Underwater, Mabul indeed renowned for macro subjects, macro critters and muck diving. Underwater photographers often find various species of frogfish, pygmy seahorses, ghost pipefish, blue-ring octupus and a wide variety of rare and tiny beautiful nudibranchs around the artificial man-made reef structures. Bringing a mirrorless camera with a close-up lens is usually sufficient, while a handheld toch with focus light will help to accurately focus.
For natural-light scenes, the top 3-8 meters offer bright colors without heavy post-processing while if you go more deeper, a red filter or a powerful uw torch is handy. On days with mild current, gentle drift dives across the island reef edge will produce smooth video clips and let subjects such as sea turtles come into the frame naturally.
Bring Reef-safe sunscreen and follow the no-touching practice will keep the marine life and corals pristine for future generations of divers. Many uw photographers and divers travelling to Mabul will combine it with a Sipadan day dive for pelagics variety, resulting in a well-rounded photo collection from a single scuba dive trip.
