4.5Scuba Junkie(380 reviews) - Awesome Adventure for first time divers. Wednesday: 7:00 AM - 6:00 PM Scuba & Snorkelling
Super cool staff even from the office in Semporna all the way to the island. Took the Discover Scuba and Snorkeling packages, and the dive master Along, and snorkeling guide Affad (forgive me if I get your name spelling wrong) were very friendly and accomodating. Highly recommend those who want to try scuba diving for their first time. Just a heads up; once you go for the dives here in Mabul and Sipadan island, you will need to lower the bench mark for your next dives as this place is sooo beautiful.See more..
4.5Big John Scuba(329 reviews) - I would go back in a heartbeat! Wednesday: 7:45 AM - 6:00 PM Scuba & Snorkelling
Everything was perfect, best budget option to dive in Mabul/Kapalai/Sipadan ! If you need more details: The crew: Big John has a big heart and we felt welcome in his family from the very first minute until the last one. Everybody was friendly and took good care of us! Shout out to Kim, Mark, Ameng and Roy! The dives: Mabul and Kapalai were as worth it as Sipadan! Wonderful dive sites, you will end up staying there longer than you thought, that’s for sure! We did 6 dives with Ameng and he would surprise us every time, showing us the smallest and cutest nudi ever found, looking several minutes into corals to find a pigmy seahorse or an orangutan crab. My friends did 2 discovery dives with Roy and Jerry and loved it, those guys are so chill! The equipment was in good condition and we felt always safe. The place: The new dorm are perfectly clean, good AC & fan + 2 toilets and 2 showers, luxury! Food was good, especially the donuts... I think we all gained 2 or 3 pounds there. I’m a vegetarian and the staff would always make sure that I’d have eggs, veggies and a rice without meat in it. It was super appreciated! Lots of fruits for every meals too! The price: The four of us were traveling on a small budget and as much as I wanted to dive there, the Sipadan permits are so expensive that I wasn’t sure I would be able too. Big John is the most affordable option to stay on Mabul and get your Sipadan permit without compromising on your basic comfort and safety. We ended up staying 4 days instead of 2 and were really sad to leave... thanks again guys, we loved our stay there! *the picture is your view for the next few days... See more..
4.0Sipadan Scuba(195 reviews) - Great experience & Trip to Sipadan Scuba & Snorkelling
Me & my wife have just returned from our trip to Sabah. We did our Open Water course with Sipadan Scuba and then had a guarenteed Permit to visit Sipadan. The course was much more fun than we had imagined, we had a great instructor who really took care of us and thankfully was very patient. We saw turtles even on our 1st dive!!! We went to a tiny Island to do all the skills which was just like out of a postcard. Sipadan was just amazing so much to see, sharks, turtles and Barracuda point was just out of this world. We were given all new equipment the staff were all very helpfull. I recomend doing getting your openwater Ticket & going to Sipadan with Sipadan Scuba . Thanks guysSee more..
As soon as we meet Richard we knew that we would have a great experience. The team from Scubaholic are professional and have so much knowledge of the islands. We did 2 seperate day trips around the islands of Semporna then Richard arranged for a 2-night, 3-day trip to Mabul. Everything was faultless and we had a great experience. You can find their office located 1/2 way down the Jeti Pelancongan bangau bangau (Semporna Jetty) - convenient parking out front.See more..
Been twice and can’t say anything better about TRACC. Don’t think about going/booking just do it, 2weeks 2 months 2 years any time is well worth it and you won’t want to leave. Soo many turtle and baby turtle releases! You say turtles will never unexciting, after numerous 3 dive day seeing 25 daily u might think differently! Also loads off Nuddies and other Macro. The amount of Dives, the relaxed atmosphere, the marine and local education. Great food. Looking for a good flight deal for this year!! There Summer 2019 and summer 2022.See more..
5.0Bike and Tours(109 reviews) - Bukit Piton Cultural Tours • Scuba & Snorkelling • Historical & Heritage Tours • Bike Tours • Day Trips
I stayed at the BIke & Tours B&B in Lahad Datu for two nights (great!) and additionally did a half-day tour (from 13.00 to 23.00) in the primary rainforest in Bukit Piton with them. The excursion was great: I was very lucky to be the only participant (advantages of travelling during low season in January!) and got very personal service from the driver and the wildlife guide, who were very knowledgeable about the animals and also happily answered the many questions I had about palm plantations. We were very lucky in seeing three orangutans relatively close (incredible given the short duration of the trip!), in addition to plenty of other interesting animals both during the day and at nighttime. It truly felt like a tailor-made trip for me, and I got back exhausted but happy!See more..
