Sipadan(Malay. Sipadan) - small island(with a diameter of only half a kilometer, an area of ​​12 hectares), a mecca for divers from all over the world.

The island is the top of an underwater volcano, which has been covered with corals for thousands of years. Sipadan covered with tropical jungle and fringed by sandy beaches.

Geographic location of Sipadan

Island Sipadan is located in Sulawesi sea off the coast Borneo in the east of the state of Sabah.

Sipadan was the subject of a territorial dispute between Indonesia and Malaysia, which included the Philippines, claiming the entire North Borneo.

Diving

With nearby islands such as Mabul And Kapalai, Sipadan is one of the most popular dive regions South-East Asia. Sipadan is part of the national marine park Tunku-Abdul-Roman ( Tunku Abdul Roman Marine Park), the number of divers on the island at the same time is limited for environmental reasons.

Area Sipadana in terms of biological diversity, it is one of the most saturated regions in the world; more than 3,000 species of fish and hundreds of species of corals are distinguished in the ecosystem.

Divers can see green turtles and hawksbill, barracudas, manta rays, eagle rays, hammerhead fish, whale sharks, etc.

Attraction Sipadana is the Turtle Cemetery - underwater karst cave with a labyrinth of tunnels and chambers filled with the skeletons of turtles that got lost and drowned here.

Most amazing place on the island - Barracuda Point - a body of water where giant flocks of barracudas, gathering in flocks of thousands of pieces, twist in spirals, creating fantastic patterns. At the other end of the island, the same flocks of jacks gather. Swimming inside the flock, you can watch this endless bizarre round dance, radiating a silvery glow.

Sipadan Hotels

Actually on Sipadan overnight stays are prohibited, so tourists are placed on neighboring islands Mabule And Kapalai.

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This island attracts lovers of the exotic, unusual landscapes, experienced and beginner divers and snorkeling enthusiasts. The area of ​​Sipadan is about 13 hectares. The island is washed by the waters of the Sulawesi Sea, it itself is covered with jungle, bordered by sandy beaches around the perimeter.

Sipadan is famous for the richest underwater world: the island is in the top 5 best world places for diving. In the coastal zone there are several thousand species of fish, several hundred different corals, but the turtles that come to this place during the breeding season brought fame to the island. While diving, you can see up to a hundred turtles.

The climate of this island, as well as other nearby islands, can be described as equatorial, that is, sunny and hot throughout the year. Rest from the eternal heat bring infrequent rains, as well as ocean breeze. The average air temperature is + 30-35 degrees, the water is heated up to 30 degrees.

Attractions

Except the most beautiful natural places The island has a number of other sights of miraculous origin. One of them is the rainforest, located in the central part of the island. Local authorities forbid entry to its territory in order to preserve the pristine nature of this place.

Another feature of Sipadan is the diverse fauna. Excursions are organized daily to the island to familiarize tourists with the birds, turtles, fish and corals of these places. Travelers are interested in the underwater cave, which has a frightening name "Turtle Cemetery". The cave consists of numerous chambers and intricately woven tunnels: they are filled with a large number of turtle skeletons that were once lost in this underwater labyrinth.

Sipadan has an amazing place called Barracuda Point, which is an expanse of water where barracudas often gather, forming large flocks. They create fantastic patterns in the water, twisting in a spiral. A similar spectacle can be seen on the opposite side of Sipadan, where the quaranks gather in the same flocks.

Entertainment

Diving is considered the main entertainment of Sipadan island. Divers from all over the world seek to get to this small island to explore its underwater world, which is often compared to the Galapagos. Sipadan dive sites consist of many walls and rocks, overgrown with sponges and corals. Scuba diving is allowed between April and early December, however best time July-August is considered when favorable conditions for diving occur: the water temperature reaches 30 degrees, visibility under water is up to 45 meters. Diving depth is from 5 to 55 meters. Near the island there are 12 dive sites located near the coast. Diving is possible from boats or from coastline. Most popular places for diving are shown below.

