surveyed the site.
MABUL AND KAPALAI
If you are staying in either Mabul or Kapalai, the highlight of your trip will be diving around Sipadan Island. However, due to the permit system, you should not expect to be doing so every day. If you purchase a diving package for less than a week it may be that only one day of this is on Sipadan (a day trip to Sipadan usually includes 3–4 dives, depending on the operator). Check when booking how many Sipadan days versus non-Sipadan days are included in your package.
Most Mabul and Kapalai operators will strongly suggest that you first dive the sites around the island on which you are based. This gives the operator the opportunity to access your skills prior to venturing over to Sipadan, which is renowned for having currents.
Mabul offers some fantastic muck diving with critters galore and plenty of macro life ranging from blue ringed octopus, ghost pipefish and seahorses to a range of nudibranchs. Like Sipadan, Mabul also has a healthy turtle population and eagle rays are also known to pass through the area.
Kapalai offers relatively easy diving and a range of sloping sandy reefs that are home to numerous creatures and critters, including pipefish, stonefish, crocodilefish, cuttlefish, mandarinfish, frogfish, ribbon eels and nudibranchs.
—Kal Muller/Sarah Ann Wormald
Layang-Layang and Kota Kinabalu
Diving off Sabah’s Northwestern Coast
Access 5–15 minutes by boat
Current Good, 10–25 meters
Reef type Light to moderate
Highlights Excellent condition
Visibility Walls and reef crests
Coral Good numbers and variety of big pelagics
Fish Hammerhead sharks, dog tooth tuna, mantas, turtles
Two world-class possibilities exist for diving from the East Malaysian state of Sabah on the island of Borneo. About 300 km northwest of Kota Kinabalu (KK), in the midst of the South China Sea, lies the Layang-Layang Atoll, which translates literally as “Swallows Reef”, part of the group of atolls that make up the Borneo Banks. Layang Layang Island Resort is the only diving operator and hotel accommodation available, so booking well in advance is highly recommended.
The majority of the atoll here lies underwater with the exception of rocks that are exposed at low tide. The reefs drop in walls on all sides to depths of up to 2,000 meters. There are some excellent dives at all depths with healthy corals and good diversity. Without a doubt, though, the main reason for visiting Layang-Layang is the opportunity to see schools of scalloped hammerheads.
A GATHERING OF PELAGICS
Layang-Layang’s diving season is from March until September. It is, above all, famous for schooling hammerhead sharks, and they are there in abundance until July, but as the water warms up the sharks go deeper. The best diving is around the northeastern end of the atoll, followed closely by the southwestern end.
The eastern point of the atoll is called Dogtooth Lair, and in addition to the tuna that the site is named after, this seems to be the spot for hammerheads. Normally swimming at depths of 40 meters or more, we once encountered a school of sharks in the 10-meter-deep waters of the coral gardens. Schools of barracuda populate the reef and wall. A huge school of jackfish hang out at 10–15 meters and manta rays are also frequent visitors here.
The Gorgonian Forest is a continuation of the wall at Dogtooth Lair, so it is not uncommon to see schooling hammer-heads on this dive either. But this site is famous for its sea fans. From 20 meters down, the wall is covered in multicolored sea fans (gorgonians) of impressive size—great for wide-angle photography.
Navigator’s Lane, next along the wall, is where sea fans give way to an impressive display of soft corals. The site was visited by hammerheads during our dives, and invariably there were grey and white tip sharks circling around off the wall. Tuna cruise up and down the drop-off in search of any unwary reef fish among the schools along the wall.
At the southwestern end of the atoll is a site called D-Wall, a wall so impressive because it is so sheer and so deep. Even at 50 meters there seems to be no end to its vertical drop. The wall is festooned with colorful soft corals that entice the diver deeper. On one dive, while photographing soft corals at some 35 meters, a school of 40 hammerheads swam by. Although not sighted as often in this area, they were here! White tip sharks, tuna and clouds of reef fishes populate the wall to make a great dive site.
At the end of D-Wall is a site aptly named Shark Cave, for at 20–25 meters there is a deep cave extending under the reef where a group of white tips can often be found sleeping. Here we found 10 sharks piled up like logs on the left side of the cave and a school of about 50 snappers hanging around the entrance on the right side of the cave. Down current, the reef is flatter with rolling terrain. This area is generally swept by currents, and consequently is often favored by large fishes.
Yellow snappers in Layang-Layang.
Despite their formidable teeth, pufferfish are docile.
TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN PARK
If sharks are not your idea of fun diving, Kota Kinabalu, capital of Sabah, has an alternative. Twenty minutes by boat from the center of KK lie five islands that make up the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park, offering secluded beaches and reefs just offshore, which are perfect for snorkeling and diving.
Mid Reef near Manukan Island is a good site. The reef is generally round and slopes off on all sides from 5 to 20 meters. The top of the reef has good hard corals. Dropping down to 15–29 meters, you encounter a garden of black coral trees. A small school of yellow fin barracuda are frequently present on most dives and juvenile leopard sharks can often be seen here on night dives.
Clement Reef, closer to Sapi Island, is also a sloping reef that ranges from 12 to 18 meters, with the exception of a small finger that juts out from the reef and reaches 25 meters in depth. This finger is covered with sea fans, sponges and soft coral, attracting schools of snappers and abundant reef fish. In February and March, whale sharks migrate through the area and are sometimes seen.
Mamutik Island is home to the Borneo Divers dive center, which offers dive trips and PADI courses from introductory to instructor levels.
—Bob Bowdey/Sarah Ann Wormald
Terengganu
The Best Diving in Peninsular Malaysia
Access By bumboat from coastal towns and from island resorts
Current Fair, 8–20 meters
Reef type Usually negligible to light
Highlights Good condition, fine variety in most places
Visibility Usually coral gardens
