Sipadan - Onboard
The island that describes itself as "the last outpost of diving civilization" and where the ocean bed drops off to the dizzying depth of some 600m. An island that names its dive sites Turtle Patch, Barracuda Point and White-Tip Avenue - and they really do live up to their names.
MV Celebes Explorer 9 which is the ONLY liveaboard in the Celebes Sea that is allowed to offer Sipadan diving 3 times per day from Monday until Saturday with 16 guest only. So if you also want a "guarantee" of diving the Sipadan, we think liveaboard is the only option for you as in all land-based resorts you have to wait for the dive permits which can be a bit difficult to get during the high season.
During the one week liveaboard trip, sharks can be seen in all our dives, the white tipped reef sharks and black-tip reef sharks were sleeping between South point and Stag-horn crest or between Barracuda point and Coral gardens, we saw occasional leopard sharks and grey reef sharks. There was a school of scalloped hammerheads, but they tend to be deep, we never saw them though. The local guide told us the hammerheads where seen at 50 meters or deeper.
Anyway, Sipadan does offer a good mix of small to large reef fish with friendly turtles in abundance - mostly are green and hawks-bill turtles. And at Barracuda point there were school of jacks, barracudas (at least 500 plus), and bump-heads parrotfish also as mentioned before, the sharks. The jacks are a blast to play with, ideal for underwater photography lovers.
For macro fans, there is also great varieties of nudibranchs, frog fishes, leaf fishes, pygmy seahorses, the list is literally endless, you should go and explorer yourself and find out the endless but pleasant surprises.
The best time for Sipadan is from April to October which comes with excellent sea conditions. April until early of June being the perfect time but this is also the High season and you should book liveaboard trip well in advance if you really want to dive during that period! From December to March, there can be heavy rainfall and therefore, the visibility can be reduced.
The visibility ranges from 15 meters to 40 meters depending on the season and where you dive. During our one week trip the visibility stayed between 20 to 30 meters. Diving in Sipadan is mostly easy and current is not really an issue. However, on certain dives sites like the very popular Barracuda Point the current can be a bit strong.
Contact us for more infos about Diving in Sipadan.
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