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Dive Review of Borneo Divers in
Malaysia/Sipadan, Mabul, Kapalai

Borneo Divers, Mar, 2011,

by Brigitte Lacouture, AK, US (Contributor Contributor 15 reports with 4 Helpful votes). Report 5984.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 4 stars Food 3 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 3 stars
Dive Operation 4 stars Shore Diving 5 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 4 stars
Beginners 2 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments The house reef at Mabul Resort is the best house reef we have ever encountered. It had nice corals, turtles, huge cuttlefish, a plethora of pipefish, blue spotted rays, and lots more; well worth doing for your fourth, unguided, dive of the day (the first three are guided using one of their boats). The house reefs at the other resorts on Mabul were not nearly as nice, but the one at Kapalai was good. Diving at Sipadan had lots of reef sharks and turtles and also a huge variety of fish: batfish, butterfly fish, wrasses, scorpion fish, stonefish, schools of barracuda, parrotfish, and many other things: nudibranch, tiny shrimp, tiny crabs... Sipadan allows only 120 visitors a day by permit and Borneo Divers has 14 permits allocated daily, as a result of the resort being only 1/4 full, we were able to dive Sipadan three of our five days (nine dives in all). They maintain several dive boats and they worked fine during our visit. Entry into the water was via backroll and exit was via a ladder lowered over the side of the boat. Dive gear is maintained in a large, secure facility on their large dock/bar/lounge. Each diver was provided a basket to stow their gear and the gear was transported between storage and the boats by the crew who set the gear up for you each morning. There were dedicated tanks for rinsing camera gear, wetsuits, and regulators. Nitrox was available, but not required for the diving profiles. The dive operations staff were top notch and responsible.

The Borneo Divers resort was comfortable. The rooms are adequate, nothing fancy, with two separate rooms to a bungalow. Getting your room cleaned and towels changed when you are out diving requires you to hang a card on the door; if you hang the card, it is done. Free Wi-Fi was available in the restaurant and adjacent meeting room, they also have a couple of computers that can be used to access the internet. The restaurant
offered a limited variety of food buffet style at each meal which typically included a beef,
chicken, or seafood dish, a vegetable dish, and rice; it was adequate.

All in all an excellent base from which to go dive Sipadan.
Websites Borneo Divers   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 101-250 dives
Where else diving St. Vincent & Grenadines, Turks & Caicos, Saba, St. Kitts, Fiji, Tahiti, Cozumel, Australia, Hawaii
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, cloudy Seas calm, currents, no currents
Water Temp 28-28°C / 82-82°F Wetsuit Thickness 4
Water Visibility 10-30 M / 33-98 Ft

Dive Policy

Dive own profile no
Enforced diving restrictions 50 minute time limit
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks Lots Mantas None
Dolphins 1 or Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 4 stars Tropical Fish 5 stars
Small Critters 5 stars Large Fish 4 stars
Large Pelagics 1 stars

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

Subject Matter N/A Boat Facilities N/A
Overall rating for UWP's N/A Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments [None]
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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