Malaysia Diving Newsletter
Sipadan Resorts Closed
Early in 2004 The Malaysian Authorities announced the closure of all dive resorts
on Pulau Sipadan – Malaysia’s most famous scuba
diving destination. With effect from 31st December 2004
all five resorts on the island will be required to close their
doors and you will no longer be able to stay at this
premier scuba diving holiday location.
Sipadan Island
shot to international fame in the late 1980’s when
the island was visited by Jacques Cousteau. Cousteau’s
praise for the marine life around the island lead to a steady
increase in its fame and popularity among divers. In recent
years the intensive pressure from all this traffic has started
to show on the reefs and marine life. Attempts to regulate
the impact, from the constant procession of divers, with
quotas and other initiatives have not been successful and
finally the decision was taken to close the resorts on the
island.
No More Sipadan?
So does this mean that we will no longer be able to enjoy
the wonder of this outstanding collection of dive sites
and marine life, I hear you ask. Luckily this is not the
case. Within a 15 minute boat journey from Sipadan are the islands of Kapalai
and Mabul.
The waters around these islands have themselves gained
a reputation among the international dive community for
the quality and diversity of the macro marine life on display.
The resorts at both of these locations are of a more recent
construction than their neighbours on Sipadan and can therefore
boast more modern facilities. Two of the departing operators
from Sipadan already have resorts in these alternative
locations.
Borneo Divers, the Sipadan pioneers, have a new resort on Mabul,
while their nearest competition on the original island Pulau Sipadan Resort now have beautiful stilted bungalow
accommodation on Kapalai. Mabul is also home to the SMART (Sipadan Mabul) Resort the highly regarded and more
established name on the island.
For each of these operators, two boat dives each day on
Sipadan are the norm followed by one further boat dive at
their more immediate dive sites.
In the long term, the diver’s experience and the
marine environment are likely to benefit from this move.
Less traffic and waste will improve the health of the reefs
around Sipadan, whilst better facilities and more modern resorts
will enhance your stay in the area.
Follow this link to discover more about the new diving Sipadan experience.
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