile frog fish, crocodile fish,etc etc. the island we stayed on. Mabul is pretty small. You can walk around it in less than an hour. It has a few resorts, including some water bungalows owned by the same people. There is a converted well station that acts as a resort, another set of water bungalows and another resort on the island. The village on the island is very poor, but the peole are very nice. Smart had good food, and a good staff. Wehn I was there there they wer ony at half capacity until the last two days when they hit full capacity. At the point the dive boats became too full, and the dives on some of the baots became shorter to accomodate less experienced divers. This would have made the experience much less fun if I had been on one of those dive boats with 10 or 12 divers. Overall, it was a great experience.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Utila, Roatan, Cozumel, Belize, Hualtaco, Playa Del Carmen, Philippines, Bali (Komodo), Thailand
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	82-84°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	7
Water Visibility	30-60 Ft/ 9-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	?
Enforced diving restrictions	The last day we were limited because of flights. A few days I had to come up a few minutes ealrier than I would have preferred. If I had been in boat with beginners or a more crowded boat, the times would have been limited.
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		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	They had tanks. It was fine for digital photographers. (what do we need afterall?)

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Dive Review of SMART in Malaysia/Borneo

SMART, Oct, 2006,

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 SMART in
Malaysia/Borneo