North Shore:

South coast:

East coast:

• Turtle Cave (Turtle Cemetery). The depth near this reef is up to 23 meters, visibility in some parts can be zero. It is a labyrinth cave, where the skeletons of lost turtles remained. Diving is carried out only accompanied by local divers.
• Wall. The depth in this place reaches 38 meters. An interesting reef wall, overgrown with sponges and corals. Night dives are carried out in this area.

Diving is also developed on the neighboring islands - Mabule and Kapalai. Muddy water diving is popular in Mabula, which is suitable for macro photography of marine life.

How to get to the island?

To come to the island, you have to go through a difficult path. First of all, you need to get to Tawau - one of the most large towns in the state of Sabah. There are air flights to Tawau from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu, and then another flight from Kota Kinabalu to Tawau. Travel time will be about three and a half hours. There is a direct flight from Kuala Lumpur, which will save a lot of time.

Holiday prices

Since Sipadan is a closed island, the infrastructure is not developed in it: there are no cafes, restaurants, hotels. When visiting this place, food should be bought in advance and taken with you. Tourists are usually accommodated on two neighboring islands - Kapalai and Mabula, where good chalets are built. They represent three star hotels, consisting of two parts - a chalet in the jungle and a bungalow on the water overlooking the island of Sipadan. Prices for holidays in 2020 per day in a room will be from 4 thousand rubles.

The Malaysian island of Sipadan is a real paradise surrounded by the azure waters of the sea. Holidays on the island are suitable for active people who love the water element and sports associated with it.

Sipadan is a small island of oceanic origin with a size of no more than 12 hectares. This Malay tropical paradise you can get around in just 25 minutes, along the way seeing the beautiful sandy beaches, framing the rain forest located in the depths. You won’t be able to get acquainted with representatives of the forest flora and fauna nearby: local authorities forbid tourists to move deeper into the island. However, as eyewitnesses testify, monitor lizards and other living creatures sometimes roam along the coast. In addition, Sipadan is a nature reserve - a habitat for many birds, more than three thousand species of fish, hundreds of species of corals, green turtles and hawksbill turtles.

The marine splendor of Malaysia's only oceanic island is created by the numerous corals that have grown on top extinct volcano. This process took hundreds of years. Sipadan is located at a distance of about 700 meters from the bottom.

Divers all over the world talk about Sipadan with a breath. In the late 80s, the island was visited by the legendary Jacques Yves Cousteau, who authoritatively recognized it as one of the best diving sites on earth (read more about dive sites in the article “Diving in Sipadan”). There are schools of barracuda and tuna, patrols of hammerhead fish, millions of coral fish and dozens of sea turtles hovering above all this abundance.

Story

Sipadan is located near port city Semporna, part of the state of Sabah in East Malaysia. However, in this case, the proximity to civilization in the form of the huge island of Borneo rather played a bad role in history. The fact is that Sipadan was a disputed territory for a long time, which either Indonesia, which owns more than 70% of Borneo, or Malaysia, tried to appropriate. At the end of 2002, as a result, by decision of the International Court of Justice, Sipadan went to the Malay side along with Ligitan. Previously, the Philippines claimed the island, but their claim was not satisfied.

One of the most tragic pages in the history of Sipadan is associated with Filipino terrorists who took 21 victims hostage on the island, of which 11 were ordinary tourists.

The underwater world of Sipadan

How to get to Sipadan

Getting to Sipadan is not so easy.

By plane

There are several options. The first step is to get to the city of Tawau, the third largest locality state of Sabah. This requires either a domestic flight from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu (two and a half hours), and then a flight from the state capital to the city of Tawau (about 50 minutes), or immediately a direct flight from Kuala Lumpur, which is much more convenient and faster . Another option with transfers is a flight from the main Malay city to Sandakan, and then from the latter to Tawau (about 40 minutes).