4.0Dive The World(76 reviews) - live onboard MV Celebes Explorer - diving at Sipadan Scuba & Snorkelling
I booked a 7 day trip on MV Celebes Explorer and had a great experience. The information provided beforehand by Vic at Dive the world allowed me to plan my schedule my trip to include visits to Sandakan (Sepilok) and Kota Kinabalu. Sipadan limits the number of divers per day, so staying on at a resort on Mabul or Kapalai may enable you to dive one day for every 3 days that you stay at the resort. The diving at these resorts cannot be compared to the diving at Sipadan. As passengers on the liveaboard we dived 6 days (all but the first day which is a morning pick up at Semporna that doesn't allow travel to Sipadan the same day). The boat travellled from Mabul to Sipadan every day and enabled 4 dives at Sipadan and a night dive at Mabul (which after 2 nights got to be very repetitive). The dive guides on the boat are very experienced and good at finding small critters. For each meal there were usually at least 5 diffrerent dishes and the food was tasty and plentiful. The major downside to the trip is that the boat is very old and the sleeping rooms have a VERY STRONG diesel odor. A number of passengers chose to sleep on deck rather than in the rooms. In addition, the intake for boat's compressor for the dive tanks is located directly above the boats engine exhaust - quite amazing really. Apparently a new boat is being built and the crew indicated that it maybe operational in "about a year" (which if true would be July 2014).See more..
Been there twice! Apek & Ela is a well experienced Instructor. No doubt on their ability and knowledge. Came to visit as closed friend now. ;)See more..
5.0Seabunny Scubacations(59 reviews) - Very good dive company, excellent staffs Wednesday: 7:30 AM - 4:30 PM Multi-day Tours • Scuba & Snorkelling • Day Trips
Went for dive end of Jan'22 but started checking options early dec'21. Showey contacted me based on my enquiry and my best and most responsive person about people i contacted Showey is amazing staff who knows how to help customers. Inspite of hundreds of questions from me, i was given answer with utmost patience. I was offered the best deal for 3 dives including underwater pics.showey went extra mile to guide us on place of stay. At last minute request Showey arranged for pick up my friend from Tawah airport at 20% cost quoted by other service providers. Next my best dive master Jessica. She was very patient understanding and excellent. While I was nervous in my 1st dive, she ensured i am felt comfortable and relaxed. 2nd was the best and she also helped with some cool pics. Overall all the crew members very very good. Highly recommendedSee more..
4.0Borneo Speedy Dive(43 reviews) - 5 islands in one day tour. So much garbage! Scuba & Snorkelling
we did the 5 islands snorkeling tour. The staff was nice. equipment good. lunch much better than expected. the islands are all very beautiful. we did expect a more amazing underwater scene however. there were some beautiful fish, clams and even an octopus (!) but we expected much more "life" around us while snorkeling. No the bad side, senporna itself is just a massive garbage bin! you cannot see any spot on land or water that is not full of old plastic, bottles etc etc. it is quite frankly, disgusting. the islands are not as dirty but it seems that senporna's massive waste problem is slowly affecting the islands as well. I considered whether or not to post this here, as it is not only borneo speedy dive that operates on the islands, but i believe if you offer such "paradise tours" you do need to, in one way or another, be involved in its sustainability as your tours will also be affected by it. i truly hope all the stakeholders in semporna work on this garbage problem, otherwise this beautiful place will have serious issues trying to attract tourists.See more..
3.5Billabong Scuba(39 reviews) - Amazing staff, great diving instructor and food Scuba & Snorkelling
The staff here are so caring and really made us feel welcome and looked after. Every staff member was so kind and friendly. Aziz was our instructor for our padi open water course and he was brilliant. He made us feel so relaxed, broke down every skill and explained everything so well. He made the experience of learning to dive feel easy and so enjoyable. On our second night Adam who works in the dive center spotted us walking on the island and showed us to a lovely bar on the other side of the island and walked us all the way back again which was so kind of him. The food was also lovely every day there was a really nice variety, couldn't fault it . Accomidation is beautiful too. See more..
I had the best experience ever! Out of any place in Semporna please dive with Under Pressure and ask to dive with Jeremy Lam or Jeremy Ngai. They were extremely passionate and fun to be around very dedicated to what they do had lots of great conversations and most importantly very patient! I got certified with Jeremy there were times I wasn't at my best but he was very patient and willing to motivate me in order to pass. The prices were very fair most places around Semporna are the same ignore the review about the cancellation policy from the article written above. Thank again Jeremy for such a great experience and definitely will be back again for sure!See more..
