Dive Review of SeaVentures in
Malaysia/Mabul, Kapalai, Sipadan

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SeaVentures: "A fantastic dive trip to Malaysia/Borneo", Oct, 2023, by Richard P Tucker, CA, US ( Reviewer 6 reports with 7 Helpful votes). Report 12663.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	We spent 8 nights at SeaVentures, a decommissioned oil rig off the coast of Sabah, North Borneo, converted into accommodations, cafeteria, game room, sundeck and PADI dive center. SeaVentures is close to the island of Mabul and is only a 20-minute boat ride from Sipadan. SeaVentures arranges airport pickups and drop offs. We arrived in Tawau too late to get to SeaVentures that day, so instead they picked us up at our hotel lobby in Tawau the next morning. It was an unforgettable holiday, and we’re already looking at our schedules to arrange a return trip! The rig closes each November for renovations (it needs to be scraped and repainted each year), so mid-October we had the place almost to ourselves. On a couple of days, only six divers were at the rig. That also meant that extra slots were available for Sipadan, and we were able to dive there on four consecutive days. We arrived at the rig around noon and were taken out on two check out dives: one in the nearby Mabul muck, and one at the house reef under the rig. Divers reach the dive boats by taking an elevator down to the sea; when diving under the rig the elevator goes right into the water, making entrance and exit remarkably easy. On Sipadan days we geared up before sunrise, and since it’s so close to the rig we arrived at the island before most other visitors. On the first day the sea was as calm as a farm pond and the boat was escorted by dozens of dolphins. We would do a 7AM drift dive (Barracuda Point, South Point, etc.) followed by a hot breakfast back at the island, then go back out for a second drift dive (Drop Off, Hanging Garden, etc.) two hours later. After hot chocolate we took the boat to either Mabul or Kapalai for a third morning dive, this time in the muck. The contrasting dive sites were very enjoyable. Sipadan has good visibility, very healthy corals, walls and strong currents. We were accompanied by turtles on nearly every dive. On the first day we had great visibility (80 ft plus), but squalls reduced the visibility a bit (50-60 ft) on the other days. The walls were spectacular, not unlike the walls of Little Cayman and Grand Cayman. Highlights included huge schools of trevally jacks and bumphead parrotfish, close encounters with broadclub cuttlefish, and dozens of sharks. We were surprised how much we enjoyed the third morning dive back at Mabul or Kapalai--the muck was teeming with nudibranchs and other macro subjects like snake eels, ribbon morays and mantis shrimp. Our dive master was an awesome guide and did a great job helping us find tiny things that we probably would have overlooked, including leaf scorpionfish, lacey scorpionfish, juvenile many-spotted sweetlips, flamboyant cuttlefish, mandarinfish, stonefish and frogfish. On non-Sipadan days we dove the muck at Mabul and Kapalai or visited the healthy reef on the west side of Mabul, away from its resorts. These sites are only minutes from the rig. There were two morning dives and a third dive after lunch, mostly at 60-70 feet for 45-50 minutes. Typically, it was just my buddy and I diving with the dive master, or perhaps with another diver or two. The personal attention above and below the water was exceptional. We only dove under the rig once, during our checkout. It was great, but it’s best to dive there when the tide is slack. Sipadan restricts the number of divers that can visit each day, and they have pretty strict rules about touching the reef and harassing its inhabitants. That’s one of the reasons that it’s still so special. However, the rangers on the mainland that oversee the operation initially balked at my buddy’s and my ancient certification (I was certified in 1978 by the YMCA) and said we were only allowed to snorkel! But the manager and dive master at SeaVentures vouched for our training and experience and eventually Sipadan’s authorities agreed to let us dive. We took advantage of the free afternoons on the rig to earn PADI advanced open water certification, so hopefully we won’t have this kind of problem in the future. Kudos to SeaVentures for going to bat for us and getting us to Sipadan, and kudos as well for the opportunity for up-to-date training. The rig isn’t a five-star resort, but it’s a fantastic platform for divers. The rooms were spartan, but the bed was comfortable, the A/C worked fine, and there was plenty of hot water. The food was good and plentiful. Most breakfasts and lunches featured Malaysian noodles with eggs and sausages, and the dinners were typically steamed rice with vegetables, fish, chicken and tofu. There was always soup available, as well as fresh fruit. The papaya was excellent! Gear storage, wetsuit stations, rinse tanks and a camera room were spacious and convenient. After diving the bar served wine and canned beer for an extra charge. My buddy and I are enthusiastic but not particularly adept underwater photographers, but the subjects on this trip were plentiful and cooperative. We were also very fortunate to meet a professional underwater videographer, Roger Munns, and his director Oliver Deppert, who were staying at the rig while filming segments for a Netflix documentary at Sipadan. They were very welcoming and frequently spoke with us at dinner time about their adventures, which included recording many of the scenes in Blue Planet II that were filmed at Mabul and Sipadan. The only surprises we had on the trip were the original difficulty getting permission to dive at Sipadan--solved by SeaVentures--and the number of drift dives. But we soon became used to diving with the current, and our dive master always kept us headed in the right direction (which frequently changed mid-dive). We originally thought we would be doing most of our diving under the rig, but the boat dives were so good we stuck with them exclusively. The amount of plastic trash floating in the sea near Semporna and Mabul was disappointing, but it’s a huge problem for the whole region that will take a long time to resolve. It’s a very remote location, but it’s very much worth the long trip! Thank you, SeaVentures.
Websites	SeaVentures SeaVentures
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Micronesia, Red Sea, Hawaii, Caribbean, Florida, California, Sipadan
Closest Airport	Tawau	Getting There	We flew Cathay Pacific San Francisco to Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific Hong Kong to Kuala Lumpur, and Malaysia Airlines Kuala Lumpur to Tawau. After spending a night in Tawau, SeaVentures picked us up and drove us to Semporna, where we met a dive boat that took us to the SeaVentures rig. Coming home we spent a night in Semporna and arranged for a driver to take us to the airport near Tawau the next morning.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, rainy, cloudy, dry	Seas	calm, choppy, currents, no currents
Water Temp	87-88°F / 31-31°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-80 Ft/ 9-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Divers needed to do a check out dive before diving the house reef.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	There is a sheltered camera room with a lot of power, and a dedicated rinse tub.

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Dive Review of SeaVentures in Malaysia/Mabul, Kapalai, Sipadan

SeaVentures: "A fantastic dive trip to Malaysia/Borneo", Oct, 2023,

Photos Submitted with this Report

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 SeaVentures in
Malaysia/Mabul, Kapalai, Sipadan