Tawau International Airport (Tawau International Airport) is the second largest in Malaysia and mainly serves Malaysia Airlines Airlines and Air Asia.

By taxi

The second stage of the journey is a trip from Tawau to the port of Semporna, located 35 km from the island of Sipadan. Most convenient way but not cheap - taxi from the airport. Travel time varies from one to two hours.

On the boat

After arriving in Semporna, depending on accommodation, you either immediately go to Sipadan by speedboat, or get on the water to the island of Mabul, which will serve as the starting point for future trips to the diving paradise. Travel time from Semporna to Sipadan is about an hour, from Semporna to Mabul Island about 30 minutes.

Mabul Island is one of the closest "points" to Sipadan. Divers from all over the world also come here, and, unlike Sipadan, there is a well-developed tourism infrastructure. Mabul itself is extremely small. The whole territory is sandy beaches, artificially expanded; numerous coconut palms planted on the site of the destroyed jungle, and hotels designed for different budgets.

Search for flights to Tawau (nearest airport to Sipadan)

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Sipadan Hotels

Since Sipadan is a nature reserve, the number of divers on the island at the same time is limited (this is how the authorities try to protect the unique local reefs). No more than 120 dives can be made during the day. Accordingly, it will not be possible to live on the island either: tourists are usually placed on two nearby islands - Mabul and Kapalai, where comfortable chalets are built.

Cuisine and restaurants

You will not find cafes in Sipadan. Food and water must be taken with you.

Shopping and stores

Sipadan Island is not a place for trade, but a nature reserve. This is its charm. Souvenirs can be purchased in Semporna or on other islands such as Maboule or Kapalai.

The tiny island of Sipadan, off the coast of East Borneo, has firmly established itself in most rankings of the world's best dive sites. People from all over the world come to this island to see the hammerhead shark and dive surrounded by green turtles and schools of barracuda. When planning my trip, I followed one of the dive centers that organize diving in Sipadan on Facebook, and they often posted reports that their customers had seen a hammerhead shark. I was so fired up with the idea of ​​seeing her that I was completely engrossed in the idea, but in real life the chances of doing this turned out to be small, even on Sipadan, but first things first.

Sipadan Island

Sipadan (Malay. Sipadan) is a tiny island (400 meters in diameter) in Malaysia, East End Sabah State, Borneo. Represents the top of an extinct volcano. The sheer walls of the coral reef, located around the island, go to a depth of 600 meters.

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Sipadan Island looks like a tropical paradise, once there was a resort on it, but then it was removed and people were banned from living on the island. Only a few border guards and employees of the turtle hatchery remained. You can walk around the island in 20-30 minutes, but you can’t do it, because turtles lay their eggs on the beach and tourists are not allowed there.

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It's useless to talk about the beach on Sipadan, it's easier to see it once...

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Around the island is surrounded by a coral reef that is filled with life. Even snorkeling, you will see many green turtles, whitetip sharks and flocks of barracudas dancing in a huge round dance. The water is so clear that the bottom can be seen at a depth of more than 10 meters. Where the coral reef ends, the bottom goes to a depth of 500 meters.

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Diving in Sipadan

As I mentioned earlier, Sipadan consistently ranks in the top 5 in all possible dive site rankings. Apparently for this reason, I had very high expectations from diving in Sipadan, which did not materialize. No, I'm not saying the diving is bad, but it didn't live up to expectations. Of course, I haven't dived so much around the world to be able to objectively compare, but Sipadan didn't have the WOW effect on me that I was hoping for. But these are my personal impressions, I can't deny that Sipadan is in the league of first class dive sites.

On Sipadan, a limit of no more than 120 divers per day has been introduced, permits are registered and issued in advance. The fee to visit the island is $40. If you want to get to Sipadan for sure, then the permit must be booked in advance, preferably at least a month in advance, and in the season (summer) it is best 2-3 months in advance. There is a small chance that someone will refuse and then you can go instead of him under his name, but I would not count on it.

