The diving around Mabul and the neighboring islands is fantastic. Fairly healthy coral reefs, not a lot of divers, and big fish.
I chose Seahorse Sipidan Scuba to provide my accommodations and diving with. Again they are fantastic.
But since this is about the diving I will mention Ben. He was the dive-master and was great.
Safety was paramount and his ability to spot macro nudibranches and other creatures was great.
Ben was always polite and friendly, never cut the dives short (like some dive operators), and chose good sites based on the conditions.
I would not hesitate to dive with him again.
Each day there was three dives. Two in the morning and one after lunch.
On day one we went to Kapalai House Reef which was a sloping reef with a sandy bottom.
Dive one I saw pipefish, frogfish, mantis shrimp, glass shrimp, a bunch of groupers, the list goes on. I was impressed already.
Kapalai is an artificial reef. All kinds of structures were built and sunk. These structures are in all kinds of shapes, including houses.
The ocean has taken hold of them and coral is growing all over them.
Dive two was eel garden. Like its name, there were a lot of eels, including some small stingrays which I had never seen before.
The last dive of the day was Paradise 1. I highly recommend that if you are diving Mabul you go there.
It is an artificial reef as well but had a ton of big fish.
The highlight was the Broadclub Cuttlefish. I have never had the pleasure looking at a wild cuttlefish before and they are magnificent.
Continue reading (Incl. Pics) at: Diving Mabul, Kapalai, and Sipidan Island – Malaysia, Borneo
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