Pulau Sipadan ( Sipadan Island )

In the northeast of Borneo, in the borderland between Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines there are three world-class dive destinations located within sight of each other. Sipadan is the legendary island of the turtles, Kapalai with a resort built on stilts in the middle of the sea, and Mabul - an enchanting island where every coconut tree has its own number.

The international famous island of Sipadan lies five degrees north of the equator in the Sulawesi Sea (Celebes Sea). Lying 35km south of Semporna, on Sabah's mainland, like many tropical islands it is thickly forested and surrounded by snady beaches. Sipadan is an oceanic island and was formed by living corals growing on top of an extinct undersea volcano, which rises 600m from the seabed.

The geographic position of Sipadan puts it in the centre of the richest marine habitat in the world, the hearth of the Indo-Pacific basin. More than 3000 species of fish and hundres of coral species have been classified in this richest of ecosystems. Sipadan is well known for its unusually large numbers of green and hawksbill turtles which gather there to mate and nest and it is not unusual for a diver to see more then 20 turtles on each dive. Another unique feature to dives visiting Sipadan in the turtle tomb, an underwater limestone cave with a labyrinth of tunnels and chambers that contain many skeletal remains of turtles that became disoriented and then drownrd.

The residential schooling barracuda and big-eye trevally are one of the highlights on every divers wish-list which often gather in thousands forming spectacular tornado-like formations. With thepossibility of seeing pelagics such as mantas, eagle rays, scalloped hammerhead sharks and whale sharks, each dive at Sipadan is a highly anticipated event.

Its not only the big fish that amaze divers coming to Sipadan, the marco life is equally mesmerizing. Garden eels, leaf scorpionfish, mantis shrimps, fire gobies and various pipefish are guaranteed at various dive sites. The diversity and abundance of marine life found at Sipadan gives it its reputation of being one the ten best dive locations in the world.