Prices for diving in Sipadan vary depending on the level of the dive center with which you are going to dive. I was looking for cheaper options and ended up chatting and choosing between two dive centers: Billabong Scuba and Scuba Junkie. The latter seemed to me more reliable and experienced, and the first had mixed reviews on the Internet. In the end, despite the negative reviews, I settled on Billabong, as for my 4 days only they could offer 2 days of diving in Sipadan and 2 days in Mabul (Scuba Junkie only offered 1 day in Sipadan and 3 days in Mabul). The final price was 1,790 ringit (about 18,000 rubles), including 11 dives (6 on Sipadan and 5 on Mabul), equipment rental, accommodation with meals, a permit to Sipadan and a transfer from Semporna to Mabul and back.

Only 12 dive centers have the right to issue permits to visit Sipadan, the rest buy them from these 12. The Billabing Scuba I dived with (ranked 10th on the chart) are allowed to issue 6 permits per day. Here is a complete table of dive centers who can issue permits and the number of permits per day. Personal permits are issued for passport data, but, fortunately, you don’t need to take your passport with you to Sipadan.

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There are 13 dive sites on Sipadan: Turtle Cavern, Barracuda Point, Coral Gardens, Whitetip Avenue, Mid Reef, Turtle Patch ), South Point, Staghorn Crest, Lobster Lair, Hanging Gardens, West Ridge, northern cape(North Point), Break (Drop off). I have only dived 5 of them. The most notable are obviously Cape Barracuda and Turtle Cave. Unfortunately, I didn’t get into the turtle cave, since only small groups dive there, since it’s very easy to get lost in it and never return again (there are a lot of turtle skeletons in the cave that could not find a way out of the cave), but on Cape Barracuda I dived twice. Cape Barracuda is the island's most popular dive site, as flocks of barracuda are almost certain to be seen there. Most of the other dive sites are wall dives.

On the first day of diving, I started pestering divemasters when we see a hammerhead shark, but the reality turned out to be far from expectations, although a hammerhead shark is a frequent visitor to these places, the probability of seeing it is quite low. I asked my divemaster Abu how many times he dived and how many times he saw a hammerhead shark, he said that out of 70 trips (3 dives each trip) he saw a hammerhead shark 3 times, which gives a chance of about 1 in 70, it's about time upset, but the chances still remained. As we approached our third West Ridge dive site of the day, I asked Abu where he last saw a shark, to which he replied that he saw it at that very spot, a ray of hope shone on me. I told him that we must definitely see her - this is my goal.
The West Ridge dive site is a dive along a sheer reef wall, but the "big things" rarely swim close to the wall, so you have to make the hard choice to swim along the wall and view the underwater life or swim in the blue darkness away from the wall, see nothing and only hope to meet something big. For Abu, there was no such choice, he swam about 30 meters from the wall and searched ...., and I tried to sit on two chairs at the same time: I swam along the wall and looked hopefully at Abu. We dived to 20 meters, after half an hour I already lost all hope, stopped looking at Abu and looked at the wall, trying to see at least something during this dive. The dive computer started counting the last 2 minutes of no decompression time at this depth and it was time to start ascending slowly, at that moment I looked at Abu and noticed his hand movement, similar to the "shark" sign. I began to swim towards it, pushing with all my might with my fins, the depth was 30 meters, the computer began to squeak, warning that the no-decompression time was up, but this didn’t bother me anymore, my breathing quickened, spending more oxygen. Abu showed signs that he saw a hammerhead shark, but when I swam up, it was gone. We looked hopefully into the depths of the water, but there was nothing there. When all possible time limits had already passed and it was necessary to surface, SHE appeared from the blue abyss .... a little angry that she was disturbed, she swam right at us ... huge about 2 meters in length ... with eyes, looking in different directions .... A giant hammerhead shark. She swam very close, but abruptly turned 90 degrees and disappeared into the depths. These days, no one else but me and Abu saw a hammerhead shark.

