Dive Review of Borneo Divers in
Malaysia/Mabul/Sipadan

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Borneo Divers, May, 2009, by Edward Leibowitz, NJ, USA ( Contributor 13 reports with 3 Helpful votes). Report 4842.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This was the best diving that I did in recent years and one of the best dive sites that I’ve been to. Saw many turtles, sharks, barracuda, triggers, cuttlefish, angelfish, other varieties and beautiful corals. I lucked out with Sipadan. I was in Mabul for six days. Five of the six days, I dove at Sipadan, doing 3-4 dives/day. It's about a 25 minute boat ride to Sipadan from Mabul. Sipadan utilizes a permit system that limits the dive boats and visitors to the island. I pre-ordered 15 tanks of Nitrox. Addtional cost for Nitrox was $15/tank. The first day at Sipadan, I did all three dives with Nitrox. On the second day, I noticed that two of the tanks were short-filled (2550 PSI). I complained about the short fills to our dive guide. The next day, I assumed, I would get tanks filled with Nitrox to 3000psi. However, I was told that they had not obtained Nitrox for that day. For the remaining four days, I dove with air. I suppose they were pissed off when I complained about the shortfills and therefore decided not to obtain any additional tanks filled with Nitrox. I felt that since I was paying $15 additional for Nitrox, I was entitled to a filled tank (3000psi). I’m also a heavy air consumer. The best dive site off Sipadan is at Barracuda Point. This is high voltage diving with sharks (gray & whitip), turtles and a big school of barracuda and current. In my five days of diving at Sipidan, I dove this site six times. At some of the other sites at Sipadan, the visibility was not that good. However, I saw turtles and sharks on most dives. I could not rave about the food at Borneo Divers in Mabul. However, the excellent diving made up for the food. Some meals were very good, however most were average. I would recommend that you tip the boat captains and dive personnel on a daily basis. I tipped at the end of my stay. However on future dive trips, I will tip on a daily basis. Patchara Carlsen and the Arellano brothers of Scuba Travel Ventures did an excellent job with the travel arrangements. This is the second time I’ve used them to make dive-travel arrangements. When I arrived at the airport in Tawau, personnel there checked my temperature and had me fill out a form to see if I had any symptoms of swine flu. Considering the kidnapping in Sipadan in 2001, I was somewhat apprehensive about traveling to this area. I had made plans to go this area about five years ago, but changed my plans Note, the Malaysian army maintains a small army base on Sipidan. I also occasionally saw military on Mabul. I’m very glad that Patchara coaxed me into going to Sipadan for diving. My only complaint about this area is the long travel time it took for me to get there from New Jersey. Twenty-three hours of flying,(excluding layovers and boat and car travel from Tawau)to get to Mabul and the same on the return flight. However, if you’re a scuba-diver, this site is well worth the long trip and you should dive this area at least once.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Yap, Palu, Fiji, Phillipines, Australia, New guinea, Caribbean
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, dry	Seas	calm, choppy, surge
Water Temp	75-78°F / 24-26°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	50-80 Ft/ 15-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Maximum depth was specified at dive briefing. However, you were not held to it.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Not an underwater photographer. However many divers took pictures underwater.

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Dive Review of Borneo Divers in Malaysia/Mabul/Sipadan

Borneo Divers, May, 2009,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Borneo Divers in
Malaysia/Mabul/Sipadan