A coral island on top of an extinct volcano, Sipadan is graced with steep drop-offs which form a 600 meter wall. The corals are world-class & with the drop-offs, which are washed by upwelling currents carrying rich nutrients, you get superb pelagic action at the same site as corals & critters.  An astonishing number of Green turtles are resident here and the water is teeming with schools of fascinating bumphead parrotfish, large schools of barracuda and trevally …. grey & whitetip reef sharks, leopard sharks, bamboo sharks, even thresher sharks, white tip sharks, eagle rays, mantas &  marble rays.  The frosting on the cake, the intriguing scalloped hammerhead!

Gorgonians and sponges grow to amazing sizes and you’ll find giant groupers, tuna, surgeonfish and jacks milling around them …. and you’ll explore overhangs, caves and crevices.
In the lagoon, you can find beautiful hard corals – including some great specimens of brain coral. which attract smaller fish.

In spite of the fact that Mabul and Kapalai are very near to Sipadan, the diving you’ll find at these islands is quite another world. With their sloping shelves carpeted with runoff from tropical rain and rivers, with coral rubble and grass seabeds, here you get some of the ultimate of “muck”.

It’s a world of weird and wonderful. Huge frog fish, mandarin fish, seahorses, ghost pipefish, countless nudibranchs, snake eels, and scorpion fish galore. If you love critters, you’ll adore Mabul and Kapalai ….

See both our liveaboard & land-based diving sections for our recommended operators in this region.

Everything from massive schools of scalloped hammerhead sharks to some of the most intriguing muck diving in the world, these islands, in spite of their relative proximity, offer divers diversity almost beyond belief.  A very small oceanic atoll, Layang Layang, is known for its healthy corals and astonishingly large schools of scalloped hammerheads. Although the hammerheads are the main draw for many divers, the corals are magnificent and there are plenty of pelagic fish in the area as well as angelfish, butterflyfish, batfish, triggerfish and other colorful species.

Macro photographers, don’t despair. The coral gardens house plenty of photogenic creatures for your taste, too.  Lankayan Island is all about lovely corals, abundant reef fish, really nice macro opportunities … plus some good wrecks.