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All evening we discussed this unexpected meeting, Abu said: "Alex, you just asked me to show you a hammerhead shark - I did it." Other divemasters told a story about a German woman who regularly flies to Sipadan, dives alone to 65 meters and says that she encounters sharks almost every time.

On the second day of diving in Sipadan, I no longer thought to look at something near the wall, but swam 30 meters from it, peering into the depths, but to no avail. The shark didn't reappear. Despite this, diving in Sipadan ended quite successfully for me.

Diving in Mabul and Kapalai Islands

When you come to dive in Sipadan, you must order diving on the islands of Mabul and Kapalai, usually dive centers agree to give permission for 1 day of diving on Sipadan if you order 2 days of diving on Mabul / Kapalai.

Diving in the islands of Mabul and Kapalai is not as impressive as in Sipadan, but it will be very popular for those who love macro. Mabul and Kapalai perfect place for muck diving. A couple of photographers lived with us, who, it seems to me, did not even go to Sipadan, but dived on Mabul and Kapalai every day, they found things that are very difficult to see with an ordinary eye.

Kapalai is generally difficult to call an island. Once 200 years ago it was a full-fledged island, but erosion has done its job and now the island is a thin strip of sand. There is only one Kapalai Resort on the island, all the houses and buildings of which stand on stilts on the water.

Since I don't have a camera for underwater shooting, all the photos were taken by other divers, I'll post a couple here with their permission.

15) Sea horse and me

16) There are a lot of turtles there, there are specimens with a shell width of more than a meter. I love turtles, but I think I've seen enough of them for a year ahead.

Diving in Mabul is almost two times cheaper than in Sipadan. There are more than 10 dive sites in the area of ​​Mabula and Kapalaya. I liked Paradise 1 Mabul the most. Frog fish live there, many different nudibranch,
crocodile fish, big turtles, and the most interesting thing I saw for the first time was how my favorite anemone fish protect their caviar plantation. It was one of the best dives.

I would like to mention divemasters separately. I dived with a Malaysian and he, to put it mildly, did not care about clients underwater. Almost every dive ended up with clients swimming on their own out of the divemaster's field of vision, I rarely encountered such indifference. It was especially noticeable how, because of this, beginners are worried underwater. Therefore, if you have little experience, I would recommend discussing this point with your divemaster and try not to break away from him.

How to get to Sipadan island?

Sipadan Island is located in the eastern part of the Malaysian island of Borneo, the easiest way to get there is through Kuala Lumpur. (). From Kuala Lumpur, you can fly to Tawau Airport, the cheapest option is likely to be AirAsia.com, which I also flew (the ticket cost about 1,500 rubles). From Tawau Airport, you can pre-order a transfer from your dive center, it usually costs 90-100 ringit (900-1000 rubles). I wanted to take a bus to Tawau, and from there by bus to Semporna, in total it would have been less than 20 ringit, but when I left the airport, I was immediately offered to take a minibus to Semporna for 30 ringit. If you didn’t book a transfer in advance, then I think it’s quite realistic to negotiate with the drivers who came to meet divers from some dive center to leave with them, it should not cost more than 30 ringit. But I recommend arriving no later than 3-4 pm, after this time it will be problematic to get to Semporna on the same day, the journey takes about 1.5-2 hours. Another option to get to Semporna is to fly to Kota Kinabalu ( main city Malaysian Borneo) and from there take a bus (about 10 hours) to Semporna.

You can go diving to Sipadan directly from Semporna, but I would recommend to be based on the island of Mabul. Still, living on the island is much more interesting and sailing closer, especially if you plan to dive in the area of ​​the Mabul / Kapalai islands. Since boats leave for Mabul in the morning, you still have to spend one night in Semporna, there are not very many hotels in the immediate vicinity of the pier, but one of the best in terms of price / quality ratio is definitely http://www.hotelscombined .ru/Hotel/Sipadan_Inn.htm?a_aid=43568&label=report_sipadan]Sipadan Inn. The price of accommodation is about 90-100 ringit, you can find cheaper, but not with such comfort. It takes about 30-40 minutes to sail from Semporna to Maboula.