The journey to this resort took about 1hour30min drive from KK city area. The road conditions is quite bad..but once u reach the resort, the view make you speechless. Daphne is a great host. The staff is also friendly and helpful. The resort have few types accommodation such as tree house, moving cabin, long house. The resort offer activities such as diving,kayaking, fishing,jungle trip and the most enjoyable is Pandan Island Trip. Pandan Island is not far from the resort. Its a small island with beautiful rocks, clear water and nice beach. I will come back again.See more..
4.5Semporna Blue Reef(20 reviews) - Scuba diving and day trips Scuba & Snorkelling
Go with Andrea!!!!!! She is amazing. My friend and I got to Semporna specifically to go diving. We couldn't find too many websites for this location online so the morning of our dive me walked around the town and found Blue Reef. A nice, clean and extremely helpful dive shop. Andrea was amazing. We did two, 3 tank dives over a couple days. She took us on some beautiful dives and we had a blast! Make sure you try Indo-cafe after your dive!See more..
4.0Scuba Dive Sipadan(9 reviews) - the most beautiful scuba diving spots in the world Scuba & Snorkelling
It is almost impossible to list all the fish and other sea creatures that you might encounter under water when diving at Sipadan. Among the species are schools of big-eye trevallies, many turtles, tornado-like formations of barracudas, schools of humphead parrotfishes, giant mantas, eagle rays, schools of tunas, many species of sharks including schools hammerhead sharks, (sometimes even) whale sharks and thousands of other species of fish (mostly big pelagic fish as Sipadan is known for this). Diving rates are pretty high compared to other dive destinations within Malaysia (usually over RM120 per dive). Do not dive with diving schools that operate without proper permits. Diving at Sipadan Island is possible daily from 6am to 4pm. No night dives are allowed.See more..
I really had a great time while I was taking freediving course. My instructor Manu was giving us lots of patient and comfort throughout the session. Im able to hold my breath longer than I thought and it was so amazing! I will definetly come back here for prastise!See more..
5.0Scuba Home Dive Center(5 reviews) - Great dive center Wednesday: 7:00 AM - 11:00 PM Parasailing & Paragliding • Scuba & Snorkelling • Taxis & Shuttles • Boat Tours • Fishing Charters & Tours • Self-Guided Tours & Rentals • Day Trips
I did 3 days scuba diving day trips with Scuba Home. Dive crews are friendly and professional. Dive center located in a local village which you can totally experience the bajau lifestyle here. Sometimes the owner will give us a food tour too :)See more..
5.0KUNAK NT ADVENTURE(3 reviews) - Snorkeling, fishing and diving around Blue Hole in Darvel Bay Multi-day Tours • Scuba & Snorkelling • Helicopter Tours • Boat Tours • Fishing Charters & Tours • Hiking & Camping Tours • Speed Boats Tours • Day Trips
The Blue Hole is a coral reef about 45 minutes by speed boat from Kunak. Pristine crystal clear waters and unspoilt corals reefs almost seem too good to be true. Husband wife team Shirley and Ken from NT Adventures took very good care of us for the day's outing for our party of 7 whose ages range from 7 to 92 !!! At one point when my 3 nephew and nieces jumped into the water to swim the 300-400 metres from boat to beach, Ken promptly threw in a life buoy and swam after them as a safety measure. Ken also buddied my brother scuba diving. Their excellent knowledge of the waters allowed us to go to various spots for fishing, snorkelling, diving and even just wondering around a sand bank during the low tide. One of the trip highlights was sashimi of some of the live catches, complete with lime juice and chilli which Shirley and Ken knowingly :-) brought along !!!See more..
5.0SCUBA BUDDY SIPADAN(2 reviews) - Best budget accomodation on Mabul Wednesday: 8:00 AM - 5:30 PM Scuba & Snorkelling • Taxis & Shuttles • Gear Rentals • Boat Rentals
Lovely accommodation. Front desk, coordinators, and front desk are all super nice and like a huge welcoming family. The included breakfast, lunch and dinner are all great and the menu changes every meal (didn't eat the same dish twice over 5 days). The staff at the lodge will also help to barter with the local fishermen for live seafood which they can cook for a small fee. To get in contact, the best way is to reach the sales staff via WhatsApp. Look at their Google Map pin for may more reviews to reference.See more..