Sipadan Island is also 30-40 minutes by boat from Mabul Island. During diving, the boat leaves for Sipadan in the morning and returns after 4 pm. Rest between dives and lunch are held right on the beach in Sipadan.

Mabul Island

Mabul Island is the main base for those who come to dive to Sipadan. When you Google the name Mabul and look at the photos showing houses on stilts above crystal clear water, you get the impression of an island paradise. Reality, as is often the case, is very far from imagination. Half of the island is occupied by a poor village, and there is no normal beach on Maboula at all. Therefore, be careful when choosing if your goal is not diving.

Most of the hotels in Mabul are located on stilts above the water, but do not rush to present a picture of tropical islands and expensive hotels in the Maldives, in fact, everything is not so fabulous.

I stayed at a Billabong Scuba hotel, it is very basic and inexpensive, the accommodation cost 90 ringit per night, including three meals a day. Room without air conditioning. It was possible to take an extreme house with air conditioning and more comfortable, but for 150 ringit per day. The food is very simple, almost every day the same thing, but quite edible, you won’t die from the city. If you ask well, you can even find Tanduay contraband Filipino rum, on the last day on the island we in an international company (Russian - I, Irish, Italian, German, Filipino and Australian) drank several bottles of this rum.

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Every day, children swim up to the hotel and ask for a dollar, or their parents, who offer to buy lobsters and other sea food.

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By the way, if you come up with the idea to swim right next to the hotel (there is a very convenient descent into the water), then I recommend that you first think about where everything that you flush in the toilet goes. I looked at the Chinese tourists who were splashing around these houses and it gave me mixed feelings :) The transparency and purity of the water can be deceiving.

Not far from our resort there is a school, and behind it is a local cemetery, interesting tombstones, I have never seen such.

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One of the largest hotels on the island of Sipadan Mabul Resort.

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There was an unexpected meeting by the pool in this hotel

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26) Is the water warm?

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Another major resort on the island is Mabul Water Bungalows, all bungalows stand above the water on stilts.

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30) Apparently the resort is popular among Russian divers

One of the original ways to live on Maboula is to stay at the Seaventures drilling rig

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And this is how the locals live, this is not the worst option

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Political situation in the state of Sabah

I decided to highlight this topic in a separate paragraph, since I myself came across this quite closely. The fact is that the rebels from the Sultanate of Sulu, subordinate to the Philippine Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, consider the territory of the Malaysian state of Sabah theirs and periodically try to capture it. In 2000, right from the island of Sipadan, a couple of dozen foreign tourists and local workers, then this situation was resolved, but this hit hard on the attractiveness of the island for tourists. Shortly before I arrived in Borneo, about 200 soldiers of the Sultanate of Sulu invaded the territory of the state of Sabah and announced that they would not leave and were ready to sacrifice their lives. And just during my dives on Sipadan, the conflict turned into a tough phase. About 60 people from both sides became victims of the confrontation. On the day of my departure, the island of Sipadan was closed to the public and it was not clear when it could be opened again. On the same day, I returned to the city of Semporna, where in the evening a shootout took place a few kilometers from my hotel, in which one policeman was killed and several were wounded. Half an hour later, as soon as this news began to spread throughout the city, it was empty. The doors of my hotel were closed with metal bars, it was impossible to go out or go in. The night was tense. The next day, when I took off from Tawau airport, I met many military equipment, planes, helicopters and many soldiers. It is most likely that you will not encounter this, but when going to Sipadan, keep this in mind and read the news from Malaysia just in case.

I confess that I expected much more impressions from Sipadan, but the hammerhead shark saved the whole situation, if not for her, I would have left unsatisfied. But despite this, Sipadan is a place worth visiting for any diver, it's worth it. Well, I will consider other options, among the nearest ones - a month of diving in Bali, where they already promised me that I would see Giant Manta Ray, and in the long term - diving in the Galapagos, where you can not only see a hammerhead shark for 2 seconds, and swim freely among them.

If you have any questions, welcome to the comments.

When you first meet the small island of Sipadan, which is located in pacific ocean, near the port of Semporna in East Malaysia's Sabah state, the uninhabited island of Robinson Cruz comes to mind. Sipadan rose from the depths of the ocean during the eruption of an underwater volcano. It grew thanks to the corals that formed over hundreds of years, a delightful island in its crater. Nearby is the large Malaysian island of Borneo.

This small island (12 hectares), with white sandy beaches, with the emerald green of the rain forest. With rich forest flora and fauna. He is rich, not only in a lot of different types birds, near its shores in clear greenish water there are about 100 varieties of corals, 3000 species of fish, many Byss turtles, as well as green turtles.

The famous traveler Jacques Yves Cousteau, who visited the island in 1989, was fascinated by its beauty and rich underwater world. He noted that Sipadan, the best place in the diving world.

There was a time when this unique island was almost destroyed: hotels were built for tourists, barbaric fishing was carried out with the help of dynamite, during which not only fish, but also unique corals were destroyed. However, in 1992, the authorities closed it to tourists and demolished the hotels. The place was allowed to visit only divers and then no more than 120 dives per day. Sipadan announcement national reserve, slept him unique nature from disappearance.

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Accommodation is prohibited here, arriving tourists are accommodated on nearby islands: Kapalai and Mabule. Excellent hotels have been built for them, shops with souvenirs and cafes are open, where the food is very good.

Accommodation, meals can be selected for a different wallet. The islands have good sandy beaches, many planted coconut palms grow. The closest to Sipadan is Mabul.

Favorite place for divers

Divers from many parts of the world dream of getting to Sipadan for scuba diving. The place here is truly unique. Its equatorial climate: during the day up to +34 degrees and high humidity up to 95%, it is easily tolerated due to the constant ocean breeze.

Diving is carried out from speed boats or boats, which are equipped with canopies from the scorching sun. From Mabul to the dive site, they reach 20 minutes. It all depends on the weather.

During diving, the underwater world, stunning in its abundance, opens up. Who is there only: damselfish fish, lobsters, red mullet, sweetlips, crabs, whale sharks, thousands of colorful coral fish, fantastic-sized barracuda and many others. There are more than 70 species of coral polyps alone here. But the most important here are turtles. They are everywhere in the water and on land. There are a huge number of them here. These include green soup turtles and hawksbill turtles. They breed on this island.

Due to the restriction of diving - no more than 120 per day, getting to the island is not easy. Permits are sorted out by large dive centers, they are ordered several months in advance. You can’t just buy a dive in Sipadan, it is included in tourist tours with accommodation in a certain hotel and visits to additional places. You should pay attention to smaller dive centers, there are packages to Spidan for a lower price.

Attention! On Sipadan, dives are to a considerable depth, there are strong undercurrents. So, for divers of a class below AOWD, it is better to dive with an instructor.

Keep in mind that now tourists going on vacation to Malaysia will pay a tourist tax at the hotel per night in the amount of 10 ringtones - about 140 rubles (2 dollars).

How to get there

There are many flights from Moscow to Kuala Lumpur (the capital of Malaysia) from Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo airports. Travel time on average with one change is 18 hours, with two - 1 day 10 hours.

Then by flight from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu (capital of the state of Sabah, travel time 2.5 hours). Then to Tawau (1 hour). From Tawau ( international Airport Malaysia) half an hour by car to the pier of the port of Semporna, and by ferry to Sipadan 40 minutes, to the island of Mabul (30 minutes).

There is no infrastructure on Sipadan, as mentioned above, living on it is prohibited. You need to stop on the island of Mabul or Kapalai.

Getting here is very difficult, but once you get there, you will never regret the time spent. Diving on the islands will give you a vivid experience.